Sadie - Gangsta

[ghost 2687]

This is the worst release Sadie has ever put out.

It's inconsistent, repetitive, and unmemorable.

 

The first problem is that every track overstays its welcome. More than half the album is over 4 minutes, most going almost up to 5. While you might think that's actually a good thing, it isn't. There are plenty of tracks that would be fine if they ended about halfway through, especially the heavier ones, but they keep going and going repeating the same elements. It really drags the album down.

 

The inconsistency in this album is no secret. You've got tracks where M to the ao tries the rapping thing (2 only actually), a few that sound more like a poor rendition of a middle school jazz play soundtrack, one that tries to implement electronics and synth for that fun and poppy yet heavy sound, a heavy alternative song (that sounds somewhat like Yellow Card's "Lights and Sound"), an uplifting pop ballad, a "Spirited Away" instrumental piano track, and a majority of songs that feature Sadie's typical chug a chug who gives a shrug style.

 

I'm not even disappointed that the album doesn't incorporate any "gangsta" elements. I just at least expect a uniform sound throughout the album. The album is all over the place and has absolutely no idea what its identity is. I found "Madrigal de Maria" to be a poor album, but it still had a uniform sound between all the songs and you can tell they're all from the same album. 

 

But not using the gangster elements is another thing. If you're going to call your album "Gangsta" and even have a few tracks where you try to implement things like rap, why are there only 2 tracks that you do this on? What is the point to all this? You take these 2 songs out and you're left with nothing that relates to the title. Either go full out or don't do it at all. Make a choice and stick with it.

*

*

I found barely anything worth listening to on this natural born trash CD that is only good as orange rotted.

 

-Shoot the targets, hidden in your mind - there's a lovely melancholy guitar break 2:40-2:50. The actual break is longer than that but when Mao comes in his vocals ruin it.

-Gesshoku - It sounds like Mao says "I scream for you p***y". It's kinda (kinda) funny.

-I find Tokyo Gypsy to be the only song I can listen to (the last guitar melody actually kind of sounds like something off the GazettE's Disorder. Tokyo Shinjuu, Tokyo Gypsy. Coincidence?...maybe?)

 

All in all there's about 5:04 worth of stuff I would listen to on this album.

Sadie needs to stop releasing material for a while and really think about what to do with their music. I think this album proves that they have no idea.

 

Gangsta is a prolonged cluttered wreck that needs to be banned and cut off from all access to consumers.

In fact, someone needs to take every copy and

[Bear 1817]

Someone said that this sounds like the soundtrack to a Megaman game. Can you confirm this? Because that sounds fantastic.

 

 

Edit: The person said Mode of Gangsta sounded like something from a Megaman game. Now I am disappointed. I thought the whole album was called Mode of Gangsta. Fuck.

[ghost 2687]

I think it might be the intro SE that kind of sounds like Megaman.

Check out for yourself though, I found the album here (via Rezker):

 

http://www.4shared.com/rar/Czer-D3tce/GANGSTA.html

 

*edit

I think if that were the case my review would've been veeeeery different.

[Original Saku 1593]

I listened to it and it doesn't resemble anything close to MM music. people really should know what they're talking about before they post stupid shit like that. Why the fuck would you even compare it to that when it literally doesn't sound nothing like it...

[kurenaishineek 646]

I listened to it and it doesn't resemble anything close to MM music. people really should know what they're talking about before they post stupid shit like that. Why the fuck would you even compare it to that when it literally doesn't sound nothing like it...

After the 1000th time someone posted such crappy comparision ive stopped asking , so you better dont do this as well , belive me you dont want to know the answer .

Ive grown out of Sadie a long time ago and could say the exact same things that are in the review about 90% of their albums . Still just for the sake of trying and giving chances , gonna give this one a try when it appears somewhere . Altough i already know that the album will be boring , repeatable and im not gonna like this , like all their other albums .

[paradoxal 2948]

My review: Listened it once, it was shit.

 

BUT.

 

I think someone needs to do a para para choreography to HOWLING, the electronic background in the chorus is so out of place I started laughing when I first heard it. It would be the most hilarious shit ever. PLEASE. SOMEONE. DO IT.

[rekzer 599]

this is what happens when they don't wait for DEG to release something.

 

 

the album is bad, really bad. worst than COLD BLOOD bad.

 

i think the only song i enjoyed a little was the last ballad.

 

Tokyo Gypsy tried to be a catchy song but not a WOW factor either.

 

just like negaram said , it doesn't have any consistency.  every song feels so out of place i couldn't listen to it more than once.

even the intro is horrible.

