MUCC - Shangrila

[dannemannen 69]

Guys, let's do this!

1. MR LIAR - This song is just pure awesomeness. Catchy and badass. I love the part after the breakdown, and the chorus is just.. ahh.... totally blown away... 10/10

2. GG -One of the PV songs, and Im sorry to say this but this one sounds like a filler to me. Nothing special 4/10

3. Arcadia - Single song, weak and boring in my opinion. I don't like the feeling in this song at all. I wonder what they were thinking releasing this as a single. 4/10

4. Nirvana - Another weak single but better than arcadia. I really dont know what to say else, it just sounds like a forced anime song.5/10

5. Honey - From here, since MR LIAR, the album starts getting better again. Funky instrumentals with a cool chorus, but still somewhere ends up feeling like a filler. 6/10

6. Shuuchaku no kane - Mellow song with a nice atmosphere. Reminds me a bit of GOKUSAI and songs such as mukashi kodomo datta hitotachi e. I really like this style of mucc. Having a great time listening to this song. 8/10

7. Pure black - Awesome jazzy melody, verses are great but the chorus feels alittle weak. If they just could have made the chorus alittle more catchy the rating for this one would have been higher, but still a pretty nice piece of work! 8/10

8. Kyouran kyousou 21st century baby - Sick song that i dont know what to think about, lol. What do you guys think? Still enjoying to turn on this one on my ipod though 7/10

9. Marry you - Seriously, the preview of this song sounded like a joke, but after listening to the whole thing im in love with it. I love the feeling of it, and its actually catchy as hell. Been a while since i heard a song like this from a vk-jrockband. This song makes me happy and I cant stop listening to it. 9/10

10. Yosora no kurepasu - As i love the more mellow more calm melodic songs of mucc (since gokusai), i cant help loving this one as well. Actaully got goosebumps first time listening to it, especially the intro and verse part. For most of you maybe it just sounds boring but damn, i just wanna cry, its so beautiful. 10/10

11. You & I - Mucc epicness at its best. Catchy as hell. Nothing else to say, One of the best songs on the album. Why didnt they release stuff like this as singles?! This one pumps my adrenaline! 10/10

12. Mother - Another single, and yet another weak one. Actually all singles on this album are weak... still better than the previous two ones though. Best part is chorus, rest doesnt impress. 7/10

13. Shangrila - Im sure they wanted to make and end the album with a dark epic slower tune and sure they succeeded with that, although i wanted them to put some more melodic elements in it to make it more memorable. Still an epic piece of work 9,5/10

All in all, the singles are the weakest part of this album. I wonder what they were thinking with them. Most of the new songs are crazily awesome, especially MR LIAR. Shangrila proves that MUCC still got it since their failure with KARMA, it is a high quality album that i will keep listening to for a long time. My rating is 8/10.

What are your thoughts? Please share them! Cheers!

[Original Saku 1593]

Don't have enough time to write out a full review right now, but I will say that this is probably my favorite VK album this year, I thought it was very well made and enjoyed every song on it, even if i enjoyed some other songs more than others. I would like to say that I haven't listened to Karma before and even though there's a lot of hate for it, I'll probably go DL it soon because more than likely I'll love it just like I've loved everything they've ever done.. I've never stopped enjoying their music just because of a change to their musical direction.

that is all.

Ps. I'm tired of going into every Mucc thread and seeing comments about how "shit" Karma is... if you don't have anything good to say about it then don't mention it at all, seeing something like that could be really discouraging for someone like me who has still not listened to it. Of course I don't let anything like that affect me, but not everyone is as strongwilled or unimpressionable as me either. Keep this in mind.

[Wonrei 108]

Most people think Karma was shitty, but Karma is one of my favorite Mucc albums. This one works like a follow up to it. I did miss some electronics on this one, I was liking what they had been doing with their b-sides and single tracks, but well... we can't get everything we want. Some people will probably dislike some stuff in this album, like the metalcore parts and dubstep drops(all the cool kids hate dubstep and metalcore).

