[Review] -OZ- - VERSUS

Now, once upon a time, there was this band called OZ. Now, OZ were indeed a Japanese band, and they were not very happy Jappy's. So they made agressive music. This music pleased my ears greatly, and even though I was not a huge fan of theirs, I would listen to their music every so often if I needed a quick fix of metal.
It just so happened that I noticed OZ were to release another album very soon, and a best of album shortly after that. "Oh wow!" I said to myself, in that strange way I sometimes do. Wait..."another album?" for I did not realise they had already made an album.
And so here we are.


So, with high expectations of this interesting album, I set about the business of pressing play.

LAST SHELL. Clean picked guitars echoing through silence. Then BLAM! The guitar hits you hard and fast with some distorted power chords, before going into a calm verse. Natsuki teases out his delicate and wobbly voice, before screaming lotses.

Track two: FILMY. First OZ song I ever heard. The scream at the beginning is truly epic. Highly headbangable, but the song settles down a bit, meaning its also a good song for people who don't want their music to be constant screaming. Highly awesome.

Track three: Blaze. Absolutely filthy guitar, with needless amounts of overdrive, playing some of the least techincal music ever. SCREAMING!! SHOUTING!! before settling into a chorus, with some huge drum blasts. Hm, might grow on me. Then again, perhaps not.

VENOM. Ooh, scary. It actually is though, with some guttural vocals that hit you like a steam train. Not sure I like it, mind you, and its kinda similar to all the stuff before it on this album. Like the love child of SCREW and Dir en Grey.

Needle. Again, the instrumentation is nothing special, and heavily reminiscent of Bullet for My Valentine. Except um, good. Nonetheless, this is a very good song, with a strong rhythm working its way through the song, before jumping into a screamed breakdown. Reservation seems to be very like Needle indeed, with a similar rhythm and practically identical vocals....just a little faster.

Track Seven; ATHENA. Yes, this album has the disease of needlessly capitalising things. Fun fun. Guitar twanging away mercilessly. Natsuki sings in his nasal wobbly little drone, picking it up in the bridge, before launching into a blisteringly fast chorus. Solo. Success! Not your best, guys, but points for making another catchy metal song- if not as good as the original

IN RUBBISH. yeah, cos that makes sense guys. Stop abusing our language :P anyhoo, lotsa raw energy bouncing about in this song, and I'm a total sucker for the chugging guitar with dynamic higher guitar over the top.

MDMA isn't all that special. Neither is Migrant.

DETOX. This song is just...just wow. If there's any justice, songs like this are going to push -OZ- out into stardom. Huge uplifting chorus. LISTEN NOW.

Track twelve: Breathe trees (wow, that must be pretty inconvenient to breathe trees- like breathing fire, but not as cool). Nice intro, Natsuki drawing me in with his voice and making a very good song, as usual. Enjoyable.

Then the album ends. Damn.

Well, okay, what do we have here then? Uh, well, its another 'brutal' Visual kei band whose songs all sound the same. Certainly, if you're into this sort of music, then go for it, but I've (thus far) enjoyed this album on the whole about as much as SCREW's X-Rays. That is to say, not too much. Nonetheless, a pretty fun album you'll come back to every once in a while.

B

[review]Asking Alexandria - Stand Up And Scream

Well, I have been BULLIED INTO REVIEWING THIS BY AN EVIL PERSON CALLED MARY WHO HAS A SILLY HAIRCUT. But okay, let's do this :P

Right, Asking Alexandria. Upon hearing that the rhythm guitarist lived in Dubai for a bit (very near to where I used to live) I'm determined to like these guys. But seriously, another long-black-haired bunch of wrist slitting teenagers? I'm a little dubious.

First thing to reach my ears is a little song called Alerion. Bit of ambience.
POWER CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD. Drum drum, power chooooords. Now, where have I heard this before? :P not impressed, Mary. Your music is making me unhappy. PIG SQUEALIIIIING. Then it stops. Oh, that was mercifully short.

Then, The Final Episode. Sounds exactly like Alerion. But its listenable, I guess...not awful by a long way, but not what i'd call pioneering in the world of metal. Some synth too, you know.

