Review Summary: One of J-rock's finest debuts. Make sure that you don't miss out on Nightmare's Ultimate Circus!
A record player crackles. A lo-fi recording of a guitar imitating a circus style organ theme plays. A young man begins to sing over the guitar, dissonant feedback and noise hisses in the background and then… BANG! The lo-fi production disappears, two guitars play a thrash metal style mode and the drums and bass crash in the centre. Welcome to Nightmare’s Ultimate Circus.
Ultimate Circus was young up and coming J-rock quintet Nightmare’s first chance to make a splash. The eclectic indie group had finally landed a major label signing after an impressive bout of shows in the club circuits around the Sendai region of Japan, putting out there first single “Believe” (possibly a homage to their idols Luna Sea). But Nightmare weren’t a band that was short of ambition, later releasing the triple A side single Akane/Hate/Over, which was reputedly the first time for any band to release a single with three A sides, a bold statement to their young and somewhat naïve ambition. The three tracks showcased three completely different aspects to the bands style; “Akane” being a pretty, alternative piece; “Hate” a thrashier cut more akin to the material that Nightmare had been playing during their indie years; and “Over” being a slower, mellow track to display the band’s keen sense of balance in their material. Ultimate Circus quietly hit the shelves on Christmas day of 2003, with “Believe” and the triple A side single being present in the track list as well as a b-side from “Believe,” “muzzle.muzzle.muzzle” being placed at the beginning of the album.
Ultimate Circus is one of the most ambitious and stellar debuts that you will find amongst the enormous, watered down Visual-Kei scene post X Japan/Luna Sea. Although it overall may feel somewhat unfocused due to the diversity of the material present throughout the record, its unrelenting charisma is enough for this statement to be completely ignorable. Choosing to title the album Ultimate Circus was a brilliant reflection on the part of the group. The album is a circus of different acts and side shows, entertainment for everyone.
Nightmare make it apparent very quickly with songs like the refined, well crafted “M-aria” placed right next to songs like the wild, progressive and unpredictable “Kabuki Logical” that they are not some one-trick pony X Japan/Luna Sea worship band; they’re artists with a burning passion to make themselves heard. All throughout Ultimate Circus, the band consistently showcases their respective talents for their individual instruments and their keen grasp of melody and harmony. Guitarists Takahiro “Sakito” Sakaguchi and Mitsuo “Hitsugi” Ikari often play two different contrasting pieces over the top of each other, the role of lead and rhythm guitarist being entirely interchangeable between the two even within the same song. An example being the single “Akane” which features Hitsugi beginning with a lead chord sequence while Sakito carries the rhythm and then having the roles switch back for the rest of the song until the ending chord sequence. Satoru “Ruka” Karino’s drumming on the album perfectly holds the songs together, never being overbearing but having just enough of its own flair to be noticeable. Bassist Baba “Ni~ya” Yuuji performs in a similar manner while also occasionally playing riffs that are apart from what Sakito and Hitsugi are playing. Then of course there is the overly flamboyant vocals of Jun “Yomi” Chiba, defining the songs character with his ballad-like wail.
The album is not short of exciting twists and turns. As emphasised above, Nightmare showcase an intuitive sense of variation throughout the material on Ultimate Circus. While unlike future endeavours from the quintet, the ballad tracks don’t leap out as standout moments on the album, “Mind Ocean -Sou***su wa Yuki to Tomo ni-” and “Aquaria” being fair enough tracks but lacking the kick that the rest of the album possesses. These two longer mellow tracks come across more as building blocks to be further developed rather than anything particularly amazing. The true stand out moments on the album are the high-octane, crazy songs designed solely for the purpose of creating a frenzy at a live show. Ultimate Circus remains Nightmare’s heaviest and most metal oriented album to date, probably due them being a young band that was making the transition from years of touring the club circuits to becoming a studio band on a major label. The album’s highlight track is undoubtedly the infectiously wild “Kyokutou Ranshin Tengoku,” the name meaning “Far East Crazy Heaven,” a title that couldn’t be more suitable. “Kyokutou Ranshin Tengoku” is the perfect combination of speedy thrash riffs and sensible melody as well as being blessed with one powerful and highly memorable chorus and guitar solo. Sakito and Hitsugi both taking turns to blaze their fret boards during the superb guitar break. Also shining out amongst the impressively solid track list surprisingly is “Akane” from the triple A side single. Being separated from the other two songs featured on the single, “Akane” is able to shine on its own. The guitars and Yomi’s vocal performance on the song are beautiful and emotionally provocative, some of Nightmare’s best song writing that they would ever do is in this song.
Nightmare show off a colourful array of plumage on their first outing. The band admirably never give a dull moment, the variety of different styles making sure that you never get tired of listening. The bands obviously still a work in progress at this point, but the album contains more than enough flair and ambition to hold its own as one of J-rock’s strongest debuts. The album is tireless and relentless, perhaps occasionally stopping to take a breath on weaker moments such as the single “Believe” but other than that, Ultimate Circus contains a huge amount of energy. Each and every one of the band members performs incredibly well, they have a strong chemistry as a unit and the band showcase promising song writing ability throughout. With tracks to make you thrash around like a lunatic and songs to enjoy a pleasant moment by yourself listening to, Ultimate Circus has something for everyone.
