featured review #87: THE NOVEMBERS - Hallelujah

[fitear1590 2414]

 | Not quite divine, but a PREACH-worthy effort!

 

Tracklist:
1.Hallelujah

2.黒い虹 (Black Rainbow)

3.1000年 (1000 Years)

4.美しい火 (Beautiful Fire)

5.愛はなけなし (What Little Love)

6.風 (Wind)

7.時間さえも年老いて (Even Time Ages)

8.!!!!!!!!!!!

9.ただ遠くへ (Just Going Far)

10.あなたを愛したい (I Want To Love You)

11.いこうよ (IKOUYO)

 

THE NOVEMBERS hold a special place in the hearts of many Monochronmiums. I would go as far as saying, the majority of us who have at least a toe dipped in the waters of the ‘J-Rock’ and Japanese indie scenes, are fans of the band in some capacity. What makes THE NOVEMBERS a unique case is their wide appeal. Without going into strict alter egos, their sound can be divided into two major halves: namely, the light, jangly, and shoegaze-y sound and their darker, more aggressive, alternative sound. Or, as I term them, ~dream ver.~ and ~scream ver.~. While 2015’s Elegance leaned heavily toward the dreamy sound, this album, Hallelujah, seeks to restore balance.

 

The title track eases us into the album delivering (us from evil) with a euphoric sound, featuring simple, ‘tribal’ style drumming. It’s an epic theme, if a bit one-note. Immediately changing gears, the band hangs a hard U-turn with “Black Rainbow.” As the first single release of the album, we got to preview this angsty number back in July. Can anyone say, ‘shoegrunge’? The band maintains the forceful momentum on “1000 Years,” perhaps the best received heavy track on the album, according to comments here on MH. There’s something vaguely thrashy about the riffs on this one. Kobayashi’s harsh vocals are also noteworthy, invoking a paradoxically restrained rawness.

 

With a pretty strong start to the album, tracks 3 through 6 form a flawless stretch for me, as someone who predominantly gravitates toward THE NOVEMBERS’ lighter sound. “Beautiful Fire" is gorgeous and the polar opposite to the grittiness of the previous two tracks. It has more conviction than the wispy work on last year's Elegance and it also marks a glorious return to those warm horn arrangements, a nod to 2012's stunning GIFT EP (did you really think I could get through a NOVEMBERS review without namedropping it?), which adds a nostalgic touch. “What Little Love” is a track I slept on at first, but if I had to choose now, I’d probably nominate it as my album fave! I know @togz agrees with me! What’s fascinating about this track is its fusion of the band’s two sides. The dark, but tranquil verses are somewhat reminiscent of 2013's zeitgeist-era tracks like “Meursault.” The choruses, however, are where the band’s dreamier side shows through again. The piercing, ethereal synths are a NOVEMBERS signature, but during the chorus, they creep ever so gingerly towards dissonance, adding a striking tension to this song. Bringing up the rear of my album high is “Wind.” I’m not sure the band has ever produced a number quite like this, with bright riffs that would be at home in 90s/early 2000s ‘white kei.’ If you’re wondering what the hell I ever mean with ‘jangly’ guitar, look no further than “Wind.” Plus, Kobayashi hits an unusually high register in this track that is truly music to my earholes.

 

“Even Time Ages” is where Hallelujah starts to falter. Don’t get me wrong, I actually quite enjoy this gloomier track, but it feels like what we’ve heard before on zeitgeist or mid-album on 2014's Rhapsody in beauty. "!!!!!!!!!!!" is arguably the weakest showing on the album, lacking the distortion to back up how aggressive it wants to be. “Just Going Far” seems to directly cite zeitgeist’s “Flower of life” with its contrasting heavy bass and airy synth approach, though I suppose this one has more of a somber mood. “I Want To Love You” is where the band gets back on track, granting us a droning, unabashedly shoegaze ballad, if such a thing exists.  In fact, this track and the closer “IKOUYO” summon the distortion that their last album, Rhapsody in beauty, so selfishly hogged for the ~screamy~ tracks,  proving that the ~dreamy~ side can get down and dirty just as well.

 

Dazzling (and colorful) cover art aside, Hallelujah is unlikely to go down as many people’s favorite NOVEMBERS album. Despite unprecedented tracks like “Wind” and “I Want To Love You,” the album is just a little too derivative of work they’ve already released. Having said that, ‘more of the same’ is not necessarily a bad thing. Overall, Hallelujah is still a kickass record and is commendable for balancing the band’s two primary sounds more effectively than on recent releases. THE NOVEMBERS have been around for eleven years and it's not that they are starting to show their age. Rather, it’s simply getting tougher and tougher for them to outdo themselves. Even so, they remain as solid as ever. Perhaps, we just need to reconceptualize Hallelujah as something to hold us over until their inevitable release in 2017. I, for one, am already looking forward to discovering where the band will take us next. And maybe, just maybe, the band will give us a decent promo photo next year so I don't have to resort to a still from a PV!

What did you think of Hallelujah?

