the GazettE - UNDYING (single review)

[freesia 714]

1. UNDYING -

This song didn't really give me a deep impression until reading the lyrics which Ruki wrote.

At first listen, it sounded like the GazettE were trying hard to be heavy and dark but in a good way. Then I had the impression they were trying to put lots of dark and anger elements in one song - the screams, melodic choruses, piano breakdown which gave the song an eerie sadness feeling.

At first line of the lyrics, I realized that this song is a sequel to OMINOUS from their album DOGMA. What Ruki wrote was really heavy, deep, angry, and dark. The line which gave me the most impact was "許されぬ願いに夢を見た", which I can only roughly translate as "Saw my impermissible wish in a dream", because I often dreamt of dreams that I wasn't able to accomplish myself.

 

2. MALUM -

The meaning of this song matches quite well with the music. It's full of anger and hate because the first person character in the lyrics wanted revenge to someone who killed a girl (probably lover) close to him (or maybe her). However, despite of all the hate, Ruki wrote well in the last lines, saying that killing someone back was just emptiness no matter where you went and the reason to live also became was to revenge. This actually reminds me of the morality topic which was raised by several authors in Japan these years, which was about if imprisonment and death penalty was really enough for paying back the death of victims of murderers. (off-topic: Japanese author 東野圭吾 (Higashino Keigo)'s book "虚ろな十字架(Uturonajuuzika)" nailed the topic's contradiction well in his book.)

 

3. VACANT -

This song, as with the lyrics, is less heavy than the other songs in the single. I interpreted that the lyrics of the song was about the emptiness left from a broken relationship. The melody and Ruki's voice flows well throughout the whole song, and the guitar solo gave a sad atmosphere....but that's it. I guess it's a safe song to put into the single as B side.

 

 

Overall:

It's actually been some time since I really tried to delve into Ruki's lyrics and I'm glad I did. It just added lots of meaning and fun while listening to the music.

But then, I'm personally getting a bit tired of their dark music campaign which has gone to a bit elitist feel and  I really miss the old, fun Gazetto times.

Music and lyrics-wise, the is a decent single.

Edited April 28, 2016 by freesia

[ghost 2687]

Interesting review of lyrics/music combo!

 

I want to post my thoughts soon too.

For now though,  

Polished and nice sounding, but boring and all over the place.

Pretty accurate track listing though, by the 3rd song I'm checked out.

Edited April 28, 2016 by ghost

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Very nice in-depth review Freesia! Really appreciate you taking the time to share some translations on the lyrics.

 

I agree with the posters above.

This single to me felt  like the weakest of the overall 3 releases. Their performance throughout the tracks became too sporadic and I lost interest about 1 minute in for each one.

B-Side tracks for sure.  I am just not a fan of their harder/darker music. Why Ruki continues to dilute his voice while singing is beyond me.

 

I need more time to give this another listen, and immerse myself in their overall message here.  Perhaps hearing them live will achieve this.

For now though, (4/28/16)

 

Edit: After hearing UNDYING live and listening to how well the bands performance was, I was quick to dismiss the quality of their single.

After listening to a bit more, (5/2/16)

 

Edit 2: I can't believe I'm still enjoying this! It sounds just as great as it was a month ago. The entire single just rolls off the ear. Hnggg.

Fanboi -ing again, (5/27/16)

Edited May 27, 2016 by YuyoDrift
Gave it more time to sink in

[platanity 99]

my opinion on this single was just 'adequate';

meaning that it's something what gazette would do. 

nothing less nothing more . 

it's not a perfect single but just enough to impress --- just for a while .

 

my favorite "parts"  were the first few seconds of intro of the 1st track,

and the lovely solo of the 3rd track .

i couldnt ... really get attracted on the whole music itself .

i felt that i could see what's coming ,  a little predictive how gazette's music is .

 

looking forward to their next gen music ! 

 

2/5

Edited April 29, 2016 by platanity

[nekkichi 6043]

I really like undying so far, but the two other tracks are giving me stale toxic or beautiful deformity b-side/album filler track feels, malum most guilty of that.

[Nagisa 131]

For me, this single was one of the GazettE's best for the title track alone. Unfortunately, the B-sides don't really do much for me, unlike singles like Hyena and 紅蓮 where they are stellar.

 

UNDYING - I loved the connections made between this song and DOGMA. The opening was amazing and got me hooked. I usually prefer the less heavy GazettE songs but I feel that the heavy aspect of this song was well used here, kind of like in DEUX but even better. I'm glad that they had lighter parts to balance it out. The piano toward the end was very enjoyable. It isn't as good as DOGMA but it came pretty close. I think my favorite thing about this song is that it is melodic.

 

MALUM - Generic DOGMA filler. The part where Ruki was whispering "I will never" was somewhat interesting but that was it.  I hope with the finale of Project Dark Age they will stop making songs like this.

 

VACANT - I think the GazettE were playing it safe with this song, like they seem to have been doing with their last few singles. The highlight of the song was the guitar solo but it's not a bad track. I definitely liked it better than GODDESS. It's not really a ballad but it is on the softer side. The ending was somewhat abrupt. Not a bad song to end the single on although I think they could have done better.

 

This single was definitely better than UGLY. I think the title track is the best they have ever done but the mediocre B-sides drag down this single. It would be nice if we could get something else before the end of this year but if not I think Project Dark Age ended on a high note. I definitely liked the style of DOGMA and UNDYING and hope that we will see similar songs in the future. Personally I think it will be hard for the GazettE to top UNDYING in the future, but I hope they will prove me wrong.