I apologize for how long it's taken me to publish this, every time I plan on getting something out quickly it doesn't work out for me.
Tracklist:
Disc 1:
1.[Depth]
2.Ibitsu
3.Kago no Sanagi
4.Hedoro
5.Kagefumi
6.Yoin
7.[DISPLOSOMIA]
Disc 2:
1.[Xl]
2. DERANGEMENT
3. REQUIRED MALFUNCTION
4. DRIPPING INSANITY
5. ATTITUDE
6. GABRIEL ON THE GALLOWS
7. [MELT]
Rating: 3.5/5
Best Tracks: Kagefumi, Hedoro, Yoin
Worst Tracks: ATTITUDE, REQUIRED MALFUNCTION?
I like the fact that there are no repeat songs from their singles on this album. I guess they got that out of their systems on Toxic, which I think had five repeats (that's 35% of the album). I'm sure that had the GazettE released any singles between these two albums some of those songs would be present on DIVISION as well. What's my point?....mmmmm.....I like new songs.
Disc 1
[Depth]- Intro song. It's nice....pretty. It's a good opening for Ibitsu. I like it. NEXT!
Ibitsu- I enjoy this track. It is a bit on the commercial, catchy side for the GazettE. It reminds me of Shiver in a way, the two songs have a similar structure, and they both have a quick beat and a somewhat pop edge to them. Ibitsu could very easily serve as another anime theme song. Which I don't hold against the GazettE at all, if a song is good then a song is good (sold out or not).
Kago no Sanagi- I immediately loved the introduction, and the addtion of the female vocals. The guitar part in the first verse is absolutely beautiful, it caught my attention right away, and I kept hoping they would bring it back into the song later. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear it again. I also noticed the softer finger plucking at around 2:57, this with the overlaying drumline (which actually did make it's way back from the first verse) gives off a very subtle, appealing sound. Overall, I didn't find this song to be that impressive, the first time I listened to it I even thought the majority of the song was rather boring. However, I will admit that after listening to this track several times it did manage to finagle it's way into my heart.
Hedoro- Again, I think the introduction to this track is great, and the lyrics have a really interesting flow. The rhythm of the words correlates to the beat of the music in sort of an unexpected way. One of my favorite things about this song is the guitar riff underneath the verses (ex: 1:00), as well as in the intro. It immediately made a connection to those action packed spy movies with me, I love it! This is one of my favorite tracks on DIVISION. The fast pace is great, and it instantly brought me back to songs like Akai One Piece and Ganges ni Akai Bara.
Kagefumi- This is another exceptional track, I liked it at once. The initial thing I pulled away from the song was it's apparent use of bass within the first minute, if you've read any of my previous reviews you'll know my feelings about the bass (i.e. I'm a big fan of the noticable bass line). The guitar solo within this track is lovely and fits the ballad-like structure on the song to a tee. Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about this song, I think it's beautiful, I'm incredibly fond of Ruki's vocals, and the wordless singing at the conclusion of the song. This whole thing rocks my world in a baaad way.
Yoin- The introduction definitely intrigued me but what stemmed from that wasn't what I expected. In the beginning I couldn't help but think that the drums seemed quite out of sync and set apart from the rest of the song. As I listened on I noticed that the beat was immediately repeated successivley within a matter of seconds, and while that might make the song sound a bit off, it's actually quite fitting to the title. Yoin means reverberation, which is an echo or repetition of a sound, and if you think in that context the beat really works. The guitar solo is fantastic, I really enjoyed the extra vocals and the subtle differences in rhythm. I also think the tone and inflection in Ruki's vocals is quite captivating. Unexpectedly, I'm quite the fan of this song.
[DISPLOSOMIA]- I like this a lot, it rides off of Yoin extremely well. The music is dark and intriguing and pretty. It definitely does an adequate job of getting me interested in what's about to come on Disc 2.
Disc 2
.[Xl]- Another intro song, quite different from the first, but I enjoy the connection from this track to [DISPLOSOMIA] using the same intense electronic sounds. The two tracks bounce off each other well when you listen to them back to back. I'm hoping that this track is signaling a more hardcore finish to the rest of the album, as it does ride right into DERANGEMENT.
DERANGEMENT- I was a little iffy about this track at first, but what finally pulled me in was the growling part of the chorus, and the fact that I almost at once wanted to sing along. I just couldn't get this damn track out of my head. Now, I have heard a lot of complaining about the GazettE's use of autotune in this track, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not exactly always fond of the usage myself. But I do think that here it actually enhances the song. Mostly because it adds more texture to the already present electronic sounds in the background. And the point where it's the most prominent (at 3:31) is actually one of my favorite parts of the song.
