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Review Summary: A dark butterfly spreads it's blood and wine-stained wings and prepares to take flight. The late 80s saw darkwave visual rockers BUCK-TICK begin to morph fully into the gothic, blood and wine stained butterfly that would eventually become legend. They had shed the ugly chrysalis of naivety that came across on their first two outings, showed that they weren't afraid to play whatever the hell they wanted with Seventh Heaven and climbed even further down the ladder to Hell with Taboo. All they needed was one last little push, that final coat of black paint. Establishing a lascivious and romantic atmosphere and fully embracing their intriguing, occasionally hard to bear but oh so worthwhile gothic brand of post-punk is the band's 5th outing Aku no Hana.
Translating directly to Les Fleurs du Mal (French for “the flowers of evil”), named after and most probably drawing a lot of inspiration from the infamous collection of poems of the same name penned by the legendary Charles Baudelaire, Aku no Hana sees BUCK-TICK at their most sonically complete thus far in their career. Though some of the tracks do not stand up as well against the rest of the album, Aku no Hana is for the most part an excellent outing for the band and would become their best-selling ever. Some of the most sensual of the band's lyrics and the most invigorating instrumentals composed by the quintet are contained within its cocoon.
Aku no Hana shows off a modest sense of balance between tracks and an elegant sense of style to boot. Although it can sound rather restrained at times, particularly with the more danceable cuts like “Maboroshi no Miyako,” it is clearly an album more apt for a romantic night in with a muse (or several depending on your preferences) and an expensive (or, again depending on your preferences, cheap) bottle of wine. Atsushi Sakurai's enchanting baritone vocals are allowed to explore much more comfortably in the dark atmosphere provided by Hisaishi Imai and co. Sakurai's delivery working hand in hand with the romantically gothic soundscapes in “Misty Blue,” standing out as one of the must hear moments of the album. This combination of romance and darkness gives the album a wonderfully upbeat feel, the guitars rock in a controlled and intentional way and the bass and drums pulse infectiously in the background. The title track “Aku no Hana” and closing number “Kiss Me Goodbye” are probably the strongest contestants on the record and make for an excellent finish to the album. “Aku no Hana” is one of the most driving and compelling pieces in the band’s repertoire with its blood-pumping leads and Sakurai's wild howls and vivid lyricism while “Kiss Me Goodbye” displays the band's softer side. The song’s soothing rhythm and vocal hooks inviting returned listens. Sakurai's performance in the songs verses and pre-choruses are quite possibly some of the best in his resume.
Although a lot of the album could have done with a bit more attention and work, i.e. the enjoyable but far too brief track “Love Me” could have done with a pinch more development to make it a stronger song as it has an enchanting and intriguing melody. Despite not being as complete as some of the group’s later efforts, namely Aku no Hana’s successor Kurutta Taiyou, the album is still important in solidifying BUCK-TICK’s sound and displays some of the band's strongest musicianship and song writing skills. Atsushi Sakurai's awe-inspiring presence is showed off excellently throughout the album, especially on the closing two tracks, his superb vocal hooks being equally as important the album’s integrity as the new-wave charm of the guitars and the humble assuredness of the bass and drums. Moments such as the spidery crawling of the guitars in “Sabbat” and Sakurai’s imagery of a crazy pierrot with bad blood, an overflowing sun and blue loneliness on the title track all come together to build the gothic and romantic atmosphere of the album and do a wonderful job of complementing the red-hot desire that its namesake draws so heavily from.
Though Aku no Hana isn't as finished as future efforts, it was a key stepping stone for the artists in their career as BUCK-TICK that helped assure the quintet’s longevity in the genre, featuring career highlight performances from self-taught guitarist Hisaishi Imai and golden voiced frontman Atsushi Sakurai as well as overall solid musicianship from the rest of the group. Despite missing that little something extra to truly warrant constant replay value as a whole unit, it does hold some highly entertaining songs that definitely deserve constant revisiting such as the title track, closing track and “Misty Blue”. Inconsistent most certainly but definitely an important release, Aku no Hana sees BUCK-TICK fully bridging the gap between comedy and romance and unfurl their dark, blood and wine-stained wings that would lead them to true success later on.