 

1/5  just for that nice ballad.

[Ro plz 1290]

I am not trolling when I say GANGSTA just might be one of SADIE's BEST releases.

I'm like 6 songs in and I love it. I already know from listening to SADIE for years now that they aren't consistent and their albums go all over the place. The fact that I can sense some actual originality and little to no DIR EN GREY jacking is whats getting me. This is deadass a cool album so far.

WILL EDIT with a full review when I'm done listening.

[Furik 832]

Sadie has gone downhill after COLD BLOOD.

 

Red Line, The Black Diamonds (except for Rosario), MDM, Bleach are all horrible albums/EPs.

 

However, I will say that this album, while all over the place, is stylized like Master of Romance. To me, at least. Maybe it's the typical VK fashion, maybe it's Mao's voice, I don't know but from the start of Dead End, it's like Ice Romancer all over again. You didn't get that with Mukuro,The Requiem, any of those shitty songs.

 

Having said that, the album, as a whole is still inconsistent (no theme - why GANGSTA? what is the purpose of this album?, goes from rock to "metal" to jazz then back to rock then pop) and somewhat of a let-down. I have to agree with OP that the songs overstay their welcome.

 

It's not a bad album. It's not like MDM or The Black Diamonds. It's just.. a meh-album. I'm not sure if Sadie fans hate COLD BLOOD (I loved it) but it at least had an overall theme - it was (sorry) cold, dark and heavy. GANGSTA is a misleading title and the album covers look like sleazy tattoo art a chain-smoking single mother would get done on her lower back.

 

My review is just as complex as this album. I'll say it again - it's an alright album. Nothing spectacular but not that bad like their last group of albums and EPs. 

 

There are some highlights though - Gesshoku is in your face and amazing. The guitar work is amazing. A really great track. Tokyo Gypsy is a great track - it honestly sounds identical to older indie 2002 baroque - from Mao's singing to the guitar work. It's eerie. I think that's what I love it. 

 

That's all I can say. I don't want to think too hard on this album. It's just an alright album. Maybe 6/10? 7/10? It has replay value, even if the songs aren't memorable but still okay to listen to.

[dannemannen 69]

is it really that bad? =(

[beni 2149]

I am not trolling when I say GANGSTA just might be one of SADIE's BEST releases.

I'm like 6 songs in and I love it. I already know from listening to SADIE for years now that they aren't consistent and their albums go all over the place. The fact that I can sense some actual originality and little to no DIR EN GREY jacking is whats getting me. This is deadass a cool album so far.

WILL EDIT with a full review when I'm done listening.

Agreed. Having read through the thread, I was afraid I'd be the only one to say I didn't dislike it. Of course, there's a few songs I much prefer over others (TOKYO GYPSY is my favourite track and I have a thing for Engrish singing so GESSHOKU is fab xD) and I agree with the majority too when I say it's clearly not their best release. I haven't listened to all their songs, only most of their older songs once or twice, but overall, it just sounds like a change of style a bit and it's always a breath of fresh air when that happens with bands I think. As I quoted above from Hellion, it does sound like there is 'actual originality' in this piece compared to their other albums. Then again, I'll listen to literally anything and enjoy it! It's a fun album, it really is in my opinion. I guess another factor as to why I liked it was because I was prepared for the worst after having read comments and reviews of it hah. So yeah, I'm actually not disappointed since I was expecting, like, the worst. xD I keep repeating the opening, it's so funky and fun hah. This isn't a proper review lol sorry, just commenting as well. And I can agree with Furik about the 'misleading title.' Why GANGSTA, out of everything? Doesn't really fit the overall feel of the album I think.

[Zeus 7997]

Everyone please wait until Saturday for my review. I need the rest of the week to process what I just heard.

[stylelover 1086]

While this is nowhere near the level of Master of Romance, its still their first release i enjoyed since then.

 

Cant be bothered to make a full review of it atm.

 

 

Might or might not edit this with a track by track review. 

 

Gesshoku was probably my favourite song.  and MESSAGE FROM HERE

 

i guess overall rating would be like 6,5-7/10~

[Lestat 2167]

The album title already makes me want to deny that album so badly, and I haven't even heard it.

[ghost 2687]

I listened to it and it doesn't resemble anything close to MM music. people really should know what they're talking about before they post stupid shit like that.

If you're referring to what I wrote, I never compared the music. I compared the consistency of each album. Seeing as Madrigal de Maria was their last album I felt it was appropriate to talk about it.

