This is a Very heavy album. The main reason i put it here is because they are a more progressive band that takes influences from punk, metal, rock and other.
I am going to be putting all my Japan based reviews (excluding x-japan if i do one) in this section because its really hard to place the bands as they switch genres alot of the time song by song.
This album has breakdowns, Punding riffs, nice cleans and very good vocals.
MUCC is:
Tatsurou-Vocals
Miya-Guitar
Yukke-Bass
Satochi-Drums
1)Shinsou
Just an insturmental intro. Has a nice jazzy feel to it.
2)Bozenji***su
Oh my god did a house just explode near me? What a change. right after a quite distorted chord part it pulls in full blast straight into Punding guitars and bass. good little bass licks in this song. the singer use quiet cleans and deep screams to just make this seem like something blew up in your face. The first couple verses is a almost whispered clean before an almost spoken part which leads into the screamed chorus. He has a nice nuetral scream. Sound like one of the members does backup singing. Then a bass solo with guitars doing a chord once in a while till all insturments pund out together again. Very nice insturmentals accompanied with Tatsurous voice really rounds the song out
3)Ware Arubeki Basho
One of my 2 favs on the album and one of my all time favorite MUCC songs.
Starts out with a clean riff that reminds me almost of cahsmere by Zeppelin. A spoken part is done as the clean riff with a nice bass riff in the backround until the singer breaks out frantically as the distortion kicks in. A very nice base sound to this song. the insturments continue until the distortion kicks out and the singer does a clean verse before the distortion kicks out. this pretty much continues until jusrt before the chorus. Nice bass in this song as well. Right before the chorus there is frantic singing before the singers lungs really kick in as the distortion comes back. a high part is done before the guitarist comes in with a breakdown. then the singer argues with himself before another chorus kicks in. after this chorus there is an extra vocal passage as the chorus is sung in the backround before the singer comes in with clean before the guitar and bass go heavy again till the end
4)Shogyo shisoukyou jidai koushikyoku (heiseihen)
This is fast no doubt influenced by punk. The singer sings clean through the veress as the guitar and bass move through. Again the singer shines in this song. all sing in one part of the song. This song has kind of a surf-y felling in some parts but mostly has a punk-y feeling to it. still has some heavy but is soft mostly. overall a very good song.
5)Hikanshugisha ga warau
A fast speaking almost rapping part starts out the some before that Heavy guitar and punding bass come in. It goes softer during the verse but goes heavy in between verses. The chorus has the sig fast slightly harsh singing before breaking out into almost dramatic cleans.a clean riff and the speaker singing happens right before a breakdown with the singer doing that fast almost rapping harshness before breaking into cleans again. a couple more cleans part along with the heavy parts finish off the song
6)Shi ***e tamashii
A classical Japanese sound start with some march like drummer as the singer softly speaks before the guitar breaks out quitley before just ripping out. This song has nice clean verses with parts you think its gonna break out but it was just a joke on you. At the end of the verses the heaveyness kicks in as the singer sings another line before the insturments take over till the next verse. A wierd but good voice is used in the chorus. really adds to the song. You can hear the guitarist in the backround singing until the heavy kicks in again before a frantic verse is sang. this is a good song thats sets quite a mood.
7)Soushin no Koe
i mispelled this on the tracklist >.< sorry. a distortion type noise kicks in as punding can beheard. this is an electronica based song. you can here the crash used as the sounds continue in the backroud. this is def a modified voice. its a cool effect as you can also hear the guitaris singing along. the bass has a sproing sound to it in this song. the guitar kicks in for small distorted chords in some places in the song. this is a mainly cleanly sang song till a buildup at 3:16 when the singer takes a harsher route. more guitar is used and there are now passages of just backround quiet voices.this song ends on a extended guitar chord tha feedbacks until it all cuts out.
8)1979
Starts out with a drum thing until a jazzy bass solo kicks in. This song has some influence of jazz in it IMHO. the bass shines as does the guitar. more clean and techniques are used to put across that jazz feel. the singer shows yet another side of his voice as it perfectly matches the jazzy insturmentals.very good song
9)Nageki tori to doukebito
Drums are the starting focus as the guitar comes in with that heavy again. The unique voice comes into play again in the clean verse. then a slightly harsher verse is done before a clean part. This lead into a small harsh part before that dramatic sounding voice kicks in for the chorus. Man i love that voice. off key chords are used in small parts in the song but are nicely placed before a clean vocal and guitar passgae. That quickly dies as a heavey harsher part happens before that voice kicks in again. The chorus repeats until the insturments take over and cut out. Very good song.
10)Kono Suji To Sora
mmmm. Nice clean part until an acoustic can be hyeard in the back round as echoed guitar is played before palm mutes kicks in. a fast part with blast beats carries on until that nice echoed guitar kcisk in for the clean verse. Nice lightly distorted guitars carry out the next few verses and chorus. or it might just be a long chorus i'm not quite sure. Very nice guitar and vocal work in this song. The vocals put across emotion very well
11)9gatsu 3ka no kokuin
well hers the really soft song of the album. Verynice clean riffs. It starts with a very short spoken part before the clean riff comes in. The vocals are amazing on this song. Clean quiet and very nice in general. this continues until the choorus in which very light distortion is used and all the other insturments kick in as the singer use a unique tone to carry out the emotion in the song. This is my seconed fav on the album and one of my all time favorite MUCC songs.
12)Ranchuu
silence starts the song when at 20 seconed in a bass solo starts until the snare starts building up and everything kicks in full force.Fast verses and harsher singing combines nicely. The chorus part right before the chorus is heavey with screaming before a fast clean chorus kicks in. this is the song. It repeats like this. Its another very good song and a very good album
This is my third revie in 3 days and it will continue until i exaust mt japanese music resources. i'm here to expose people to some of the music in japan.
4 out of 5
