12012 - SEVEN

[sai 868]

I was pretty curious for this. I had a feeling this album would be better than mar maroon, mainly because of the single THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE, which made me think they would return to their old stuff. Now let's see if they managed to fulfill my expectations.

SADNESS - Just an SE with only a piano. It's not a very good SE in my opinion, kind of boring, they could've done a better job. It is nonetheless a good filler for the PV track. 6/10

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE... - This song has really grown on me in the proces. It's not the best song on the album, but it's really enjoyable nonetheless. I really like the PV for this one as well. The opening riff is calm and nice and the drums are top notch. 8/10

GOSSAMER - Okay, the first 5 seconds already showed that this would be a heavy track. The screaming in the beginning is kind of crappy. The screaming throughout the whole song sucks, actually. Really heavy tracks aren't my thing, but I'm open for them. Chorus is okay, I guess, kind of boring. I only liked the guitar riffs, that's why I will give them a 4 and not a 2. The chorus is growing on me throughout the song. It sounds cut off, but I don't really mind, since I won't be putting this one on my iPod. 4/10

Usubeni To Ame - The intro is really cool, but sounds a bit of cut off. And once again they use Engrish in their chorus. This could've been so much better if it was in Japanese, but it's an enjoyable pop-rock track. The Japanese part of the chorus sounds really good. 8/10

LAST TRAIN - I don't have anything special to say about this track. It's not bad, but not good either. The chorus is horrible though. LAST TRAIN LAST TRAIN WOHOOOO. I like the few seconds with only Wataru and the drums. What's up with all the Engrish on this album? Why won't Wataru accept his English is horrible and it screws up most of their songs? It comes with the business I suppose. Even though the chorus stays awful, I stared to really like this card. 7/10

KUBARARETA CARD DE SHOUBU SURUSHIKANAINOSA.SORE GA DOUIU IMI DE ARE - Long title FTW! They even managed to beat Dir en grey's Hageshisa to and D's Yami Yori. Now back to the song. Hmm, this is a track I'm going to like after a few more listens, I think. The guitar solo sounds nice, and so do the drums. Awesome little bass solo. And please, Wataru, stop trying to sing high, it's not nice to listen too. 8/10

BIRTHDAY PARTY OF SECRET ROOM - This is not an upbeat happy song. At least, I expected one because of the title. The thing that stands out in my book is the bass. Once again, nothing special, I hope there is going to be a song as good as THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE on this album. This has really grown on me: it's one of my favorites on the album. 8,5/10

M - Is this 12012's answer to Dir en grey's STUCK MAN? In that case, it's something that should never reach Kyo's ears. The rapping part is OK, but the screaming is, once again, HORRIBLE. He sounds like he smokes too much. I know Wataru can do much better, but so far on this album he's been really disappointing. 5 instead of 4 for the nice rapping in the beginning. 5/10

瑠璃 - A slower track. I've never been a fan of 12012's slower songs. Once again I like the bass lines, but for some reason they don't seem to fit the rest of the instruments. Not that it's a bad thing. It's a pretty good ballad in my opinion. Nice guitar solo. This will grow on me even more, I'm sure of it. 7,5/10

TATTOO - Didn't like this very much when I heard it on the single, but that's a while ago, so I'll give it another listen. It doesn't sound that bad on a second listen, but nothing memorable. After a few listens it grew on me though, and now I listen is quite often. 8/10

mayakashi - This song has a really dark atmosphere. The first time Wataru's screaming sounds good on this album. The rest of his vocals sound good too. The screams are beautiful, like a cry of despair. Also a grower. 8/10

THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE - This is without a doubt my favorite on the album. The intro is weird but awesome. The beginning sounds alot like the GazettE's LEECH, but it doesn't bother me a bit. Good screaming, nice chorus, awesome PV. This song gave me hope that they would go back to their old style, THE GOOD WAY. I absolutely love it and has been the best song they ever made (in my honest opinion). 10/10

ONE STEP - Well, this fits perfectly between THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE and CONFESSION. Good track, nice beat, nothing remarkable though. 8/10

CONFESSION - Is this thing really 19 minutes or is iTunes just f*cking with me?! I'm through it for 3 minutes, and I can't say it's boring me or that I don't like it. GREAT VOCALS. I think iTunes is f*cking with me, since it fades out after 5 minutes or so. After 12 minutes you can hear a piano play, as an outro I suppose. Are we going to have an outro of 7 freaking minutes?! Well, at least the piano sounds better than in the intro, and it kind of fits with CONFESSION itself. CONFESSION itself was really good, and so is the piano, even though it's a bit long. The piano changes to a beat 1 minute before the end, that could've easily been used in the game The World Ends With You. Couldn't they just have put it in additional tracks? It saves room on your MP3 player/iPod. 9/10

Album rating: 8/10

I was really hoping this band would go back to their old stuff, and THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE made me feel like they were trying. They're getting there. This is a pretty cool album that I will be listening a lot too.

