Ito 2438 Posted December 25, 2015 Day 25: KEEL - R'lyeh Release Date: 2015-10-07Label: ROCK GUILD Inc.Genre: shoegaze, indie, rock, nagoya kei roots Impressions from @Ito: The setup is perfect - I loved Ryo in 9GBO and aie's huge catalog of work is pretty damn good as well. Add in some other solid musicians and we are set up for something amazing right? Unfortunately "too big to fail" seems to hold just as true for bands as it does for banks. I've been burned by "super bands" before and my skepticism was strong. Praise the gods of Nagoya Kei, for my prayers were answered by how wrong I was. Perhaps R'lyeh isn't anything mindblowing, but that is just a by product of how high my expectations of this group is. The tracks all have that distinct Nagoya kei flavor you've come to expect from aie's work, but there is something here that elevates it. The vocals just add an extra sparkle and melody that sinks its hooks in to me. I honestly am not sure on some of Ryo's delivery at certain points, but I can't help but love it. The songs are incredibly catchy and memorable, but still wrapped in detailed layers of sound that give them real depth. At the risk of being too hyperbolic, the real magic of this release is where it sends me. Half parts music, half parts time machine; this sends me back to the mid 2000's. A time when I wasn't as jaded and my love for music was much purer - when the world was more tainted and full of color. Finding these 6 tracks at the top feels just right. Highlights: The whole damn thing Highlights: The whole damn thing Impressions from @Zeus: They are the Nagoya-kei super band that visual kei deserves, and also the band it needs right now. KEEL are also that band that we never knew we needed. "the god and death stars" are off trudging along in their corner, "HOLLOWGRAM" couldn't fill the void that 9GOATS left behind, and the inclusion of girugamesh's bassist Shuu was an interesting, but surprising choice that's paid dividends for them. However, nagoya kei hasn't been able to pull it together in some time and present a band with some real promise. So when they released Cthulhu and R'lyeh earlier this year we listened. I don't know about you, but between both albums I heard everything I was missing and more. The melancholic bass and wistful atmosphere are mainstays of the type of sound this band is going for, but more importantly than that there is a polish over all twelve songs, as if every member took lessons learned from their own bands and put their all towards this one. The result is nothing less than the top release(s) of the year. They are not just our heroes. They are our silent musicians, our watchful composers, our winners of 2015's top album of the year.Be sure to check out Cthulhu - the companion mini album to this one released earlier in the year - as well! I basically see them as one album anyway...Highlights: The whole damn thing Sample song: Buy the album:CDJapan | Google Play Store 11 Koike, Zeus, Original Saku and 8 others reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