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Album Rating: 3.5
Can cross that off the list of "classics that I don't quite think are classics but still really enjoy." Not a favourite of mine but it still needed talking about.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
"bands 5th outing"
"bands lyrics"
"bands softer side"
"bands strongest"
band's
In the last paragraph, you should put a comma instead of a period before "featuring..."
This album sounds very appealing to me. Well-written and informative review. Keep up the good work! Pos'd.
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"Aku no Hana is for the most part and excellent outing"
An, maybe?
I only heard the t/t but I like it, I'm just a bit reluctant in approaching a (for me) new band with so many albums. I like your reviews, your writing style is well-suited for this bands.
Pos'd.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Fixed all of those, thanks for the help and the positive feedback.
Dude, that's exactly how I felt. I just kinda started with Darker than Darkness since I knew "Dress" but I found that to be a really difficult place to start. I'd just kinda start listening to some of their songs and if you like them, go for the albums that have those songs. Just don't start with Mona Lisa Overdrive, Sexual XXXXX or Arui wa Anarchy since those are considerably weaker than most of their other stuff. It's definitely worth it though.
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Thank you, I'll remember. That said I'm probably going to follow my usual way: it will take some time for me to start a new band but I'll try to listen to everything in chronological order. I like to hear the evolution of a band.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Yeah that's often how I do it. But sometimes I like to mix it up a little and just haphazardly attack a discography.
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Despite Atsushi's voice being excellent, I feel as though they're too loud in the mix of this album.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Hm, I like the mix. The 2015 remaster is too loud, but that's harder to find compared to the original version which you most likely checked.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Can't feel this one as much as the others I guess.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
really dig this album for what it is. The music videos are something else, especially love the love me and sabbat ones
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3 tracks in this is rather disappointing...
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
yea its definitely not as good as what came immediately after in Kurutta, but there still a lot of enjoyment i get out of this. Kiss Me Goodbye is still such an awesome closer
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
It's a 'classic' but yeah I'm with Dewinged, it's not a great album for me.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
i think the 2015 mix improves on it a bit depending what you are looking for, but its still just a production overhaul at the end of the day
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Weird how a year can change an opinion, nowadays i much prefer the original mix to the 2015 remix. Both are great, but some qualities are lost in the so called 'upgrade' of the remix. Theres an almost dreamy feeling to the original thats unmatchable, especially on tracks like Love Me (pleasure land is way better in the 2015 mix though)
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Same on my end. I heard the 2015 mix for the first time this year and it boosted my opinion on the album a lot. I can see why people like the OG but it sounds anemic to me (especially vocally, the reverb and choice to focus on different vocal takes fixed that). Tracks 5-10 are quality stuff, this year is where I finally got into their early stuff properly (I'm not changing my ratings, I don't rate anymore).
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
This is a special album, such a rich atmosphere that feels strabgely warm and cozy. Took me a while to really LOVE this album, probably cause it is hyped up (not on this site) so much in the fandom and is such a milestone album for the band, that when I finally heard it after Kurutta Taiyou I was like, huh, thats all? But the years revisting it have proven to me why its so good, its simple but immensely effective. Love Me, Misty Blue and The World is Yours in particular didnt stick out to me on early listens but are favourites now. Even Pleasure Land is great, I hated it for so long but now I feel like it all makes so much sense in the albums context. Also OG mix supremacy, 2015 mix is great but OG is the real experience.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Pretty much my experience.
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Shit, i might take a look at some Buck-Tick after seeing this bumped. Been wanting to get into this band, L’Arc-en-Ciel, and Luna Sea for a while and I’m feeling like it might be a good time! 😏
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
They are the GOAT.
Check Kurutta, Darker (weirdest and wildest of the 3 be warned), or 13kai first. Give them time, as the band are growers rather than immediate hitters.
For L'arc, go with Tierra for a first album but probably the actual best place to start to be wowed if you have the time is their 2012 MSG show (a song from it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fJ3oQFkBx4) or day 1 of their 20th anniversary shows if you can find those on Bilibili in full.
Luna Sea, check Mother. Even as someone who isn't big on Luna Sea that album is fantastic and is a VK essential.
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