Post by Kazuo on Sept 26, 2005 0:15:10 GMT -5
Aki is the ex-vocalist if the now disbanded Laputa. Aki's current band features some familiar names from the VK community like Tohru (Moi dix Mois) and Aie (deadman).
1.) CONFLICT - This album starts off with Aki's single. It's a very noisy song along the lines of BLAM HONEY, but with.. better vocals. The music isn't just pure noise, all the instruments and be set apart from one another. I guess a good word for the song would be "chaotic". There's some really interesting guitar in this song, as well as awesome drumming. The electric beats get pounded out hard in this song. Probably the most noticeable part of the song, it's accompanied by Aki's distorted vocals through the whole song. A pretty good opening track, and slightly different from the single version. The PV isn't bad either.
2.) BUMP - BUMP is a hard rocking song. It's got an awesome riff and some great drums. While the music itself is rather simple, it carries along nicely and is definitely a great concert song. You can hear some of Tohru's M10M influenced drumming in this song with him pounding away on that double bass in the chorus. The bassline is probably more prominent than the guitar in this song, giving it a rougher sound. Aki's vocals are all natural in this song. I was hoping he wouldn't distort them on the entire album, and he doesn't so all is well. BUMP seems like a long song but it's only about 4 and a half minutes long. A good follow up track to the opener.
3.) Hana - Time to tone down all the craziness for a bit for Hana. Hana sounds like an older Laputa song. It sounds like an older generation VK song which isn't surprising since Aki's been in the VK scene for awhile. The verses are nice, they aren't boring and carry a nice beat with some pretty guitar. The chorus comes rather quickly as Aki picks up the tempo on his vocals. You can totally see one of those "dances" in your head that j-rockers do to songs like this.. I hope Aki doesn't do those. Near the 2:45 mark there's some random synth and a small guitar solo, but nothing impressive although not a bad thing. Chorus stays the same and the song exits with some vocals and slightly synth distorted guitar.
4.) LOVE MESSIAH - Synth opens up this song. Another more melodic song like Hana except more upbeat. The beat itself is more of a dance beat. The bassline jumps around a bit but keeps up with the drums creating a sort of groove. The guitar, slightly distorted is more noticeable in this song. There's nothing in particular that really sticks out about this song except for the guitar solo in the middle, but like Hana's it's not meant to be flashy. Still, a good track.
5.) TRUST - Trust immediately sounds really mysterious and strange. The keyboard being used gives off a very.. uneasy vibe. This is probably the strangest track on the CD. The constant synth melody in the background just gives me the feeling of some sort of insanity. It drops out in the bridges and chorus and is replaced with a nicer sounding synth. The beat in this song is another dancey one, but I've noticed that Aki doesn't use too many straight dance beats like Schwarz Stein. All the beats seem to be pretty varied. I'd really be interested in seeing how this song is performed live since, to me, it sounds almost all synth. I like the closing synth of the song, it has a "up-and-down" sound to it, rising and falling.
6.) BRILLIANT JESUS - Probably the only track I'm a bit.. iffy on. It's a ballady type song, but also has some orchestra elements behind it. I'm not sure whether these intruments are all synth or not since it seems to be a mix. It has a very "glorious" sound to it, so it's like it doesn't fit with the rest of the album. Something about it bugs me, I don't know what it is really. Just doesn't seem very "Aki".
7.) SEVEN - Alright, back to the synthy craziness! Toss in some dark sounds with a strong, fast bass beat and some really scary sounding synth and you have SEVEN. There's a female voice in the backround saying.. something in english that I can't quite make out all of. It's mainly an intrumental interlude. I love the beat is very strong, constant and distorted. It has that chaotic feel just like COME INTO CONFLICT. Good short track.
8.) LACK OF.. - By far one of my favorite tracks on the CD, it rocks hard as well as carries some crazy industrial rock elements. The opening guitar/drum/bass/synth combination is enough to get you really pumped and jumping up and down (if not wanting to kick someone in the head). The beat slows and has a bit of a "chunky" sort of sway sound to it. A distorted "LACK OF..!" comes in and the beat gets faster and pretty solid, but this is just a short chorus. The verses come back again and it's like a transmission cutting out, Aki's voice just totally distorts. I really love how the synth is used in this song. Chorus, and then back into the intro of the song, adding to the headbang/dancey element. Repeat a bit and then the crazy outro to the song. The beat just totally picks up speed (really, really fast) and there's alot of repeating of "LACK OF..!" making for a strong close.