 

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[togz 2004]

This is an awesome review and you stole the words right out of my mouth. I'm glad to see we favored the same song! I think it shows a lot of different sides just in one track but doesn't sound too choppy. 

 

I really liked this album its easily my second favorite after zeitgeist.

 

thank you for reviewing this!

[CAT5 9075]

Awesome review as usual @fitear1590 - I always enjoy your writing!

 

I enjoy this album, but there just aren't any moments that make me go "UMPHHH!!!" like Koba's shouting before the chorus in "Blood Music.1985" or in "鉄の夢". There are no songs that make me want to just fly off into the clouds with Koba's voice like in the chorus to "Rhapsody in beauty".  Nothing on this album feels as emotionally cathartic as when Koba hits those high notes near the end of "dumb." There are no songs here where I can simply get lost in the beautiful, melancholic guitar interplay and the smooth buttery basslines like in "We" and "はじまりの教会".

 

But, as I said, it's still a good album - hell, it's extremely solid in fact. It just doesn't reach any of the peaks that the other albums reach for me, and the narrative/flow just isn't as compelling for me. I'd rate this as my 4th favorite album of theirs - with Zeitgeist up first, Rhapsody 2nd, and To melt 3rd - with a fucking razor thin difference between those three.

 

My favorite tracks from Hallelujah atm are "Black Rainbow", "1000 years", "Just Going Far" and "What Little Love".

[Zeus 7997]

4 hours ago, CAT5 said:

Awesome review as usual @fitear1590 - I always enjoy your writing!

 

I enjoy this album, but there just aren't any moments that make me go "UMPHHH!!!" like Koba's shouting before the chorus in "Blood Music.1985" or in "鉄の夢". There are no songs that make me want to just fly off into the clouds with Koba's voice like in the chorus to "Rhapsody in beauty".  Nothing on this album feels as emotionally cathartic as when Koba hits those high notes near the end of "dumb." There are no songs here where I can simply get lost in the beautiful, melancholic guitar interplay and the smooth buttery basslines like in "We" and "はじまりの教会".

 

But, as I said, it's still a good album - hell, it's extremely solid in fact. It just doesn't reach any of the peaks that the other albums reach for me, and the narrative/flow just isn't as compelling for me. I'd rate this as my 4th favorite album of theirs - with Zeitgeist up first, Rhapsody 2nd, and To melt 3rd - with a fucking razor thin difference between those three.

 

My favorite tracks from Hallelujah atm are "Black Rainbow", "1000 years", "Just Going Far" and "What Little Love".

You took the words right out of my mouth! I can agree with the overall sentiment that this is a great album but not their best. For me, the biggest downside is the inconsistent flow of the album. With just a little bit of re-arrangement, the entire album could have come off as more cohesive. When there are sprints of tracks near the end that don't resonate with me, I fall out of the music pretty quickly. The first half of this album is pretty bad-ass but the second half just puts me to sleep. I haven't listened to enough of THE NOVEMBERS to be able to rank them as CAT and togz have, but I know that it's above "Elegance" but below "Rhapsody in Beauty".

[indigo 389]

@fitear1590 Great review! I enjoy your style of reviewing. I don't agree with all your opinions but I think I would give it the same score you did.

 

My expectations for this album were very high, like they always are with THE NOVEMBERS releases and I was a bit disappointed if I'm being honest. And it's still one of the best J-albums released this year so that's saying something about the quality of their music.

 

Some notes about the album / songs:

 

- 1000 Years is like a poor man's version of Blood Music.1985.

 

- Kobayashi's vocals on 愛はなけなし (What Little Love) make me think that he would be a great nagoya kei vocalist.

 

- I think @CAT5 put it well with there being no notable "UMMPPH!" moments that make you revisit the songs time after time. For me moments like these are the first chorus of Rhapsody in beauty with the siren guitar and Kobayashi's high notes interlocking, the killer riff starting at 1:30 in Wire (Fahrenheit 154), the chorus of 彼岸で散る青 (Jigan de chiru ao). There were no moments on "Hallelujah" where I thought "holy shit that's amazing!"

 

- My favorite songs after multiple listens: Black Rainbow, What Little Love, Just Going Far. That guitar riff in Just Going Far's "chorus" is fantastic!

 

And for lolz: 1. (To) melt into, 2. Zeitgeist, 3. Rhapsody in beauty, 4. Hallelujah

 

 

Edited October 30, 2016 by indigo

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

I was gonna say where did that promo pic come from?? xD

 

I thought Hallelujah was not a bad album. I quite like the nostalgic feel in it, but there were only a few tracks that I really enjoyed, namely Hallelujah, What Little Love, and Even Time Ages. They're the only tracks that I can play on repeat, while the rest are perhaps more forgettable for me. I mean, songs like 1000 Years, Black Rainbow, and I Want To Love You are also great, but it doesn't quite reach that wow factor where I can listen to it on repeat for pretty long.

