review: gazette | "dim" (2009)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Alright THE GazettEEE, you're up, and with the mood i'm in you have NO DISCERNIBLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS, GO.
Intro track: i dig the low grumbly rumble and -- unbelievably -- find myself rocking in my chair to the rhythm.
"Invisible Wall" sounds like guaranteed suck for its first few seconds, then actually starts for real and sounds great through these new AD700s, ballsy and twirly, but Ruki's vocals, and the vocal line, it's like the soggy Oreo I've always felt it to be. Slightly redeems itself at 2:05, with drumming that sounds like a wild horse tearing at the bit, dying to get free... mostly I just wish dear Rukester wasn't so mealy, I think it's the main cause of my want-to-like-'em-but-can't-ness.
Nice example of inexpensive awesomeness. (The intro red wall silhouettes.) It's a simple, memorable visual, but the body movements and the EDITS are what makes it truly killer. You could do it in your garage for $10! Take note indie bands!
"Moth" has a bass solo intro and I can't remember the last song that was improved by a bass solo intro, but it was probably of a Metallica album older than most college seniors. Has a nice groove at 1:36, but it repeats for too long. Great drumming struggling to break free of the timider vocals and only half-heavy guitars though.
"Leech" - was I annoyed by the female vocal inserts when this first came out? I cannot recall. Overall it's not as foreboding or heavy as it thinks it is.
"Nakigahara" is a seven-minute ballad that I lack the patience to make it all the way through, but I want to liken it to that Dir en grey dirge, "Ain't Afraid to Die" in its construction and this-is-a-good-time-to-leave-the-mosh-pit-for-a-quick-piss-and-a-beer-ishness.
"Erika" is 53 seconds of looped synth, kinda sounds like you're entering a bad but forgettable dream.
"Headache Man" is pretty poundy at first but then there's scratching and it gets a little too big for its pants, and the chorus don't fit in a good way or a bad way.
Gazette
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"Shikyu" - 43 seconds of distorted screaming, probably the least impressive thing one can put on record. At least feedbacking guitar features a ~note~.
"13 Stairs-1" sounds sorta Soundgardeny, slower and purposefuller with guitars tuned down to C. It changes up halfway through for something more modern, but I can't quite place the influence. I like it because it doesn't sound like every other Gazette song ever, but I doubt I'd spin it more than once a decade on purpose.
"Distress and Coma" - I sorta like the right-side guitars in the verse, while they're in the background pretending to be radio transmissions (~1:50), in reverse adn fading in and out, but that's mostly accidental coolness. The verse guitar is thick and does all the right chunking on the second and fourth bars, and the solo's simple but that can be rewarding sometimes and it is here, and even the backing "orchestra" is useful & interesting.
"Kanshoku" - sub-minute song #4... fade in, cue lonely single piano keys being struck, fade out.
"Shiroi Uutsu" is not quite a ballad, but the guitars and drums have no edges, no structure, no presence: they're just wallpaper for Ruki's voice to bounce off of. An overabundance of strings drowns everything.
"Chaos" gallops along chunkily, frivoliticiously, it's happy to be alive and so dangerously ignores speed limits and other street signs. It's also a tad simiplistic (I wish it had gotten a little proggy in it's last moments, to balance out the mild progginess of the intro) but what a great rock song. Would LOVE to be in the audience for a song like this.
Mourou is so cretinous I'm not even going to give it the distinction of quotation marks.
"Ogre" is like riding an escalator that has been lassoed by a speeding fire engine fleeing falling asteroid debris. Me likee!
And "Dim Scene" struck me as too slow at first, but there's a Luna Sea-meets-Dir en grey-esque quality to it's darkness.
This is an easy album to like.
rating: :)
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