MUCC - 惡 [Discussion Thread]

[Seimeisen 4406]

 

 

Released: 2020年06月10日

01. 惡 -JUSTICE-
02. CRACK
03. アメリア
04. 神風 Over Drive
05. 海月
06. Friday the 13th
07. COBALT
08. SANDMAN
09. 目眩 (feat. 葉月)
10. スーパーヒーロー
11. DEAD or ALIVE
12. 自己嫌惡
13. アルファ
14. My WORLD
15. 生と死と君
16. スピカ

 

Bonus Tracks:

Terrace (CD hidden track)

taboo (download card bonus track)

例えば僕が居なかったら (download card bonus track)

 

 

 

Sooooo.... what do we think?

[Tokage 5930]

That track with Hazuki on guest vocals wins the award for best (probably) unintentional comedy song of the year. What the actual fuck was that?

Aside from that: these guys REALLY didn't need to make this album as long as it is. Like a good 70% of the tracks sound like they were written by some deep learning MUCC AI and quite a few of the songs themselves end up feeling  way longer than they need to be for some reason (Self Hate and My WORLD being two of the main offenders). Also - they really do love that generic ''JUMP THE FUCK UP'' nu-metal rhythm these days don't they?

 

The only songs I can really say I 'liked' were Kurage and Ameria (and i feel like i already partially forgot what both sounded like by the time the album ended). That previous album must've been an accidental fluke.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Tokage

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Well, this was.... an album.

 

I have very little to say about this because most of the songs didn't even register on any scale, they were just there, trying too hard to "be something". Which sometimes worked real well (海月), sometimes terribly (惡 -JUSTICE-), and sometimes even quite hilariously (目眩). Very bloated and unnecessary overall.

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

A group of aging musicians throwing the kitchen sink in a flailing effort that has too much combined skill and experience to be anything laughably bad. Unfortunately that doesn't stop it from being dreadfully boring and tedious to sit through. They're basically in this part of their careers where they are reaching into every direction, like bringing up that nu metal bounce from their past and the fascination with novelty instruments and other gimmickry to liven up the arrangements that are basically par for the course for them. A bunch of dudes who know how to make songs had a bunch of ideas and this is what came out of it. 

[Zeus 7997]

I picked a bad time to try out MUCC again huh?

[felipar 143]

I was rather disappointed by this album, I was expecting something way better since I liked Kowareta piano to living dead.

[Manabu 144]

I got my votes the wrong way round sadly (I put my best as the worst and vice versa)

 

First and foremost

This is a 16 track album as well and Mucc definitely bit off more than they could chew

 

An average experience with no songs that are entirely terrible but very few songs that are worth returning to, most of the songs I found decent sounded like filler and just lacked any form of staying power., There was always a nice phrase, rhythm or melody but they were never enough to make me want to hear the songs again. On the other hand I found that most of the songs I disliked at least had some attempt to stray from being played out metal even if it didn't work out that well. 

 

There were a few idea's floating around but none ever seemed executed that well, songs like Sandman were a bit different but felt messy and hastily composed, Overdrive was going for a skate-punk vibe but feels almost too fast with it's short length and somewhat awkward structure ruining the flow of the track. アメリア has a nice chorus and the second half of the song is far better than the first but you're listening to 2-3 minutes of standard nu-metal bounce, Maya fiddling on guitar and Tatsurou just talking to get to it. Both COBALT and スーパーヒーロー feel like the group is on auto-pilot, funnily enough these were two of the tracks I liked more but they're arguably the most forgettable.

 

Then there are songs that have potential yet never really fulfil it, Friday the 13th has the brilliant 1950's diner-esque dance piano running through it but can't capitalise on it meanwhile 海月 offers a lot of dynamics with it's mix of synths, pianos and tones but they can't come together to make a truly great track. Lastly songs like 自己嫌惡 and My WORLD (惡 MIX) although not great at least have a few good parts but are muddied by shoehorned metal that seems to be there just for the sake of switching things up, I can appreciate that but this a technique Mucc use so liberally throughout this album.