REQUIRED MALFUNCTION- This whole song is frankly, very surprising to me, I don't exactly dislike it but.........it's on a different note than anything I've heard so far on this album, for sure. This doesn't completely sound like the GazettE to me, in fact I think parts of it sound slightly amatuerish. Though, I do appreciate that the band is doing something unlike the rest of their album, it doesn't quite do it for me. Yet, as I say that, I also find this song extremely catchy. If the band is trying to say that this song is a required malfunction of the album, then the title is extremely fitting.
DRIPPING INSANITY- I love the hard hitting guitar intro, and how that same riff moves so smoothly back and forth between the softer verses throughout the track. I'm quite fond of the chorus with it's joined female vocals, and the turntable sounds underneath the instrumentals are a nice addition to the song. There are also a lot of extra sound effects under the music, truthfully, I think it's almost too much for the song. One thing I absolutely have to point out and the best thing about this song is the dual guitar solo. It's amazing and the best guitar I've heard on this album so far, I would die for it to last longer than 20 seconds.
ATTITUDE- Well, this song certainly does have plenty of attitude, I'll give it that. I actually think that the chorus is quite memorable and I might be able to handle this song if it weren't for the absolutely obnoxious overuse of sound effects. I know that in the lyrics he makes a point of saying, "Give me noise," and that's probably the reason for the abundance of...well....noise. This track does have a similar feel to REQUIRED MALFUNCTION, a little amatuerish, if you will. I can't really say that I like it but then again I can't really say that I hate it either.
GABRIEL ON THE GALLOWS- Engrish! It's all Engrish! Except for some odd reason the main chorus. I guess it's kind of the opposite of the regular J-Rock song, which is normally all Japanese with a little randomly placed English. I would love to hear what this song sounds like in Japanese. This track is quite catchy, and I really enjoy the guitar sounds and squeals at 2:20, it's more of an abstract guitar solo of sorts. The only part of this song that I can really say that I love is when Ruki screams, "That screech," while the extra vocals set a rhythm underneath it, that's pretty brilliant. Also, Kai, you're drumming like a straight up boss!
[MELT]- This is pretty bad ass. It is a three minute track so I was expecting some vocals but I really like this and in accordance with the previous disc it is appropriate for this to be a non-vocal concluding track. That very end note does kind of irk me though, it's like the equivalent of nails scratching down a chalk board, extremely grating on the ears.
Both Discs had their positives and negatives but I will say that I consider the first disc to be almost infinitely better than the second. I was quite disappointed by the majority of the second disc.
Ibitsu- I enjoy this track. It is a bit on the commercial, catchy side for the GazettE. It reminds me of Shiver in a way, the two songs have a similar structure, and they both have a quick beat and a somewhat pop edge to them. Ibitsu could very easily serve as another anime theme song. Which I don't hold against the GazettE at all, if a song is good then a song is good (sold out or not).
Kago no Sanagi- I immediately loved the introduction, and the addtion of the female vocals. The guitar part in the first verse is absolutely beautiful, it caught my attention right away, and I kept hoping they would bring it back into the song later. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear it again. I also noticed the softer finger plucking at around 2:57, this with the overlaying drumline (which actually did make it's way back from the first verse) gives off a very subtle, appealing sound. Overall, I didn't find this song to be that impressive, the first time I listened to it I even thought the majority of the song was rather boring. However, I will admit that after listening to this track several times it did manage to finagle it's way into my heart.
Hedoro- Again, I think the introduction to this track is great, and the lyrics have a really interesting flow. The rhythm of the words correlates to the beat of the music in sort of an unexpected way. One of my favorite things about this song is the guitar riff underneath the verses (ex: 1:00), as well as in the intro. It immediately made a connection to those action packed spy movies with me, I love it! This is one of my favorite tracks on DIVISION. The fast pace is great, and it instantly brought me back to songs like Akai One Piece and Ganges ni Akai Bara.
Kagefumi- This is another exceptional track, I liked it at once. The initial thing I pulled away from the song was it's apparent use of bass within the first minute, if you've read any of my previous reviews you'll know my feelings about the bass (i.e. I'm a big fan of the noticable bass line). The guitar solo within this track is lovely and fits the ballad-like structure on the song to a tee. Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about this song, I think it's beautiful, I'm incredibly fond of Ruki's vocals, and the wordless singing at the conclusion of the song. This whole thing rocks my world in a baaad way.
