Grieva - Oni to kage

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I was really looking forward to this album almost since they first announced it. My expectations were heightened more with the PV previews and song samples they slowly revealed - so let's see how this release turned out!

 

01. [schwarz] of Hades (SE): As indicated by the title, this is an intro track. Nothing too memorable plus it's a tiny bit long, tho those chimey synths are a nice touch. This one features Kei from DIAURA on guitar btw.

 

02. 孤独人形症候群: A nice aggressive number that gets things going. Other than that there's not much else to say about it. It's a solid, hard and short song, just perfect after the intro.

 

03. true grief: Yeah, okay, I admit this song is totally Dir en grey's Yurameki with a different drumbeat here and there, and kinda dumbed down but it's pretty good nevertheless. Not the greatest track on here but it's nice to listen to.

 

04. 解離性同一性障害: One of my favorite songs on the album, it's a non-stop ride of cool. First we get a catchy melody, then a playful verse, and a solid chorus. The quiet section is a good addition too, before the track switches back to its fast tempo, to slow down again in the end to half-beat with the original melody. Sweet.

 

05. 鬼経-kikei-: Undeniable Kuroyume vibes here, and I'm likin' it! It's a mid-tempo song with a somewhat psychotic atmosphere, emphasized by the weird guitar melodies and sounds, and the vocals that unexpectedly switch styles. It's nice that they don't have to use br00tal heaviness to achieve a creepy mood.

 

06. 蜥-tokage-: An okay song, kinda typical late '90s fast indies-vk with random shouts... until the chorus when it switches into what sounds like an homage to Dir en grey's Cage - nice! Other than this interesting tidbit it's not the most memorable thing, so it's not too bad that it's over fairly quickly.

 

07. 拝啓、愛しのアイドル様へ: I'm kinda confused by this track since, just like true grief, most of this one seems to be lifted from DEG too, namely FILTH - but here I actually might like this one better than DEG's, lol. They moulded the song so that it's got a nice straightforward VK feel. Overall a pretty rockin' track.

 

08. 中絶: An awesome "get mental!" song, reminiscent of your typical fast-n-screamy number that gets the crowd riled up at gigs. Grieva added a nice melodic chorus too, that combined with the fast screamy parts makes this one really catchy and memorable imo. The atmosphere kinda reminded me of old-school crazy Kuroyume, like Shinai naru DEATH MASK.

 

09. 侵喰-shinsyoku-: I really like all the little effects and bits they incorporated into this one, and that funky slap-bass. Feels familiar yet kinda new at the same time. It does a nice job of changing it up a bit after the last few tracks, but still totally "in style". A solid track, all in all.

 

10. 夕刻絶交センチメンタル: If you like those really fast & poppy guitars that DEG did in their early years (or even maybe young Gazette) then there's a good chance you'll enjoy this one! It's a crazy and catchy lil' song, tho not that remarkable. Its length is just enough for it not to get too repetitive.

 

11. 第39条第1項「心神喪失者ノ行為ハ之ヲ罰セス」: this one's just awesome. The main fast part is reminiscent of DEG's Zan, so that's the type of song you should expect, tho a bit more varied and widely-appealing. It has a really killer, manic (but kinda melodic) chorus too. It's like a rollercoaster ride basically, totally fun. Easily one of my faves.

 

12. 悲しみは巡りゆく季節と眠る哀: for the end the guys slow down a bit and present us this ballad. I'm usually picky with these types of songs but it has a catchy chorus, nice atmosphere and some pretty cool guitars so I can't hate, heh. Nice build-ups here and there too. Not a favorite of mine but totally okay as a closer.

 

13. [Weiß] of Chaos (SE): a creepy little outro. It's short and has some weirdness that adds to the overall mood of the album so I don't mind.

 

All in all, this is an excellent debut album, especially coming from such a young band. I'm also overjoyed by the fact that they chose to play music in a style that's becoming extinct nowadays (or at least isn't really popular). They bring back that old-schoolish feeling I felt when discovering those short-lived indies-vk bands of the late '90s/early '00s, while also improving a bit on the sound, modernising it. Sure, they tend to take a bit more than necessary at times but I can't hate on them since they sound so good to my ears, heh.

 

Score: | impressive, nostalgic but fresh, catchy, the works!

[Pretsy 1343]

Track-2-track review as always from Pretsy-sama:

 

1. [schwarz] of Hades (SE) - dance-ish intro with crunchy drop C guitars + baby cries and other weird noises. Imagine if "Gauze -mode of adam-" had a drastic, modern vk turn...It's okay 7/10

 

2. 孤独人形症候群 - As Jig said before, they are incorporating old school vk homages and twists with modern vk "metal" sound. You can hear familiar old swkl Kyo/Kiyoharu screams there and most of the parts are quite reminiscent to something what Das:Vasser did as well, wow. 8/10

 

3. True Grief - pretty much a "lil bro" of DEG's "Yurameki". A nice tribute to my favorite song- nothing against it, except that I expected a bit more originality here 8/10

 

4. 解離性同一性障害 - a huge time warp to '95 indie vk scene with deep, dark vibes and "deranged" chords (which can be easily applied to early era of vk when post-punk influences were cherished). You don't need drop tunings to sound "dark" or anything - an useful note to all of you, vk bands these days Nice song either way 9/10

 

5. 鬼経-kikei- - Oh my god, "Nakigara Wo.." - worship at its best. This is undeniably my biggest favorite out of this album - Horrortastic number with full of old school themes like suffer and psychosis. Digging the heck out of main melody, falsettos and screams. I'll toast to you, Grieva! 10/10

