featured review #95: Traces Vol. 2 by The GazettE

[Zeus 7997]

 

 

Tracklist:

1. 枯詩

2. Cassis

3. D.L.N

4. CALM ENVY

5. reila

6. UNTITLED

7. WITHOUT A TRACE

8. 紅蓮

9. 白き優鬱

10. PLEDGE

11. 絲

12. 体温

 

| Is 2017 the year of boss album re-recordings?

 

The initial announcement of Traces Vol. 2 had me cautious. Traces Best of 2005-2009 was an uninspiring grab bag of singles designed to please, but it didn't feel like anything more than a standard compilation. Traces Vol. 2 is a different beast entirely. Once the band announced the album would be completely re-recorded ballads featuring some older songs, it went from a blip on my radar to the most awaited release of the first quarter of 2017.

 

Versailles' The Greatest Hits collection album earlier this year had a very similar goal; take old classics and update them to fit a band's new style and budget. Versailles were more liberal in what songs they selected, but I believe the laser focus on just ballads works out for the GazettE. Ballads are their strong suit, even if I'm not the biggest fan of most of them. The production job is good considering the band did it themselves, but it is not perfect. Small things here and there bring the score down such as the main melody of "CASSIS" being buried under all the other elements, the washed out snares, or the prominence of the drums in all songs. I attribute these choices to the audio equipment they used not being neutral on all fronts. I wish I knew what equipment they used because it would be handy to hear the album the way they intended. However, it's not a deal breaker.
 

I've been craving for the band to put a new take on some of their old classics, and the band has at least taken into consideration some of the songs we really want to hear. Opening the album with the rare throwback "枯詩" (Kareuta) is a good way to curry favor from their more cynical, nostalgic fans like me. In addition to "枯詩", the tracks I was interested in most were "体温" (Taion) and "絲" (Ito), both of which sound amazing. The new heavy sections in "体温" were revised and clear up a lot of the transitional awkwardness of the original. It loses some of that "cowboy western" feel of NIL in exchange for more despair and sadness, but I might prefer the new version with a few more listens! Within the context of Traces, it works. "絲" in particular is a very early ballad I would have never expected them to consider! It sounds like a brand new song and is the best example of musical growth I can muster.

 

Other ballads, such as "D.L.N" and "白き憂鬱", did not resonate with me in their original forms but get a new lease on life on Traces. It irks me that "reila", "Cassis", and "紅蓮" are on both Traces but the effort put into these new versions make their inclusions more than acceptable. Unlike the first Traces, there is no explicit mention of a time frame the songs come from. A lack of "千鶴" (Chizuru), OMINOUS, or an extended version of "余韻" (Yoin) is enough to dock an entire point. In place of more recent ballads like "Without A Trace", "PLEDGE", and "UNTITLED", which in contrast don't sound too different from the original versions, I would have liked to see the aforementioned tracks or even earlier ballads such as "十七歳" (Juunanasai).

Then again, the fact that they avoided everything post-TOXIC on Traces 2 is damning in itself, wouldn't you say?

 

Traces Vol. 2 is the most cohesive and focused The GazettE album since DIM. Perhaps the familiarity of the tracks is at play here, or knowing before hand that there would be no forced musical experiments to switch up the flow of the album. It's just the listener, the band, and sixty seven minutes of some classics, some reinterpretations, and at worst pleasant background music. The amount of missed opportunities are minor - if any even exist.

 

 

 

Support the band!

CDJapan

[filth_y 189]

Listening to reila, one of my favorite if not the favorite song of them, i was honestly dissapointed about the pure lack of emotion, even when it was to be expected. Especially from the vocals. For me this CD underlines what an empty shell they've become over the years on their CDs (never seen them live, so can't judge that part of the band).

[Seimeisen 4406]

Not gonna lie, when I read the initial draft, I thought it was gonna be an April Fool's joke. Guess the Zess is all about unpopular GazettE opinions...

