NoGoD - Raise a Flag

[sai 868]

Raise a Flag - Didn't really like the preview, but that happened before with previews of NoGod, which turned out in songs that I absolutely adored (like Kakusei). I must say it didn't do much for me this time. It is original, I never can guess where this song is going, but after 2 listens I've pretty much had it with this song. It's not bad, just boring :/ 7/10

水中花 - Nice riffs, good vocals, just a decent, good NoGoD song. 8/10

PAIN - BETTER THAN YOUR FAVOURITES. I absolutely adore this song, the "HEY"'s during the chorus made me enjoy this song even more. 9.5/10

啓発フラストレス - Same as Raise a Flag, decent, but a bit boring. I think it would've been better if it was shorter. 7/10

Overall: 7.8/10

Overall the single is very well done, PAIN really was the highlight for me, but the title track and the 4th track were too weak to call the single incredibly awesome.

[Guest]

Musically wise (instrument performance, vocals, song structure) 8/10, Originality and achieving non-boring generic sound 4/10. My favorite from this single was PAIN. Though I deleted the whole thing after the first listen.

[Zeus 7997]

I had a sizeable rant on last.fm, so I'll port it over here and fix the appropriate parts:

I hate to be one of those fans that points the finger of blame to the record company but this is one of those rare times where I do believe it's the major label that's indirectly caused this change in sound. Little things here and there set me off: when they were indies their entire name was 新興宗教楽団NoGoD and many of their song titles were in Japanese. Before this, only Strawberry Night (a Dagger Remain cover) and Mr.HEAVEN were their only two songs with English titles. This single doubles that number and now they're just NoGoD, dropping all the Japanese characters before it. Many people may just say that it's an easier way to refer to the band since we called them that to begin with and this I can agree with, but I feel as if their name truncation to just the English part was the first in a step of many towards attracting a wider Japanese audience.

I must also mention the tone of the guitars. Compare all the songs on this single to Ibitsu, Yume, Kinshi Suzume, Jigokuchou or even Mr.HEAVEN. Over time, the tone and the scale that they use has become increasingly lighter and less harsh and the Middle Eastern elements they've been using in their heavier tracks aren't distinguished. They've been composing more and more mid-tempo tracks and ballads and they aren't terrible as much as they are faceless and boring, which was what Kakera's weakness was.

Danchou's harsh voice or deeper vocals weren't used to a great extent or at all on this single and the first, second and last track sound extremely similar and the lead track sounds like a demo for the second track! They feel formulaic and uninspired and they all trod along at the same pace. If you listen to one of them you've listened to 3/4 of the single.

Raise a Flag is just terrible. It's another one of those uplifting "everything's going to be fine just be happy" tracks that they've taken up composing since Midori no Kaze and it's about as irritating to listen to as Kalmia. It's also as faceless as Dou and Danchou's intro to the chorus is annoying. The song sinks even deeper into mediocrity at ~1:40 and becomes borderline unlistenable due to the pure cheese going on. The background "aaah's" worked on Tsubasa and gave it atmosphere - it doesn't work it here. All the verses do the same exact "start lower, have Danchou grow louder, explode right before the chorus". This is the definition of formulaic and I'll save my fandom for this band for now and call it a Kakera throwaway, since that's what it sounds like. You could drop this in anywhere on Kakera and not notice a difference.

水中花 was extremely promising up until ~:47, and then all bite and kick in the song drops out suddenly as it goes into a pre-chorus that repeatedly proves to be a problem for this song. The conflict with the atmosphere between the verse and the bridge to the chorus saps all the direction from this song and it just muddles around in the middle never making a statement and not doing much for the listener. They've also brought back the "woah oah" thing in the background near the end that didn't work in Raise a Flag. It doesn't work here either.

