Featured Review #25: VITIUM by sukekiyo

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Artist: sukekiyo Album: VITIUM Score: The essence of sukekiyo, molded into perfection.

sukekiyo has managed to slowly convert me from being a mildly disinterested bystander to a casual listener who's always on the lookout whenever something new pops up concerning the band. Their first full-length IMMORTALIS proved to be a slow-burning behemoth of many faces (and facets), and their latest offering VITIUM isn't too far off from that impression either. Kyo and co. don't seem to be in a hurry, as evidenced by the size of this new 'mini' album which is still longer than most bands' albums. Throughout these 37 minutes, they present their compositions in typical sukekiyo fashion: sprawling, mysterious, unpredictable. This time around, however, it seems they were able to craft a more unified sound for themselves (as if they weren't already unique enough), with a concentrated approach to boot. Each song sounds more coherent in and of itself, while still retaining the "expect the unexpected" avant-garde quality they've come to be known for.

VITIUM starts off powerfully and majestically with "leather field" – a dark flower blooming and branching out in sukekiyo's aural grotto. Hints of manic aggression and weirdness also rear their heads, prefiguring what's to come in the second track "dunes." This song introduces a demented vibe with its jittery guitars and drums, the band's interpretation of violent jazz-metal. Surprisingly, we are treated to an interlude next ("dot") that doesn't do much in itself but it serves as a fitting ambient intro to the following "foster mother." Kyo's deep croons drift onto a hypnotic beat complemented by beautiful guitar flourishes and keyboards that evoke an ambiguous atmosphere, on the edge of tranquility and uneasiness. One of the standout tracks for sure!

As VITIUM's centerpiece, "雨上がりの優詩 (Ameagari no yuushi)" pales in comparison to "foster mother," although it is a decent slower number complete with some fantastic textures and a soothing, airy outro. The atmosphere continues through "maniera," but it quickly turns into a quirky explosion of psychedelic metal tinged with calmer acoustic noodling. If DIR EN GREY drove out to the desert high on mescaline, this is what they would jam out. If "maniera" was the hallucinatory freak-out, the second interlude "白露 (Hakuro)" serves as a soundtrack to expulsion – not as fun but still necessary. All the more so, it heightens the magnificence of the follow-up, "celeste." Switching between tumbling piano sludge and schizophrenic episodes, it's a strong indicator of what sukekiyo is capable of. Naturally, after all of this there's no other way to go but softer, as "focus" closes the record with ethereal floaty melodies... or so it seems until the flamenco bit kicks in, segueing into one last creepy look into the abyss.

As you can tell, this mini album is quite a trip from start to finish. Whereas IMMORTALIS seemed overly long and drawn-out at times, VITIUM manages to capture the band's perfected essence, more powerful and twisted than ever. It is clear that sukekiyo has finally found its own voice. Let's just hope we'll get to hear that voice more in the future as well!

[Pretsy 1343]

Totally seconding your views there jig - neat review

 

Btw, I apologize beforehand for misinterpreting band's words about composer roles - they had a talk session @ Tokyo Kinema Club @7/2 where they revealed a few tidbits about behind-the-scenes stuff in Vitium and whatnot (thx to the blog owner for visiting that one, heh):

 

Source: http://ameblo.jp/nmnl-tgdeg/entry-11987120044.html

 

ps. I tried to interpret the trivia parts mentioned in my link, so feel free to correct me...

 

Leather Fields:  Yuchi

- Yuchi wanted to define his "groove" here (?)

 

Dunes:  UTA

- Mika thought the drumline here was very "touching" (lol?)

 

Dot: SE

- Takumi played this briefly in some Ameagari no Yuushi tour gigs...

 

Foster Mother: Yuchi

- Yuchi wrote this right away after their Kyoto live (?) and let Takumi do his twists afterwards

 

Ameagari no Yuushi: Takumi

- Demo was very folky, a la Elisabeth Addict pt. 2 (this detail was taken from their barks interview btw), and they came up with the final arrangement (a.k.a Vitium ver.) before their Germany live

 

Maniera: Yuchi

- Yuchi also played guitar in this one (?)

