Review Summary: The GazettE create 'Disorder' on their D.I.Y aethstetic punk-N'-Roll Debut.
The GazettE are a band that have gained some notoriety recently in the band’s currently ongoing metalcore era. This might be a bit of a drastic shift from the bands punk roots from when they started in 2002, pumping out several EPs in a short amount of time that all culminated with the release of their first full length album,
“DISORDER”.
“DISORDER” unlike the rest of
The GazettE’s catalog, does not benefit from having a decently polished production, the value here is much lower value, which would be in line with the quality of their EPs prior. This is not to say the band does not use this handicap as an advantage right from the intro track which uses a combination of a Hip-hop beat with the sound of an ambulance that leads into the opening song, and the most well known song of this era of the band,
“THE $OCAL RIOT MACHINE$”.
“THE $OCAL RIOT MACHINE$” is an aggressive riot anthem fueled by vocalist Ruki’s aggressive and somewhat chaotic rant flow (the vocals on the song are improvised, as there are no lyrics to the song) and is complimented well by background shout vocals. The vocals do indeed dominate the song with a Korn-eque instrumental to serve as a great complement, adding a sense of urgency and uncertainty to greater impact the rant.
“The next song,
”Carry”?”, still has that bit of a bite of aggression but uses the low production value to give it the sound of a b-horror movie, complete with campy voice acting in the beginning of the song. Ruki’s vocals during the verse work well for this, using a combination of fry vocals and whispering. During the bridge Ruki lets a string of fast frantic screams to help add to the desperation of the song. As for the instrumentation,
“Carry?” itself overall has a punk groove to it especially in the riffs and in the chords of the chorus. The Melody of the chorus is infectious and is the most catchy on the whole album.
“Carry? Carry? Can you love such a me? Ah oh”. Like the rest of the song, the chorus is sung in rather broken english.However that is what makes this track inspired by The Misfits so enjoyable.
"東京心* [Tokyo Shinjuu - Lover’s Suicide In Tokyo" is worth mentioning here as it is another example of a song being inspired by The Misfits. While this song is not horror themed, it uses a similar story telling narrative that The Misfits use in their lyric writing (one will more than likely need to look at an english translation however, as the song is fully in japanese) to tell a tragic story about a young couple struggling to get by after they moved to Tokyo. eventually, they get so desperate they commit double suicide. The Instrumentation is rather simplistic here, as the main focus is the narrative on the lyrics, though it can put in a bit of flare, like the guitar melody to fade out the song.
The low budget production sometimes works against the album though. With
"花言葉 [Hanakotoba - The Words Of A Flower]" the bass is mixed too loud the point where it overshadows the guitar completely (though the strummings of the acoustic guitar itself is actually rather calming). Plus on
"ザク*型の憂鬱 [Zakurogata No Yuuutsu - Pomegranate Shaped Melancholy]" the guitars and bass are mixed too quiet as this production style does not really do any favors for the Jazz-rock direction they were trying to go for here. This track also showcases the album's other biggest problem, Ruki’s Inconsistency.
Throughout their career,
The GazettE have been unfairly compared to DIR EN GREY, however here that comparison is kind of warranted, as Ruki is trying very hard to emulate DIR EN GREY frontman Kyo quite a bit throughout the whole runtime. While he does a decent job at it, his vocals are very clearly straining. The track where imitating Kyo is the biggest offender is the cheesy
“SxDxR” with a rather (unintentionally) funny chorus with lyrics of
”It's head can be danced off, in the rhythm of ***! It's head can be danced off,In the rock of ***”..It is also worth mentioning here in
“SxDxR” the first verse that a quite few people may not find to be in the best of taste in relation to Kurt kobain to put it lightly.
In relation to Ruki imitating, there is an admittedly spot on
“Give it away, give it away now!” from
”Give It Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers impression during the bridge on the somewhat Nu-metal inspired
“Maximum Impulse”. Complete with a tongue roll and all on one of the albums heavier songs. There is a bit of a nice hard hitting groove to it and the verses, and much like
“$ocal Riot machine$” use a rant like flow to them. However unlike the latter this song does have a bit of a breather in the form of the sing-along pop-punk inspired chorus.
It is not just punk
The GazettE do well on their debut, even from day one the band had a knack for creating interesting and compelling ballads. The final stretch of the album showcase this starting with track 10,
"七月八日 [Shichigatsu Youka - July 8th]". While it is narrative it is a sequel to the first song the band ever recorded,
“Wakaremichi [Crossroads]” (which was about a couple who break up because their life goals take them on seperate paths.Now here the girl has reached her goal, however the boy does not and upon seeing her with another man the boy realizes she is no longer waiting for him to come back.), the song stands well on its own. The lead guitar melody to open the track while simplistic, is fantastic, and sets the sad tone well. Speaking of the guitar, open strumming (with a dash of reverb on the lead guitar) sounds clean as the two guitars not only compliment eachother but the bass well in the verses. Furthermore, the guitar solo takes a melodic approach and uses rests rather effectively and it is timed correctly too, not being too long or short that it feels abrupt or disjointed. Ruki also sounds strong here, as he is not forcing his voice or trying to emulate another vocalist.
Ruki gives a strong performance on the closer,
“さらば [Saraba - Farewell]", too. While he is straining a little bit, he does add emotional weight to the bittersweet anti-war closer. The instrumental progresses on feeling like a melancholic march but with a feeling of moving a little closer to hope, as in the root of the song's message is a national pride for Japan. The chant of
”An anti-war song” near the climax of the song ,while a bit on the nose, is delivered in such a heartfelt way that makes this bittersweet moment one of the more emotional moments in
The GazettE’s discography.
While
The GazettE would abandon the punk sound of their roots nearly completely, that does not mean this style was a failed one.
The GazettE for the most part knew that they were limited on what they could do effectively on what could be fully realized in the mixing department and as a result the punk aesthetic works greatly. The quote Ruki used to describe the hip-hop outro
“Disorder heaven” that is not only the most relevant way to close out the album theme Chaos (
“DISORDER” represents both emotional chaos and a need to create chaos), but is one that perfectly encapsulated the current times.
“this world is ruled by chaos, and because this world is like a 'disorder heaven’ we can’t always have a happy ending. That chaos we live in certainly is 'Disorder’” ~ Ruki
Recommended Tracks
“THE $OCAL RIOT MACHINE$”
“Carry?”
"東京心* [tokyo shinjuu - lover’s suicide in tokyo]"
"さらば [saraba - farewell]"
