Featured Review #66: THE BLACK SWAN - OUSIA -dispersed-

[Zeus 7997]

 

 

Tracklist:
1. OUSIA
2. THE WORLD IS MY ROOM
3. 赫音-finis- (guitar & bass re-recording & full remix)
4. 失い (guitar & bass re-recording & full remix)
5. TRIPPER (guitar & bass re-recording & full remix)

6. RUVISH

7. DEJECTED RAIN (new arrange)

8. 赫音-justitia- (guitar & bass re-recording & full remix)

9. BLIND DAYS

10. THE HOPELESS

 

| I came for OUSIA and found some other goodies worth staying for too!

 

For better or for worse, I've stayed away from following the activities of THE BLACK SWAN too closely. I've been under the impression for the longest that they are another one of those bands - gaudy outfits, heavy guitars, formulaic songs, and a step above awful but nothing exciting that catch my attention. My fears stemmed from how bad NEGA burned out near the end of their career. They excelled at this gothic creepiness during their Rebirth Under the Chaos  to approximately Grave of the Sacrifice era which was mostly lost when metalcore took the wheel. THE BLACK SWAN, in contrast, suffer from no such burnout. They succeed at recording genuine depression and pain. It feels much like NEGA during that time period mostly due to sharing a vocalist, but with OUSIA -dispersed- THE BLACK SWAN breaks away from the confines that NEGA never could. It's that rare album that despite its flaws did the near-impossible feat of taking a band I once thought was derivative and making them definitive (or at least demonstrating that these members are more talented and creative than I had given them credit for).

 

  "OUSIA" is eleven minutes of perfection. Opethian riffs are supported by progressive song structures that echo Dir en grey's "Macabre" and Nega's "虚しき「生」の寓意≒「死」の真意", but with enough flair and personality to be its own creation. The guest feature of 優(yuu)(ex-NEGA) on piano is impossible to miss, managing to work in an atmosphere this band usually doesn't go for. The great use of piano, acoustic, and electronic elements keeps the song entertaining for all eleven minutes and every member (even Jin) gets a moment to shine. Yuu's guest appearance makes this song, but the guitarists are the reason why I continue to revisit. They may be no Hizaki, but their virtuosity is something to behold as well; the amount of solos in this song alone are ridiculous. This is how you use influences!

 

  No matter how many solos they throw into the mix to spice things up, Jin will likely make or break the experience. For me, this is his best and most consistent performance in recent memory. He's found the best way to harmonize with the music without sounding out of place. The worst thing I can pin on him is hitting a few sour notes here and there. Late album banger "DEJECTED RAIN" is a wonderful example of this. Jin shows his versatility as a vocalist with his arsenal of mumbling, banshee shrieks, and harmonizing. It impresses me enough to look past his limited singing range, and backed by a wicked riff it's one of the best songs on the album.  

 

Before my hopes for a progressive visual kei band fully blossomed, reality came crashing through the window. There are more than a few flaws with OUSIA -dispersed-, one of them being that there seems to be little thought put into the track list beyond putting the best one first. "OUSIA" should be somewhere towards the middle to end of the album. The follow-up song "THE WORLD IN MY ROOM" is a discordant mess where the band never feels like they're on the same page. "TRIPPER" would be cool if it weren't for those awful eight measures both a minute in and after the solo that sound so lame compared to the rest of the song. "赫音-finis-" and "赫音-justitia-" have cool melodies but don't stick with me otherwise. Ending the album on a core note with "THE HOPELESS" was the last of many strange choices. Of all the styles they showcase on this album they end with the least impressive one.

 

  As far as things sound, I would be wrong to not mention that OUSIA -dispersed- is the latest victim of the loudness war. It is very loud and the music sounds constrained on everything but my most expensive pair of headphones. It hurts to listen to after a few tracks honestly and considering the length this is a problem. The biggest offender by far in the mix is the sound of that bass pedal. It should sound more like a hollow thud or distant rumble and less like a typewriter to be most effective. The typewriter's clack permeates every track and takes quite a bit of power away from the metal.  

 

Despite some missteps OUSIA -dispersed- is a very competent album with more than a few tracks worth revisiting. Among my immediate favorites are the title track, "失い", "DEJECTED RAIN", and "BLIND DAYS". It positively improved my opinion of this band by leaps and bounds. If this is an unfinished product, I can't wait to hear what the whole thing sounds like as intended.

 

 

 

[Aferni 2381]

Nice review Zeus! I loved it.

 

Here I go!

