Alice Nine - Supernova

[Seimeisen 4406]

So, what does everyone think so far?

It seems that this album is to Alice Nine what "DIVISION FRAGMENT [ARTERY]" is to the GazettE, with all the electronic elements. It's not *as* terrible as I expected; it's definitely better than "Alpha." Not all electronic elements on this album are tasteless, but I think they did a much better job with electronic/softer elements on "VANDALIZE."

I'm not less impressed with this album because it's softer, or because of the electronic elements, but because there are some compositions here that I'm just not so fond of. "Daybreak" and "shooting star" are kind of the black sheep of the album. I tried to like both songs.

Also, while there are 12 tracks, the album seems to end before you know it.

I think this album would be better if "shooting star" was replaced with "Affection," and maybe "from KURAYAMI" was placed between 開戦前夜 and that prelude track.

Tracks that I'm really enjoying: SHADOWPLAY, Exist, 開戦前夜, +-

Tracks that I'm less fond of: メビウス, Daybreak, shooting star

for the official tracklist

when "shooting star" is replaced with "Affection;" "from KURAYAMI" and re-rec of "jellyfish" are included

[Jigsaw9 6783]

This is probably the worst Alice Nine album I've ever heard (even "topping" Alpha in that aspect). Most of the new songs sound boring, lacking any power or even catchy melodies - they're just completely lame and leave no impression. I gotta say, even SHINING and Daybreak seemed like okay-ish tracks next to the new ones (that's quite a feat!). Exist, SHADOWPLAY and 開戦前夜 are the only songs I could honestly label "good" (last two especially), the rest is just garbage better left unheard by my ears.

 

| below average, and probably won't listen to the whole thing again, only select tracks.

[Augie1995 325]

I personally thought the album was unfulfilling. Like Seimeisen said, the album seems to end before you know it. I was barely getting into the new songs when I realized Prelude was already playing (Why is prelude at the end? Doesn't Alice Nine know Preludes go at the beginning?) All the new songs were pretty good, especially KID having a sense like the band has been listening to some Crossfaith recently, but it just wasn't enough. Personally, this is better than Alpha and that other one (Zekkeishoku?) because the new songs were good as were the pre-released singles. GEMINI is stil #1, with 9 right behind it and then VANDALIZE

 

 

I think Alice Nine would have done better had they made this a mini-album with all of the new songs, but they haven't released a mini since 2005

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

I'm going to take the opposite viewpoint here. It tops Alpha for me, but in the direct opposite way. Alpha, until now, has been my favorite album by a9. I liked every song on Alpha but one, and it's the same with this album. The worst song on his album that I really cannot listen to? Kaisenzenya. It is total noise to me. Poorly composed, decently sung, but when the instrumentation isn't there it ruins the whole experience.

 

I am fairly disappointed that 1 Minute Kidding didn't just blend into Kid to make one song, but whatever. I really REALLY liked Kid. It's my favorite on the album. I'm disappointed that there were sooooo many single songs on there, but glad that Shadowplay got the album version and Daybreak made it on there. I LOVE Daybreak and I know I am in the minority there. Shining is sung uninterestingly, but it has some good elements that I like, but I do wish From Kurayami made the cut instead of Shooting Star, a decent song, but nowhere near the epic-level of From Kurayami. 

 

+-, Seven, and Exist are all really good for heavier, more rock-oriented a9, but as you can probably tell, I like their softer, pop/rock songs. Mebius and Kid were such a new a9 experience for me because I never thought they would go so far into the electronic realm beyond the small outro of Alpha (that I really, really liked), but here they do it in two full length songs and two interludes. The outro for this album, as well, I love a lot. It sounds silly since it's just an interlude, but I will probably listen to it a lot. I thought it was well done. 

 

I personally gave it a 5/5. I wish there was more new music, but I think the album is solid and it is the first album I plan on listening to more than once SINCE Alpha.

