T.M.Revolution – triple joker October 26, 2008

Track Listing

1. Aoi Hekireki
2. OH! MY GIRL!, OH MY GOD! -MORNING SURPRISE MIX-
3. WHITE BREATH -MORE FREEZE MIX-
4. O.L
5. MID-NITE WARRIORS
6. LEVEL 4 -LEVEL->V MIX-
7. Slight faith
8. MinD ESCAPE
9. Joker -G CODE MIX-
10. Twinkle Million Rendezvous
11. HIGH PRESSURE -MORE HEAT MIX-
12. JUST A JOKE

1. Aoi Hekireki

Still playing in my mind is this track that I just reviewed recently.  I’m still surprised at how simple the song actually is and c’mon, if it wasn’t for “LEVEL 4″ this would’ve been my favorite single.  Just to point out, it isn’t the JOG Edit since there’s no elongated opening to the track.

2. OH! MY GIRL!, OH MY GOD! -MORNING SURPRISE MIX-

Adding an opening that sounds like breakfast and Takanori humming along the tune before it actually starts up.  I’m still quite turned off from the song because it just wasn’t as interesting.  Still, Takanori sounds cool though, even though he’s yelling a good majority.

3. WHITE BREATH -MORE FREEZE MIX-

I’m not sure exactly what the mixes really after from here on out.  It’s still basically the same track from the singles.  Now I love the beats and how slick Takanori took the song.  I still think the yelling is quite bothersome, but another above average track.

4. O.L

Our first new track comes in oddly.  Like the song is quite slow and maybe trying to sound like an epic track, but at the tempo it’s at I consider this a ballad of sorts.  The bleepy synths really didn’t cut it for me either.  I don’t even know what O.L stands for either…

5. MID-NITE WARRIORS

I found our next new track more enjoyable adding a more noticeable dance track to the album was great.  Takanori also sounds a bit (young) in the song, so I thought that this was an early created track or something.  The chorus brought some great stuff though Takanori needs to work on the English.  Problem is that the music sounds same-ish even after 2 previous albums.

6. LEVEL 4 -LEVEL->V MIX-

Once again, I don’t hear a difference between single and album.  It’s still one of the best tracks off the album.  Already you’ll hear Daisuke’s contribution to the song more strongly than in previous songs and even some awesome guitar riffs to hold the song together.  To me this song is one of those (you can’t listen without thinking of the PV) songs.  So it’s always great to hear the song.

7. Slight faith

Slight faith is sooo freaky.  Like the it starts off pretty dreamy and then the guitar strums itself in.  Whenever I listen to this, I immediatly think of another track of his “fragile” because it’s quite similar to one another.  I do like this, but not as much as said track.  Still it does stand out from the album.

8. MinD ESCAPE

That is until this song starts up.  It’s like 50’s diner music but more fruity.  I don’t know what caused this odd track to pop up, but it’s quite the weird one.  The thing I really didn’t like is the whole ad-libbing section after the chorus, it was like hearing cats…Definitly the worst new track.

9. JOKER -G CODE MIX-

Ok, so our new track is remixed?  WTF?  Well, the song has a pretty consistent beat to it and while this isn’t exactly touching new ground, it does work and is quite the catchy tune.  I <3 the guitar in the song so for whatever it’s worth give the song a listen.

10. Twinkle Million Rendezvous

These 3 words to not make sense together and so starts a trend of 3 words making no sense to make a title.  The song is a ballad, but oddly doesn’t seperate itself from the other tracks.  The use of strings did help it out, but in the end, it comes off a little bland.  Another failed ballad.

11. HIGH PRESSURE -MORE HEAT MIX-

Still a great guitar opening, but it’s lead into this happy track.  I still find that the song is probably the weakest of the singles and it really didn’t bring anything new to the table.  Even on the album, it just sounds like every other Takanori track.

12. JUST A JOKE

We end the album with an instrumental, but what it contains is probably the most bizarre sounds from the album, even moreso than “MinD ESCAPE”.  Sounds like carnival music, I mean you hear like clown music and people.  Not even a minute passes by for this track and it left me questioning (why was this even on the album?)