 

Before this release, I never really cared for tracks like Cassis, reila, 白き優鬱, or 絲, but I'm really starting to like these new versions, and they all work well on this album. The reason I never really liked 白き優鬱 is because it just didn't work well with the other tracks on DIM (I think WITHOUT A TRACE or 暪し would have fit better), but it works just fine here so I'm able to enjoy it more.

 

My favourites are 枯詩, D.L.N., 体温, and maybe 絲. If I haven't said it enough times, new 体温 is my everything! This track proves that they should do another re-recording set that consists of heavier, more live-oriented material.

 

My main complaints about this release are the mixing/mastering job, and RUKI's vocals (some of the time). One example is PLEDGE; I prefer his deeper vocals on the original TOXIC version. On this new version, he kind of sounds like he's auditioning for an oshare-kei band. There are a few other moments in other songs where I think he sounded better in the original, but I've grown used to the new versions, so again, I can enjoy them more. And regarding the mixing/mastering, I do hope they would have brought a professional on board to do the job better (or that they'd have at least consulted someone), or used high quality equipment for testing.

 

I might edit this with more thoughts...

[seratonin 43]

On 3/22/2017 at 9:00 AM, filth_y said:

Listening to reila, one of my favorite if not the favorite song of them, i was honestly dissapointed about the pure lack of emotion, even when it was to be expected. Especially from the vocals. For me this CD underlines what an empty shell they've become over the years on their CDs (never seen them live, so can't judge that part of the band).

 

I actually disagree, listening to some parts of the chorus gave me goosebumps. Reila was always an 'okay' song for me, but this re-recording really shocked me, and now I actually like the song haha.

 

Singing:

-Ruki has better control of the higher notes in this recording (I sing myself)

-He changed his singing tone since when reila was initially recorded. His tone now is less nasally and more 'open'

-Extra verse at the end of the song, which I heard is sung at lives

-There's also more variation in notes for the singing, the singing in this VERSION KILLS THE OLD

 

Instruments:

-The guitar accompaniment/ambience affect is clearer, sounds beautiful

-new recording has obvious "Strings"/orchestra

-that improvisation-sounding jam with acoustic at the of the first chorus *was screaming internally*

 

 

Edited May 1, 2017 by seratonin

[Zeus 7997]

4 hours ago, seratonin said:

 

I actually disagree, listening to some parts of the chorus gave me goosebumps. Reila was always an 'okay' song for me, but this re-recording really shocked me, and now I actually like the song haha.

 

Singing:

-Ruki has better control of the higher notes in this recording (I sing myself)

-He changed his singing tone since when reila was initially recorded. His tone now is less nasally and more 'open'

-Extra verse at the end of the song, which I heard is sung at lives

-There's also more variation in notes for the singing, the singing in this VERSION KILLS THE OLD

 

Instruments:

-The guitar accompaniment/ambience affect is clearer, sounds beautiful

-new recording has obvious "Strings"/orchestra

-that improvisation-sounding jam with acoustic at the of the first chorus *was screaming internally*

 

 

 

reila is one of those long time fan favorite tracks so I paused when they announced they would re-record it. It was a gutsy move and if it didn't work out well for them, no fan would let them live it down. If it did, it would make the album that much better. My opinion is that all re-recordings need to bring something to the table - good or bad - so that it can distinguish itself from itself. The Traces Vol. 2 version of reila does that successfully for all of the reasons you listened there, but I elected not to say anything about reila because I don't like the song. I never saw the appeal in it. It's just another boring seven minute ballad and if I wanted to listen to Ruki croon, I'd listen to CASSIS instead...which just happens to be track two of this release. I'm still miffed that they included this track again after throwing it on basically every release they could, but in truth I'd rather cut 6, 9, or 10 first.

 

Time is never kind to my opinion of the GazettE albums but this one might escape without too many scrapes.