[Augie1995 325]

I'm not gonna lie, Alice Nine does the electronic style very well. The MIDI style break in SHINING was new but the way it's incorporated into SEVEN and then massive influence in KID. I prefer having the original Alice Nine who was all instruments and orchestral sounds and all that with some ambient sounds every now and then, but I would not mind Alice Nine delving into some electronic sounds so long as they learn to keep it under control

[Tetora 625]

Agree that it is short, and full of old tracks which were not hits...

Again the album and band are marketed towards fujoshi...

I dont like Shou's singing, I dont find a single riff or beat on the album interesting, only Shou's vocal melodies, but he sings then all in the same high pitch which I dont feel...

I can understand why people would like the album, but it is really not me... There is dubstep influence on two tracks, lots of other modern pop things spreaf throughout the album, and the general feeling that this album was made not as a work, but as a product.

Tbh I dont even agree with this approach being good business sense either as their sales have stopped growing and actually shrunk, and they charted some releases lower than how their earliest album and indie releases charted.

Kid is my fav. New track, it is kind of the same approach as Mucc on Falling Down album ver. or Asterios by DIV.

Overall I find the albun decent and will continue listening, but so far I give it 6/10.

I feel as though they could have been one of the best Japanese bands of all time, but they went in a different direction.

[platanity 99]

i found the album surprisingly attractive despite the fact of the singles prior

to this release were relatively ... boring .

 

i loved the short se track and the succeeding track "kid" 

but all in all , nice and clean album , and stood out very much

with the help of lacking nightmare's (simultaneously released) new album hah .

 

3/5

[sai 868]

Before I start the typical tl;dr review I'm curious to know why quite a lot who replied here dislike Alpha so much. In my opinion it really isn't THAT bad an album and it has plenty of catchy tracks. In the aspect of poppy Alice Nine, Alpha was a lot better than Supernova and I'll be explaining why.

 

Now, about Supernova; as others have stated before me, the album ended before I had any notice of it. I was at Exist when I started a puzzle of sudoku. I filled in only 3 blocks and suddenly the prelude was playing and the album was finished.

 

To be quite honest I feel like Supernova wasn't made to be an album with any theme whatsoever. "9" also showcased Alice Nine's more basic sound, but "9" was a lot more consistent and flowed well. Alice Nine did not create Supernova with anything in mind. Considering "9" released 2 years ago I would not be surprised if Supernova had to be released before "9"'s release date was passed by two years. So what's the result? Put all the singles on the album, and add 6 more songs of which one is a prelude (which isn't actually a prelude because it's at the end of the album and it doesn't flow into SHINING at all. Nice trying pulling a Sound in Gate guys, bravo) and the other one is an interlude to one of the new songs. In total that leaves 4 full new songs out of 12. Alice Nine has never pulled such a stunt before; their releases always have plenty of new content so the fact that there's so many old songs on top of the fact that it's close to "9"'s release date really gives me the impression that this one was done on a tight schedule. If you look at the 4 newly created songs, you can hear that they all have electronic bits which the singles didn't have. This makes the entire album feel like a compilation album composed of random tracks more than an actual album.

 

Of the single tracks that are on the album, I enjoyed SHADOWPLAY and DAYBREAK. I liked these singles when they were released, though I'm not so big on the fact that they mixed guitar parts with the piano at the interlude of SHADOWPLAY, it feels really out of place. I didn't like SHINING either; it had plenty of interesting vocal hooks, but the instruments were just incredibly dull. All I could hear was Saga's bass. Nao, Tora and Hiroto were hardly audible and when you could actually hear the guitars in the chorus, they did nothing more than play a few repetitive melodies that even Shou couldn't save.

 

Exist and 開戦前夜 were not to my liking. Heavier riffs doesn't equal good and both songs just don't leave any sort of impression at all. 開戦前夜 is a mess with Shou being constantly out of tune and repetitive drumming that completely ruins the rest of the song. Exist is the better of the two but I would only rate it average. Shining star is really dull and I doubt I'll change my opinion on it.