[stylelover 1086]

i liked the last few singles, so i was pretty excited for this album.

sunrise: intro -> no rating

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE...: good opener, nothing special, but i enjoyed it 7/10

GOSSAMER: nedd to agree with phones on that song. the sreams sucks. The chorus is refreshing, but overall the song is really bad. 4/10

????: old song: i think they changed it a little bit. I already liked the single and i also like this one, but the old version is better imo. 8,5/10

LAST TRAIN: first really good new song. could be one of my favourites at the album. 8,5/10

??????????????????? ????????????…: the album is starting to get better. another great song. 8/10

BIRTHDAY PARTY OF SECRET ROOM: the first few seconds are really promising, but i dont really like how wataru sings (except the chorus) weak song again. 6/10

M: I dont know why, but i actually enjoyed this one, although the screams are just as bad as in GOSSAMER. 7/10

??: I always liked their ballads and this one is great too. Love it at first listen. The verses are really beautiful. The first chorus is weaker than the verses, but i really love the 2nd and 3rd time he sings the chorus. favourite song so far. 9/10

TATTOO: old song. cant see any difference this time, but its still awesome. 9,5/10

mayakashi: hm it´s... boring. Its not bad , buts its boring. 7/10

THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE: old song. still great. 9/10

CONFESSION: i hate hidden tracks. the song itself is good. good choice to end the album with. the hidden piano song is nothing special, but nice. 8/10

i can say that i like the album. It has some really weak songs like birthday party and gossamer, but overally its great.

I think i like mar maroon more , but this album can grow on me .

8,5/10 overall.

[Des 289]

I'm going to write this as I listen to it for the second time:

SADNESS - I kinda like this intro. It is well placed before the next song. 6/10

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE - Too short, but I like it. Really like the piano in this song. Like the vocals and the melody. Nothing bad about this one except the length. It's over way too soon. 7/10

GOSSAMER - Intro sucks, rest of the song is below average. The song really leads into nothingness. No excitement whatsoever except for the actual singing part. Which is not all that special either. 5/10

Usubeni to Ame - Vocals could have been better but I like this song. Pretty straightforward but good. 7/10

Last Train - Don't like this chorus at all. Especially the beginning of it. The repeated shouting on the background throughout the song is just annoying. Solo is bad. Rest of the song is too. I don't know what they tried to do here but they failed. 2/10

Kubarareta Card etc. long title - Better than last song. I like the guitars here. The vocals are not great, but not bad either. Most points go to the instruments here. 6/10

BIRTHDAY PARTY OF SECRET ROOM - Don't like the intro, but do like the guitars shortly after. Drums and bass are also nicely played. But this is another song that leads to nowhere. Does not really get exciting at any point. There's only the "this is okay" feeling left. 6/10

M - This is a parody. 1/10

?? - Huge change from the previous song but in a very positive way. Relaxing atmosphere. Very nice vocals throughout the whole song. Song grows towards the end. Finally a non-single track that feels like it's going somewhere. 7/10

Tattoo - Another great song. Nothing bad about this song really. Like this very much. 8/10

Mayakashi - Interesting one. Not bad at all. Just wish this was longer because it feels incomplete. 7/10

THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE - Worst intro ever, seriously. After the intro the song gets much better. 8/10

Confession - They saved the best for last. I love this. I don't get why they added the utterly useless garbage as "hidden track" towards the end though. Now the track is nearly 20 minutes while the actual song "Confession" lasts only for the first 5 minutes, and ends with a stupid fade-out. Don't like the fade-out. But I like the rest. 8/10

[toshii9245 0]

Too lazy to do a song-by-song review, but this album is overall really disappointing, IMO; probably is on par with mar maroon due to its dullness. I love Confession [and the 9th track, Ruri, is also decent], THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE and TATTOO; but since the latter two were already in their previous releases, so. New songs generally sucked hard, I missed their old stuffs like not obtain+1 and the likes.