 

6. 蜥-tokage- - As with the track number four, this one continues the sound of early vk bands too - good old screaming and staccato riffage. Also, HEY - "Cage's" chorus! I wouldn't call this a "ripoff", since the band's concept itself is "to revive the spirit of old school vk". Not to mention that the sound from early decade is dying off due to "Br00tal" invasion. Quite short and dumbed down though  8/10

 

7. 拝啓、愛しのアイドル様へ - FI-I-I-ILTH! HIGH! FI-I-I-ILTH! HIGH...just kidding, I don't mind DEG references here as well - quite okay song with present old school riffing and melodies. Only if this were a bit more psychotic, then it would go up with early tracks - 7/10

 

8. 中絶 - ABORTION SONGS! VERY VK! A wicked child of Das:Vasser and Ikiteita-era Kuroyume. If I had to explain "the prime examples of old school vk sound", this - along with "Kikei" would be among the other songs. Great adrenaline trigger for lives, I guess. 9/10

 

9. 侵喰-shinsyoku- - Gets closer to modern vk sound, which ain't really bad. Also: THWACK THWACK SLAP SLAP. Lacks some interesting turns in my opinion, and gets dumbed down along the length. 7/10

 

10. 夕刻絶交センチメンタル - Twisted happy-happy early 2000 vk-inspired pop song with old school shouting and spoken word rambling. Enough to explain the content of this little bastard. Oh Grieva, you are so mental 9/10

 

11. 第39条第1項「心神喪失者ノ行為ハ之ヲ罰セス」- Das:Vasser/Gauze-DEG derivation strikes back with full force, oh yeah! Would go easily as a coupling with "Chuuzetsu" 9/10

 

12. 悲しみは巡りゆく季節と眠る哀 - Modern vk sound comes out from the corner again with "your everyday,necessary vk ballad as a closer"-cliche. Won't mind this, since this settles album quite well after many psychotic turns. 7/10

 

13. [Weiß] of Chaos (SE) - baby cries, reference to the intro, slowed down wails, merry-go-round themes, sudden gunshots, doors closing...oh you lil' creeper 10/10

 

As you see, this is actually one of the few young bands I have paid attention to lately - thanks to their obvious homages to different old school phenomena, like say, Gauze/Missa-era DEG or stan-worthy Kuroyume a la RnS/Nakigara Wo...-era. A HUGE IMPROVEMENT compared to their past with Dear Dolce-whatever it is (not worth mentioning to be quite honest). Great debut album, great songs, kudos to Grieva! 

 

8,5/10 - makes you come back for more, and more, and more...

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

I'm not going to break it down song by song but I really like this album. I was impatient to wait three weeks for my copy to arrive so snatched it early.

 

What I like is that Grieva does a good job mixing modern style and sounds found in current VK and incorporates it well with the gawthy quirky elements from early 90s VK. They take all the little things I like and while not the most original they do a good job creating something that is fresh and replayable.

 

I'll definitely give it an 8/10. 

 

I look forward to future releases and hope they try to do some stuff that's slightly more original. So I'm not spending the whole time comparing every song to one that exists already.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I'll do a track by track once I've listened to it a few more times, but the highlights for me were 中絶 and 孤独人形症候群. Love the homages and blatant plagiarism and cannot wait to hear the new stuff they have in store. Also, adding to the list of things they've borrowed- has some elements 中絶 from La:Sadie's "Setsudan," which is probably why I thought it sounded like Ru:Natic the first time I listened to it

[hyura 465]

I did not yet listen to it for a second time to properly review every song, but 鬼ト影 already impressed me a lot. When the third song started and sounded so much like ゆらめき I had to grab my copy of gauze to look at both booklets while listening.

This album isn't just a tribute to 'old' dir en grey and visual kei of their era, it is a tribute to gauze. Down to the tracklist.

sometimes very obvious with 'stolen' passages (like ゆらめき/true grief, Cage/.蜥  Mask/夕刻絶交~, ZAN/刑法第39), sometimes through references in the lyrics and the general atmosphere of the song. (悲しみ~ doesn't really sound like akuro no oka... but it does.)

I really liked 中絶 as a reference to Mazohyst of Decadence, because it manages to tell the same story and leave the same feeling while sounding completely different.

 

However, the band somehow managed to fill the Gauze-song themes with fragments from other dir en grey songs (eg. アイドル様へ  sounds like FILTH but still has the 'rape' atmosphere and story of 蜜と唾), fragments from other kotekote era songs and also some elements of 'modern' visual kei and merge all of it to a creepy and fun album that can actually live up to grievas concept of bringing back the good ol' days.

 

I think taking the pattern of gauze was a brilliant Idea to do that, because all awesome cliches are included- the rape song, the self-harm-song, the lunatic song, the abortion-song, the deceased lover-song... and one can actually hear the passion the bandmembers have for that era and that they put a lot of effort into capturing the essence without making it boring, dead and unoriginal.

The vocalist also has the perfect voice, somewhere between tragic and off key, with great screaming and the right amount of crazy.

So I have very high expectations for their next release.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

However, the band somehow managed to fill the Gauze-song themes with fragments from other dir en grey songs (eg. アイドル様へ  sounds like FILTH but still has the 'rape' atmosphere and story of 蜜と唾)

 

Oh man, I didn't even pick up this song being taken from FILTH (being like my favourite Deg song and all).

[Neon 6]

This album is masterpice , lots of good songs and awesome mix. 

 

 I enjoyed listening this 

 

10/10