Edit: Jk, didn't put 2 and 2 together.....they both (kind of) have MM abbreviations. How do you delete comments?

[Elazmus 1873]

I love Sadie, but now I am not sure if they love me back anymore

[Ro plz 1290]

First and for most: Not listening to an album simply because of a title and majority negative reviews is different levels of stupid. And I'll leave it at that.

 

So I've made it through a good chunk of the album to give a solid review on the album. I will start off by saying this, I do agree that naming the album Gangsta was probably one of the dumbest decisions ever. I don't get any of that gangsta aspect or feel while listening to this release. Or maybe its so subtitle that It hasn't caught my attention. As far as the everything else goes, I do stand by my status update in which i stated this is a strong contender for one of the best albums this year. Why? The musicianship. I admit that this release as a whole isn't anything spectacular or uber amazing but that aspect is something that I appreciate a lot. Madrigal De Maria was literally Uroboros part 2 and The Black Diamonds  and BLEACH were just a compilation of crap songs with zero to no effort put in (besides ROSARIO). Gangsta sounds like the band actually enjoyed writing these songs and they don't feel forced or try hard-ish. 

 

This is the album that should have came after COLD BLOOD because COLD BLOOD was also a great example of SADIE just being original and doing their thing. Gangsta is what Beautiful Deformity is to the GazettE. A step back into doing what they can do and excelling at it. The sad part is that even though I enjoy this release, I know SADIE will disappoint with the next few releases after. They really are an inconsistent band that hasn't yet figured out how to progress properly...and they probably never will. However, I'm pleased with this release. 

 

7.5/10

[Lestat 2167]

^ Finding someone's opinion stupid solely because of it being a negative opinion, now that's stupidity. Just saying, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[blackdoll 907]

This is what I'm talking about, this is what i like to hear from sadie. it's like The black diamonds with classic sadie riffs thrown it. the teruku rapping was a lil awkward but i don't mind. The electronic sounds were ok, didn't fuck anything up. better than MDM and other recent albums by other bands I've herd. bet it will better than meji's from how that single went. I'm now on good terms with sadie again. and YAY fuck dir en grey inspiration!

 

7.5/10

 

ok guys, when someone says jump, jump!

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

I listened to it really late at night last night and I was dead tired which may have effected some of my opinions ever so slightly, but There were some things that I just KNEW from listening to it the first time....

 

Like Mode of Gangsta was likely the worst intro to anything I've ever heard and I just think it's ironic that they couldn't even manage to throw together a good intro. It was annoying and repetitive and not in that way where I can like it ironically, I just think it's really bad. Shoot the Targets is along the same vein: repetitive and annoying with no redeemable value whatsoever. Welcome to the Underground was a song I was excited for because I thought it might be almost xTRiPx-ish in the heavy rap/rock cross over way, but it ended up being a jazz-inspired pile of nonsense that also had no redeemable value in and of the fact that there was, and I mean this, nothing that should have said to anyone at all "let's put this on our album and sell it to people for money."

 

Other marginally negative things I have to say:

Tokyo Gypsy was disappointing. It, too, was jazz-inspired and not done very well. I just found it boring really, not particularly embarrassingly bad just boring. Rize a Flag I don't -particularly- remember, other than I'm p sure I thought it was boring as well because I only rated it 3 stars as opposed to 1 or 5 which means I had some OPINIONS on it. 

Then there was Phrase of Life which I think would've been nice with vocals but otherwise it was kind of a waste of a track.

Hate Me or Love Me? was one I rated 5 stars, but I think I was far too generous. I remember it being bad, but better than some of the other tracks by a mile so I think I ended up guilting myself into saying I liked it.... But didn't really like it.

 

Now I do have to say I actually DID enjoy some other songs:

Gesshoku wasn't too bad. I would say it's among the better ones, but not by a country mile. Dead End is in that same category as well. 

Bleach I liked this time (rather than on it's EP) because it stood out as better than most other tracks rather than blending in with mediocre tracks. 

Howling I remember being decently unique and it was sort of a breath of fresh air after the rest of the shite I had to endure up until this song.

I actually did genuinely like Message From Here and The Never, but I give it like 5 plays before I get totally sick of it.

 

Overall the album got rated an average of 4/5 but I think that is far, far too generous and after I give it a second listen it will likely go down...

[nekkichi 6043]

Tokyo Gypsy is a great track - it honestly sounds identical to older indie 2002 baroque - from Mao's singing to the guitar work.

it sounds like a decent merry rip-off to me, the closer to the end the merrier

and that was the only thing I remotely liked on this album

I'm still puzzled how in the hell do they manage to keep paying fans.

