featured review #81: ZERO ONE by DIV

[fitear1590 2414]

 | Remembering DIV's finest release—so close to a ONE ZERO /10

Last week, DIV blindsided fans by delivering a crushing blow. After four years, they are calling it quits due to the classic ‘musical differences’ excuse, though in this instance the argument is actually plausible. Their recent releases have been delving ever deeper into a self-coined EDR (‘electronic dance rock’) sound—one that bassist Chobi and drummer Satoshi obviously weren’t too keen on. In their remembrance, I am revisiting my old review of ZERO ONE, their first full album and my favorite CD of theirs back in the day. Released back in October 2013, just a year and a half into DIV’s career, ZERO ONE is mighty impressive for a debut album.  In fact, it’s just an excellent rock album, period!  And this is coming from someone who started off with a very lukewarm impression of the band. Let me tell you, I did not care for their debut mini-album, 無題のドキュメント (mudai no document).  The following four singles thankfully showed progress—albeit inconsistent—but they were enough to string me along and keep me excited enough for whatever they had in store next. Thankfully, I stuck around for ZERO ONE, because it has proven to be the glorious culmination of all the band’s potential.

 

 

Early on in their career, I remember thinking DIV had some composition issues; single “夏の行方 (natsue no yukue)” and its B-side “蛍火 (hotarubi)” had almost identical choruses. That’s unacceptable, especially on a three song single! This has been addressed over time and I can say that the band is in top form on this release.  There’s plenty of variety with well-composed, bright pop-rock tunes like “ZERO ONE” as well as heavier and more melancholic, alternative tracks like “VANISH.”  Unlike many other VK bands that actually make it to the full album stage, DIV didn’t feel the need to pad their tracklist with the obligatory ‘experimental’ mainstays we all know like out-of-place ‘jazzy’ track or ‘heavy-repetitive-track-with-growling/screaming-throughout.’  I honestly congratulate that songwriting restraint so hard to come by in this scene.

 

On top of better compositions, DIV have shown some massive progress in their electronic arrangements, which were pretty uninspired and lacking in their earliest releases (especially when compared to Danger Crue labelmates and synth-afficionados, UNiTE.).  Whereas 無題のドキュメント featured an unnecessary SE track with aimless chiptune bleeps, there’s a lovely ‘galactic’ synth sound that permeates most of this album. Sometimes, it lends an epic quality to the music, while at other times, it creates a fun, light atmosphere like in the infectious “Chocolate Prayer.”  The EDM-instrumental track “interlude” leads gorgeously into “ASTERIOS” and the subsequent chaotic screeching and dubsteppy ‘wub wub’ sounds are well-executed, mainly because they are used very sparingly.  That and the autotune (another thing I generally find obnoxious) in “Teddy” are tastefully done.

 

One of the things that really sets DIV apart from most of the VK world is Chisa’s voice.  He’s not your typical, nasally, whiny, over-exaggerated VK singer.  He has a very ‘normal’ (yet capable) voice and somehow that works for the band and keeps them grounded.  He’s able to serenade us with dramatic ballads like “I swear,” to get us moving to catchy tunes like “Chocolate Prayer,” and to evoke hella emotion in heavy tracks like album-opener “VANISH.”  If there’s one thing that could still use work, it’s his growling.  He sounds like he’s straining himself a little bit, sometimes like he’s ‘barfing’ out his words.  But once again, he doesn’t overuse harsh vocals, so this is hardly a problem.

