Sel'm - Reiro

[MikuKun 83]

I don't like doing track by track review's but I will list everything on the album that I enjoyed. This album surprised me quite a bit, I first heard of Sel'm a good while ago and I thought they were just okay, they were average, everyone seemed to be in love with Tora's voice I thought he was dull, I didn't think he was impressive. After he left I wasn't sure what would happen to them but when they got a new lead vocalist I was excited to hear him but I was also underwhelmed by him, it just felt like they absolutely had to be "metal" the riffs had to chug and he had to scream, when he sang I thought he was okay but still yet again a Sel'm vocalist that I found to be average. I left them be for a good amount of time then I decided to go on this site and check thing's out, I was reading through the news forum and read that Sel'm was releasing an album so my curiosity was piqued. As soon as it came out I checked it out and genuinely was taken by surprise.

 

 Sel'm's newest album Reiro is impressive, I was afraid it would just be chuggy fake metal and was happily wrong. This album is dark and soothing, it's very melodic and truly has some wonderfully catchy chorus's. I was extremely impressed with the guitar work on Reiro, sometime's they fall back into boring guitar riff's that get boring quick but for most of the album the pace and style of guitar change's up, I found myself just listening some song's over just to hear the guitar work beautifully playing beneath Ryuga's vocal work and just being so impressed with the synergy that they had. Another thing is that I personally found the guitar solo's to be very good, for me a guitar solo is important, it can change a song from solemn and slow to a powerful beauty. 

 

 The bass work on this album is also very nice but if I'm being honest I didn't really hear the bass all that often, if I did it wasn't because the bass got powerful it was just me listening for it but at the same time as the bassist Takuma does his job, he helps keep the song going. Normally I would say that I wish the bass was more profound and that it was more unique but I really didn't mind the bass too much.

 

 Next is the drum work and the drum's were very nice also, they had some nice technical play and really kept the pace of the album and the feeling of the album up, yet again nothing crazy impressive that would make you say that these are the song's you should aspire to be able to play on drum's but yet again they get the job done and keep's the band supported, a drummer is supposed to be the beam's that keep the band standing and I personally believe that he did that just fine. Like I said by no means are the drum's outstanding but they are good and keep the song's going.

 

 Finally the part that impressed me the most, Ryuga's vocal work, Ryuga did an amazing job on this album, his vocal work was just beautiful on this album he has a very nice voice with a beautiful dark deep tone to it, Ryuga really did amazing. This album had some amazing song's, it had great tone and had good pacing. The album start's a bit heavily with some chugging guitar riff's and screaming which had me worried at first but by the second song "Kono Hana Ga Saite Kareru Made" I was relieved of my worries, the second track was very catchy and anthemic, then the album just kept impressing me. There are quite a few song's that are just so gorgeous with Ryuga's deep voice that I would immediately relax then get sleepy almost like when I would listen to "Uroboros" by "Dir En Grey" I'm not saying that they sounded alike but I'm saying that the song's made me relax like I was slowly falling asleep in a nice forest lit by the moonlight (I wanted a over the top metaphor) the song's all felt different and interesting, I was never bored and never wanted to skip a single track. Ryuga just blew me away on this release, his vocals were so nice with the guitar work of Tsubaki and Jon just gliding underneath his voice and the drum work booming and keeping the song's that needed to be powerful, powerful, the bass work also kept the entire album on track and it just impressed me like crazy. I don't have enough praise for Ryuga on this album I just think he proved that he truly is a front man and an outstanding vocalist.

 

 If I had to recommend an album of this year to listen to currently I would recommend "Reiro" by "Sel'm" it is a great piece of work and I can't wait to hear more from them.

 

 I personally would rate this album with    

 

 

  "Reiro" is a great album with some flaws but still is so worth a listen, now these are my opinion's and I look forward to reading your's thank you for reading  

 

-MikuKun