Album Rating: 4.5

It's Buck-Tick, anything can happen ;)

Album Rating: 5.0

Ayyy Darker my 2nd fav BT, top 3 biggest grower in their discography too. This is a big album, so yes it'll take a few listens to stew on it. Now let's get this guide running.



Firstly, here's a great video as an introduction. It shows clips and videos of all their career up to 2014. It sums up their whole career in 18 minutes and is essential viewing for any BT fan or newbie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TynYZjA52YE.



Here's a description of every era for you, as you grow more and more into their discography you'll develop personal favourites and bounce from each one. After I've listed them all I'll give you some links which will be useful in future.



Posi-Punk Era (1987-1988): Minus Seventh Heaven which is well regarded, unless you're a big BT fan already and want to know their roots I'd leave this to another time. However, saying that there's a small niche of the community who really likes this era so it may do something for ya. Recommended for fans of 80's Post Punk.



More Gothic Post Punk (1989-1990): Where they started to get some serious popularity, has their most well-known tracks in Japan and Aku no Hana is their bestselling album. They started to strip back the English and start to develop the darkness well known in their discography. Again, recommended for Post Punk fans and 80’s Goth.



Creative Maturity (1991-1993): The band exploded in terms of creative power and delivered classic material (as you are hearing). Hear these, end of.



Six Nine (1995): This just deserves a whole era of itself. The band grew ire of their pretty boy image and relationship with the press, so they threw it all away for doing exactly they wanted to do. Sakurai developed his visceral imagery look wise and lyrically, whilst Imai looked further into Industrial influences. My personal fav BT, but the one which requires the most work to get into.



The Cyberpunk era (1996-2004): New label, threw away their chances at commercial relevance and arguably at their lowest point...damn it produced some fine music. Drenched in electronics and new adventures, some of their best material lies in these hills. Everything from pissed off bangers, fretless bass experimentation to atmospheric soundscapes is explored and every album feels distinct. Despite this, the most important aspect of this era is that it’s the first era to have lives for every single album (minus Cosmos). A trend which will carry on for every era onwards, producing their best work. As a bonus, this era also has their best B-sides.

Album Rating: 5.0

13kai (2005): Out of every album of their career, this is the biggest outlier. As you've seen, Gothic theatrics overtake the band due to Imai finally giving Sakurai near full creative freedom which has never happened again. Classic material, especially with 13th Floor being a contender for best concert I've ever seen.



Straight Rock Era (2007-2012): So how do you follow up such grand statement? Well having the first song of the following album being a love song to your newly wedded wife of course (if this sounds baffling, yes it was). After being content with life, stopped smoking and drugs, they've gone full out rock. Like the Cyberpunk era every album is distinct. Tenshi feels classy and reserved with a lovely vocal, Memento is very brash and slutty with a few moments of joy, Razzle Dazzle is Dance Pop Rock with a few electronics and Yume does the band justice for their 25th anniversary.



'Cocktail of Sounds' Era: (2014-now): After delivering their most bright material, they decided to go back to more niche adventures and back to a darker tone. Arui and Atom are both so distinct I have to take them separately, yet they feel like they've came from the same mindset. The best way I can describe Arui is a circus, so many lyrical themes and new sounds are considered this time around. Electronics are coming more into their sound again yet there is a considerable presence of Sakurai's more Gothic tendencies. A marriage of two distinct styles which has been the main focus of their career…with Atom taking this even further (music wise anyway). It has the most electronics out of their whole career and the lyrics got even more ridiculous. It's a cocktail of everything they've done up to this point 1991 onwards.



As for lives, that's a whole other kettle of fish. Their best stuff lies here, but for now stick with their studio efforts. I'll talk about those in PM's if you ever want me to.



Links:



All of their lyrics translated: https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/albums



A dedicated blog with specific posts about certain songs and aspects of the band. Especially recommended for Arui, Atom and keeping up with the band: http://blog-tick.blogspot.co.uk/



The Buck Tick Discord: https://discord.gg/y6vqmDE



Hope this is useful to you.

Album Rating: 5.0

Seems like all of their albums are worth listening to once. Haven't fellt this way about a band since Devin Townsend. Thanks for all the info man, helps alot if you know where to start.

Album Rating: 5.0

No probs buddy, I got something out of each album. When I got to lives it made all the stuff I wasn't so fond of so much better (plus stuff I loved already was made even better) and everything seemed like solid gold so their discography is really worth it. Also I kinda glossed what the Buck Tick Discord does, so I'll explain here. It's a community of overseas fans which are dedicated help eachother album and have events every month. I run the server, it's nice when you got other fans around in a instant chat service.

Album Rating: 4.5

Checking their discog is worth it for the lives

Album Rating: 5.0

Even without the lives it's worth it in my opinion, too many awesome songs and not a single bad album.

Album Rating: 5.0

Calc with his BT obsession. Tho I can't blame him for that.

Album Rating: 5.0

I'm an obcessive person what can I say?

Album Rating: 5.0

damn whats going on here lol

Album Rating: 5.0

Actual conversation about the band. Surprising, I know.

Album Rating: 5.0

I've been on a buck tick streak, only this album that hasn't tire me out tbh.

Album Rating: 4.5

I get a BT only streak every once in a while too

Album Rating: 4.5

About to jam this hard. m/

Album Rating: 5.0

Yaassssss my boi Hawks on the BT train m/

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah this is amazing. Def gonna jam some of their other stuff soon.

Album Rating: 5.0

Their stuff only gets better with every listen :]



Jam Kurutta next. Where to go from there refer to my guide above and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TynYZjA52YE

Album Rating: 4.5

Will do bro thanks. m/

Album Rating: 5.0

Oh wow, enjoy the ride.

Album Rating: 4.5

Holy shit, fuck yes Hawks