 

Now for the new tracks. +- reminds me of an anime theme that I've heard before but I can't seem to recall which one. The "WOHO"-parts were kind of lame and removed all structure and flowing from the chorus of the song. However apart from these parts +- is a catchy song that I'll be relistening on my own. SEVEN is catchy as hell and probably the best new song. This is one of the few songs on the album where Shou is actually in sync with the rest of the band. Shou's vocal lines on this album are interesting enough, the rest of the band just doesn't back him up whatsoever. I really enjoy SEVEN, so I have nothing more to say about it. メビウス was really mediocre. A track like this needs a catchy chorus or some nice hooks to work; it lacked both and turns into the most forgettable new song.

 

1 Minute Kidding is just an interlude to KID and could've been left out. Then again whenever I listen to it it reminds me of a song from the Kill la Kill soundtrack. In other words:

 

/ 5

 

KID could've done without the pretentious dubstep breakdown. What is this I'm listening to, a ViViD album? The quality of Supernova makes me think that it was written by ViViD or any of ViViD's ghost writers because I'm not used to this pisspoor quality coming from Saga's side. I simply hate it when VK bands put in dubstep breakdowns in their songs where they a) don't fit are completely unnecessary. Can we just kill this trend asap pls.

 

And that's it I guess? I'm not reviewing the prelude. Least favourite A9 album so far. Not sure whether to blame the band's taste going to shit, them joining UNIVERSAL and UNIVERSAL trying to make them even more into a fujoshi-oriented band without focusing on the material (which they always were, but hey at least A9 cared about putting out good tunes!), or the complete lack of time that they might've had.

 

Another thing I noticed was how their skills were completely undermined here. Usually Tora and Hiroto work together splendidly and they improve on every single release. On this album however, I heard nothing of this. Neither guitarists did anything outstanding and one of them easily could've skipped the recording. The drumming is bland as well; Saga is the only one instrumentally who does anything worthwhile.

 

| only 4/12 songs were new, only two of them of were actually good. Daybreak and Shadowplay remain enjoyable, which makes for 4 out of 12 songs I've enjoyed (4/10 if you don't count the two interludes). Very weak.

[michi510 9]

i have to somewhat agree with these reviews...  Nothing really stood out from this album, aside from +- for me.  

 

Reading the compositions, I felt like they just asked each member aside from Nao to create one new song for the album.  I guess that's why though, I've heard the singles so much that it made going through the tack list so fast. 

 

I DO however admire the production value on this disc.  Having gone through each of their albums, each one continues to have better mixes and sounds incorporated.  That's why I think this band is different than the rest.  The group pumps out different ideas each time.   Every member improves their technical skills on every release.  

[sai 868]

Reading the compositions, I felt like they just asked each member aside from Nao to create one new song for the album.  I guess that's why though, I've heard the singles so much that it made going through the tack list so fast.

 

Do you happen to have a link to the information about the composition? I know this is probably the wrong thread to ask but I'm just really curious who composed what.

[michi510 9]

I believe who composed what was imbedded in the track itself.  I saw it using software like ID3 Editor/mp3 tag.  Don't have the tracks with me now but I could post the compositions later.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Here's the writing credits according to the mp3 tags:

 

01. SHINING / Saga

02. +- / Saga

03. SEVEN / Saga

04. メビウス / Shou

05. Daybreak / Tora

06. shooting star / Saga

07. Exist / Shou

08. 1 Minute Kidding / Alice Nine, Satoru (Jazzin' park), Kurihara & Shingo Kubota (Jazzin' park)

09. KID / Tora

10. SHADOWPLAY(Supernova Edition) / Shou

11. 開戦前夜 / Saga

12. Prelude-resolution- / Hiroto

[Pretsy 1343]

So, after listening to this twice, I must say that I don't remember anything else out of this album than

 

a) singles

b  )メビウス (I thought I was listening to MGMT for a moment until Shou started singing)

c) +-'s WOAH OOH OOH-ing (???)

d) Prelude...awkward placement there, A9 guys.

