Featured Review #49: 妄想主義者ノ背徳。(Mousou shugisha no haitoku.) by グリーヴァ (Grieva)

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Artist: グリーヴァ (Grieva) Album: 妄想主義者ノ背徳。(Mousou shugisha no haitoku.) 1. Type[艶] (Tsuya) (SE) 2. 自己精神殺害推進會 (Jiko seishin satsugai suishin) 3. 妄想主義者ノ背徳 (Mousou shugisha no haitoku) 4. Art play 5. 夢デ逢ウ貴女ガ削除デキマセン。(Yume de au kijo ga sakujo dekimasen.) 6. 密室104号室～暗イ部屋二僕ト君～ (Misshitsu 104-goushitsu～kurai heya ni boku to kimi～) 7. 腐『furan』乱

Rating: | No need for grievin', visual kei is not dead!

 

Grieva sure came into their own over their few years of activity. Starting out as a glaringly obvious exercise in old-school DIR EN GREY fanboyism (pretty much producing a blueprint replica of the Gauze album), they raised lots of eyebrows but also gained an ever-growing fanbase. They've been churning out release after release like clockwork, a practice that few can pull off successfully while maintaining quality. These guys, however, not only manage to put out consistent tunes, but also seem to be slightly evolving every year. While there's no drastic change in sound (thank god for that!), they're constantly tweaking their formula and instrumentation to achieve a greater effect. Their latest mini album, Mousou shugisha no haitoku demonstrates this tendency excellently. From the kick-in-the-teeth industrial beats of the intro to the impressive sonic diversity of the closing track, Grieva presents a fine-tuned version of their vision: building upon the legacy of the old-school with youthful vigor, and a tad more than a pinch of craziness. On the one hand, compositions like the title track or "Yume de au kijo ga sakujo dekimasen" burst forth from the speakers with a mixture of yesteryears' melodic sense coupled with a truly modern (or post-modern?) approach. On the other hand, we're inevitably treated to a small number of songs where Grieva wear their hearts on their sleeves a bit too obviously. It's hard not to recall exact moments from DIR EN GREY's back catalog when you hear the intricate lead guitars of "Art play" or the jackhammering bass in "Misshitsu 104-goushitsu～kurai heya ni boku to kimi～". The difference this time (compared to, say, their debut album) is that they were able to fully integrate these parts into their songs, not sticking out like a sore thumb throbbing with plagiarism. "Misshitsu 104-goushitsu..." even has a music box interlude reminiscent of a certain DEG classic – it's hard not to crack a smile of appreciation at the homage.

The arrangement and delivery of the songs deserve praise too, where it's due. Even though the mini album starts off in a rather repetitive fashion (after a surprisingly bangin' intro SE) with "Jiko seishin satsugai suishinkai", they more than make up for that later on. Tracks like "Art play" employ a wide array of styles, from metal chugging to upbeat ska-influenced guitars, resulting in nice changes of pace and dynamics. As soon as you're beginning to feel you're listening to 'just another typical Grieva tune', they change it up ever so slightly, introducing an interesting guitar tone or effect. In short, it's hard to get bored while listening to Mousou shugisha no haitoku. This statement is ultimately solidified by the closing track "furan", an ambitious composition that goes from a punky, all-out shoutfest (props to those pipes, Kyouki!) to an unexpectedly sweet melodic guitar solo, short bass and piano interludes and a driving chorus. It is a thrilling, dare I say progressive, finish to an already cool release.

A year ago, with the release of their 2nd full-length album Shuuen, I couldn't imagine Grieva going any further in terms of quality, but along came this release and blew me away. Granted, Kyouki and co are still far from being the most original bunch of visual kei musicians, but who needs that when you have a reliable, constant supply of kickass tunes to rock out to? I could hardly ask for more.

Support the band!

