BODY's "Flame"

Artist: BODY (Japan)

Album: Flame (1994)

Something in me doesn't have a good feeling.

But that's no different than any other review.

Track one is MY SELF, and I feel this prediction already coming true. What a boring guitar riff, oh God what a boring riff.

And the dealbreaker is always the vocals. And these vocals offer NOTHING. Typical. Bland. Boring.

But I didn't have my expectations high in the first place.

The second track is BABY CRAZY. Isn't there a BOOWY song under the same name?

(Nevermind, I'm thinking of Baby Action.)

Well, thank God it's not a cover. A band with so little talent would disgrace the great band BOOWY were.

Yes, I am already making such broad generalizations. I can tell this is not going to get much better. So, I'm going to keep my head.

Maybe.

HERESY is the third track. God damn it all, they're exploring their rebelious side.

This is honestly the worst song I have heard in a LONG time.

Do you know how much crap I have suffered through?

A lot.

This is an accomplishment. I mean WOW. HERESY is a big steamy pile of shit.

You would have to listen to it to even comprehend the awfulness of this.

Okay, okay, okay. UNFINISHED GAME will have to be a God damn masterpiece to redeem that last one.

Something in me doesn't have a good feeling.

...

It's better.

But there is some deep "whoa whoa, whoa whoa" that is almost comical.

You don't want your music to be funny unless you're trying. Honestly.

STILL MY LOVE is going to be a fucking ballad, I've prepared myself already. Do you see how I'm keeping my cool in this review?

....

Oh my God.

It sounds like fucking Shazna.

If you don't know who Shazna are, consider yourself lucky.

One of my most despised bands. Top 5, definitely.

Well, this sounds like them.

Meaning it sounds like someone vomiting a lame 90s ballad with bells out their asshole.

God, I'm not going to make it.

(deep breath) HOLD YOU SOFTLY starts out sounding strangely familiar.

Oh. Do you think it's because this band

SOUNDS LIKE EVERY OTHER FUCKING BAND OF ITS FUCKING GENRE?

GOD DAMN IT ALL.

Let's move on to the motherfucking seventh track, fucking I Believe...

I hate songs that end with an ellipsis. It's so annoying.

Especially because this song doesn't have an ounce of moodiness that would need an ellipsis.

Or any ounce of emotion.

Or originality.

Or talent.

Well, good news. Including this, only three more tracks to go. Other than that last paragraph, I've composed myself.

....

I just blacked out on my knee.

I swear to God, I just did. I'm not even joking.

That is how bored I am.

Bored to the passing out.

It's probably a sign I haven't eaten but fuck it, I'm blaming this band.

ETERNITY ~I love you forever~

Another thing I hate: Using unnecessary tildes. You are fucking misuses the tilde, STOP IT.

I also just hate the phrase "I love you forever", especially in music. Body are striking every wrong note they can with me. It's almost like they were created to anger me.

Oh... Oh my God.

DAY DREAM is the last track!

Hahaha! Yes!

I'm so happy, I'm not even going to listen to it!!

1 out of 5!!

I hate you, BODY! Get the fuck off my harddrive!

Black Shelter's "Awake/Nobody's Perfect"

Artist: Black Shelter (Japan)
Album: Awake/Nobody’s Perfect (2007)

Alrighty, short review here.

Um, starts out with Awake. I honestly think I downloaded this about three years ago when I was still listening to ~*~J-ROCK~*~.
So, without a doubt, it’s godawful. I can say that with confidence. Well, the majority of the damn genre is awful, so—
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m pretty sure this is just “J-Rock”, not Visual-Kei. It has that boring-as-vanilla alternative sound rather than… well, the horrible V-Kei sound.
And yes, it has a female vocalist, which makes them SO SO UNIQUE!!!!

Nobody’s Perfect begins with….
“Nobody’s Perfect yeeahahh Nobody’s Perfect, its okay, don’t worry”.
God, just fucking kill me now. I would’ve eaten this up three years ago, but nowadays I just feel like gagging myself whenever I hear music like this.

