My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND - 日進月歩

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I saw lots of ppl were interested in this release, so hopefully this review thread will get more activity...

 

I was looking forward to hearing the 1st release of the interestingly named My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND, no less because I usually find Tenten's (or Taira's or whoever's) bands and projects unique and always something worth checking out. Poor me - well, okay, the situation isn't that grim but I should've lowered my expectations in advance.

 

The first song starts off with the blandest, lamest, laziest excuse for trying to sound br00tal and modern and hip, via those typical one-note 'core chuggathons...and then the screaming starts. When Tenten switches to the chorus it's like a big wet slap in the face with a slightly pungent fish - it just somehow doesn't fit and his voice irritates me (didn't think I'd ever say such a thing). The second track isn't better either. Despite the faster tempo in the verses it can almost be swapped for the opening song and I would barely notice (see: chorus). Completely skippable and unremarkable.

 

It wasn't until track 3 that the release got my interest. This one resorts to the cookie-cutter 'core influenced guitar formula too, but puts a bit of a spin on it - just enough random simple tricks for it to stand out. The whole song isn't that memorable but compared to what I heard before it's like a breath of fresh air. Energetic, punchy, even somewhat varied. Good job here. The closing song doesn't seem like anything special after this, but at least it's not more of the typical trying-to-be-br00tal kei stylings - instead it's just typical melodic modern kei, lol. It's harmless enough and doesn't leave a sour taste in my mouth (ears? xD), so I guess it's passable.

 

For a first release this EP is not bad. I hope the band experiments and takes risks a bit more in the future, and that they'll have the balls and creativity to do so - because there are already some seeds of nice ideas in there.

 

| good for a listen or two if you don't mind mostly uninspired stuff

[Elazmus 1873]

Okay I think my post was deleted while I was editing it into something substantial... which is kind of disappointing, I guess I'll even it out to a summarized version..

 

I love this as much as I did when it was previewed, I'm going to avoid giving star ratings as I believe they would be biased coming from me especially the first day it was posted. So I'm going to give Pro's and Con's of the overall release, citing examples from tracks. Thank you for your patience.

 

PROS: Chemical Pictures was known to dip it's toes briefly into a heavy sound, many tracks from the Sekai wo Utta Otoko series opened with Tenten's screams and aggressive riffs, now with the current lineup with ex-SKULL members we get an opportunity to Tenten to essentially jump in waist-deep (meaning that this is not a completely heavy style and still leaves him room to lay back in light, pleasant choruses more familiar to CP/Kiss My Way fans.

 

Tsumi koroshite yama ni ume tai opens with a chainsaw effect, (audio referencing the visual concept) it is little things like this that make me think that they are truly invested in the idea and that further releases will show cohesive storytelling.

 

CONS: The unique, charming, funk-inspired progression that made CP Taira's best band is still absent here, the instrumentation is not so experimental and explorative as I would like.. genre-wise, he has placed himself in the middle of that hardcore no mans land where generic songs are just waiting to be made. (This is not to say that I find these songs generic, but that they have their work cut out for them trying to avoid this)

 

I was hoping for longer songs overall. leave a bit of room for some progression and variation especially given that we only have 4 tracks to this mini album.

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If anyone is interested, I am still prepared to rate it 5/5 (again, take my rating with a grain of salt.)

 

I truly hope people still love and are excited for this project post-release. MUCH Kazuhiro love. Thanks for your patience again!

[togz 2004]

I think it's a solid release for it being a first. I agree about the guitar work, it's a little predictable and bland. However I think technical guitar work isn't always a must in order to have a good song. I'm not going to pick each song apart. I think if you're in to tentens voice, or SKULL... Then you should just check it out. Simple as that.

What I literally hear is SKULL minus Sin plus Tenten. The guitar work is different yet similar to SKULL, I think the difference is influenced by Yoh (or whatever he's called now).

Idk I liked it enough to anticipate another release.

