Review Summary: An unknowingly fitting name for a very underwhelming release
What comes to your head when you hear the word “mannequin”? Chances are that it's that stiff, rigid imitation of a human that clothing stores use to display their latest fashions. Stiff, rigid, and
lifeless. Exactly the sort of qualities on display when you listen to Deco*27’s 8th album, which coincidentally just so happens to be named
Mannequin.
Ya know, I don’t think that’s what he wanted to have the title imply.
Mannequin sees Deco*27, an artist well-renowned for his Vocaloid pop rock, ditching the rock aspect for most of the record and bringing pop straight to the forefront, with guitars taking a backseat and the electronics and synths coming out in full force. The result is, unfortunately, a huge fall from grace for the artist, an album that is utterly disposable and forgettable. It’s not awful, but it sure as hell isn’t great.
Positives first. There are a few genuinely enjoyable songs present throughout this record. “The Vampire” and "Cinderella” are the best examples of Deco’s new pop direction, vibrant and upbeat with joyously catchy choruses and melodies (there’s a reason the former song blew up in the wide world of J-Pop covers). “Dilemma” is one of the more rock-focused tracks on the album, and it genuinely feels like old Deco coming right back to grace us with his melodies, even if the lyrics follow the same theme as 90% of this album. Lastly, “Stickybug II” is a great sequel to one of Deco’s more upbeat songs, an occasion where the poppy sugariness that permeates the whole album, and “Mozaik Role (Reloaded)” gives Deco’s most famous song a wonderfully fresh coat of paint, though the use of Miku instead of the song’s original Vocaloid, Gumi, does hurt it a little bit in my eyes.
Now, I could talk about the negatives as they pertain to each other individual song, but that would require the rest of the remaining songs to be memorable. As it is, this album represents one of the most soulless attempts at J-Pop I have ever seen, with songs that are formulaic to the point of insanity, repeated lyrical themes that were beginning to get old in the previous album (Deco can only write about heartbreak or unrequited love so many times before it just starts to feel like he’s saying the same things over and over again), and none of the songs are long enough to make a lasting impression. Seriously, outside of “Stickybug II”, no song crests above the 3-minute mark. They're not even entertainingly bad or confusing, they're just... okay. They're serviceable, not awful but nowhere near spectacular.
I’d be able to forgive these faults if the composition was good, but it really is just either upbeat electronic basics or downtempo electronic basics outside of a few moments here and there that break through the mire (“Parasite” especially has a brief explosion in the mid-half that lasts a blissful few seconds before it returns to pop mediocrity). Nothing here feels unique, nothing feels stand-out, it’s an album content to just spin its wheels and produce effectively the same song over and over again until its 31 minutes come to an end.
Mannequin is the first album from Deco*27 I have wholly written off as mid. It’s especially sad knowing that Deco is working on the Milgram project, which I would consider some of his best songwriting in years just by the premise alone. I wish he could take that passion from that project and inject it into this. Sadly, we don’t have that. We just have a couple decent tracks, and a whole lot of mediocre and monotonous. Maybe next time we'll get something a bit more inspired... maybe.