Track three is (kanji)shii Hito. For the record, I think the kanji is “Ito”, which would make the title “Itoshii Hito”. Which translates to “The Most God Damn Cliché Song Title in Existence”.
There’s just really nothing to say. It’s so mediocre, it actually makes me angry.

Okay, okay, last song. I told you this was short.
This is Brave Girl. It sounds like it’s trying too hard to be edgy or dark or something. Good luck with that. While you attempt to do that, I’ll be over here wiping my computer of all traces of Black Shelter.

1 out of 5.
Just don’t even bother.

Black Cats' "Cream Soda Presents"

Artist: Black Cats (Japan)
Album: Cream Soda Presents (1981)

So, is it safe to assume that this is going to be some sort of faux-fifties band? I guess we’ll see. That could either be very good or very bad. It could be the next Stray Cats, or something godawful.

Well, Love Story sounds like a very cheesy, older bubblegum pop song. It’s pretty much one of the lamer songs I’ve heard in a while. Not really a huge fan of it, although the guitars are nice.

Kanashiki Teddy Boy is track two and holy shit I already like it better.
The guitars are fantastic, the bass is just excellent, but I’m not sure how to feel about the vocals. In fact, I really don’t like the vocals at all. They really just don’t fit well, and it kind of ruins it for me. The music itself is very fun, just the singing… it’s awfully annoying.

I’m counting on Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie to change my opinions.
Oh god, no. No, no, no, no. Those vocals are some of the worst I have ever heard. They really don’t work at all and they actually make me want to rage.
I don’t know, someone else might feel differently, but I think they’re intolerable, and I have a very high tolerance for bad singers (as I’ve said before). They kind of make everything fall apart. It sounds like a bastardization of rockabilly; a humiliation to the fifties. Well, not that bad, but close.

Ano Musume no Fanii Feisu… Well, his vocals are better, I guess. It still sounds like a failure to imitate Elvis or something, but hey, I’ll take anything. The song itself isn’t much special, though. There are so many other rockabilly-revival bands that are miles ahead of these guys, why even bother.
The background singer is substantially worse than the lead. I mean, he is just terrible. He sounds like fucking Dynamite Tommy from Color, my lord. And being compared to Tommy is basically like saying, “You’re a talentless singer, get the hell out”.
Even Color fans know that Tommy has one of the worst voices in major music history.
Oh, back to Black Cats. Yeah, they’re as bad as Color.

Cover Girl…. Ughhhhhh. They’re really pushing this 50s thing on me, aren’t they? That’s something we call, “Trying too hard”. I mean, I know that a lot of 50s music really did sound similar to this, but… Christ, try to make it enjoyable to a younger generation, too. Stray Cats really succeeded in that.
This is just so damn boring, though.
Not as bad, just yawn worthy.

I thought that track six, When, would be some kind of ballad, but it’s literally indistinguishable from Cover Girl. Really, you guys, you’re taking everything bad about 50s music and incorporating it into your music. Stop it.
Luckily for me, they also imitated the short song lengths.

Singapore Nights is hardly note worthy at all. I honest to God can’t tell these songs apart. I’m surprised at the complete lack of variety and creativity. It just sucks.

Well, so far, Drive Good sounds… slightly different? Okay, never mind. By about 50 seconds, it’s even worse than the others. Partly because of Dynamite Tommy’s twin or whatever. But mainly because this band is so devoid of all sense of originality.

Yume no Big Machine… Apart from the song title making no sense…
Sigh.
Just sigh.

Well, here is track 12 out of 14. At this point, I feel like hurting someone. Honestly, I feel like punching the next person I see, just because I can.

Track 13: I’m homicidal. The next person I see, I will kill. I can’t fucking take this damn band! It’s like Barbee Boys all over again! Oh god, why am I being forced to relive that hell!

Track 14: Now I feel suicidal. Just kill me now, I can’t listen to another whole track. The only thing keeping me going is the thought, “Yes!! This is the last track!!”

