November 2014 Music Pick

 I'm back with another music post! it's been a while since I did reviews again. I kind of ran out of topics honestly and I wish I could come up with a main theme. Since I know music best, might as well stick with it. This month I discovered Sugizo's music. Well actually I knew a few songs  some time ago, but this time I really went in depth and listened to his albums, 7 Doors, Flower of Life, and Tree of Life. I think they are all great, but Flower of Life is my favorite. I then tried some new metal albums from Galneryus and Kamijo. I was hesitant at first to try because I wasn't that big a fan of Galneryus's previous album, Angel of Salvation, and Kamijo's debut mini-album didn't impress me at all. Well it turns out I enjoyed these two a lot.

Sugizo "Flower of Life"

Released December 14, 2011

What I really liked about Sugizo's music is that he is highly experimental with genres. The over arching genre in Flower of Life is electronica, but you get rock and many other things. The tracklist has a very consistent style, but each song has its distinctive nature. For example, one of my favorite tracks, "MESSIAH", is like club music with a hard edge of rock. "FATIMA" uses the same instruments, but is more trance-like and calming with the addition of acoustics. All the songs are instrumentals using vocals only as an instrument as well. You can also pick out Sugizo's unique guitar playing. A lot of the track titles on different albums relate closely with Sugizo's political and social views. "TELL ME WHY YOU HIDE THE TRUTH?" could very well be directed at concerning politics.

Iori Nomizu "Hat Trick"

Released August 21, 2013

This was my first pop album since I last listened to Yuzu's Shinsekai. It is a typical j-pop album with a good combination of fast and slow songs, soft and hard songs. I got this album because it contained the tracks "Wish" and "BREATHLESS" on it. These two are the opening and ending themes to History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi OVA. They follow the flow of j-rock anime openings leaning on themes of positivity and strength. "h@trick" and "Chisana Koi no Melody" are both also my favorite tracks on the album because they are crossing over different territories of music. "h@trick" is pop, but uses strings to give that gothic appeal. "Chisana Koi no Melody" leans more on hard rock and gives an edgier sound to Iori's pop idol image. Iori Nomizu's voice changes in various songs, sometimes sounding cutesy like idols and sometimes more mature.

Kamijo "Heart"

Released September 24, 2014

Like I said in the introduction, I was hesitant to try Kamijo's new material. I felt that even though he moved to major record label, he was still doing the same thing as he was doing in Versailles. After listening to "Heart", I honestly don't find anything that drastically different. "Moulin Rouge" might have been the only track that deviates a bit from Kamijo's image, but I can see Versailles coming up with similar material. The thing that is different is really the sound of the instruments itself. I mean, different musicians with different models of guitars. Nonetheless, the songs weren't poorly written. I recommend "Rose Croix" because it remains true to Kamijo's gothic extravagance with metal elements. Half the songs are more on the softer side like "Romantique", "Presto", and "Dakishimerarenagara". Out of that selection, a few of them change tempo in the middle of teh track to turn into a more fast paced song. With "Heart" it no longer has harder or darker songs from the days of Versailles. Out of the existing visual kei artists nowadays, Kamijo definitely has the talent and I can only hope it doesn't go to waste. I want to see Kamijo grow as an artist.

Galneryus "Vetelgyus"

Released September 24, 2014

 "Angel of Salvation" really had me interested for a very short period of time and I got bored of it quickly. It wasn't a strong album compared to previous Galneryus albums. "Vetelgyus" however I think redeems itself. Their promotional track, "There's No Escape", is more experimental than previous songs relying more electronic and pop influences. Though some fans feel they are giving up their previous heavy metal sound, I beg to differ. Remember when the single for "Alsatia" was released? It was drastically different than their power metal songs as well, but it didn't lose edge and many listeners enjoyed it. The thing with Galneryus is that they can produce heavy songs and ballads both with complex melodies. Like classical music, the songs often change. My favorite tracks are "Secret Love" and "Attitude to Life". "Secret Love" has more of a neo-classical touch to it with some jazziness in it. Not literal jazz music. "Attitude to Life" as well is more of a neo-classical metal song. I really like the slow nature of it and how the heavy guitar sounds weave into it. Vetelgyus's instrumental track, "Vetelgyus", is really nice to listen to. It is very representative of symphonic metal and features Syu's signature guitar playing. Yuhki's keyboard playing adds a really nice dimension to it during the bridge of the song.

TERRA "EVOLUTION"

Released September 7, 2011

Stylized as TЁЯRA, most of us know TERRA as the group producing songs for the Dance Dance Revolution game franchise. I enjoy a lot of TERRA's work because it is upbeat club music so to speak. Some of their songs start sounding the same, but a few of them stand out. "Flowers" is my favorite song to dance to on the game and it has a nice beat to listen to. I like how it uses Asian influences, mainly Japanese, as a base to expand upon. Some songs like "EDEN" and "REVOLUTION" are more rock oriented and feature guitars as the main star. Then songs like "LETHEBOLG" start sounding like "Xepher" on DDR. I favor TERRA's songs more on the Asian influences because they don't sound like typical electronic remixes to classical songs. There are two discs to this album. Disc two mainly features shorter versions of the songs on disc one.