[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