グリーヴァ - 生ト死

[Jigsaw9 6783]

So what did you guys think of Grieva's new single?

 

Personally, I'm lovin' it! (no surprise, lol) ...well, actually it's more like I didn't expect these two songs to be such high quality with that speed they're churning out releases lately but my fears were quickly swept away when the opening guitars of the first track rang out. This one is a pretty tame and fun melodic song with lots of energy and feeling throughout - from the catchy chorus to the appropriate guiar solo and subtle synths (and even some acoustic guitarplay) in the background. Very tastefully done, I'm impressed! The SE track is nothing special of course but it's a decent separating border between the two distinctly contrasting tracks. Here comes the darker stuff... it's pretty wild and has that awesome "spinning out of control" atmosphere that is so characteristic of Grieva's more manic numbers. It's a solid track with a simple but fitting chorus. All in all, Sei to shi is quite a kickass single that is also a bit too compact - but at least it seems to have some sort of concept running through it, making it a cohesive whole. Nice job!

 

| another cool release, if only it were a bit longer~

[bryyodt 15]

It's a pretty cool single, in the first track is a lot of feelings going on the chorus and Kyouki's voice, great work, should i say the best ''ballad'' from Grieva at the moment, and third track is mental lol, really rough, kinda remind me to Aliene Ma'riage sound, creepy laughs, mad screams and crazy drumming tempo, great work from Rui and Hisame this time, i'm really excited for the next release

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I dug this single.

 

The opening track gave me some late caligari vibes, mixed with the influences they had on their song "雨上がりの憂鬱." I really wouldn't refer to this as a ballad, however, but it is a slower and more melancholic song than their discography typically holds.「君ノ存在理論」 has pretty strong structure as well--each passage flows well into the next with enough variety that it never gets boring, yet remains cohesive. Granted, this should be a fundamental aspect of song writing, but a lot of vkei bands have that as their Achilles's heel. What's always fascinated me about this band is that they like to use multiple personalities in their song writing, often having lyrics using different forms of "I" in Japanese to refer to a different person throughout the same song. What 「君ノ存在理論」 solidifies for me is that they are also able to extend that idea into the kinds of songs they write as well--not everything can be about demons eating fetuses or how tasty brains are, so this stroll in the rain is most definitely welcome.

 

「生ト死」 itself is a piano melody that repeats again and again with mumbling and a very pronounced drum pattern on top of it. It's hard to make out the words he's saying, but he's definitely mumbling "早く...死んでください (shinde kudasai)", or "hurry...please die," for one of the more audible phrases. Which of course leads up into the crazier song.

 

「僕ノ自殺理論」 is akin to "脳内妄想薔薇薔薇DOLL," but replace "BURST!" with "I. WanT. To. DiE". I really like the rapid chugging at the beginning of the song, as well as the really warped descending scales that happen in the lead guitar throughout the first verse. Like the first song,  「僕ノ自殺理論」 excels in having great structure. My only qualm is that I wish the break down around 1:40 was a little shorter as I don't particularly care for them. Here they also bring back the manic laughter and a bit of kyopera to accent the craziness that's already going on. In a sense, this is kind of a throw back to their first album for me--had they not made Oni to Kage a tribute album, I suppose this is what they would have sounded like.

 

All in all--strong single. What worked well is that both songs are solid and very distinct--their second album really suffered from a lack of diversity, so even though most of it was good, I had trouble picking out a track that really stood out (aside from "雨上がりの憂鬱," which literally came out of no where). I suppose I'm a bit spoiled because I'm disappointed that it so short. However, since they have a mini coming up in October, I cannot help but feel like had these song been included they wouldn't have stood out as much.

 

So, based on the official MH rating scale, I give this a