Sadie - MADRIGAL de MARIA

[sansamour20 2]

i just received my copy last night, I just want to know what you guys think of it?

 

It wasn't the usual upbeat energetic Sadie that we've gotten used to so much, esp from the last album The Black Diamonds, but I love it, I think it's sort of an extension of what they started in their previous single which also featured an epic dark song Madara (*´ω｀)o

[Zeus 7997]

Score: | *sigh*

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome the most obnoxious visual kei release this year.

 

What makes Madrigal de Maria obnoxious?

• Unforgivably cheap imitations of Kyo (Dir en grey) wails, shrieks, screams, coos, and gutturals for no other reason than to have wails, shrieks, screams, coos, and gutturals.
   
• Inconsistency of instrument quality. Compare the piano from Demons Cradle to the piano in 斑-まだら- and to the piano in 優シク殺シテ. Toy piano much?
   
• Very tacky use of synthesizer in some places.
   
• Sections of songs are ripped straight out of other Dir en grey songs. 嘘にまみれた真実の底 emulates 艶かしき安息、躊躇いに微笑み near the end. Demons Cradle's intro is reminiscent of THE BLOSSOMING BEELZEBUB until all that MIDI garbage kicks in. 斑-まだら-'s is Vinushka x Different Sense from the backing growls during the first half of the chorus to the guitar solo right after the chorus to the gutturals lifting heavily from the Opethian passages of Vinushka. There are others scattered through the album too. I'm not one to rag on Sadie for their influences but it's so prevalent and badly incorporated that it universally detracts from my enjoyment of the album. If I really want to listen to Dir en grey, I'm just going to listen to Dir en grey, not Sadie's poor interpretation of it.
   
• Decadence. That song alone is bad enough to knock a star off the total score.
   
• A complete lack of conceptual execution. The overly Photoshopped, Cunning Killer 12012-esque album art could easily deceive a listener into expecting a brooding, darker, more mature album from Sadie. Right?
  
  NO.
  
  Sure, the first three tracks sound like they at least made an attempt to be DUM SPIRO SPERO Diru on a budget, but then after Decadence they decided to throw all that out the window and progress with business as usual until the end. The sad thing is, I don't think that it was a bad decision at the end of the album. Those first three tracks should have been dropped.
   
• No sense of flow from song to song. I've got standard Dir en grey worship, electro rock, acoustic ballads, pop-rock and bluesy leads in the first eight tracks. I like experimentation but even within experimentation I expect consistency.
   
• A bottom-heavy tracklist forces you to get to track seven before you actually -meet- new Sadie. Anything remotely worth listening to comes after Viper.

I actually wanted to like this album too, believe it or not, but this is almost everything I hate about Sadie encapsulated in one album. I despise how much I can separate actual Sadie from their influences because when they want to be original, they can devise some great songs. They just choose not to.

 

I won't front completely because I do like a select few tracks from this album, which is the only reason why this album gets that second star.  Those tracks would be 斑-まだら-, Viper, 優シク殺シテ (somewhat), Face to Face, and 雪月花 (note how all of those tracks are at the end of the album). There's nothing as face-obliteratingly bad as BLACK STARS or GREEDY EMOTION, but everything else is not worth your time.

 

Sadie, you were not ready to release this. Try releasing an album full of music independent of Dir en grey for once. Or for once just admit that you can't do metalcore and stick to lighter, frillier music because you really do do it so much better.

[Furik 832]

I'll keep this short.

It is definitely a step up from the crap that was The Black Diamonds but it still falls into a ditch and never to be picked up again.

Sadie has lost what they had going for them back with Master of Romance. That is, without a doubt, their perfect album.

Cold Blood is a close second. Cold Blood was an awesome album. Very heavy and, during the time, they had catchy singles to put on the album too. But.. after that.. they kind of lost it.

 

I don't want to sound harsh because I do like the band but, like I said, after Cold Blood, nothing is really grabbing my attention anymore. Red Line mini album wasn't intersting, The Black Diamonds had nothing of interest. This new album, while only listening to it once, doesn't have anything worth listening to a second time. Except for maybe "viper". It is a catchy song, i'll give them that.