 

Seeing as Saga made *the best* songs out of whole bunch, I think other members should really step their game up (and stop going after dubstep trend too) or at least give Saga a major role in composing. They are quite wise enough to acknowledge the fact that the reaction to GEMINI was even visible in charts/sales too (as far as I remember that).

 

Pros: SHINING (yeah yeah, that EDM break tho), +- , Shadowplay, Daybreak, Prelude (despite being awkardly the last song)

Cons: メビウス , KID, abrupt and awkward ending + effed up order (big minus there, guys).

 

6/10.

[Original Saku 1593]

So i downloaded this but haven't listened yet.. I haven't listen to anything A9 related since Gemini (which I thought was surprisingly good) so that means every song on this album is new to me... so my question is; is it worth the listen? will i like it if i like Gemini? Pretty much I want to know is it worth my time?

[sai 868]

In all honesty, probably not. You might enjoy SHADOWPLAY and perhaps one or two catchier poppy songs, but I don't think there's anything for you on Supernova.

[Seimeisen 4406]

Not sure whether to blame the band's taste going to shit, them joining UNIVERSAL and UNIVERSAL trying to make them even more into a fujoshi-oriented band without focusing on the material (which they always were, but hey at least A9 cared about putting out good tunes!), or the complete lack of time that they might've had.

For the past year, I've been blaming UNIVERSAL. I mean, it could be a coincidence that they released two marvellous albums on TOKUMA, and are releasing very sub-par material on UNIVERSAL, but still, it's kind of difficult for me to not blame record labels when stuff like this happens.

 

 

Don't know if the following is relevant enough to post in a review thread, but the tracklist seems to be a common complaint about Supernova. So, I'll ask you all this: how would any of you change the tracklist? Which songs would you move to a different part of the album, replace with others, or simply remove? I tend to change up tracklists with albums quite often ('cause I'm sooooo rebellious with audio file tagging bands aren't very good at arranging them themselves).

This is what I would do:

SHINING

+-

SEVEN

メビウス

Daybreak

Affection

開戦前夜

KID

SHADOWPLAY

Exist

jellyfish

from KURAYAMI

Prelude (resolution) [bonus Track]

 

Prelude would be a bonus track (like Overture from GEMINI), KID and one minute kidding would be joined as one track.

It's still flawed in my opinion, but would sound a lot better than the current tracklist.

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

I would have Prelude close the album, but rename it to something that doesn't insinuate the beginning of a musical piece. I would take Shooting Star off and replace it wit From Kurayami and probably take Shining and Kaisenzenya off the album all together for new material and merge 1 Minute Kidding with Kid. 

[Augie1995 325]

Regarding Sai's comment as towards the hate towards Alpha, I don't dislike Alpha, there' nothing wrong with it. It's just that all the other albums are a bit better to my ears.

 

Like almost all of A9's albums, the album made the singles just a little bit more appealing to me. Maybe eventually i'll be able to just look at this as a playlist and not as a "new album"

[doaseternity6 93]

Alpha is my least favorite A9 record but not in the sense that I think it's bad. I actually love the majority of it, it just isn't as amazeballs as their other records but it's really excellent for a normal pop-rock effort imo.

That said onto Supernova: It is really the first A9 record I think I actively dislike. I never really thought I'd see the day haha. It feels so weird...so disjointed. Probably as other's have said due to the track listing which is sad because I think one of their greatest strengths is that they really have always been good at telling a story/having a really good flow on their albums (one of the main reasons I think zekkeishoku is so powerful). I think Sai hit the nail on the head with what is mainly wrong with this album and it's that it lacks focus. I mean on previous albums they've run the gamut of different music styles but it still felt connected and purposeful and here it's not that they are mixing sounds that makes it feel without focus, there is a clear electronic element here but it all just feels so thrown together. The changes are really abrupt for me too...like why put mebius after Seven...if anything maybe after SHINING...and on that I don't understand why SHINING is the opener when a9 are known for having dramatic engaging openings...all Shining does is set the mood for disappointment really. Why? This album just keeps me saying "why? what were you thinking guys?".