So... here it goes:

Mr. Liar - It keeps the old Mucc tradition of starting albums with a bang. It is an interesting track but somehow the melody just doesn't hit me the way it should. 7/10

G.G. - Sounds like a 2012 version of FUZZ with Kyuutai's chorus wo-ohs. I like it, the bass drop on the breakdown is pretty fine. Overall dancey and fun. 7,5/10

Arcadia - Arcadia was my favorite single and I still love it. Daishi Dance's piano works very well and we get this electro house tune which has somewhat atmospheric feeling, quite a contrasting thing. It's the sort of thing you'd see the japanese house scene artists doing. 9/10

Nirvana - Nirvana is the kind of track I've seen Mucc do more than one time by now. Though it has its moments, I don't really like it a lot. 6/10

Honey - I found it pretty funny and it has some cool moments, but overall I felt it just entered one of my ears and left by the other. 5/10

Shuuchaku no Kane - This one is REALLY good. Has that 70's japanese folk feeling in it, yet its chorus somewhat shows us mucc's more recent style. 9/10

Pure Black - reminds me of Sid a lot, and it's pretty fun overall. Something they hadn't done before. 8/10

Kyouran kyousou 21st century baby - HAHA now this is what I'm talking about. Flamenco-metal thing with

Tatsurou rapping and growling. One of the most random songs of the year 8,5/10

Marry You - Catchy, it's well done and everything. I like it, but probably won't listen to it a lot. 7/10

Yosora no kurepasu - Though I like it, I don't find it as good as Shuuchaku no Kane. On the first listens I thought it was really bland. I just feel it lacks something. 7,5/10

You and I - This one is so damn random! If it wasn't by 21st century baby, it would probably be Mucc's most random song. The chorus reminds me of Mucc's happier songs, but the rest doesn't really follow that. Love it! 9/10

Mother - The single I like the least... it's good, but I thought it just didn't have any big moment or anything. It's like I was waiting the whole song for it to start. 5/10

Shangrila - Great track. A sad ballad, the chorus recalls some of Mucc's older works, yet the melody on the calmer parts is pretty much recent Mucc... 9/10

Overall, yeah, very good album. I believe I like it as much as Karma by now. I'm not exactly certain if I should give at a 8 or a 9... it's great anyways and I shall listen to it a lot. I do hope Mucc moves on from this sound whenever they get the chance, though.

[mopkins 42]

didn't really enjoy the singles at ALL, so the rest of the album was a really PLEASANT surprise B')

best tracks: 21st century baby, honey, shuuchaku no kane, shangri-la, you & i, OMAKE/MADYACK

worst tracks: arcadia and mother are still stank

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Don't listen to MUCC often enough. I always say how much I love them, but I never listen to them. This album changed that. I really truly love basically every track on this album, but particularly Mother, Arcadia, and Mr. Liar.

[Asakusa 95]

This album is totally awesome. I was losing my faith in MUCC with their recent singles (I liked them but not THAT much actually), but now listening to the singles in the album... they sound great.

Every song is in its right place. This album gave back my faith in MUCC.

I loved it.

Best track ever is Kyouran kyousou 21st century baby

[Augie1995 325]

Unlike what seems to be the major consensus, I liked Karma, but was completely apathetic* to their singles prior to this album. Got a good word from a friend about this album and decided to try it out. Besides the singles which aren't bad but aren't as good as the album songs, this album is really supreme!

Some really great songs, they have some variety to them such as Pure Black with it's jazzy sound. Songs like Shuuchuku no Kane who had some nice mellow tones, and others like Mr. Liar who were just plain badass! Now, with that being said, 2 songs stood out above the rest....by a lot! Kyouran kyousou ~21st Century Baby~ and シャングリラ. 21st Century is so sick, with this sort of egyptian pinch sound to the guitars, Tatsurou's rapping and growls, it's a non-stop pump song for me. シャングリラ is just a really dark, epic song that amazed me from start to finish. The lyrics are truly something else if you haven't checked them out~

SHANGRI-LA:

Transcend purity and obscurity, everything

Just keep going as you are

Your sense waver and become blurred in the mist

Nothing remains,

With a stained hand I replied, "You can live, I'm sure of it."

This night reflects only purity and obscurity within a dream

I hear your voice, the moon sang

In the dream, there's a flower becoming vermillion

Embrace the sadness, embrace it now, embrace it deeply

If you accept everything and anything, like a mother

There'll be no feeling, no pain

Everything will vanish, just like a dream

Crying out in vermillion, I cry out this sadness

One night, illuminated by the moonlight

I found you, on top of that hill

Blooming vermillion, the same name of that flower was Shangri-la

ムックのアルバムSHANGRI-LA= 9/10

[Daisuke 20]

This album was a badass, love all the tracks.

9.5/10

[Kaleidoscope 195]

Love this one a lot more than Kyuutai and Karma, I'd actually even say that this was one of the best albums of 2012. Overall a great mix of old and new styles without sounding forced, plus the title track is absolutetly gorgeous. I'd give it a 8,5/10 I guess.