PAIN is the only track that introduces anything slightly different to the mix and it's still not even that good, just decent. The Middle Eastern elements also feel toned down and thrown in just to add spice to the solo and the polyphony I'm used to getting form them is gone. It feels like a track that they felt they needed to make rather than something they wanted to compose because they had something to say. Even with all of these complaints, PAIN is still the best track and that's because as much as NoGoD would like to differ with me they are a METAL band and the genre they excel at composing tracks in is METAL. It's the only track that I could actually detect anything remotely NoGoD-ish.

If they were going for a "lighter" track as their single I would have preferred 啓発フラストレス to Raise a Flag. It's more consistent and inspired. As much as I love Danchou's voice, he made some bad calls on this single but now he restrains his voice and it works for the better. This song suffers most because it comes last and the first two songs that did this sound did it badly, leaving a bitter taste in your mouth by now. Not bad, but too much of the same.

So what does the major record company have to do with this? I feel like they're pushing them in this direction more than they would want to. They experimented much more with their sounds while they were on ART POP, giving us tracks like Ban Kuro Shinsou Dai Circus, Zesshoku and Ginsekai all on the same album. Fast forward to a new label and one album later and I'm personally more occupied counting all the tracks that don't sound the same. My gut hunch is that KING adopted an outrageously visual band as a huge risk and then wanted NoGoD to alter their sound so that the mainstream aren't repulsed by their outrageous looks. After this, I wouldn't be surprised if they started toning down the visuals too.

Overall, I'd give this single a 5/10 and that's a low 5. Just average, bordering on lower than average. I expect much more than this from NoGoD. Take 8 months off and come back with a release spree like you usually do.

[Seiji 156]

Raise a Flag - Didn't really like the preview, but that happened before with previews of NoGod, which turned out in songs that I absolutely adored (like Kakusei). I must say it didn't do much for me this time. It is original, I never can guess where this song is going, but after 2 listens I've pretty much had it with this song. It's not bad, just boring :/ 7/10

水中花 - Nice riffs, good vocals, just a decent, good NoGoD song. 8/10

PAIN - BETTER THAN YOUR FAVOURITES. I absolutely adore this song, the "HEY"'s during the chorus made me enjoy this song even more. 9.5/10

啓発フラストレス - Same as Raise a Flag, decent, but a bit boring. I think it would've been better if it was shorter. 7/10

Overall: 7.8/10

Overall the single is very well done, PAIN really was the highlight for me, but the title track and the 4th track were too weak to call the single incredibly awesome.

completely agree with everything you said

[Licio123 181]

PAIN is awesome, will prolly become my 2nd favorite track from them (only behind KAkusei), all others are decent.

EDIT: I also pointed that use of romanized song titles, on the news thread of RaF, gotta be a label thing.

[LIDL 692]

i am unimpressed.

The single was a so-so.

It's kinda annoys me, cos the mood didn't quite climatic for this single.

Just as annoying as when your partner left you sleeping after he came while you haven't.

Unfortunately, there's no dildo for music, so yeah, very bad

[Erin 19]

Not a regular listener, but still gave this a try. Must say the main title song didn't really stand out. Well, most of them didn't. The only one I really enjoyed was PAIN. Some bad ass riffs and kinky vocals made it much different from the other ones.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I only like their first major single; didn't bother trying out anything else before that and ignored their first major album. With that being said, this single is pretty disappointing in respect to that. I loved Kakesei because it was a nice, diverse, single that covered a wide range of styles: hard-hitting title track, happy-go-lucky 2nd track, sappy ballad 3rd track, fuck your shit with my guitar 4th track. This single didn't really have that. I only listened to it once, but from what I can remember it was more like a playful shove title track, playfully shoving again (just in case you were ignoring me the first time) 2nd track, I don't even remember the third track, and a third, more aggressive shove, that causes you to question why you still talk to this friend who is pushing you, 4th track. For less metaphor:

1: We can write streamable A-sides.

2: We can write streamable B-sides.

3: ????

4: We can still write streamable B-sides, I guess.

I don't really enjoy giving a x / 10 score. My opinion of what number I should give usually changes right after I hit submit, anyway.