 

Hakuro: SE/Takumi

- this is apparently a " short (re)mix" of sukekiyo's EU/JP tour impro sessions

 

Celeste: Kyo + Takumi

- the result of Kyo being inspired by some movie (which they don't mention for some reason) and Takumi + Kyo's wild brainstorming

 

Focus: Uta (Takumi credited himself for arranging on barks.jp though)

- Mika uses djembe here

 

 

+ the whole band was very thrilled about having Toshi to collab in Ameagari and apparently Kyo is fanboying the actor in Focus collab (and he invited Mikami personally to do cameo in Vitium, hmmm)

 

 

I am rather surprised how Yuchi-heavy this record really is, haha.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Thanks for the interesting info, I love reading about stuff like this.

[RpgRiser 70]

Kyo?
Fanboying?
Did I read that right?
Jesus I'd pay to see that o_o
Imagine him going all "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa >////<"

xD

[Zeus 7997]

Whereas IMMORTALIS seemed overly long and drawn-out at times, VITIUM manages to capture the band's perfected essence, more powerful and twisted than ever.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I have a much more positive impression towards VITIUM than I did IMMORTALIS,  but I will need to listen a few more times before I come up with a final rating. Good review Jigsaw!

[CAT5 9075]

Thanks for the review, Jigsaw. I only listened once, but I found it mildy enjoyable so far and will likely return to it.

Also agreeing with you on the length. I had issues getting through IMMORTALIS in one sitting, and as such, the album as a whole left me a bit cold. VITIUM is definitely a bit more friendly in that regard.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Definitely agree with most of the points in this review!

 

Except: 雨上がりの優詩 >>>> Foster Mother. 雨上がりの優詩 was actually the highlight of the album for me, along with Celeste and Focus. Didn't really care for the remix, but at least the remixes here were enjoyable and not a chore (like XA-VAT's album, for example).

[beni 2149]

Just finished listening to it and I completely agree with all of your review. Just something I noticed; Kyo's vocals always gets to me, but this time, the instruments did too. I'm not usually like this when it comes to just paying attention to the instruments as much as the vocals, but with this release, they really did catch my attention. I'm very impressed because of this. A brilliant release and review. As expected!

Just remembered, I really do love how it's called a 'mini-album' with that tracklist. XD

[Crube 585]

Maybe the band should stick to mostly mini-albums and a full album once in awhile.

[ghost 2687]

Great review Jigsaw!

I like that you kept it short and too the point but still elaborated where needed.

I think "foster mother", "leather field", and "focus" are my favorite tracks so far.

Not gonna lie, 雨上がりの優詩 to me sounds like a sukekiyo interpretation of Dir en Grey's "Dozing Green". Not really, but kinda haha.

 

I also agree that Vitium as a whole is a stronger release. I can never finish Immortalis in one sitting.

I'm curious what people's opinions might be if Vitium was released first and then Immortalis.

[Dark Kinma 960]

This mini album is an another face of the band, pretty much different than Album but still interesting to see their work (but I think kyo influence a lot because I see 2-3 similitude with DeG album, but nothing to can call plagiat or something else, this is totally different than DeG)

 

(And nice review by reviewers, i'm not able to do this ^^)

[Visutox 188]

Great review, Jig! I had to try VITIUM in order to forget Lycaon's new horrendous thing as it's been a week since it has been released. Well, it is difficult to give a full review after one listening, so I'm gonna quote a few points in which I agree with OP and some people around here (even if everyone seems to agree on almost all points, haha). Just going to say that I'm almost tempted to give this album a 10/10, but it would be seen as a subjective note (yet it would still be legit to give VITIUM such score).

 

The essence of sukekiyo, molded into perfection.

I think this sentence sums up VITIUM so well. 

 

Just remembered, I really do love how it's called a 'mini-album' with that tracklist. XD

Same here, especially since there are albums which are qualified as such despite having a length being inferior to VITIUM's one.

 

I'm curious what people's opinions might be if Vitium was released first and then Immortalis.

This. 

 

Maybe the band should stick to mostly mini-albums and a full album once in awhile.

Maybe, but what's sure is that they have shown us they can deliver us quality, be it a full-length or a mini. And that's enough for me.

 

And yeah, guess we all agree concerning the length of VITIUM. I think that it's all about balance. IMMORTALIS is a fantastic album but at the same time it has a lot of tracks that last between 4 to 5 minutes and that's what makes the album difficult to assimilate imo. It's like having an 4 hour Physics lesson with a lot of information to deal with, you need time to revise your lesson in order to finally get some points you missed at first, and stuff (sorry for the lame example). So yeah, in my opinion the problem with IMMORTALIS is really simple and it's called balance. And I'm glad that sukekiyo fixed it with VITIUM.

[RinFukurou 46]

This album is just pure deep perfection, so soothing...