After recently becoming acquainted with Japanese music, I liked what I heard and decided to pursue it some more. So far,
Luna Sea have been my favourite find of the lot, closely followed by
Tomoyasu Hotei.
This Cd is (as it is aptly titled) a collection of B-Sides. Needless to say, I can't see why they werent singles or standard album tracks, as this is a very strong CD in it's own right.
Now a track by track rundown:
Kono Sekai No Hatede
Pretty strong starting point for the CD, instantly giving you a good taste of the Luna Sea sound. Nice soft-ish intro, followed up by a nice bass riff (something this album is packed to the brim with, very little of the Mark Hoppus syndrome here).
Looper
Bit of a choppy intro, which is the only thing that gets in the way of this song being completely flawless. The trademark bass-heavy Luna Sea sound takes hold fairly soon, adding instant groove and appeal to the song. Nothing technically mind-boggling, just lovable stuff.
With
Beautiful intro, both bass and guitar working in perfect harmony. The song as a whole has a nice mood to it, great to sit back to. The prettyness then fades out to a ticking watch sound, which might make sense if I knew what the lyricss were. Not that I mind anyways, still highly listenable.
Inside You
Yet more kick-as
s bass, and Luna Sea's slightly heavier side breaking through the ice (which is probably needed, as the next track fully exploits it). I know I've mentioned it already, but the bassline to this song is truly amazing, as are the guitar tracks and solo/interlude parts. Altogether a more varied song and yet more pleasing music to my very demanding ears.
My Lover
If your seatbelts aren't fastened, do so now. This song is driven by a simple yet plain sexy riff, and soak it up as this is the only opportunity you'll get to hear J playing root notes. But it still puts Hoppus to shame, as it's completely called for and the tune is simply great. The synth parts are also nice (subtle but very compliment to the mood). The phaser-ed interlude also adds the spine tingle factor to the listening experience.
Be Gone
Kicked off and built around a spiralling bass riff, this song is a slight wind down form 'My Lover'. Not what I'd pick as one of the albums strong tracks but it still manages to let the 'skip' button on my remote gather some dust. After the main body of the song, an acoustic freestyle starts, great little wind down. Nice touch.
In Agony
No idea why, but this song reminds me of Brit pop-rock band
Feeder. I dont think it has any particular reason to but it just does. A nice soft song to recover from the heavier middle portion of this CD. Pretty.
Into The Sun
Brilliant drumming here. A nice, steady thundering round the toms backs up and beefs up this song. A nice vocal performance here too, making up for the obvious lack of not knowing what is being sung. Another one of those spine tingly nice songs. Something the music industry could really use a lot more of.
Until The Day I Die
Gah! Nice music but theres a
really annoying squeaky guitar bit when changing the finger postion. Without that, this song would have matched up with the rest of the album in tru musical greatness. Sadly, thats small annoyance kinda wrecks it for me.
Overall, this CD goes down as one of my top 5 albums of the moment (subject to change but this one is unlikely to shift for a long time). The musicianship on all parts is simply outstanding. Although not the most technical of players, they have the most important gift of all: The ability to create great music. Special mentions go to the bassist, who does appear to be the main focus of the band (not to belittle the other members, as they all match up in ability).
The only downfall reall is that, not knowing Japanese, I can't understand what is being sung. Which would help keep the replay value and up the listenability. However, seeing as the overall sound of Luna Sea contains both of those qualities in buckets, I'm not too worried.
Album score: 4.5/5
Reccommended songs:
My Lover
Into The Sun
Looper