9.) VISIONARY Ver.2 - I love when singles or their b-sides are remixed on an album. It makes the song sound completely fresh and new. This is the case with VISIONARY. It was my favorite of the two from the COME INTO CONFLICT CD, and it just got better on this album. Some funk guitar opens up the song which isn't in the single version. The riffs thrown into this song are completely awesome. The beat itself is really powerful but dancey. It's probably the most industrial track on the CD. The vocals have some really nice editing on them too. Aki's voice cuts in and out in the verses, again, giving that "losing transmission" sound. The beats in the bridge... think "electronic double bass". Great stuff. The chorus itself is actually pretty, and very danceable. Throughout this CD I can't help but think how different this all is for Tohru! I had no idea the man could rock a normal and electronic drum set at the same time so well! He even gets a little solo drum time in the middle pounding out a great dance beat. The chorus only comes around twice, but it's enough to give the song a great hook. Tied with LACK OF.. for my favorite.
10.) NEO HERO - This song is strange. The synth sounds almost make it playful sounding. The beat is very very simply made, but keeps a fast pace. That all drops out after the first verses and it becomes a big futuristic sounding track. Aki's voice actually hits "robotic" at one point. Although the verse music is a bit strange, the song is actually a really good one. It's a pretty straightfoward track with those two elements alternating.
11.) ASIAN MOON - This track has an exotic feel to it. I really love its intro, very beautiful. The beat kicks in and just commands you to dance. I believe this is the first song where I've heard Aki let out an all out scream. It's really good to hear him do something like that as opposed to always singing. Sure, he has his angry fits but like I said, I've never heard him let out a crazy scream. ASIAN MOON is another pretty straightfoward song, meant for just getting down to. There's a long interlude in the middle, but it's very pretty so I don't mind it very much. This song would work well for those of you who were Schwarz Stein fans. The song trails out with that same music from the interlude, actually giving a depressing feel to its ending.
12.) THE END - You heard the man. This is THE END of the album. Ha.. ha.. anyway. This is another slow song, better than BRILLIANT JESUS by far, and a good ending to an album. It's got some pretty mellow vocals, piano and (you guessed it) synthy elements and beats! THE END decides to do a huge 180 degree turn about halfway through and gets all chaotic and insane sounding. There goes your pretty ending. I suppose this gives diversity to the meaning of the words "THE END". Eventually, the two parts of the song combine into one and work well together, surprisingly. The song ultimately ends with some simple keyboard, not really choosing either side of "THE END". Perhaps I look into things too much. o__O
All in all, I really like this album. It's a really good first release for Aki, and I really look foward to more of his stuff in the future.
1.) CONFLICT - This album starts off with Aki's single. It's a very noisy song along the lines of BLAM HONEY, but with.. better vocals. The music isn't just pure noise, all the instruments and be set apart from one another. I guess a good word for the song would be "chaotic". There's some really interesting guitar in this song, as well as awesome drumming. The electric beats get pounded out hard in this song. Probably the most noticeable part of the song, it's accompanied by Aki's distorted vocals through the whole song. A pretty good opening track, and slightly different from the single version. The PV isn't bad either.
2.) BUMP - BUMP is a hard rocking song. It's got an awesome riff and some great drums. While the music itself is rather simple, it carries along nicely and is definitely a great concert song. You can hear some of Tohru's M10M influenced drumming in this song with him pounding away on that double bass in the chorus. The bassline is probably more prominent than the guitar in this song, giving it a rougher sound. Aki's vocals are all natural in this song. I was hoping he wouldn't distort them on the entire album, and he doesn't so all is well. BUMP seems like a long song but it's only about 4 and a half minutes long. A good follow up track to the opener.
3.) Hana - Time to tone down all the craziness for a bit for Hana. Hana sounds like an older Laputa song. It sounds like an older generation VK song which isn't surprising since Aki's been in the VK scene for awhile. The verses are nice, they aren't boring and carry a nice beat with some pretty guitar. The chorus comes rather quickly as Aki picks up the tempo on his vocals. You can totally see one of those "dances" in your head that j-rockers do to songs like this.. I hope Aki doesn't do those. Near the 2:45 mark there's some random synth and a small guitar solo, but nothing impressive although not a bad thing. Chorus stays the same and the song exits with some vocals and slightly synth distorted guitar.
4.) LOVE MESSIAH - Synth opens up this song. Another more melodic song like Hana except more upbeat. The beat itself is more of a dance beat. The bassline jumps around a bit but keeps up with the drums creating a sort of groove. The guitar, slightly distorted is more noticeable in this song. There's nothing in particular that really sticks out about this song except for the guitar solo in the middle, but like Hana's it's not meant to be flashy. Still, a good track.