Yoin- The introduction definitely intrigued me but what stemmed from that wasn't what I expected. In the beginning I couldn't help but think that the drums seemed quite out of sync and set apart from the rest of the song. As I listened on I noticed that the beat was immediately repeated successivley within a matter of seconds, and while that might make the song sound a bit off, it's actually quite fitting to the title. Yoin means reverberation, which is an echo or repetition of a sound, and if you think in that context the beat really works. The guitar solo is fantastic, I really enjoyed the extra vocals and the subtle differences in rhythm. I also think the tone and inflection in Ruki's vocals is quite captivating. Unexpectedly, I'm quite the fan of this song.
[DISPLOSOMIA]- I like this a lot, it rides off of Yoin extremely well. The music is dark and intriguing and pretty. It definitely does an adequate job of getting me interested in what's about to come on Disc 2.
Disc 2
.[Xl]- Another intro song, quite different from the first, but I enjoy the connection from this track to [DISPLOSOMIA] using the same intense electronic sounds. The two tracks bounce off each other well when you listen to them back to back. I'm hoping that this track is signaling a more hardcore finish to the rest of the album, as it does ride right into DERANGEMENT.
DERANGEMENT- I was a little iffy about this track at first, but what finally pulled me in was the growling part of the chorus, and the fact that I almost at once wanted to sing along. I just couldn't get this damn track out of my head. Now, I have heard a lot of complaining about the GazettE's use of autotune in this track, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not exactly always fond of the usage myself. But I do think that here it actually enhances the song. Mostly because it adds more texture to the already present electronic sounds in the background. And the point where it's the most prominent (at 3:31) is actually one of my favorite parts of the song.
REQUIRED MALFUNCTION- This whole song is frankly, very surprising to me, I don't exactly dislike it but.........it's on a different note than anything I've heard so far on this album, for sure. This doesn't completely sound like the GazettE to me, in fact I think parts of it sound slightly amatuerish. Though, I do appreciate that the band is doing something unlike the rest of their album, it doesn't quite do it for me. Yet, as I say that, I also find this song extremely catchy. If the band is trying to say that this song is a required malfunction of the album, then the title is extremely fitting.
DRIPPING INSANITY- I love the hard hitting guitar intro, and how that same riff moves so smoothly back and forth between the softer verses throughout the track. I'm quite fond of the chorus with it's joined female vocals, and the turntable sounds underneath the instrumentals are a nice addition to the song. There are also a lot of extra sound effects under the music, truthfully, I think it's almost too much for the song. One thing I absolutely have to point out and the best thing about this song is the dual guitar solo. It's amazing and the best guitar I've heard on this album so far, I would die for it to last longer than 20 seconds.
ATTITUDE- Well, this song certainly does have plenty of attitude, I'll give it that. I actually think that the chorus is quite memorable and I might be able to handle this song if it weren't for the absolutely obnoxious overuse of sound effects. I know that in the lyrics he makes a point of saying, "Give me noise," and that's probably the reason for the abundance of...well....noise. This track does have a similar feel to REQUIRED MALFUNCTION, a little amatuerish, if you will. I can't really say that I like it but then again I can't really say that I hate it either.
GABRIEL ON THE GALLOWS- Engrish! It's all Engrish! Except for some odd reason the main chorus. I guess it's kind of the opposite of the regular J-Rock song, which is normally all Japanese with a little randomly placed English. I would love to hear what this song sounds like in Japanese. This track is quite catchy, and I really enjoy the guitar sounds and squeals at 2:20, it's more of an abstract guitar solo of sorts. The only part of this song that I can really say that I love is when Ruki screams, "That screech," while the extra vocals set a rhythm underneath it, that's pretty brilliant. Also, Kai, you're drumming like a straight up boss!
[MELT]- This is pretty bad ass. It is a three minute track so I was expecting some vocals but I really like this and in accordance with the previous disc it is appropriate for this to be a non-vocal concluding track. That very end note does kind of irk me though, it's like the equivalent of nails scratching down a chalk board, extremely grating on the ears.
Both Discs had their positives and negatives but I will say that I consider the first disc to be almost infinitely better than the second. I was quite disappointed by the majority of the second disc.
I pretty much agree with everything on this review, except for Kagefumi, which I didn't really like. The sound is good, but I don't feel much listening to it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Attitude and Required Malfunction are not exactly bad (especially the later, which I thought was one of the better tracks off the album). But as you said, they're just not normal Gaze Rock.
Other than that, Id like to recommend a new single you might not have heard: "Natsu no Yukue" by DIV (a PV is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naL8i2vQ3-w).
(By the way, you can safely disregard one of the songs on it--I think it's the last).
I listened to DIV's single and I really like the sound of Natsu no Yukue. The guitar riff and the chorus are really catchy. Hotarubi is good as well, but its sound is quite similar to the first song in a few ways. I liked the single, thanks for recommending it to me!
ReplyDeleteヽ(￣(ｴ)￣)ﾉ