Okay, you know what. No. No no no no no. I’m not even going to try. Black Cats, the last track, is one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.

1 out of 5
Fuck this band, fuck me for even downloading it.

Barbee Boys's "BLACK LIST", "Listen! Barbee Boys 4" and "3rd. Break"

Artist: Barbee Boys (Japan)
Album: BLACK LIST (1988)

Oh God. The first tracks I see are “C’mon, Let’s Go!” and Blue Blue Rose”. This band is an early 1990s Visual-Kei band, aren’t they? I guess we’ll see.

Oohhh boy, C’mon, Let’s Go! is already a charm… There’s a fucking duet between a man and a woman vocalist. Cheesiness factor 12. What the hell was I expecting from a band named “Barbee Boys” anyhow? Something not completely lame and embarrassing to the human race? Haha, how silly of me.

Alrighty, Blue Blue Rose… At the very least it’s darker. It’s not quite as bad, it might be better if the vocalist didn’t sound like such a little pussy.
The guitar is kind of great, though. That’s what sad about it all. It has the potential to be really good, but there’s just tiny little things holding it back. And the result somehow is very… not good.
I have the feeling this will be the best this band has to offer, though.

(Still have no internet, and there’s damn kana in the title again. Correct me if I’m wrong.)
Demo?! Shou ga nai suffers the same problems as Blue Blue Rose. The guitars? Good. The vocals? Stupid and annoying and generally just a bad idea. Honestly, give me the guitar tracks from this album and I’d be perfectly happy. It’s everything else that I don’t like.
At least I don’t think it’s Visual-Kei.

Blahblahkanji de DANCE is… oh come on, cut it out with that damn duet. Oh Christ, they growled when they said “kirai, kirai”. How fucking lame is that?! They’re just saying a verb twice, over and over again! The stupidity is overwhelming!!
Okay, the brass instrument solo (don’t know what it is) is pretty cool, and other than the singing, I really like it. But the singing just hits you in the face. It’s just not good.
I’ve figured it out! The vocalists think they’re in a pop-rock band, but wandered into a dark, rock bands jam session, and they happened to accidentally record it. And BLACK LIST was born.

(kanji) no (kanji) de ma batakuo (I totally fucked up that title, apologies) is probably the most tolerable, I guess.
Okay, okay, fine, I’ll admit it! Their use of brass instruments for their solos rather than the typical guitar is really great! Just--- ahh! This is so depressing! So much could be fixed, so easily!...

(I can’t read a single character of the title) already sounds cheese-tastic. Sounds like this is the obligatory ballad of the album, huh? Great. Just what this band needs: focus on the vocalist.
Oh god, he just said, “face to face” at the end of his verse. I think I’m going to be sick.
The sad thing is that the female vocalist could work in some kind of hard rock band if she tweaked it a little. But there’s just something completely “off”. There’s no hope for the man, though.

(kanji) cryin’ on the beach… Crying on the beach, awesome. Honestly, this one is almost indistinguishable from the last song I heard. At one point I checked my iPod to see if I accidentally selected the wrong song.
This is so bland. It’s as interesting as vanilla yogurt. Plain vanilla, without any fruit or sprinkles or whatever you would put on yogurt.

Mo yada! is so… so…
Ahhhhhhhh!!
I think the album is getting worse. It’s lost any edge it once had, even if that “edginess” was hidden under a thick layer of lame.

At least MIDNIGHT CALL sounds pretty interesting. Okay, nevermind. I swear, the second they start singing, I immediately despise it. These two are some of the most unlikeable vocalists I’ve ever heard. It’s not that they’re bad singers or anything, they’re just pretentious and annoying.

(kanji) sa nai might be dark, based on this beginning. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s just going to suck like the others.
Really, it just confuses me. The whole album has confused me so far. I just don’t get the vocals at all. I realize that my constant complaints about that is getting annoying, but I just can’t get over it. It’s so bizarre.

I just want this to be over once and for all.
So (kanji)keru mo n ka, what do you have for me? Obviously nothing, it sounds exactly like the others. Can’t you put some effort into this, Barbee Boys?