[DaInReU 0]

I felt I was a little too harsh. I listened to it at 2 in the morning, so I gave it another shot when I woke up.

2. JUST THE WAY YOU ARE... - 4/10

3. GOSSAMER - 2/10

4. ???? - 5/10

5. LAST TRAIN - 6/10

6. ??????????????????? ????????????… - 3/10

7. BIRTHDAY PARTY OF SECRET ROOM - 5/10

8. M - 0/10

9. ?? - 6/10

10. TATOO - 8/10

11. mayakashi - 7/10

12. THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE - 7/10

13. CONFESSION - 6/10

4/10

[filth_y 189]

This album flows soo well.

Really good album, as expected.

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE... and LAST TRAIN are my favourites so far.

[Masamune 72]

Only liked one song and that was

The Pain Of Catastrophe, the rest

were just your usual generic crap.

My condolences to the

people who bought this.

Verdict: 1/10

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

The album is not ANYWHERE near as big of a fail as I thought it would be.

I didn't listen to any of the singles before this album, because I was so pissed off about Mar Maroon,

but I gotta say... I'm glad I checked this out...

Just the Way You Are, Last Train, Usubeni to Ame, Mayakashi, —Ú—ž, The Pain of Catastrophe, and Confession are all my favorites. But the songs that I didn't like... I felt were a complete embarrassment, like... What exactly the fuck was M? Like... I just don't comprehend. And Birthday Party of Secret Room was total shit. That really long name and Gossimer weren't .... SO bad but not good by any means either. Tattoo was the only one I gave a 4 star rating to. Everything else was 5, 3, or 2.

Overall 4/5

[maniacstation 0]

too lazy to write something for every single song

I love this album. I think it's a masterpiece.

10/10

[evilcoconut 109]

I'm about halfway through, but it's already way better than Mar Maroon. I don't want them to rehash their old music, even though I liked it, that's retarded. But this is a solid sound. IT was weird how there was like no pause between songs tho..,

[Licio123 181]

2. JUST THE WAY YOU ARE... - 8.5/10

3. GOSSAMER - 7/10

4. ???? - 7.5/10

5. LAST TRAIN - 8/10

6. ??????????????????? ????????????… - 7/10

7. BIRTHDAY PARTY OF SECRET ROOM - 6.5/10

8. M - 8/10

9. ?? - 8.5/10

10. TATOO - 9/10

11. mayakashi - 7.5/10

12. THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE - 9/10

13. CONFESSION - 6/10

Pretty solid album. 12012 is quickly becoming on of my favorite bands.

[sugibo 403]

i love this album, 8/10.

[Des 289]

I'm about halfway through, but it's already way better than Mar Maroon. I don't want them to rehash their old music, even though I liked it, that's retarded. But this is a solid sound. IT was weird how there was like no pause between songs tho..,

Yeah, I noticed that too. I think they did a good job at this with some songs because they are nicely connected to eachother. The transitions are smooth while they still feel like different songs. That's not easy to do. But some other changes are way too abrupt. Like from M to ??.. what was that.

[golffy_aoi 15]

7/10 that's it XP

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

What is —Ú—ž romanized? I've noticed it's the only Kanji song no one has been using in romaji...

[sai 868]

What is �?Ú�?ž romanized? I've noticed it's the only Kanji song no one has been using in romaji...

LAPIS LAZULI I think

[Miasma 162]

What is �?Ú�?ž romanized? I've noticed it's the only Kanji song no one has been using in romaji...

Yeah it's "Ruri" it means: lapis lazuli.

[nick 10212]

ruri is my favourite off the album

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Now that you say that, it really does look like Ruri. I should've been able to figure that one out on my ownn.

[morbiusss 10]

people can say what they want about 12012.

but one thing is for sure: they ARE constantly changing (within their genre of course).

every album sounds diferent.

i mean just compare mar maroon (which is also a very good album, allthough its poppy as hell!) to SEVEN. SEVEN is actually a very dark themed album.

anyways up to the review

SADNESS & JUST THE WAY YOU ARE belong together and make a great melancholic introduction to this album, the chorus is great. great emotions.