I still think CPS > MBHI so far

[jduv86 224]

Like everyone else said, this is just ok which is sad to me because everyone knows I'm Tenten's bitch basically. He has been my favorite VK singer since Kurt. I will follow that man through everything. That being stated, here we go:

 

1. I don't mind brutal at all, but I feel this is kind of forced and repetitive after awhile. Also, I'm all about melodic unexpected choruses, but this one really seems to just pop out of no where and doesn't seem to fit in the song. It is a catchy chorus though. Some parts of the song, it seems like Tenten is straining... 3/5

 

2. Another brute....very similar to the 1st song, but this seems to flow better and the singing doesn't seem so forced. I love how Tenten sounds in this song. If he's going for this style of music now, I think this nails it really well. Didn't go overboard with brutality for no reason...really thought they were going to pull a standard chug fest for the breakdown, but I like what they did instead. Catchy, nice overall flow....nothing special, but still a really good song overall. 4/5

 

3.  a 3rd brute, but a very interesting main riff with the glitch effect or is that a delay effect? ...this song is probably the most stand out song. Lots of interesting ideas put together to form an unique song and unlike the other songs, this doesn't repeat as much. I like how the instrumental in the chorus seems to be restrained a little. Decent song. 3.5/5

 

4. finally a little lighter melody. I like like songs like this. It reminds me of songs like Kurt's "Sweet Lemon Broker" or CP "Reincarnation", etc, etc...these like melodic rock songs. However, unlike the ones listed, this isn't on par with them. It's nice, but nothing special. Just good. 3/5

 

Pros:

- Tenten's back in action!

- I heard some really cool drumming going on!

- Not a bad song on here

- Catchy

 

Cons:

- Nothing really stands out

- Tenten sounds strained in some parts of the song

- Lots of repetitiveness outside of chorus...

 

Overall: 3/5 Just enough to make me happy with it until they start unleashing some mega monster singles like they did for Chemical Pictures, if they go that route release wise. I hope they do release quickly like Chemical Pictures because they found a great way to release frequently AND still make quality songs. A promising start.  

[nekkichi 6042]

idk what everyone else is saying about being a solid first release, indie vk bands rarely hit the mark they establish by the very first records, it generally goes downhill pretty fast from there (opposite examples?)

 

I was getting hyped for this bc of tenten, but right now, their creative future looks very bleak to me

 

3/10 or something

[Guest Magatsu]

Metal core? or wtf is this?

 

It's not bad. But also nothing special.

Typical sound vocalist. Typical sound songs.

Not something what I like to listen to.

 

for me its a 2/10.

It's simply not my taste of music.

 

But I can understand perfect why people would love this.

[Furik 832]

Love it. I thought Tenten forgot about thus project but now its official and there's a release! Its a good starter mini/single/whatever but its nothing groundbreaking. A little band here and there but there are some catchy songs and a lot of the work reminds me of KuRt. I highly recommend it if you enjoy any of Tenten's previous works. 4/5

[Youko_o 51]

I was expecting more. I'm that kind of guy who run the eyes through a band look and thinks "they have an awesome look, let's check the sound". Their look is awesomely produced, but their music... Meh. The core-ish instrumentals got my attention since I got really into core music by the last months. That combined with the drive vocals... wow, it's powerful! Maybe generic, but powerful. The problem is: clean vocals don't fit. I never heard Tenten before and am going to do because I wanna know more of his work since everyone says good things about him. But for this release: weak clean vocals imo.

 

2/5

[nekkichi 6042]

 The problem is: clean vocals don't fit. I never heard Tenten before and am going to do because I wanna know more of his work since everyone says good things about him. 

kuRt has been a much better combination of heavy-ish pop-rock VK and his vocals (not to mention their songs've been like 500x more creative)

 

 

 

chemical pictures is generally well liked as well, but I don't really care for them.

[Youko_o 51]

^ Thanks for it.

 

His vocals are more expressive on these songs, I can like how it sounds. Not weak at all. I liked more the second song, I'm more fond to heavy stuff.

[nekkichi 6042]

check them out. they started as a heavier band, but went mellower/poppier later (still not bad, tho)

[Youko_o 51]

I also checked a song by Chemical Pictures. I enjoyed them, the song I listened to (Walking Ashland) is pretty creative to my ears.

 

After all I have the question: why the f**k is Tenten singing like this on My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND? He can make his voice sound strong. Tenten, please...

[togz 2004]

This whole thread makes me laugh.

[Elazmus 1873]

THANK you for posting some KuRt material on here, give everyone a reference point to his true greatness lol.