Oh thank god, the last track. It’s all in Katakana, and I can’t read it, but maybe that’s for the best.
You know what? Fuck it. Just end this hell.

1 and ½ out of 5.
I think I’ve said it all.

… What’s that?
What?
What?
WHAT?!

I have two more fucking albums by Barbee Boys?!?
There really is no God.



Album: Listen! Barbee Boys 4

Aww, that’s sad. They’re begging me to listen to this one. Just look at the title. Aww.

Oh? Hachi awase no (kana) sounds really, really cool.
….
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!
Why didn’t they replace the vocalists?! Whyyyyyyyyy?
It seems that the second those damn vocals come on, the instruments stop being… good. I don’t know how to explain it, but this is one of the cases where the singing literally ruins the music.

(kanji)ita mama de listen to me (ORIGINAL MIX) is track two. Again, they’re trying to keep me listening. That’s so pitiful, Barbee Boys. If you want people to keep listening, kick those vocalists out!

Dear Wagamama Eirian… Did he just say “Juicy eyes, rosy face”? What the hell? Well, the woman will just repeat him, so maybe I can see if they really did. I hope not.
Somehow, this is even less interesting than the others. It’s like they aren’t even trying..

Gomen Nasai is track four. See? See? They’re finally apologizing to me for the things I’ve had to endure (gomen nasai means “sorry” in Japanese for the stupid and uninformed. Oh, you know I’m just kidding).

Onna gitsune on the run (ORIGINAL “BIG BOWL” VERSION) is just…
The album is getting progressively worse as time goes on. By this point they’re really aren’t any redeeming qualities. It’s just a steaming pile of 90s crap.

Waai Waai Wai starts with that saxophone. That’s getting pretty annoying by this point.
And “Waai Waai Wai” is what I’ve been saying this entire time. “Waai Waai Wai didn’t they kick them out?! Waai Waai Wai were they signed?!”

(kanji) de (kanji) ru Papa he no Tegami really is just no different from the others. It’s track seven. That’s it. That’s all it has going for it.
It’s pretty damn lazy the chorus is just them repeating the title twice. Nice going, Barbee Boys.

(kanji) no (kanji) is just about as unique as Aikawa Nanase’s “R.U.O.K.?!”. (It’s in the tags, find it yourself.)

Noisy is going to sound identical to the others; I know that even before the thing starts. And look at that! It does!
To fans of Barbee Boys out there: Are you honestly able to tell the difference between these songs? If so, how?! It just floors me.

Kuchi ni (kana)yakku is so boring, I let the entire song go by without me noticing. I was trying to figure out that one kana and just let it slip by. Well, that doesn’t upset me in the slightest.

The last track! The last fucking track! The last fucking track!! I’m so much closer to never having to listen to this damn band again. So close. But, I still have another album. Please god, let it be a single, a maxi-single… Even a mini-album! I can’t sit through another full length album by these people!

1 out of 5.
This is somehow worse than the last album. The only good quality is that the first track has really amazing instruments. If only the vocalists didn’t have to ruin everything in their wake.

Now, let’s see the track number on the last of Barbee Boys album I own… Oh, let it be short, let it be short, let it be short, big money, big money, big money, whammy!
Huh? Oh, the track number, right.

…
…
Fuck.
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. There’s only nine tracks.
Oh, I’m going insane.


Album: 3rd. Break

Well, I’ve lost all hope. The first track sounds exactly like everything else this poor excuse for a band has shat out of its uncreative intestines. (What, was that too descriptive?)
And you know that they had to be at least mildly popular if they made three albums.
A fanbase… Ohh, I long to know what the Barbee Boys fandom is like.

Don namon dai (kana) really does nothing to bring some variety, I see. I have the greatest urge to just slap the hell out of this band and scold them for what they’ve done.