[kurenaishineek 646]

it sounds like a decent merry rip-off to me, the closer to the end the merrier

and that was the only thing I remotely liked on this album

I'm still puzzled how in the hell do they manage to keep paying fans.

Im gonna hook what im about to say to this , and also turn this into a review of this album , dont be mad , cause what im about to say about this album/band will not be too positive .

Maybe cause fans in this day and age arent even listening to music and I saw a lot of ppl who called themselves fans of a band , but they where more like stalkers , they are interested in the band members , collect posters , wallpapers , stickers and whatever else they can get , yet they dont give a damn to the bands music and are only stalking their private lifes and everything they do , the bands music itself falls on deef ears and this phenomenon is getting bigger and bigger .

Some time ago i wrote a article for a magazine in my country that was dealing with japanese music , it was about todays obssesion to watch bands not listen to them , and the pinnacle of this would be Visual Kei bands . Sadie would be one of those bands that utilizes such "fans" to make cash . Maybe thats why they music just does not sound good at all , yet they still somehow manage to go around .

Its not like such bands are totally a bad thing , but there are just to many of them , making them blend in together to much . Maybe thats why this album is just a no , no , HELL NO! to me if i would have to listen to it again . The album drowns in all the other releases made by VK bands in this year . Each song left a dejavu impression on me , its like ive already heard this many many times before , even when it was the first time ive listened to this album . Before making this review ive listened to the album only 2.5 times cause i just could not get myself to listen it the 3rd time . As mentioned earlier the songs where overstaying their welcome , if they would be shorter thay might be less repetive , but instead they gave as a full dejavu ride thanks to the songs being around 4-5 minutes in lenght .

The same goes if you would ask me to say something about any particular song , i just dont remember them at all , i know the tracklist but thats just it . And im not gonna say anything more about the lack of any consistency in the compositions , and the theme of the album .

Summary : The songs just dont hold up , not even seperately . They just dont deliver anything that would be of merit to a metal fan . The solos are so-so , the riffs and compostiions repeatable , they lack consistency and sometimes sound very off . Im giving this a 2/10 , ive heard worse , but not much worse than this , and with this rating its the worst Sadie album on my personal list . I think i longer break would do them some good , they eiter need a vacation , or disbanding and trying in a new band seperately .

Now that the review is done i can burn my HDD , to sterilize it .

[Shmilly 519]

Some brief thoughts on my first listen, written as I'm listening to it.

 

01 MODE OF GANGSTA: reminds me a little of the intro to the GazettE's TOXIC album. Poor intro and far too long.

02 DEAD END: definitely a Sadie song, and I think it's that quality that makes me quite like it more than anything unique going on.

03 WELCOME TO THE UNDERGROUND: an interesting clash of styles but this one doesn't do much for me.

04 SHOOT THE TARGETS...: this one's quite fun and I think it would be good live, but it's a little repetitive.

05 GESSHOKU: I like this one, though perhaps more for what it comes after. It's also kinda standard Sadie fare.

06 TOKYO GYPSY: a little all over the place, but the bass is prominent. Not particularly memorable though and outstays its welcome a little.

07 RIZE A FLAG: nice riff but essentially the same structure repeated like 4 times.

08 HOWLING: the chorus is pretty catchy, and it's nice to get some heavy riffs on this album. Decent solo and bass work and electro elements aren't too intrusive, it's not like we've had much of them so far. I could dig it.

09 HATE ME OR LOVE ME? not what I was expecting from the title. Unfortunately forgettable after a promising heavy(er) start. Also too repetitive to be this long. Maybe it could be OK live?

10 BLEACH: well it's the same song from the mini, and the only one we've heard before. I think it fits better here than in front of a bunch of re-recordings. I like this one, I always found the chorus to be really catchy. (Bonus fact: I sang it at karaoke once xD)

11 THE NEVER: decent Sadie rock ballad. Not a lot else to say about this one at the moment.

12 MESSAGE FROM HERE: decent Sadie non-rocky ballad. Little on the long side. Could have ended nicely with a piano fade at 3:40ish instead.

13 PHRASE OF LIFE: actually a really nice instrumental. It's just a shame that sticking it on the end of the album instead of somewhere in the middle means it's easier to just skip it and listen to something else. Also the run time on this adds to that problem.

 

Songs I liked: DEAD END, GESSHOKU, HOWLING, BLEACH.