Buy the mini album @ CDJapan

Buy the mini album @ Yesasia

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I really liked this release, but it took me a few listens. Thus far, I feel like their material post-new-drummer has been consistently more solid and their homages are more, well, homage-y instead of covers with new lyrics and a new chorus. Their experimentation is definitely welcome, like 自己精神殺害推進會, and I really appreciate the more complicated bass lines that are going on in this particular release.

[Zeus 7997]

So in other words this is actually worth checking out? Noted. I will be checking this out shortly and expecting good things.

Very well written review! At one point, you described how I felt about Shuuen very well. I gave it five listens and it did nothing for me, which disappointed me greatly because I expected more. Their debut album was fun because of all the obvious references to 90's visual kei, even if the compositions were carbon copies of popular songs at some points. For me, they lost a lot of their appeal between the first and second albums in trying to become an original "revival-kei" band. The original compositions weren't as gripping and the homages weren't as strong, and definitely not enough to carry the whole album. If this mini is a return to form I will gladly ride the Grieva hype train once more.

[peffy 3568]

The nostalgia-kei / homage-kei / Dir en grey references are completely lost on me, because I've heard very little VK released before 2009 or so, and I never liked the few songs I heard from Dir because of Kyo's vocals. It seems like everyone talking about Grieva has to mention how much they copy old songs, which is the one aspect of them that I can't comment on.

 

I still really like Grieva for reasons beyond my comprehension. (though I seem to agree with the popular sentiment that Shuuen wasn't that good). Oni to Kage blew my freaking mind after 2 listens. This mini doesn't reach that level but I do like it. I've only listened 3 times, but the thing that made the biggest impression on me so far is the bass work. Props to Hisame. Bass is my favourite rock instrument by far, and I really appreciate when it's used prominently.

[Shmilly 519]

Much the same as the above. Oni to Kage was a great album, Shuuen was lacklustre, but pretty much everything else Grieva have put out is great (which is a hell of a lot of material). This is a cool new entry into their extensive discography and I like the way they're experimenting a bit more across the selection of new tracks. I'll admit that it took me a couple of listens to really get into this one, and a couple of the tracks are still skippable for me, but this is another solid release. I also can't really comment too much on the homage aspect as I'm not a massive Diru fan, but despite the endless comparisons I've always been a Grieva supporter.

 

Here's (not) looking forward to another PV compilation DVD in the next couple of months - the three simultaneous singles, and two songs from this mini all seem to have had PVs made. (Kind of defeats the point of a 'promotional' video to only be viewable on purchase, but I digress.)

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

A bit off topic but how does people not like Shuuen? :v still their best release to date (imo). Also the new mini rocks. 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ Yeah, my thoughts exactly. While the debut album was nice in a kinda "wink-wink, references" way, they really stepped up their game on the 2nd album! A very thick atmosphere with cool original compositions.

 

Also, glad that people seem to be enjoying the new mini for the most part!

 

edit: also, if I might explain myself a bit, since I see people might've misinterpreted my words. When I wrote "A year ago, with the release of their 2nd full-length album Shuuen, I couldn't imagine Grieva going any further in terms of quality..." I meant that the album was the pinnacle of their career so far (so it would be very hard to bring out another release that would match or surpass it in quality). So what I wanted to convey is that even though Shueen was amazing, this mini packs a punch just as much (or even slightly more maybe, depending on my mood), and I didn't expect that while waiting for its release. So yeah, props to them!!

[The Reverend 3566]

Good review! I'm one of those that didn't really love Shuuen; it certainly wasn't bad it just didn't grab me by the balls like oni to kage did.

 

Weird observation since jigsaw mentioned it; I'll pretty much always let Grieva's SE tracks actually play through. "SE" is usually another word for "skip" but I generally like to listen to theirs.

 

ETA: Also diggin' their new photos... 'everyone-touch-their-face' in a slightly different position is a bulletproof VK look.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

It's illegal to be in a vkei band and not do a cover-your-eye-with-one-hand pose