5.) TRUST - Trust immediately sounds really mysterious and strange. The keyboard being used gives off a very.. uneasy vibe. This is probably the strangest track on the CD. The constant synth melody in the background just gives me the feeling of some sort of insanity. It drops out in the bridges and chorus and is replaced with a nicer sounding synth. The beat in this song is another dancey one, but I've noticed that Aki doesn't use too many straight dance beats like Schwarz Stein. All the beats seem to be pretty varied. I'd really be interested in seeing how this song is performed live since, to me, it sounds almost all synth. I like the closing synth of the song, it has a "up-and-down" sound to it, rising and falling.
6.) BRILLIANT JESUS - Probably the only track I'm a bit.. iffy on. It's a ballady type song, but also has some orchestra elements behind it. I'm not sure whether these intruments are all synth or not since it seems to be a mix. It has a very "glorious" sound to it, so it's like it doesn't fit with the rest of the album. Something about it bugs me, I don't know what it is really. Just doesn't seem very "Aki".
7.) SEVEN - Alright, back to the synthy craziness! Toss in some dark sounds with a strong, fast bass beat and some really scary sounding synth and you have SEVEN. There's a female voice in the backround saying.. something in english that I can't quite make out all of. It's mainly an intrumental interlude. I love the beat is very strong, constant and distorted. It has that chaotic feel just like COME INTO CONFLICT. Good short track.
8.) LACK OF.. - By far one of my favorite tracks on the CD, it rocks hard as well as carries some crazy industrial rock elements. The opening guitar/drum/bass/synth combination is enough to get you really pumped and jumping up and down (if not wanting to kick someone in the head). The beat slows and has a bit of a "chunky" sort of sway sound to it. A distorted "LACK OF..!" comes in and the beat gets faster and pretty solid, but this is just a short chorus. The verses come back again and it's like a transmission cutting out, Aki's voice just totally distorts. I really love how the synth is used in this song. Chorus, and then back into the intro of the song, adding to the headbang/dancey element. Repeat a bit and then the crazy outro to the song. The beat just totally picks up speed (really, really fast) and there's alot of repeating of "LACK OF..!" making for a strong close.
9.) VISIONARY Ver.2 - I love when singles or their b-sides are remixed on an album. It makes the song sound completely fresh and new. This is the case with VISIONARY. It was my favorite of the two from the COME INTO CONFLICT CD, and it just got better on this album. Some funk guitar opens up the song which isn't in the single version. The riffs thrown into this song are completely awesome. The beat itself is really powerful but dancey. It's probably the most industrial track on the CD. The vocals have some really nice editing on them too. Aki's voice cuts in and out in the verses, again, giving that "losing transmission" sound. The beats in the bridge... think "electronic double bass". Great stuff. The chorus itself is actually pretty, and very danceable. Throughout this CD I can't help but think how different this all is for Tohru! I had no idea the man could rock a normal and electronic drum set at the same time so well! He even gets a little solo drum time in the middle pounding out a great dance beat. The chorus only comes around twice, but it's enough to give the song a great hook. Tied with LACK OF.. for my favorite.
10.) NEO HERO - This song is strange. The synth sounds almost make it playful sounding. The beat is very very simply made, but keeps a fast pace. That all drops out after the first verses and it becomes a big futuristic sounding track. Aki's voice actually hits "robotic" at one point. Although the verse music is a bit strange, the song is actually a really good one. It's a pretty straightfoward track with those two elements alternating.
11.) ASIAN MOON - This track has an exotic feel to it. I really love its intro, very beautiful. The beat kicks in and just commands you to dance. I believe this is the first song where I've heard Aki let out an all out scream. It's really good to hear him do something like that as opposed to always singing. Sure, he has his angry fits but like I said, I've never heard him let out a crazy scream. ASIAN MOON is another pretty straightfoward song, meant for just getting down to. There's a long interlude in the middle, but it's very pretty so I don't mind it very much. This song would work well for those of you who were Schwarz Stein fans. The song trails out with that same music from the interlude, actually giving a depressing feel to its ending.
12.) THE END - You heard the man. This is THE END of the album. Ha.. ha.. anyway. This is another slow song, better than BRILLIANT JESUS by far, and a good ending to an album. It's got some pretty mellow vocals, piano and (you guessed it) synthy elements and beats! THE END decides to do a huge 180 degree turn about halfway through and gets all chaotic and insane sounding. There goes your pretty ending. I suppose this gives diversity to the meaning of the words "THE END". Eventually, the two parts of the song combine into one and work well together, surprisingly. The song ultimately ends with some simple keyboard, not really choosing either side of "THE END". Perhaps I look into things too much. o__O
All in all, I really like this album. It's a really good first release for Aki, and I really look foward to more of his stuff in the future.