 

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

I was hungover when I wrote that so I'm going to reiterate what I meant a little bit. There's not a whole lot of experimentation going on or anything like that and it totally sounds like tokage said that an AI figured out how to make a MUCC song out of a template. They try out a lot of different things that don't sound a whole lot different from each other, and aside from the track with hazuki ( where he spams the same squeel he spammed on their recent equally forgettable who gives a shit album ) none of these tracks are a huge mess or a disaster, and when they use things like pianos and goofy synth it's done with the finesse of veterans and while not embarrassing themselves it's still, to me, really fucking boring. This is like a B-version of their last album with more stuff in it, and only things I liked here are featured on that one in a better context, like Tatsurou's vocals on Kurage. The hevier stuff here on the other hand is faaaaaaaaaar worse. Tokage mentioned that jumpdafuqup nu metal bounce guitar and it appeared literally copypasted on the first three tracks. The ballads are also some of the most boring stuff I've heard them do. I don't know how they're motivated enough to keep going as a band if it ends up being tracks like Spica. 

[Seimeisen 4406]

I still haven't listened enough to have a fully formed opinion, but these comments have me expecting disappointment. I have heard that track with Hazuki in full, which was truly nothing more than a gimmick to put a feature in the tracklist, and deleted it immediately. I'll also be deleting My WORLD (it's just garbage), and 生と死と君 (doesn't fit without My WORLD). I was never expecting this to be as good as 壊れたピアノ, but I am expecting this album to make 脈拍 look like a dumpster fire. Of course, most of my complaints about MUCC these days aren't so much how their sound has gotten less interesting, but how Tatsurou's voice has been sounding like absolute shit for the past few years.

 

The album seems to be very top-heavy, starting out relatively strong only to water itself down towards the end. This album (and 脈拍 for that matter) did not need to be 70 minutes long. Unless you're prog, or your album has a thorough concept, your album shouldn't be longer than an hour. One of the things they got right with 壊れたピアノ was making it 40 minutes. In fact, 壊れたピアノ could have survived one filler track.

[mopkins 42]

I think it’s very important for MUCC albums to be 69 minutes long

 

I love the gag

[diryangrey 121]

a lot of comparisons of this album to 脈拍 but am i the only person who loves that album but struggles to understand the raison d'être of this one?
i mean, why did this album need to exist? the B-sides between 脈拍 & now make a better album, no?

tho i'm definitely amused by wondering how the conversation w/ 葉月 went like hey can you just go bbbrrrrrrrrrr into a mic for us, we'll turn it into a song don't worry

[ZudokatoKuroO 13]

Well, Unlike the other opinions I LOVE THIS ALBUM A LOT!

 

Is the perfect mix of mucc's style and It is the most varied album to date along with Myakuhaku and Shangri-La but more varied than the last 2.

Old Nu-Metal Style like Ameria, Crack and Sandman (Experimentation point)

Jazzy Styles like Jikokeno

Psychodelia Style like Friday the 13th.

Industrial Metal Style like Aku-Jusicte- & Dead Or Alive

Soft Rock Song like COBALT

Alternative Metal with Rock Elements like Kurage and Super Hero (Tatsuro Dedicate this song to his Father after dead)

Mid 2000 Nu Metal Style like Memai and Sei To Shi To Kimi

Punk Rock Songs like Kamikaze Over Drive and My World

Power Ballads Like Alpha and Spica

 

I like the 3 Bonus Track and in my opinion is very ambitious do 83 Minutes Music TODAY... Unlike the same things that are on the TOP List....

 

The innovation is a prominent and understimate skill that bands like MUCC can be proud of them.

 

This is only my opinion, every person can Hate or Love it like they want.

[Saishu 1589]

I haven’t listened to the original version of Ameria in a while, but why do I remember it being less of a disjointed mess?

[z.ghart 7]

As for me it's the best one in 10 years. Weaker than some early albums, weaker than some albums before Karma(including). But in general one of the coolest in their discography.

When Justice MV came out I immediately fell in love with it.

It's solid 9 out of 10 for me.