 

If I have one complaint about this album, it’s the choice of old singles to include.  “夏の行方” is a solid enough choice (though as unrealistic as it is, I would’ve absolutely preferred the aforementioned B-side), but I find “SEASONS” and “ANSWER” to be two of the bands weakest singles.  “SEASONS” has so much that I should love (the twinkly, soft piano throughout), but the ‘hooo-oooh’ background voice annoys me and I find the bouncy guitar riff that leads us into the verse to be so insipid—it’s all too clinical, compared to the slightly messier original version of the song by Chisa’s ex-band NEXX. “TASTE OF LIFE,” a fun little pop-rock ditty would have been a better fit, since there were some other poppy songs on the album and they worked just fine. Not to mention, that would have made 1000% more sense than actually including that single (released before ZERO ONE) on their second album, and, btw, not rerecorded... but I digress.  “ANSWER,” their debut song, is a track I find decent at best.  It could’ve benefited from an arrangement overhaul, considering the band’s newfound mastery of the synths, but alas… This rerecording doesn’t sound very different.  In fact, none of them really do. The only major difference I could detect was the background arrangement of "SEASONS" sounded (unfortunately) more subdued in certain parts. But if the album’s biggest weakness is its old songs, that’s probably a good sign of the pure progress the band is making!

Since the success of ZERO ONE, DIV have released even more singles, as well as a second full-album (SECRET: see @doombox's review) and second mini-album (EDR TOKYO: see @CAT5's review). So has this album stood the test of time? There has undoubtedly been some brilliant work released after ZERO ONE, with tracks like the darkly beautiful “BUTTERFLY DREAMER,” the electro-gasmic “東京、熱帯夜につ (tokyo nettaiya ni tsuki),” and my absolute favorite: the unmatched heavenly dreamscape of “漂流彼女 (hyouryuu kanojo).” Moreover, all of these songs have visually stunning PVs, showing further refinement in the band's aesthetic—seriously, go watch them right now. And yet, if I had to choose, I still consider ZERO ONE to be DIV’s flagship release. Why? Because it’s just that, a cohesive release. Comparatively, DIV’s second album was merely a collection of old singles and mostly forgettable new tracks. I've never subscribed to the glorification of the album as the one and only format for ‘real’ music fans, but if I were forced to do a ranking of VK albums, I’m sure ZERO ONE would be up there. No other VK band has been as deft at incorporating electronic arrangements into rock music as DIV and ZERO ONE is the release where they finally realized this sound. They've left an indelible impact on the scene and will truly be missed.

PS: If you haven't checked out DIV yet, their discography has recently been made available for streaming on Spotify and other services!
 

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[togz 2004]

RIP beautiful babus

 

ps great review <3

[doombox 4421]

Sad to see "ANSWER" got such a low rating, it was the song that got me hooked on DIV. Maybe it's a biased nostalgia that keeps it so high up there for me, but I can listen to that song on repeat forever. lol. 

 

But I do love the balance they had on this album between the synth oriented songs and the more straightforward rock ones. Its a diversity that seemed to be lacking in their work afterwords as things slowly felt to become more and more streamlined in the synth-y direction. It makes this album stand out a bit more as it feels more organic. But again, maybe I just have a bias at work when it comes to DIV. I'm really gonna miss them.

 

I'm really happy you reviewed this. ZERO ONE deserves not to be forgotten! 

[zombieparadise 487]

I really appreciated this review, good work!

I came into DIV through this album, so it's really nostalgic for me - But I think as a whole, even if it's made up of (mostly) singles, I like the songs on SECRET more.  ZERO ONE is definitely more cohesive though.

DIV was one of the few bands these days I was actually excited for new releases from. I'm really going to miss them 0:

[fitear1590 2414]

On 8/17/2016 at 11:38 PM, doombox said:

Sad to see "ANSWER" got such a low rating, it was the song that got me hooked on DIV. Maybe it's a biased nostalgia that keeps it so high up there for me, but I can listen to that song on repeat forever. lol. 

 

But I do love the balance they had on this album between the synth oriented songs and the more straightforward rock ones. Its a diversity that seemed to be lacking in their work afterwords as things slowly felt to become more and more streamlined in the synth-y direction. It makes this album stand out a bit more as it feels more organic.

Well-said, totally agree!

Sorry about "ANSWER" though, haha. I totally get your nostalgic connection to the song, but like I said, I just never enjoyed that first mini too much.

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PS: my favorite maxi-singles from the poll are TASTE OF LIFE and 妄想日記 (mousou nikki). 夏の行方 also has some great B-sides, including "milky latte" which was not mentioned in the review.