 

 

 

 

                                   

 

                                

                                                                                            

 

 

 

For me this album earns all stars, being the rabid Jin stan that I am I couldn't help but to be hyped for this album. Lately, or as long as they've been a formal band I've been obsessed with these guys. It seems all that hype was for a good reason, OUSIA-dispersed- brings a heavy melancholic sound to the table, truly showing THE BLACK SWAN for who they are. The sequel to NEGA. They have grown so much in the short time that they have been around it's absolutely astounding how their sound gets better with each release. With tracks such as BLIND DAYS, DEJECTED RAIN, and RUVISH; THE BLACK SWAN really displays their own sound. The title track, OUSIA, is the amazing progressive 11 minute godly track on this album. This track is easily the best one of all, being that it sounds just like something from NEGA'S,Haunted Jealousy / Grave Of The Sacrifice  period. This song really hits home with it's depressing feel, I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me cry. Yuu of ex-NEGA came through in this song aswell being the Pianist of NEGA, he came to play piano in this song. Yuu also played Piano in the demo version of TBS's Ushinai. If you listen to OUSIA's piano and compare the sound of the two you can tell they are the exact same. Tracks like THE WORLD IS MY ROOM, and TRIPPER felt out of place in this album, while I do love these tracks; THE WORLD IS MY ROOM is a beautiful train wreck. It feels like everyone isn't playing at the right moment..the begging riffs sound iffy but nonetheless it's a cool song; TRIPPER however was featured on their first live limited release,「黒聴」(Kurochou); while TRIPPER is fucking amazing it does not fit here, especially it's re-recorded version; which is not better than it's counterpart. There are lots of things they changed within the track that didn't need to be changed, don't get me wrong...it ain't bad; it would just be better on a album specifically made for re-recordings or a best album where some old tracks are re-recorded. If anything, they should've made another version of I SOLATION. But as a beggar I can't be a chooser. As to why they included the tracks like, THE HOPELESS, Kagune-Justitia-.Kagune-finis-, and Ushinai without re-recording or making any changes to them whatsoever is beyond me. HOPEfully they'll include it on the proper release......lol see what I did there...no..? Okay.

 

 

All in all I feel like they have a bright future and won't be going anywhere soon, I cannot wait for another set of material from them. I wouldn't be surprised if they released another album after OUSIA, i'd just be more hyped. I simply cannot wait for more, I love these guys.

 

                                                 

                                                                                        

                                                                               ✡✡✡✡✡ out of ✡✡✡✡✡

[yakihiko 1480]

I have to be really honesty in here, I look for TBS only because of Aferni's euphoria, but they don't work to me. I listened to this album, but I can't find a song that I would say "amazing"... Sorry ;^;

[emmny 4139]

i honestly thought ousia was a big mess

i still needa listen more, but i hated the inclusion of so many of the old songs; it would have worked better as a mini album without all their singles thrown onto it.

[lollipopmonstar 346]

 

"OUSIA" is eleven minutes of perfection.

 

^

I posted this phrase on my Facebook when I finished to listen to OUSIA XD

 

Well done Zeus! I agree with almost everything!

In my point of view I give one more star for "THE WORLD IS MY ROOM", because, Wooool, this song is insane and amazing!

I loved the remakes, especially of my favorite "赫音-justitia-"!

Let's see how this "new" album will be!

 

At the end:

[Shaolan974 6185]

 I still think they're pretty average but they tried. 

 

My favorite is Kagune-finis-. I like Ushinai, Kagune-justitia-, THE HOPELESS too but... I think is just NEGA 2.0. NEGA with less talented musicians. OUSIA sounds like 虚しき「生」の寓意≒「死」の真意. Too long and a bit boring.

 

Let's see what they'll do next time...I keep an eye on them nontheless.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Nice review! Can't comment much on the actual release, since I couldn't even listen to one track all the way through, lol. I was looking forward to the long title song, but everything just sounded so haphazard and forced in it, I had to skip halfway... the other tunes were quite embarrassing too, from what little I've been able to stomach. Terrible stuff with puzzlingly dumb "riffs" / sections.

[Delkmiroph 1649]

I didnt follow them since the begin, reading your review @Zeus awaken me to listen. I had that put to listen this album in low volume... The album makes me tired/bored to hear. I just like the songs "失い" "RUVISH" and "BLIND DAYS". I tried to excited me to hear the full album but isnt nothing to makes me "wooowwww". 7 minutes good to the rest 4 minutes of mess to end = 11 minutes. Sincerely the album dont have nothing of special to me.