GazeRockSnob 34 Posted April 15, 2013 LOCUS debuted in 2012 with their demo single "Kidnapping". On the 23rd of Jan, they dropped their album "Ugly Crow" and here are my thoughts on it. ♦Overall♦ Overall, it was a pretty decent album for a recently debuted band. Ayame's vocals are unclean at times (maybe terrible) but I'm sure over time he will improve. His screaming is good and singing at normal pitch is okay but when he attempts higher notes he fails miserably. Needs more vocal training. His voice did not ruin the album however, the instruments are great. There weren't really any moments that will make you go 'wow' but the instruments are well utilized. ♦Track By Track♦ 01. Delusion ♥ Bad start to the album and one of my least liked songs on it. Ayame's vocals are especially undesirable and a bit annoying here though his screams are good. After 1:58 - 2:31 is the best part of the song. When Ayame stops singing for a bit lol. It's a pretty bland song though. Very unimpressive. 02. Tunnel (トンネル) ♥♥♥♥ I like this track. Very much actually. I like the tone of his voice here and how well it fits with the guitars. Screams are very good here. Asdfghjkl, what can I say, I love this song a whole lot~ Even his higher tones don't sound as bad. Guitars at 3:21 are great and I love his voice at 6:21. Very memorable and shows he has potential. 03. Iroochi (色堕ち) ♥♥♥ http://youtu.be/pHowDXCbqV4 I like the guitars at the starting, pretty nice song. The PV is really low quality though but oh well, they're a starting VK band~ The song's a bit bland though, not very special and kind of slow. High tones are awful though lol. It gets hard to listen to but it's okay. 04. Shadan (遮断) ♥♥ His voice sounds really overpowered in the beginning but It gets clearer further on. I love the guitars though. There's a moment where you can say 'hm, this is really good' but it doesn't last at long as I would like it to~ Pretty bland onwards and to the end of the song. 05. Kidnapping ♥♥♥♥ http://youtu.be/0yFVeI7bibk Aha, I love this song lol. It really grew on me since I heard it so far back so continued exposure to it might be influencing my decision. I actually like the PV. It gives me an impression of an early 2000's VK band which I like. I love his screams here and the fast pacing of the song~ 06. Akarusa Regret (明るさRegret) ♥♥♥ The starting is pretty boring and when it comes to his screaming, it's a poor attempt. It sounds like he's crowing or croaking out the lyrics. and it's very unfavorable. It's a song you would skip. I do like his shouting/speaking and his singing is okay here. Guitars are really good and riffs at 2:42 - 2:52 are very good. It's memorable~ 07. Konton no sora (混沌の空) ♥♥ This song starts out really nicely with nice pacing but as it goes on, it gets..not good lol. I liked the low tone of his voice but after 3:08 there is this whining in his voice and it's hard to stand. Ayame really needs to improve his high vocal pitches. He strains to reach them. 08. Saigo no uta (最後の唄) ♥♥ By now, you would have gotten used to LOCUS's sound and style since there isnt much variation in this album. This song is a little boring but it's decent. His voice is a problem again when trying to hit high notes but that's really the only problem. It's pretty much good~ 09. Ugly Moth ♥♥♥ This is a good song to end with. I think they should have started with Tunnel but I'm not sure they paid attention to the song organization in this album. This is a more upbeat faster paced song and it's cool. Loved the guitars at 2:44 - 3:00. Maintaining that higher note in his voice at the end must have been a feat for Ayame though lol. I hope he trains his voice harder. I have to admit, his vocal quality is kind of endearing. Album Rating: ♥Thanks for Reading♥ 1 -timecapsule- reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