A Candlelit Dinner with Inamorta. Oh, hell yes, those candlelit dinners with Inamorta. Nice guy once you get to know him. Makes a lovely cheese souflé. Either way, this song, contrary to what Urban Dictionary will try to tell you, is not the 'Best f#cking song ever'. Its just fast, and has some truly ridiculous growling at the start, which is more likely to make you laugh than get you pumped. Still, if you're into metalcore or whatever this is, go for it. And brace yourself for the British guy sounding like an American. Lightly enjoyable, but the happy hardcore synthage is really weird, and I'm not sure they can pull it off.

Nobody Don't Dance No More (so surely implying that everybody is dancing?) I'm going to have an educated guess about what this song sounds like. "GRAAAAWR IM MAD AT YOU GUYS".
Oh, what's that? It does? I'm bliddy psychic. It also sounds like everything else here :)

Hey There Mr. Brooks. I'm going to have an educated guess about what this *doesn't* sound like:

"Hey, Mr. Brooks,
you're a pretty cool guy
and I love you a lot.
Let's be friends and I'll stop
making this music
and start doing country western"

I was right. Why am I not surprised? i mean, its fine, I could listen to it like everything else on this album, but I'm seeing a distinct lack of individuality emerging.

Next Song, Hiatus. A....happy dance instrumental?! Uh, great. Thanks for that guys. I'd almost rather you stuck to emo stuff. Points for trying though.
Then, "If you can't ride two horses at once..." Are they actually incapable of playing any other rhythym patterns than "dugga dugga....dugga dugga..."?! Also: autotune.

A Single Moment of Sincerity. I can't deal with this any more :'(

Not The American Average. Hey kids, how about another Asking Alexandria song? *sound of gunfire*

I Used to Have a Best Friend (But then he gave me an STD). I laughed a little at the title. Then facepalmed when I actually heard it. You thought I was joking when i said it all sounded the same? I wasn't.

A Prophecy, followed by I Was Once Possibly Maybe Perhaps A Cowboy King. Great.

Thank God this is the final track on the album. I was beginning to worry it would never end. "When Everyday's the Weekend." Don't even bother.

And albums like this, my friends, are why more people don't listen to metal. THIS ENTIRE ALBUM SOUNDS THE BLOODY SAME.

(As for the rating: you know that FACT album I gave the lowest possible grade? Well, this is beneath that.)

[review] D'espairsRay - Monsters

D'espairsRay. Well, a while ago, I did a review of some album called MIRROR, and didn't like it very much, criticising it for Hitsumi's ridiculous singing and pop-influenced hooks. A year later, this finds its way to my ears and promptly blows me away. Read on...

Human-clad monster. Little tinny drum pattern, a few flirts of guitar, then "RAWR!" Hitsumi sings after a brief intro and his voice reaches me for the first time in a year. And I like it quite a bit. Catchy song, few complaints here, really. But they're just warming up.

Death Point. The third released single off this album (besides Final Call and Love is Dead). The guitar in the intro has such a huge sound, enveloping you. The hook in the chorus sinks into your head and stays there, making a thoroughly impressive song, which has roots in the D'espairsRay of old. Ah, what a lovely song :P as usual, some impressive bass work, thorough drumming, and brilliant screaminess

13 -thirteen- has one of those driving drum patterns coupled with strong guitar and bass which leads to a thoroughly motivating song, which is one of my personal favourites on the album.

Love is Dead. D'espa haven't just borrowed the riff from Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round", they've completely stolen it. Makes the song awesome, mind. The most pop song on here, and for once, I find myself quite enjoying it.

Devils Parade. More of the same evil shouted/spat vocals coupling with punchy guitar. Not particularly incredible, but enjoyable enough. The song after it, Dope, is pretty good too. Little tinkly bit leading into some very headbangable riffs.

Unsurprisingly, Falling is brilliant too, with some very emotional singing especially in the chorus. Progress has moments of brilliance too, though ironically showing absolutely zero progress in terms of muscial style whatsoever :D Enjoyable nonetheless.

The single Final Call has some very bad Engrish, which is always lightly entertaining, but i absolutely love this song...it was probably the first D'espa song I listened to which I actually found enjoyable.

Finally, the emotionally charged Abyss caps the album off nicely- even if you don't understand a word of Japanese, you can still hear the feeling in Hitsumi's voice as he and the other members let this album march to a close.

So, three years after MIRROR, D'espa come back. Is it as bad as last time?
Uh, simply put no. Over the years, my ears have come to rather like this hard music infused with synths and ridiculously downtuned guitars. Either I'm a total moron, or this is a very very good album. Your choice :P

A-