[nekkichi 6043]

> My gut hunch is that KING adopted an outrageously visual band as a huge risk and then wanted NoGoD to alter their sound so that the mainstream aren't repulsed by their outrageous looks. After this, I wouldn't be surprised if they started toning down the visuals too.

Considering King records is probably the only label that doesn't butcher VK bands completely, like universal or emi do, I believe it's the band forcing changes in sound.

They probably have a contract for a set number of releases that will bring them a set $$$ reward, so they don't care about music quality as much as they did back in indie days.

Going lighter with guitars is probably a girugameshesque attempt to get exposure, and I'm almost sure their visuals would be gone quite soon too.

I'm not exactly disappointed with this single, but I've never been a fan of nogod, even though I like some of their older stuff.

[dannemannen 69]

Just listened to the title song and i cant say that im too impressed... the chorus is way too generic and simply not that catchy. Shit.. come on nogod!!! WIll listen to the whole single later but for the title song i would give 6/10.

[anieresus 270]

All songs were boring except PAIN.

So yeah a 6/10 I'm really disappointed.

[The Libertine 2]

kinda disappointing. Only pain was interesting IMO. Even that is something I've heard before. Other 3, especially title track, is something nogod has done too many times. I'm also tired of Danchou's high swelling vocal lines. I hope they try branching out...

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Here's what I have to say, going off of Zesshoku's rant. I'll try to keep it short.

Although I agree that this single doesn't even almost stand up the likes of Saikou no Sekai and Zesshoku (my two favorite NGD tracks), the songs themselves aren't bad. It's just when you think about the fact that... "This is the same band that did Saikou no Sekai and Zesshoku"... That's when the problems arise. I have been having that same problem with Girugamesh. When Color came out I was really into it. I thought it was a great song... Then I went and litened to Owari no Mirai and was like... Oh... Damn...

Same can be said for this single. I love Raise a Flag and Keihatsu FRUSTRESS, but then I think about how motherFUCKING AWESOME those songs were. Even Ring-a Ring-o and II-Kaigi... Then I get sad that this is what this band has become. Another really good pop/rock band that lost sight of what they originally were.

If you can separate yourself from the old and adjust to the new, while still loving the old: This single is worth maybe an 8.

If you just cannot accept this, and I don't blame you if you don't: The single is worth Zesshoku's 5.

[MY BFF HEIDI 7]

I liked it.

It's cute, and Danchou didn't oversing (too much).

[ramrod 108]

It's kinda annoys me, cos the mood didn't quite climatic for this single.

Just as annoying as when your partner left you sleeping after he came while you haven't.

Unfortunately, there's no dildo for music, so yeah, very bad

omg, you make me feel so sick.

[LIDL 692]

It's kinda annoys me, cos the mood didn't quite climatic for this single.

Just as annoying as when your partner left you sleeping after he came while you haven't.

Unfortunately, there's no dildo for music, so yeah, very bad

omg, you make me feel so sick.

thanks

[Ito 2438]

I thought it was alright for nogod, but I honestly can't remember a anything about the songs except that pain was heavier and the rest were generic and I only last played it an hour ago. While their playing remains top-notch, I am starting to get bored with their music.

[sai 868]

Probably gonna get flamed HUGE for this, but I never got what was so special about Zesshoku. It's just an 'average' song that I don't fairly like as much as Kakusei :/

[Zeus 7997]

Probably gonna get flamed HUGE for this, but I never got what was so special about Zesshoku.

I AM EXTREMELY SPECIAL TYVM

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Ban her.

[Senedjem 510]

I never got what was so special about everything they released post-Goku Saishiki

[Zeus 7997]

Except for a select few songs which I can count on one hand, nothing.

[sai 868]

I meant the song, not you Zesshoku. I like you

[Zeus 7997]

I meant the song, not you Zesshoku. I like you

[dannemannen 69]

More reviews would be nice.

Zesshoku is an awesome song btw.