 

The overwhelming impression I got from the first listen was just... average. There's not enough memorable material here, which leaves me (despite having no expectations as such) disappointed. There's a handful of tracks that are either too long or too repetitive as well. It's nice to see Sadie trying something a bit different, but this album is just a little too inconsistent to recommend easily.

[Aferni 2381]

This album has succeeded disappointing me heavily. I thought this might at least be average, compared to what the have thrown around in the past. There are only half two half decent tracks, Gesshoku, and Dead End. Everything else is just despicable, when i started listening to "MODE OF GANGSTA" whatever the fuck that means, anyways. It made me honestly cringe and my face wrinkled because of the garbage sound that slammed against my ear drums. It was the type of face that you'd make if someone cut a huge fart and walked away and left so you could bask in the rotten smell of their gastric release. Sadie is that guy, and GANGSTA is that fart. They did it, and walked away....they didn't even excuse themselves....they let out a massive fart and walked away. This album is like listening to a very long car accident, a very very long accident. Followed by loads of incomprehensible engrish, Mao cant even do engrish right. Along with his vocals.....sounds like he has a ball gag in his throat, not on his mouth. I literally mean in his throat. His screams sound like he's heavily forcing it, like in gesshoku it sounds like he's saying " I SLEEP FOR YOUR PUSSY" instead of "I'm sick for you about them.". He sounds constipated. This album gets a 1, not a 1.0 or 1.9 a solid 1. Mao, get out your so called "MODE OF GANGSTA" and get your shit together.

[relentless 254]

When I first read the title of this album, I couldn't believe my eyes. Looking at the tracklisting, I was optimistic to hear some bizarre metal, pop, and rap fusion with titles such as "MODE OF GANGSTA", "WELCOME TO THE UNDERGROUND", "SHOOT THE TARGETS HIDDEN IN YOUR MIND", and "RIZE A FLAG". What we get, is far more disappointing in many ways that make this one of the worst VK releases of recent memory. In the past I have been critical of girugamesh, GazettE, Dir en grey, and 12012; but in each of their cases they do things I find to be interesting and a reason to bring me back to try out another release -- Sadie is a completely different story. With GANGSTA, they have shown that even at their worst there is nothing redeemable about the music they are (currently) making.

 

My issues are broken down into 5 main points:

 

1. Songs are too long (your average track clocks in over 4 minutes)

2. The length of these tracks are, across the entire album, unwarranted

3. Uninspiring repetition with no sign of variation or development

4. Songs that even in their length, go nowhere

5. Awkward track placement, flow, and a general lack of cohesion as an album

 

 

Song length and repetition - In many cases the length of a song doesn't factor into my like/dislike for an album; but Sadie makes an exception. Whether it's a song based off the same chord progression played over and over again for 6+ minutes (MESSAGE FROM HERE), or a song that continuously bounces from a Slipknot/GazettE copy-cat section to a pop punk chorus with no change (HATE ME OR LOVE ME), the album would have benefited from sections cut from each song without any detriment to the presentation. I'm not kidding: if each song was condensed to 2.5 minutes, no content would be missing aside from repeated sections that show up nearly 5 times already. This is perhaps the biggest problem with this album: the length of it and its tracks are unwarranted. There's no reason for it other than to fill space.

 

Uninspired repetition and songs that go nowhere - Tied into what was said above, none of these songs ever break from their conventional mold to try anything different. You get the same choruses and verses as featured in every Sadie album before this, and tracks that will abandon ideas and hop to a new one in hope of finding something good. A song is based off of the most generic riff (and sticks with it) throughout the song (RIZE A FLAG), a song throws in spoken word sections that destroys momentum (THE NEVER), and another includes a screeching synth that goes from drowning out the band to being an afterthought in the background (HOWLING). The worst of this problem would be the track SHOOT THE TARGETS IN YOUR MIND that stops on multiple occasions, goes nowhere with each presented progression, and relies on one of the first sections to close the song after disposing of useless riff after useless riff that do nothing but bring you to the next chorus, verse, bridge, or...breakdown....

 

Awkward track placement and flow - Can someone tell me what the hell a track like Gesshoku is doing between SHOOT THE TARGETS IN YOUR MIND and TOKYO GYPSY? Those songs have more business being on their own release than on this album as those are the only two tracks that sound alike and everything else sounds completely different from them. One minute you get something that sounds like it's from a Slipknot demo, then a soft ballad or rock song with a clap track and synth. This album doesn't have the focus that their older releases did: there's no direction. At this point it feels like Saide are throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what interests them the most.

 

 

Everything is wrong with this album. Poorly titled, poorly structured, poorly written, and just plain too long.

 

 

 

0/10