GOSSAMER: i think this is really cool! reminds me so much of old indie 12012. did everybody notice that wataru screams in almost everysong, even the ballads, on this album? i love it. the transition to

USUBENI TO AME is also very good. this was a very good single, my fav single track after THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE.

LAST TRAIN: definitely my favourite song on the album. the background band vocals are so old school, this whole song is so different from everything they did before.

well i am defenitely biased. 12012 is my favourite band since 2006 (Heart single made me fall in love). but i am defenitely able to recognize bad compositions (which you hardly find in 12012 disco) and i am no Mitsu who is 1000/10 all the time.

so this song is a great piece of music. and another great transition to

KUBARARETA CARD...: alltough the song itself is not that great. i have problems with this. im not used to it allthough i listened to the album like 6 times already. in my opinion the weakest song on the album. wataru getting high in the chorus in the end is also not the most wise decision made.

BIRHTDDAY PARTY OF SECRET ROOM: ok, what a fucked up title. and wataru screaming the title in the chorus with alot of emotion doesent make this feel less strange. besides of that the composition and the mix of hard (dig the strophes) and emotional 12012 rock (chorus) is very well done. like it very much.

M: interesting. could have been a b side though. but its short, and i really thing it fits into the flow of the album right after BIRTHDAY... (i have no desire to write the title of that song). his brrrrrrrrr sound right in the beginning is really bad though.

but i really like to get crazy to the chorus with its rhythmic guitar riff. solid!

RURI: does any 12012 ballad ever failed? (besides aitai kara which was a bit supeficial). no. nor does this. nor does confession.

TATTOO: the weakest single imo. but still a rather good song with a good chorus.

mayakshi: like it very much! emotional standard mid tempo rocker. well made. and yet another great transition to

THE PAIN OF CATASTROPHE: one of the albums highlights. awesome chorus, awesome intro. awesome hard strophes.

CONFESSION outro. the song itself is another brilliant 12012 ballad. the SEVEN minute long outro (i seperated the song into the CONFESSION song itself and the outro (i called it SEVEN ) is a great ending track. really sad melody, and i ADORE the transition to this anime/computer game ending electronic thingy at the end. reminds me of the computer game "Oni" haha.

all in all i give this album 8/10.

it has less "Hits" than other 12012 albums before, but i feel this beeing a concept album, with many songs flowing into each other, and it somehow makes "sense" listening to this album from start to the end. it has such a different feeling compared to any other 12012 album and thats one thing i love about these guys, every album feeling/sounding is different.

and i think this album shows who the boys matured. its a really grown up album.

one thing that i really want to say in the end is this: i hate 12012's production quality.

i think their production was better in underccode times. and this, seriously, i dont get! they are major now but their drums sound like shit, the guitars, compared to other major acts, lack impact, weight and pressure. with a good production their ballads would sound even more mesmerizing and the hard tracks would be really bombs.

so there are 2 things i wish from 12012 for the future:

1. maintaining their composition talent

2. IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCTION.

thx fo reading.

[ichiken 0]

it's the best album they've released since play dolls

but it's not 12012 who made it good.

most of the good tracks could be easily mistaken for rentrer en soi of 2007 and later

or dir en grey

I bet they didn't compose anything for a good half of the album.

another half was bland and crap and too much overprocessed piano sampling.

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

^ I think it's the best album they've done period. Each album sounded different, so it's not like they're doing the same thing over and over again, but this for sure is the most outstanding in the best way.

Not Obtain would be the worst.

[Guest o hai itz will]

I am not a big fan of 12012, but this album surprised me. What greatly bothered me, was the blatant rip off of STUCK MAN, but I am able to look past that. GOSSAMER (though a title stolen from The Smashing Pumpkins) is a very solid track. The progression makes me cum! It's not an OMFG AMAZING album, but it certainly is enjoyable. Whenever I listen to this, I get that "indie metal band" vibe from it. Very powerful.

8/10

[Maiku 4]

I am not a big fan of 12012, but this album surprised me. What greatly bothered me, was the blatant rip off of STUCK MAN, but I am able to look past that. GOSSAMER (though a title stolen from The Smashing Pumpkins) is a very solid track. The progression makes me cum! It's not an OMFG AMAZING album, but it certainly is enjoyable. Whenever I listen to this, I get that "indie metal band" vibe from it. Very powerful.

8/10

Couldn't have said it better myself. <3

[buster 3]

wasn't that bad imo, of course i still prefer their heavier times much more but it's still listenable

3/5