 

I do want to say I still have faith in the band and will continue to keep up with their happenings. It's nice to see they went with a weird "Cold Blood" vibe again after The Black Diamonds catastrophe.

[evilcoconut 109]

↑ Also consider Master of Romance to be their best album.

 

This album, however, is in a word, boring.  Basically  官能とParadox and Viper were the only ones that caught my attention.

[relentless 254]

If there is a word that describes this album, it's "uneven".

Zess hit the nail right on the head in regards to the first 4 tracks: it's Dum Spiro Spero but by Sadie. USUALLY when people say things like this, it has little to no merit. It's usually just built off of fanboy/fangirl rantings to bring other bands down; but here we have legitimate examples of when a band takes a sound from a different band.

The intro to Demon's Cradle is EXACTLY LIKE THE BLOSSOMING BEEZLEBUB. Even the way the guitars enter through the distortion is disturbingly similar. Once there's a slight speed in tempo and we're back to a slow chugging pace, Sadie finds a way to take another sound from Dir en grey: Tsumi to Kisei.Just go to :42 in Demon's Cradle, and you'll hear the exact guitar phrase in Tsumi to Kisei. Never before has Sadie been so blatant with their influence from Dir en grey, other than Mao. These are the two examples in one song where they decide to go for the same exact sound as well.

The album progresses until kannou to paradox where the album COMPLETELY CHANGES TONE. It goes from Dum Spiro Spero-esque to a weird song with an intro reminiscent of Mask and then into a blues progression. What the hell are they doing? Out of nowhere the album changes sounds DRASTICALLY, and it left me shocked as I couldn't believe that the album strayed soo far from what it was originally doing.

It doesn't stop here, the album continues bouncing through different ideas: from synth-laden tracks like Viper, to a typically Sadie track like Setugekka. This album just fractures out of nowhere and goes into a bunch of different sounds. This is an album, not a compilation disc.

Despite the mess, there were a few things I really liked: even when ripping of Dir en grey, the band showed that they were able to incorporate some really awesome prog progressions in the first 4 tracks. It's interesting, even when the guitar work is generic. And damn is it generic. It's the same trick that 12012 has been using, Dir en grey has been using, and now Sadie is using. A passage that features hammer-ons and pull-offs on frets 1.5 steps away from each other, which the guitarist then slides down one fret to do the same. The best way to describe it is listen to Hageshisa to by Dir en grey. The intro with the guitars is exactly what you hear littered throughout Madrigal De Maria. It's a cheap way of trying to write a dark and metal-esque passage; but there's nothing spectacular about it when it's done over, and over again.

Overall, this album is a mess. It's better than what they've been releasing; but that means nothing than what they had been releasing up to this point was forgettable and run of the mill.

4/10

[Dark Kinma 960]

First, I would like say sorry if I make no sense in some of my sentence, I try my best to make the least amount of fault as possible and be as clear as possible.

Thank's

 

For me it's a good album, and if I does choose between the 4, I choose this one, But, I have the strange feeling to listen an other band and not Sadie. (regardless about what band I think listen) but forced to observe (in my opinion) they have never been better than they are inspirated by the band of Mao's Idol rather than their more personnal composing.

But, expet that, this album is good, the three first song introduce wonderfully the album, and the unplugged of face to face is really their best unplugged (from the threewho their are released). where they get the idea for make unplugged ?

Jealousy might well have be replaced by Rosario (this song have more her place in this album more than TBD) and Yasashiku Koroshite don't affect me, maybe here for fulfill...

 

So some people will say "shit they plagiarized [band x]" and, seriously ? They start their career as a copy band of DeG, and Kyo is Mao idol's, so that's totally normal to hear a certain influences, but of course it takes nothing away of the Sadie's talent, because, they have a lot of talent.