That said I don't think there are any songs I really hate individually besides the obvious Shooting star and SHINING (though it's grown on me a little...very little), even Mebius, which is kind of like shooting star in the what is this band going for anymore sense of pure fuckery but unlike shooting star I like the verses and the disco like break down stuff that I kind of miss from some of their older songs (dat chorus is god awful doe). The song is kinda kitsch but in an endearing way I guess. I actively like Seven and KID out of the 4 actually new songs and +- is pretty good too though a little forgettable when it really needed to be amazing given the low amount of new songs. I actually kind of really love 1 minute kidding and the outro even though they were both unnecessary for this record (it's a record that really didn't earn a good outro the way Gemini did). Also both of those have more of the electronic elements that I truly like from this band than the stuff in shining or mebius.

Shou is also probably the star of supernova though and on that front I'm really proud of him as an individual. I think he's doing really great things vocally and especially melody wise here but the instrumentation itself is tired with the exception of Shadowplay, KID, Seven, and maybe kaisenzenya...people say it's messy but I don't think so. I really like the shifts but the drums definitely don't cut it and in turn execution isn't perfect but there is instrumental effort there that isn't in most of these songs. (Exist is somewhere in limbo for me, I think this is really solid and good alice nine instrumentally but it isn't interesting in the way the other songs I mentioned at least were and would represent the resident "typical" Alice Nine song on a given album to me.) I think that's where the alpha comparison comes in more than anything though, not because alpha is terrible but because instrumentally the album feels overall reductive. That the bands compositions would be reminiscent of that period is troubling for a band that only seemed to be growing at one point. Besides that, I've always felt a9 were at least one of the most cohesive bands in Vk, I personally never felt one part was stronger or weaker than the others but this is the first time I'm truly thinking one person, Shou, has really been spotlighted and while I'm proud of him personally, it drives home how much more powerful this band really is when they are all pulling their weight. Tora and Hiroto don't really play off each other memorably, no memorable basslines really and Nao's drumming is downright bad in a few songs...The only songs that really reminds me of how great this band is at having memorable parts that mesh is Shadowplay and SEVEN tbh.

Also this may be strange but none of these songs actually make me feel anything. Every a9 album has had songs on it that I could really identify with or triggered an actual emotion in me but there is really nothing like that on this album (though of course if the album was just filled with awesome compositions I wouldn't have been that bothered by this. It also doesn't help the fact that From Kurayami does illicit a feeling from me and was made a b-side instead of an album track kind of hit the point home for me lol)

I guess the bottom line tl;dr is while I don't really dislike the songs individually as a whole the album is disappointingly without focus and fails to at least make that up with inspired compositions and heart. Maybe the only a9 album I wouldn't actually recommend to somebody. Shou is doing the damn thing tho.

EDIT: My track list solution

I've been listening to it in this order and imo it greatly improves the album for me. Also +- is better than I originally thought once I switched listening devices I heard some stuff that i was missing previously...it's still very anime opening but it's got much more going for it than I initial gave it credit for. I also realize that I kept forgetting daybreak was on this album before I switched up the track list because while it is an okay song the urge to skip it was always strong. Upon re-discovering it I will add this one to one of those songs that the band is actually cohesively good on even though it isn't one of my top songs.

So i downloaded this but haven't listened yet.. I haven't listen to anything A9 related since Gemini (which I thought was surprisingly good) so that means every song on this album is new to me... so my question is; is it worth the listen? will i like it if i like Gemini? Pretty much I want to know is it worth my time?