Edited June 24, 2020 by z.ghart

[Seimeisen 4406]

I've finally listened to the album, and the only tracks I really like are SANDMAN, DEAD or ALIVE, and Superhero (kind of). This album has the same problem as Plastic Tree's 十色定理: the album features mostly good compositions with mostly atrocious vocals. IMO, Tatsurou is the weakest link and ruins most songs, except for SANDMAN. His voice has been progressively getting worse over the past few years, and I don't see it improving. I don't know how I could describe it, if it'd be accurate to say his higher notes are more nasally/grating. He should either change his style or retire. In the meantime, MUCC is another band I am ready to stop paying attention to.

 

壊れたピアノとリビングデッド was a fluke

[Triangle 345]

Oh man Super Hero is so good ;A;! I loved every second of it and the live version was such an experience! I hope I will get to hear and see the performances of each song on this album at a future concert (hopefully the situation will be better in the world and I can safely travel to Japan in December <3).

Friday the 13th is such a tune for me <3! I love the glissando parts so much, even though Tooru did say this song takes up a lot of energy when playing it heheh. I would love to hear it at a irl concert! 

Kurage is also another song that I love very much on this album. Tooru's magic worked very well with the lyrics. I love that it has this old school anime ending vibe <3.

Kamikaze Over Drive ahhhh, this is such a perfect song for an outdoor live! Satochi's songs always bring me so much energy. I listen to this song a lot when I need some motivation for the day!

CRACK was the one that I knew I would love from the first few seconds in the album medley! I like the Miya and Tatsuro duets a lot! It's a great tune that I cannot wait to head bang on!

Amelia is already amazing and I never expected to get a remixed version of it, but I don't mind! I love the lyrics of this song, it's very Miya-ish XD. The live version is my favorite sksdjksda I miss the aggressive furis we did on this ;A;.

COBALT is a winter song that I find it hard to listen to in the hot summer, but, I still love it so much. I'm glad they included it on a cd album! When I saw them live last year I got this song played at every live I went to and it's a very dear to me song <3.

SANDMAN is another beautiful one. The Miya and Tatsuro duet is everything I wanted in life ahhh, so good and the guitar is basically on fire. I love this for me!

Memai!! Can we get another COMMUNE happening ;A;?? I need a Hazuki and Tatsuro live performance of this song! I love the "AAAAAA" parts so much ;A:!! The instrumental is beautiful, I can't get enough of this song!

DEAD or ALIVE omggggg! Yukke's bass cleansed my soul. I love the first few seconds of the song where the soft piano is playing and Tatsuro's gentle voice comes in <3. I need more Tooru colabs in the future as well.

SELF HATE YES!! I got so used with the demo version I forgot there has to be a final version coming in XD. This song is the catchiest from the whole album imo. I love how Miya wrote it in a day when he was hungover and tried to express those hungover feelings in a song as a joke, but it ended up becoming one of the songs that are loved at any live. Also the performance on stage! It's different every time and it makes the experience so much more special. I'm waiting for the full MV ;A;!

Alpha is that song that I can totally see with a whole orchestra on stage! It reminds me of Polaris so much, it took me a while to listen to it without sobbing. The violin !!! ;A; Gosjaks I love it! The instrumental and Tatsuro's gentle voice go so well !

My WORLD is another Satochi tune that he wrote for the birthday live last year and, honestly it helped me so much on a personal level. The lyrics are so positive and encouraging with a tint of sadness, but I think it fits very well. It gives me a lot of hope <3.

Sei to Shi to Kimi was already my favorite in the Jigenbakudan mini album because I am a sucker for choir. It gives me goosebumps every time. The remixed version sounds a cleaner? It sounds as if Miya wanted to sharpen up a bit the edges of the song and it worked for me. 

Spica sounds like a winter song to me I- ;A;. I love it so much. It's such a gentle and innocent song. When I listen to it I think of calm winters spent indoors, all wrapped up in blankets and drinking hot cocoa. It calms me down so much, just the instrumental alone gives me so much peace. Tatsuro's voice fits so well with the orchestra and the soft guitar ;A;. 

