Royz - CORE

[paradoxal 2948]

 

So Royz's newest album was released yesterday 2014.07.02 and there seems to be quite a lot of discussion going on about the album.

 

 

 

 

 

My feelings are very mixed. Now after 20-30 plays per song I still can't decide if it's a great album or not, mostly because after LILIA I was really expecting a harder and more br00tal album, but this album turned out to be quite the opposite. Not that it doesn't work, I think there are a few quite good songs. I just wasn't expecting this kind of glitter rock with basically no harder songs.

 

I haven't been a Royz fan for a long time, and actually EGOIST was that one song that got me into Royz. Naturally for me that's the best song on this whole album. But at this point I think my favorite new song is 囁姫遊女, one of the glitteriest songs on the album... I really like the riff and the atmosphere of the chorus, somehow the melody reminds me of Kagrra,. This song must be so fun at lives, 

 

Another one of my favorite songs is 洗礼, probably the hardest song on the whole album.

 

At this point I'll probably give this album 3/5 stars. It sounds pretty good, but I'm not blown away by it yet. I'll definitely need to give it a few more listens before I can write something longer.

 

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on the album? Did you hate it or love it, or is it just basic visual kei crap?

And please answer the polls, I'm really interested in your opinions on the album!

 

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

I just got home from the bar and I'm listening to it now for the first time and so far, so good. Since my teen years I've taken a big step back from harder and heavier music. I don't listen to it AS MUCH, but I still appreciate it from lets say Dir en grey and Deathgaze as well as some others. Royz is an album I am just recently into as I liked a lot of their work on recent compilation albums so I decided to check out their newest album.

 

That being said, seeing as this is so far an incredibly pop/rock/VK album.... It's really working for me. Revelation was a great way to start the album and I really like Shippujinrai a lot. Even more than Revelation tbh. Boogeyman definitely has its moments. It's got an excellent rhythm going for it, but the vocals are pretty uninspiring. If I'm being honest about it though, I would probably listen to it dozens of time for the composition and beat.

 

I don't care for the screaming and frantic sound of Egoist. It certainly is far from bad or mediocre, but it's just not really my style anymore. Answer is a song with a pretty neat beat and rhythm which I find important in music recently. Something to really rock out to, and that's what Answer is. I see myself listening to this one a LOT. The intro to Final was pretty interesting and I can tell they composed the song well, but I really hate the vocal layering. Where he's like singing over recordings of him just talking. And it sounds just like I heard it before somewhere... OHHHH It was on the Conquest of Naniwa omnibus. Okay yeah I'll probably put this one on my playlist too then and see if it grows on me more.

 

I can't tell what囁姫遊女 is romanized, so suffice it to say I copied it from Paradoxal's post. Anywho, I totally dig the dance vibe. I love dance music and I love it more when it's put into my VK rock music. I think the cross over of the genres is usually really interesting. But I actually do NOT care for it here at all.

 

Baptism's intro is actually too frantic for me, it's too all over the place and the fact that this is a heavier song turns me off to it. I like Royz for their pop/rock sound and clean vocals. It's not that they do this kind of song poorly, it's just not my preferred style of Royz song.

 

Lilia was actually quite a good single, but it does fit into that darker sound that I don't love from them. I could see myself listening to it more often than say Baptism, but the likelihood is that I'll put it on my iPad and forget it's even on there.

 

Real World turned me off immediately upon intro. It was too messy, but I forwarded a little into the song and I ended up liking what I was hearing. I'm gonna go with a slightly above average rating for this and hope that it grows on me enough to really like it enough to get beyond the intro because the song as a whole is QUITE nice.

 

Ivy being a power pop/rock ballad of sorts puts it in the lead as one of my favorite tracks on the album. This one was an excellent job and I feel the same about Idea. Great way to finish off an album I really enjoyed overall.

 

My iTunes rating of the album is 5/5, so I would say I'm impressed! Gonna go vote in the poll I just noticed was here.

[Mihenno 4195]

OK, I definitely like CORE more than I liked Tears. Between CORE and Revolution to New AGE, I can't decide which I like better. 

I was a bit surprised by the new songs, but not in a bad way. I would have liked for there to be something similar to RISK_144000 because that song is hot as fuck but oh well. 