Download and listen to "9" (the album before this one) instead. If you liked Gemini, you will like that. Then add the Shadowplay single (because Scarlet is win as well) and you are pretty much golden. You may like a few songs on this but If you're serious about checking out something post-Gemini "9" is the better bet.

[Flash-Fab-Supernova 88]

THE LONG AWAITED FURASHI FABU SUPAANOBA RIIBYU TE IKKIMASU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU.

 

I haven't thought I'd be interested in reviewing this album or even listening to it! Which is odd because Elvis Nine has always been one of my favorite bands from the land of Japan. I'm listening to it through for the first time RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT. And I just heard that weird screamy end to EXIST. And and YOU GUYS I DON'T EVEN ABOUT DAT. Like. Sounded like a bad donald duck impersonation. BUT ANYWAY, this album is so STRANGE. There are some... weird... things going on. I DUNNO. LIKE. Shou will sing a song like Daybreak and still have that EXTREMELY SAD UNDERTONE to his voice. It's really... I dunno. It's strange. And then there is the fuckin' awesome Disco rock track that the band does well. KID is definitely pretty great. The dubsteppy effect is kind of odd. I feel like this is them trying to find something new to do album. The fact that it took them a few years and released singles of varying degree of quality, I SAY THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO YOU GUYS OK. Whatever they do, I hope it's along the lines of what we've glimpsed in songs such as KID, SEVEN, and even Daybreak. I don't really know what I was expecting from this album. But it is extremely reminiscent of Alpha. Even in the way that Alpha seemed a little all over the place. It feels like Supernova is a display of what they've been playing with and where they might be going with it. Zekkeishoku was probably one of the most interesting albums from an indie band way back then and then Alpha was just... a giant step from what they did on Zekkeishoku. It was almost shocking~. The peaked really hard with GEMINI, seriously that album is just fantastic in so many ways. Then 9 was the plateu. This feels like a falling climax, almost like they are tired and unsure of what they want to do next. They are all really interesting little songs but the album as a whole doesn't really click~. Elvis Nine could possibly go for a very heavy disco electro pop rock album next. Also, that song Shining, it feels like it's throwing a bone way back to White Prayer. ALMOST LIKE WHITE PRAYER AND BLUE FLAME HAD A BABY AND BATHED IT IN THE BLOOD OF SUBETE E. Shining isn't a good song but it sounds like Alice Nine. And since all of Alice Nine's music is so over heard to me, I've had to take a break, but this definitely sounds like Alice Nine so I guess it's a good Alice Nine song. But is it amazing? Worthy of being a PV song? NO. WHY? I definitely think they should have gone for that that that KID song yeah~. Anyway, there is a staleness to shining. BUT SHOU SOUNDS LIKE A CUTIE. BUT THAT FUCKING... WEIRD ELECTRO FUNK BREAKDOWN. WHAT WAS THAT. I MEAN. LOLOL. Out of nowhere. Electro funk breakdown. I feel like these are Alice Nine's attempts at sticking their toes in the kind of pop music that is popular now. What with the proliferation of techno infused music. Oh god SHOOTING STAR SUCKS. Gotta skip it. And... Moebius... SHOU IS TOO OLD TO DO SONGS LIKE THIS BELIEVABLY. This song is lackluster like SHINING. AHAHA. The synth in Moebius. Oh man. Ok that synth actually makes me like this~. Nom nom Gay disco tones. ANYWAY, this album was fucking weird and I don't know. +- was ok. I DUNNO. THIS. It was just ok. It was weird and funky and was definitely worth a listen. But I can't see myself wanting to sing along to any of these songs. The band has extreme pop music potential but I feel like their strengths lie towards music like Gemini. Also, felt like there was a forced "trying to make it sound fun" vibe to the album. Kaisenzenya is a weird dirgey ballad that just... 

 

FLASH FAB RATING FO DAT ELVIS NINE SUPAANOBA ARUBAMU: MEH/5

 

I'm just. THIS ALBUM WAS WEIRD YOU GUYS.