Haya Mattara iya Daze (I think I’m getting worse at deciphering these titles) seems to try to make it edgier or something. I don’t know, it’s just bad. Bad, bad, bad. I hate this band so much, they are easily one of the unlikeable bands I’ve ever heard. I just get the overwhelming feeling that they’re pretentious dicks. Kind of the same feeling I get when I listen to U2, except that I know they’re pretentious dicks.

Track four is terrible, too.

Track five is amazing!
Wouldn’t you be surprised if I said something like that? Yeah, except I’m not going to. Track five is awful as well.

Okay, you know what? Enough. Just fucking enough. I hate this band, I hate everything about this god damn band and I hope I never am forced to listen to it again. I am deleting every last speck of Barbee Boys off my hard drive and the second I hear their music again, I am going to have a nervous breakdown. If I hear one millisecond of their music from this point on, you will find me half naked on the toilet eating crayons and naming my eye-crud.
FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCCKKKK.

0 out of 5.
I was merciful on the first two albums, but at this point, no pity. Zero zero zero zero zero. No, this is absolute zero out of five. Nothing is lower, it’s absolute zero.

Beatniks are my next review. I have some faith in them, so let’s hope for the best. After this torture, I need something quality.
If Beatniks don’t deliver, I’m going to lose it.

Azz's "Take it & Easy"

(The next 7 reviews were done in the middle of nowhere without any internet, so there will be edits at the end of them, probably.)

Artist: Azz (Japan)
Album: Take it & Easy

Haha, look at that. Our last review of a fucking band that starts with A. Great.
Unfortunately, I’m writing this on the road to Spokane (AKA Hell) on a barely functioning laptop, so the noise of the road might drown out some of the music I’m hearing. Bear with me here.

Anyway anyway.

If I’m not mistaken, a member of AURA is in this band? Was it the drummer, KoReds? I can’t remember and don’t have internet to check. Moving on.

Junky Business is the first track, and the only track I have heard before. I loved it a year and a half ago, probably just because it features fucking brass instruments. I used to have a real boner for brass, you know. Oh, the actual song. Well, it has some pretty funky 70s esque guitar, a horn section and one obnoxious vocalist. Dear lord, he is annoying. My tastes in music were very awful a year and a half ago, apparently. Ch-rist.

Reminder: I have no internet. And this song is written in kana and kanji. So, um…Para o (kanji) ka seyou (I tried my best) does little to improve the singing. I realize that this band isn’t being entirely serious (I’d be embarrassed if they were), but that doesn’t excuse annoying music. It’s almost scarily peppy. I feel slightly ill.

Oh god, Love Song. It’s going to be stupid. It is stupid, what a surprise. It sounds like he’s fucking hiccupping. “A-I shi-te-mooo”. Maybe he knows Phew. Seriously, stop repeating “aishitemo”, it’s sounds so terrible.

Sweet Rain… Let’s see how my theory of everything “rain” being some kind of ballad. Well, so far so good for that, it’s slower.. It’s just… (siiiigh) I hope this band has something else to fall back on, because maybe music isn’t their thing. Regardless of whether of not you deserve it, if people buy your material, you’re a success. Were Azz a success? For the sake of my sanity, I kind of hope not. (Sorry Azz fans, if you exist out there.) Yeah, there are worse bands/artists out there that actually sell (looking at you, ICP), but Azz are in that group, too.

Ano (kanji) ka (kanji) demo (kanji)iyou ni. Catchy title when you can only read 100 kanji. I think... I think this band is somehow more annoying than most other 90s V-kei ish music. I don’t know if they’re V-kei or 90s, but it sounds like it. Don’t give me that “Visual-Kei is a clothing style, not a musical genre, you’re ignorant!” because it does have a sound all its own. A tired, overrated, no-different-from-American-music sound. I apologize, but I say what I want! Honestly, this is godawful. I can’t stand it. I feel slightly homicidal after listening to this song.

(kanji) onna ga (kanji) o mitai (kanjikanji) ni (Hey, I knew some of the kanji that time) sounds less similar than the other ones, thank God. It has some kind of 60s feel to it, or something, I don’t know. My brain is fried, partly because our car has no air conditioning, and because of this mind-numbing music. I’m just dumbfounded that no one in the studio told them, “Hey. Stop that. You’re embarrassing us all.”