(and to be honest, my favorite work by the band, it's all of their release before Crimson Tear)

 

-That's totally my own point of view, and don't forcing anyone to accept mine, but I respect all of you point of view about this album and this band, made the same-

[finnthesubhuman 26]

There's a difference between taking influence and stealing melodies. The intro in Madara follows the drum patterns of Rinkaku and its chorus is almost exactly the same as a Dir en grey song (I can't remember if it's Audience Killer Loop or Marmalade Chainsaw)--way too similar to be anything but deliberate. People need to stop being so easily offended and accept that most VK bands are about as original as the people who write the scripts of the Scary Movie canon. Just because you like something doesn't mean they don't have flaws or that said flaws can be shrugged off. I mean for fuck's sake Nega's solo in Abase is near-identical to a segment of the solo in Dir en grey's Akuro no Oka. I love Nega but I saw that instantly. Not to mention the Muddy Cult/Obscure structure.

 

People are complaining that Sadie is stealing bits of songs, not that they're taking influence from a bigger band. Nearly every current VK band takes influence from Dir en grey. Like Zess said, you listen to an ordinary Sadie song and it's either the same generic number they've been using for years or it's a pastiche of cannibalised Dir en grey passages (and their potential is constantly being masked in favour of these things). That is not influence. The use of random acoustic breaks and faster metalcore section is influence. The Madara chorus is THEFT. There is no ambiguity: this band is getting too comfortable with copying. If you can't hear it, you're in denial. It's not that people who are "hating" on the band (although some might be); it's that the truth is something others are refusing to see. Remember Amentia?

 

 

That said, this album is really awkward sounding and feels more like a random collection of tracks which were given names and an order prior to being written, but most VK seems to do this. It's not boring (and when it's not stealing from DEG and merely taking influence, it can occasionally move from 'DSS on a budget' to 'reasonable proggy neo-VK-core' but it's nowhere near perfect. Madara might be near shameless but it's not bad. I'm afraid I agree with Zess on nearly every point. In particular, they should be playing things they can handle. They need to stop trying to be DEG and just be Sadie full time instead.

 

I should probably add that if this drummer is going to rip Dir en grey's tom-heavy style off then he should at least consider a proper drumkit. And the ride is just too loud.

[Ro plz 1290]

I'll start by saying that this release actually Rivals Cold Blood (which is what I believe is Sadie's Best album to date). Except for a few songs that I believe the album could do without (i'll get to that shortly), it was actually very enjoyable. 

 

With the exception of The Requiem, I do agree that the first few songs on the album are terrible. I wont even talk about them because they're just THAT bad to the point where Kaoru would shake his head in shame if he even bothered listening to them.

 

Once we get to Kannou (best song on the album by the way), the album indeed does pick up and progresses from there. A lot of the songs sound like tracks that are pretty Original and Sadie tried their best on and didn't rely too much on their Dir methods, which I really appreciated.

 

Compared to the Black Diamonds, this is such a step up and it shows that when Sadie wants to, they can def write awesome songs. I will say this though, they suffer the same thing the GazettE and 12012 (UNTIL THE SWAN), suffer from now. They're too comfortable with what they are doing and it does get tiring. Yes, its okay that Dir is a main influence but even Dir got influence from other bands, which is what they should start doing if they want to be taken seriously. But it seems like they're okay with being the shadow of what Dir was back in the day or being a copy band. Hey, its what got them famous to begin with and if thats what they wanna do, then whatevs. We'll still find thing's we like out of what they do anyways. 

 

I give this a 7.5/10 

[Elazmus 1873]

Well I loved it, recognized the Diru influence, and then continued to love.

 

Why does no one enjoy music anymore, maybe reading reviews isn't something I should be doing lol.

[ghost 2687]

I didn't really enjoy the release.

Listened through it once, don't really remember the songs, listened to it a second time and I still don't really remember. 

People have already talked a great deal about the album, but something I do want to re-iterate is the atrocity of Mao's vocals. He's too wild.

He's always growling and screeching, and when he's singing it's backed up by more gutturals.

 

Instrumentally the album was uninspiring for the most part and I was greatly reminded of 12012's approach to hardcore music.

4/10

[dannemannen 69]

I really enjoyed this album. Sure there are some fillers and some boring songs but also some really great new ones as well. Demons craddle, jealousy, kannou to paradox, uso ni mamireta, viper and madara are amazing! Especieally demons, jeaolousy and viper! 7,5/10. Sadie has definately grown into being one of the most interesting jrock bands recently.