Jrock-kodama  |  none  |  不明  |  30/May/2012

The first release for their new label ”Lingua Sounda”, ”エリーセ＆#12441;のために”, as a fan I waited eagerly for it’s arival, having ordering the limited edition in pre-order... and am dissapointed. The ”A” track- ”エリーセ＆#12441;のために” (Elise no Tame ni”) is an Imai/Imai song (lyrics and composition) and the tune itself seems like a tribute to a few of their previous songs with not much original work to smooth it together. That slightly worn out disco-like sound from their last album, ”Razzle Dazzle” is back, giving it a dated feel, and nothing to really hook you in. Bland, and forgetable. The second track- ”夢見る宇宙” (”Yume Miru Uchu”) could have been good, but the vocals track is processed with an unpleasant gurgling underwater filter, making the song hard to connect to. After listening to it the first time, my comment was： ”It’s not fantastic, but it might sound better live in concert, when they’re not messing up the vocals. I’m looking forward to seeing if it improves.” The third track- a re-do of ”Sane” from their album ”Cosmos” was another disappointment- it’s lost it’s dark ambiance, leaning even heavier on special effects and a brighter, more assertive (and dated) sound to the brief interludes that contain Sakurai’s vocals. The PV for ”エリーセ＆#12441;のために” is unflattering for all of them visually- poorly styled, awkwardly choreographed, and is filmed on an empty set that looks like it most likely was a hangar, like an indie band before signing. The lighting in combitnation with bad hair and makeup took them from attractive and dropped them into the realm of almost grotesque. I was stunned to see them launch their label with it... there’s just no ”cool factor” to it. My over-all personal impression from this CD release is not positive： starting off with a weak ”A” that’s completely Imai’s work, moving to a song that has Sakurai’s vocals garbled, then following it up with an unneeded poor remake of a song that Imai does the majority of the the vocals for... it feels like it’s almost passive-aggressively become the Imai show, starring Imai, and Sakurai down-played and shoved into a corner with his vocals distorted and degraded by the sound engineer to make him look bad instead of being their vocalist/front man. I’m giving this single a 2 star rating- I don’t dislike it so intensely to want to burn it, but I know that it’s going to be collecting dust, not listened to often.

 

ゆうき  |  京都府  |  不明  |  22/May/2012

今回は久々にアンチPOPなシングルです。 1.2曲目より3曲目のSANEがかなりカッコいいです。 COSMOSのアレンジよりノリ良く何よりSEXUALの間奏が SANEに入れられてたのが古いファンには嬉しい！ ライブアルバムはTheme of BTが入ってるのは嬉しい！ 次回作ミステイクはタイトル通りミステイクにならないように がんばれBT