1 out of 5.
Luckily for me, it was a mini-album. Unluckily for me, it was a very bad mini-album. Stay away, please just stay away from this record.

Oh my, there’s a tough biker in front of us wearing sandals and socks. That’s so hardcore of you, random biker. Rock on.

Next up is Bad Baby, the first non-Japanese review! Yaaaaay! I’m so fucking excited! I might be reviewing last year’s TOKYO DARK CASTLE sometime, too. Looking forward to that, to say the least.

Edit: And yes, I did come back to listen to the album once I was off the road without all that background noise. It sounds even worse.
Edit 2: And no, I couldn't find any answers to my questions.

Aphasia's "Mirage on the Ice"

Artist: aphasia (Japan)
Album: Mirage on the Ice (1999)

Well, I just got my braces tightened, so I happen to be even more angry and bitter today. Mirage on the Ice will have to be better than most of the crap I've listened to so far, or I'm going to lose it. I only know that aphasia are an all-girl hard rock band, but that's not enough information for me to have any hope.

Okay, on that note, let's get started!

Overture is the typical goth intro, complete with gothy bells and gothy violins. That's it.

Destination sounds like a lot of slightly-gothic inspired alternative music I've heard. The female vocalist and violins sounds really neat, but I think without them, I wouldn't like it at all. They're sort of saving the song right now.

Track two, Afterglow... Ahhhhh huuuummmmm no. (If you weren't able to tell, that was the sound I make when I think, apparently.)
Tired. That's the right word. It sounds tired. Why would I listen to this if there are hundreds of other hard rock/alternative bands that are so much better and so much more fun to listen to? Honestly now.

Well, it seems as if 75% of Black Shadow's lyrics are "Black shadow, black shadow, black shadow!!" (at least at first), which is incredibly annoying. I think at one point I liked this song... What was I thinking?

Kuruoshikuzaku Hana at least bears more of that hard-rock flair, much I much prefer over the overdone alternative-crap. Really, I don't even know if this would be classified as alternative, but the few sources I've seen say Heavy Metal. Really? This is their first album, and I suppose they probably changed over time, but this is most definitely not heavy metal. So, I call it alternative.
Oh, the actual song? I wasn't even listening.

Oh Jesus Christ. Jesus fucking Christ. Mahiru no Sora ni is hilariously lame!... It feels so misplaced!... Ha ha ha ha ha! (Typically, it's not good for such a serious band to make the listener laugh.)
But seriously girls, I see you're more in touch with your J-poppy feminine side with this song, but... honestly. It's kind of embarrassing.

Ashita e Fuku Kaze- The Wind Rises... How can wind rise? I'm sure if I think about it long enough, it will make sense. Hell, I'm tired right now, so it could make perfect sense and I'm just oblivious.
Oh, I'm off track. Really, it's just so hard to pay attention to this album, I get distracted by everything around me because I'm just so uninterested.

Well, at least Innocent Crime is nearing on the end of Mirage on the Ice... Luckily for me and my sanity, there are only ten tracks.
It. sounds. exactly. like. the. other. tracks. I needed to put periods between each word to emphasize how boring this is, you see. Maybe I should italicize instead.
In this song, the vocals border on just plain annoying at times. And yes, the backing vocals, too. The vocalist was the least of my complaints, but in this song, it just hits me.

Rain- Tsuioku. I have a feeling... it's going to be a ballad.
Yep, I seem to be right. 3/4 of all songs with "rain" in the title will be ballads, and I think we should break that trend. (I'm looking at you, Endless Rain.)
At the very least, it was a short instrumental.