 

On 10/29/2016 at 4:12 PM, fitear1590 said:

THE NOVEMBERS have been around for eleven years and it's not that they are starting to show their age. Rather, it’s simply getting tougher and tougher for them to outdo themselves.

 

I can agree with this whole statement. Sure they still make great music, but I highly doubt they'll ever make anything better than my all time favorite album, that is To (melt into). In my ears, that album is too perfect and I love every single track from it. I think it has its own overall dark and gloomy tone with frequent psychedelic guitars that I feel they'll never bring back. I love it so much I don't even feel the need to rank their other albums, haha. It's actually just very hard for me to rank the others because they're kinda all over the place for me...A bit sad to see that Misstopia and picnic don't have much love though.

Edited November 2, 2016 by plastic_rainbow

[fitear1590 2414]

On 10/29/2016 at 8:06 PM, togz said:

I'm glad to see we favored the same song! I think it shows a lot of different sides just in one track but doesn't sound too choppy. 

Yesss, togz!
 

On 10/30/2016 at 0:32 AM, CAT5 said:

Awesome review as usual @fitear1590 - I always enjoy your writing!

 

I enjoy this album, but there just aren't any moments that make me go "UMPHHH!!!"

Thanks, bb!

I wonder if their new label is partly to blame for the lack "UMPHHH!!!" from a production standpoint. Granted, I also thought Elegance was lacking some pizzazz and iirc, that was still self-released like Rhapsody in beauty and zeitgeist. Hmm...
 

On 10/30/2016 at 5:31 AM, Zeus said:

You took the words right out of my mouth! I can agree with the overall sentiment that this is a great album but not their best. For me, the biggest downside is the inconsistent flow of the album. With just a little bit of re-arrangement, the entire album could have come off as more cohesive. 

Playing around with the tracklist is an interesting idea... What would your ideal track order be for this album?
 

On 10/30/2016 at 7:27 AM, indigo said:

Great review! I enjoy your style of reviewing. I don't agree with all your opinions but I think I would give it the same score you did.

- Kobayashi's vocals on 愛はなけなし (What Little Love) make me think that he would be a great nagoya kei vocalist.

Thanks so much! Also, I think your comment about not agreeing, but giving the same score sheds light on THE NOVEMBERS' unique appeal. For instance, many of us here are talking about "Rhapsody in beauty" (the song), but for me, my favorite ~dreamy~ NOVEMBERS tracks from that album are easily the album closers ("Romance" and "僕らはなんだったんだろう").

And holy shit, yes. Can we forgot DECAYS was a thing and make Nagoya Kei-bayashi happen instead?!

29 minutes ago, plastic_rainbow said:

I was gonna say where did that promo pic come from?? xD

I love it so much I don't even feel the need to rank their other albums, haha. It's actually just very hard for me to rank the others because they're kinda all over the place for me...A bit sad to see that Misstopia and picnic don't have much love though.

I simply could not prolong the use of that dweeby promo pic from Elegance and I also wasn't happy with this album's pic 

I was just telling Cat earlier this week, I've recently gained a new appreciation for Misstopia. That was my bad with the poll, I should have made it so multiple choices were possible, so we didn't have to pick one favorite, haha. Should have included their mini-albums as options too! Gahh!

[Zeus 7997]

@fitear1590 as far as playing around with the track list goes, I could be doing this forever. Part of the appeal behind an effective album / mini / mixtape is flow. Listeners tend to be more forgiving of an album's weaker moments when their stronger moments can prop them up. The flow for Hallelujah is great but not perfect: there are times when it slows down and I was expecting an energetic follow-up for example. IMO, Hallelujah's biggest shortcoming is that it builds up momentum and then only executes on 50-75% of the energy. This takes me out of the mood of an album. My immediate changes would be to drop "Even Time Ages" and swap "1000 Years" with "!!!!!!!!!!!".

[CAT5 9075]

I also agree with @Zeus - flow is one of problems I have with this album. Every time I've listened to it, I've done it in order without skipping anything, and "Wind" seems to come out of the blue on each play. It's such an abrupt change in mood for me. Everything leading up to that seems to flow ok, but from that track onward the album seems like a bit of a mess. I also think that lumping both the two slowest and longest tracks of the album together at the end was a bit of a poor choice, and the album kind of turns into a chore by that point. So yeah, overall, it's just really difficult for me to get into the narrative of this album, as it's arc is so very disjointed.

 

As for "Misstopia" and "picnic" - I admit that I haven't really spent a wealth of time with those albums. I'd been following THE NOVEMBERS since about 2008, but for the longest time, the only songs that I could truly get into were "Dnim" and "kowareru". It wasn't until after to melt was released that their music really started to leave an impression on me. But even upon revisits of their earlier work, a few tracks have grown on me, but I mostly still feel lukewarm about it all.  "Misstopia" in particular sounds to me like prototype of some their subsequent works.

[Eruerufu 5]

Surprised Beautiful Fire didn't get much love in this thread lol that, just going far, what little love, and I want to love you were definitely my faves.

Justice for beautiful fire T_T