The secret track on the album (Terrace) is my favorite!! I wish they would add it on Spotify as well one day, but I was fortunate enough to buy the album and listen to the final version of it. The acoustic/demo version had been circling around for a while, and I got to hear it live for the first time last year at Yukke's bday live and it was such a beautiful yet simple performance! This version sounds so adorable and beautiful. Yukke's songs are usually my favorite ones and this one is added to the list.

 

 

 

[Egnirys cimredopyh 54]

23 minutes ago, Triangle said:

I'm waiting for the full MV

Wait, there is going to be a music video for self hate? Thats cool, it’s one of my favorites

[Triangle 345]

Just now, Egnirys cimredopyh said:

Wait, there is going to be a music video for self hate? Thats cool, it’s one of my favorites

Yes! On their nico nama livestream they did for MUCC day they showed a promotional video for the album and it was like a 1 minute MV for Self Hate so, the full one should be released too one day 😭

[Jenova 35]

Okay so i haven't heard any MUCC before despite knowing they exist so my view is as unbiased as you can possibly get.

 

1: yelling stinky made me laugh pretty hard tbh

 

2: the growly part is cool but i think he's trying to do growls he can't quite do anymore but I could put this in my shuffle.  You can tell most obviously when he yells crack over and over

 

3:good gods this is seven minutes long lmao  I'm torn between hey this is cool and 'lmao yikes', leaning towards hey this is cool.  There's a part where he sounds really manic and it's p cool.

 

4: this sounds like some stuff i listened to in high school, in a "'member 2005?  MUCC members." way lmao. overall i liked it though.  

 

5: i think the vocalist sounded really good in this song tbh.  

 

6: idk if this is a new song or a precious, favored classic so I'm refraining from saying anything just to be safe lmao.  When i say that i know fuckall about this group, I really mean it.  All i know is that the vocalist is bizarrely super hot to me lmao.  It's the glasses, he's so cute.

 

7:  this wasn't bad but it seems like what plays in the background during a high school weab sleepover at 3am lmao

 

8:eh it's alright. 

 

9: hey another band I've never listened to!  The guest completely dominates the song also wtf the part at like 2:15-2:25ish made me howl w laughter.  The guitar solo is cool.  The synth...is there.

 

10:  he sounds super duper nasal in this one wow.  Other than that it was perfectly okay.

 

11:  this is pretty good! Like something i would never seek out myself but I would listen to it if a friend who liked vkei linked this lmao.

 

12:  another perfectly okay song, pretty catchy actually.

 

13: this sounds like an anime ending theme...You know the one, with the girl standing on a cliff with the wind whipping her perfectly coiffed hair around, but just a tiny bit. also i definitely noticed that he couldn't quite hit the high note at 1:11.  I liked the guitar solo.

oh honey gold star for trying so hard to hit those high notes 🌟

 

14:  not bad! I'm curious about the original.

 

15:  i really liked the screams in this one tbh, particularly the first one.  Another one where i really liked the guitar solo. The piano riff got old very quickly tbh.

 

16:   i mean it's not bad, gives me big winter vibes.

 

Overall, this was...well, it was a foray into a band I'm unfamiliar with that I want to listen to more of.  2.5/5 imo.  I'll likely not listen to this again but it was a perfectly alright soundtrack to me making and then eating samyang spicy noodles and lurking reddit, yet i know nothing from this will stick.  Am I in the know yet?

[Total Saikou 735]

It's not their best, but it definitely had some slam dunk hits like Self Hate and Kurage which make up for some the draggiest songs on the album (I'd put my vote for Alpha and Aku Justice). I enjoyed Aku quite a bit, 16 songs is a bit much but I'd rather there be a lot to dig into than too little so I liked that. 

 

Also that Hazuki song is some of the unintentionally funniest shit I've heard in years, even funnier than actual comedy songs that try so hard to funny. It made my day, quite possibly my week  

[diryangrey 121]

i couldn't stand the official release but tbh Miya's mixing makes a huuuuge difference
still not top 5 or even top 50% of mucc albums lol but imho there's no reason for me to ever listen to the original master instead of Miya's

[Egnirys cimredopyh 54]

I don’t get whats so funny about the Hazuki collab song... is it because of weird Tatsurou vocals in the middle? I thought it was kinda cool