Okay, here we are. The last track. At long last, I finally hear the end to this. It's just been dragging on and on and on and on...
Fuck, I'm not even going to bother listening. I'm tired, my teeth hurt and I'm late on taking my pain killers.
Good nigh---

Oh wait, I need to rate it.
1 out of 5

Good night.
(The guitar solo on the last track is good, by the way. Now, good night.)

access- Fast Access

Artist: access (Japan)
Album: Fast Access

SENSUAL GLIDE begins with a sort of electropop opening, and quickly turns into something ultra 80s. Kind of sounds like the credits theme for an 80s movie. A movie where two underdog skateboarders are hassled by a group of mean douches, but they prevail in the end. Kind of catchy, slightly repetitive and nothing special, but fun at the very least.

VIRGIN EMOTION is a typical pop song that lacks any personality whatsoever. Whatever fun I was having with that first track is now gone. Thanks, access.

Okay, now PALE BLUE RAIN... Oh God, it sounds like it's going to be a sappy ballad. It starts out like thousands of other damn ballads. I already hate it. NEXT!!

JEWELRY ANGEL has that same 80s dance feel as the first song, but with more of that soulless J-Pop feel to it. Bad.

DISTANCE~MOTOMEAUNIWA TOSUGITE~ is slower and... (snore) ... Oh, the sixth track just started as I slept in my own drool. This one is.... (snoooore).... Oh hey, from there on, it's so cliche and boring and lifeless that I just can't stay awake. G'night.

1 out of 5.

God, I hate J-pop. Why the hell do I even have this on my iPod?!

Aburadako- OK Ban ~ Shoki Ongen

Artist: Aburadako (Japan)
Album: OK Ban ~ Shoki Ongen

Okay, so far, a decent sound from the track Ranninguhai. Terrible sound quality, but it's alri--- oh Christ, the vocals. It's all downhill from here, guys. I realize punk music isn't known for its vocal mastery, but this is just plain annoying. My God, it feels like I'm being raped in the ear.

The second song, Nintai... sounds as if the vocalist got drunk and decided to try to play anyhow. The other band members were equally wasted and decided it sounded good, then released it as is. Something like that. It sounds like white noise. I think my friends and I were doing a music parody once, and it sounded something like this.

Erusaremu no Kutsujoku, I have faith in you to save this album.
... Damn it all.

Zekku? Interesting opening, but maybe you should get your poor vocalist some laxatives. He sounds like he needs to take a huge dump. You meant for him to sound like that? Ohh...

Mu is stupid. Genbaku is bad. Mai Nisuto is ungodly terrible. You know what? I'm not even going to bother with the last half of this 18 track album.

Basically, they have decent enough compositions (I actually like the sound of some of it), but I personally find the vocalist intolerable. If you have a high tolerance to awful singing, give it a try. To each their own.

1 out of 5.

I've heard that this is an earlier work from Aburadako... Did they improve with time? I can only hope so.

↑THE HIGH-LOWS↓ - "Do!! The★MUSTANG"

The first artist on my iPod:
↑THE HIGH-LOWS↓ (from Japan)
The album is "Do!! The★MUSTANG"

The first track is pretty shallow sounding, and I immediately thought the vocals were lacking. So, this is how the album starts? No introduction at all, we just jump right in there. Not a good start, High Lows.

Satetsu sounds almost like the same song. As does Noronoro. Wait, no. Noronoro is a hell of a lot more annoying. At the very least it sounds like the guitarists are making an effort.

Kouya Harukani has a (gasp!) different sound, but damn, they should've ditched that vocalist. They have a lot more problems than just the singing, but it would be an improvement.

I'm not even going to bother with the other tracks, they all. sound. the. same.

The last song should end on a good note, you don't want your listeners to end the record feeling unfulfilled or something like that. But no. The vocals on Purapura are pretty unbearable. Hell, Purapura is unbearable.

As I skipped through the album, none of the songs stood out as being anything other than typical 90s pop/rock/crap. I can't even say anything about the separate tracks because, well... they're all mediocre, cliche, uninteresting, soulless pop. Not truly awful, I can imagine someone would like it... Just not me. I prefer to be able to differentiate between songs, after all.

Overall...
1 out of 5

I just really don't appreciate unoriginality, hence the pitiful score.

Nice start to the blog, huh!