I'm not going to go track by track but I'm really into 疾風迅雷. I also like イデア but still prefer Aerial cord over it.  I feel like I get lost during 囁姫遊女 and 洗礼. They're not bad songs...I just..idk like they don't really stand out to me or I haven't listened to them enough. I'm just "whatever" about them. I was into Real world upon first listen but now I don't really know how I feel about it. Not a fan of the "Dancing Dancing fly Dancing Dancing cry" parts. Feels like I'm being attacked. EGOIST still slays and will always slay. That's their best song in my opinion. 

 

This album is a 4/5 stars for me. 

 

 

I have to bitch about this too, but the poster.... I haven't gotten mine yet, but wow, not into it. There's a lot of things that irk me about it, one being that Kazuki isn't in it. He definitely played a part in the album but ok.  Another thing is that I was expecting something "cool" not for 3 of them to be cheesing and then Koudai looking serious... like what? ughhhhhhhhh it's just too silly for my taste. 

[Tetora 625]

The album that turned me into a big Royz fan.

 

When I got it, I honestly didn`t expect it would get as many plays as it has, even putting them in my Last.fm toplists, but I have learned to take my expectations and impressions lightly. Here is my late review.

 

Songs that hit me hardest and get the most play:

 

疾風迅雷 (Thunderclap Blast / Hurricane)

Has that attitude I love, and is a perfect song to roll out with and provide the soundtrack for you conquering the day.

 

囁姫遊女 (Not sure how to say this, like Whispering Whore Princess)

A guitar lick and synth melody that just drags you into a wild mood. Total ROCK feel.

 

REVELATION

Soft, tender vocals that charm and help tell a story with a rocking feel.

 

-----

 

There are some real stand-out tracks to me, but the whole album has a strong cohesive feel and signature that really impresses me. Royz definitely has a distinguished feel for this album, even if people didn`t get that impression in the first place.

The lyrics have a nice feel, while keeping a dark side, like Yin and Yang, there are bright patches and beautiful vocals, but also cockroaches lurking underneath.

 

Nice sound, strong instruments and vocals, that focus more on having a good, solid sound than being virtuosos or stealing the show.

 

You will notice that the album has a very similar feel as I mentioned, yet it doesn`t run into having too many similarities or feel repetitive, it is definitely something that flows nicely, gives each song emphasis, and can be played straight through without skipping, though in my opinion, you will probably be replaying certain tracks sure to be your favorite, and even just going right to those tracks over and over, I definitely did, and can enjoy every song yet give much more attention to three tracks over the rest which aren`t even lacking anything in my opinion.

 

Good quality production and disc print quality as well, obviously not a AAA album feel, but that`s not what it sets out to be, so one shouldn`t be looking for that, the sound is perfect for what it is, anything else may `overproduce` and take away from the feel.

 

Overall, I think this is a great album, worth the purchase if you sample REVELATION and 疾風迅雷 and enjoy them. Don`t let previous singles or sounds like LILIA define the band to you, as even with that track on the album, they have a lot to offer that you would miss out on if you were to judge them without trying the actual album.

 

OVERALL ALBUM SCORE FOR ME:

OVERALL ALBUM SCORE FOR WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT ACCOMPLISHES WHAT IT SEEMINGLY SETS OUT TO DO:

 

One of this year`s highlights personally, so far.

[eiheartx 1310]

I discovered them with this album (and because here on M-H everyone seems to praise him so why not give it a try ?)

I have to say, this is a solid album very bright and catchy.

On LILIA, I feel like I'm listening to Versailles or some majestic band, and I liked it.

I don't have the background to judge them in comparison to their earlier releases but I think I'm gonna follow the next.

[kasupaa 22]

I really love CORE, and didn't think I would! I remember listening to Royz's first single ever like ages ago, thinkin it was okay, quite good, then forgot the band totally. Paradoxal started to feed me LILIA this year, and I have to say, I wasn't that impressed... Nor when I heard EGOIST was I that overwhelmed, but a few days ago I got CORE and decided that I would give it a try, and it was so worth it.

 

The album is just very solid as a whole, with songs that make it stand out from a body of very generic VK -yaay/pop/rock/sparkle -bands, but first and foremost it is just so well made, so coherent as an album and the songs function so well as individual tracks and compositions that it makes me think that Royz is one of the leading bands in this category of VK music.

 

REVELATION, 疾風迅雷 and answer are my favourites, with answer lying on top, I just loove that track it's insane.

 

Definetly got me interested in Royz again!