Tracks Recommended

• LEVEL 4
• Aoi Hekireki
• WHITE BREATH
• JOKER
• Slight faith

By now you would think he’d change sound right?  Nope….it’s another album of the same damn stuff we’ve been hearing since his debut.  I think he needs to step up and do something.  triple joker has to be his downfall of an album.  

HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR – G∞VER October 26, 2008

Track Listing

1. G∞VER
2. NOTICE
3. PRIDE
4. Naked
5. OVER
6. Days
7. SWEET ESCAPE
8. RUN☆RUN☆RUN
9. What for…
10. RAIN
11. With YOU

1. G∞VER

What an opening.  It’s starts with some synths and then Yuusuke growling.  I really would like to know how he does that with his voice.  Anyway it’s over 2 minutes of chaotic rock.  Also there’s quips from Yuusuke so it kind of fares sort of.  Then after all that it enters a synth zone before reentering the hardcore sounds from the start.  Interesting album opener.

2. NOTICE

Weird at how it went from crazy introduction to a soft rock song practically.  What the hell Yuusuke?  Put more life into the song seriously.  Anyway NOTICE is totally different from what the singles brought because Yuusuke is actually singing along.  Still, I wish he wasn’t so boring sounding. 

3. PRIDE

We enter their most memorable and powerful track, PRIDE.  I still think very highly of this song and I’m probably not the only one because c’mon it’s that epicly awesome.  I think the furious guitar riffs mixed with powerful strings was an awesome choice and to have Maaki fully sing it and Yuusuke doing his rapping skills really added a nice touch to the song.

4. Naked

Anyway, after the track, we get into Naked which I kind of found a little disappointing.  Perhaps it’s the messy instrumentation, but I really never connected to this track.  Just a very forgetful song.

5. OVER

A nice follow-up single after “PRIDE”.  They decided to keep the hard rock and take out the strings and we’re left with this pretty awesome track.  Yuusuke though kicks major ass in the song.  With his enthusiastic lyrics, it really sparked my interest ten-fold.

6. Days

I’m still unsure of what to really say about the song.  One thing I know that it’s totally different from all of the other singles.  The other thing is how strange this song is and how off it sounds to my ears.  Though I do love the guitar solo.  Definitly the most disappointing single for the era.

7. SWEET ESCAPE

ROFLMAO at Yuusuke’s vocals in the song.  Anyway, other than the bad vocals coming from Yuusuke the song is more or less the same I’ve already heard in the later singles of the era.  I guess it was more better though, so I guess I have to give credit where it’s needed but Yuusuke needs to tune up.

8. RUN☆RUN☆RUN

I’m still quite terrified of this uber poppy track.  I’m not exactly turned off, but I’m not too fond of it either.  I was finding myself bored with Maaki’s performance just because it was so boring.  So it’s kind of another forgetful track from me.

9. What for…

Darker rock track now?  Though interestingly we hear Maaki and Yuusuke start up the song together and truthfully they sound pretty awesome together in the verses, but the chorus was when things got strange of the ~ooooOOOOOooo~ yea….Other than that I really liked this songs elusiveness and pretty awesome vocals.

10. RAIN

See why can’t Yuusuke sound like this more often.  Sadly the song suffers from *the hellishly boring syndrome*  Like the song lacked any personality and falls into obscurity pretty quickly.  Probably the only saving grace is the final chorus where synthed strings play that was awesome….other than that…noooo.

11. With YOU

Finally finishing the album is this mysterious track.  It stands out far from the rest of the tracks being the rock ballad it is.  Being their first try at a song like this, I think it did well and ended the album on a good note.  The only track that doesn’t even feature Yuusuke as well which is a total surprise. 

Tracks Recommended

• OVER
• PRIDE
• With YOU
• What for…

HandMC’s debut album is pretty strong overall.  There were a few issues concerning the album other than the small tracklist.  Yuusuke has some problems singing, but his screams are to die for.  Maaki can sound boring, but she’s not too bad of a singer, I think she’s pretty good.  The rest of the band is great though!