Amethystium - Autumn Interlude [2000]

Less naturalistic and more New Age than I was expecting, but that's just fine. Very soothing and smooth, yet well-layered and captivating.

Rating: 8

http://www.amethystium.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Misery Index - Overthrow [2001]

For some reason I was expecting a much more "dead" recording quality. Oh well, pleasant surprise. There's definitely an element of that other great American Grindcore icon, Dying Fetus. A dash of evil mixed well with a metal spoon. It has a raw feel, but with a good structure to it. Fairly catchy riffs, nothing to throw a party about, but still enough to keep you awake. The energy feels pretty high as well.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.facebook.com/MiseryIndex

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Hate - Cain's Way [2002]

Starts off with good energy. Not horrible production and it's still punchy. However, the energy starts to drop away once the initial punch wears off and the songwriting is too stock to carry it without the energy. I am definitely looking forward to the next releases because there's potential for one hell of a brutal album here. I do LOVE the last track, though.

Rating: 5

http://www.hate-metal.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

ミドリ - shinsekai [2010]

So, let's see what type of note they go out on. Extremely kawaii first track with some interesting amounts of atmospheric keys. As I was expecting, "凡庸VS茫洋" kicks in like a sledge-hammer and the chaos continues all the way through the track. It isn't as groove-oriented as the first album, but it's got a shitload of forward momentum. "さよなら、パーフェクトワールド。" jumps between calm/catchy and completely over the edge screaming with a slightly more down-beat tempo. This album manages to be fairly different from the rest of their stuff with lovely surprises sprinkled throughout the album (listen to "メカ" for the best example of this). There's still very little of the original punk influence on this album; it's mostly jazz with some screamy vox. However, "あたし、ギターになっちゃった!!!!!" really feels like a return to the form of the first album. Overall, it's the little things that make this a good album. The songwriting has changed quite a bit, but it hasn't moved forward all that much. However, the changes and "surprises" (for a long-time fan, anyway) are wonderful to behold. As always, I just wish there was more Punk in the mix.

Rating: 8

http://midori072.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

植松伸夫 - Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version [1991]

This is mostly a soundtrack for nostalgia. Other than that, it's a pretty standard style of RPG music. I must say, this is fairly disappointingly bland and lifeless when compared to stuff like Chrono Trigger. It's not downright BAD, per say, but it really doesn't survive without playing along to the video game. There are a few exceptions, of course: Chocobo, "Into the Darkness". The battle music, while somewhat effective at raising pulses, is somewhat predictable. I have a feeling that my disappointment with the FF music is going to be a common theme because of the... well.... common themes that are recycled throughout the series that Nobuo worked on.

Rating: 4

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/uematsu/index.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Je*Reviens - 朝もやの中で… [2000]

I can hear that they haven't gotten any creative impulses on this album. More stock J-Rock. I still REALLY don't like the singing style... it's not smooth at all; even the vibrato is jarring. The Kermit-the-frog thing he was doing with his vocals is back, but not as frequently. Regardless... this is copy-paste shit, and it's not really moving me in any way. Track 3 is an adorable and pussy attempt at infusing the excitement of High-Energy rock... unfortunately, it falls right on its face because of the extremely deadened production quality and the lack of understanding how to achieve high energy in a song.

Rating: 3.25

http://www.last.fm/music/JE*REVIENS

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sister Machine Gun - Influence [2003]

CATCHY!! YAY. Unfortunately, the energy completely dies after the first track and doesn't come back until "The Death of Me". This whole album isn't nearly as good as Metropolis. There's complete lack of energy for most of the time with only a few sprints throughout the course of a week. Still, not as bad as burn was.

Rating: 5.25

http://www.sistermachinegun.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Mitochondrion - Parasignosis [2011]

OH YES. Now this is so much more fucking like it!!. "Plague Evockation (Pestilentiam Intus Vocamus, Voluntatem Absolvimus Part I)" took a while to really kick in, but when it hit, it hit HARD. "Lex Ego Exitium (Pestilentiam Intus Vocamus, Voluntatem Absolvimus Part II)" shows off a bit more of the doom influence at first. It's certainly in a similar vein as Ulcerate, but with a lot more evil behind it. "Tetravirulence" does drag on a bit, though... getting into the area of doom that I DON'T like. In the end, there's a bit too much doom for my tastes, but it's still much more exciting and with better songwriting than Archaeaeon.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.myspace.com/mitochondrion

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

ＬｕＬｕ - 日本医療革命 [2008.08.06]

"溺愛クランケ" is an interesting song; the first half is very much punk-inspired, but the second half is a very catchy more rock-inspired section with good keys. "過触症" fuses elements of punk and quirky jazz and then ends up with a very catchy chorus again. Wow, this is really impressive for LuLu... normally it's not this catchy at all. Yet, nearly every song feels like a massive hook. It's not ground-breaking, but it's fucking LuLu, not Arcturus. There's very good energy to this album and it really covers up for the odd vox... but then, those vox are starting to become part of the experience for me. This is BY FAR their strongest material... despite the few damn re-recordings of other songs.

Rating: 7.5



All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Rudra - Kurukshetra [2003]

Amateur production quality... the right guitar is very noticeably louder than the left. First track doesn't really do much for me. It's too drawn out and not engaging. Track 2 is more my speed. Overall, there's not much to get me excited in this album. It feels pretty stock. The performance of the members is pretty amateur. The production isn't that great. It leaves a lot to be desired. There are a few cool riffs littered about the album, though.

Rating: 4.5

http://www.rudraonline.org/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Ōkami - Ōkami [2006]

I'm very VERY worried about starting this soundtrack... I'm making the prediction that it will be awesome for a while, but I will want it to end around the 3rd disk. EXTREMELY impressive start to disk 1, but I can already see that this is falling into a similar trap as many other VG soundtracks in that the length of the songs are absurdly short most of the time. It's very excellent Japanese Folk most of the time with a very ancient feel. When things pick up, it creates great tension and excitement. What, the, fuck... this album keeps getting better as it goes on... "Kamiki Village I" and "II" just feel like they can't possibly be topped by anything that will follow. So, yeah, half-way through the second album and I'm a bit pooped out. This shit is still incredible, but there's way too much material and it's mostly in the same style. Gotta take a break. Seems like the second disk is more about whimsical writing than the beauty of the first disk. Disk 3 is a mixed bag. There's whimsical, beautiful, and epic songs. Disk 4 is shaping up to be better than 2 and 3. Yes, definitely, disk 4 is THE SHIT. More dark songs; more epic battles; more soothing beauty. Odd, the first 18 tracks of disk 5 are 10-second bites of even music. There are only two things anyone can possibly complain about here: 1. The soundtrack is unnecessarily long; 2. It is tiresome to listen to all the way through. One is caused by the other. Besides that, this is a fucking amazing soundtrack through and through. Even the less epic and more happy 2nd and 3rd disks are a total joy to listen to. Brilliant in every way.

Rating: 9.75

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okami_%28video_game%29#Audio

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Immanifest - Qliphotic [2010]

This is certainly the latest wave of Black Metal (tenth or something?). It's a strange production quality... feels like the engineer just rolled off at the low-mids, so the production has little to no punch. The music itself has a fairly venomous quality to it and a bit of kick. However, the venom feels quite diluted and it's not because of the keys or individual riffs. I think it has more to do with how everything is put together and the emotion with which the music was played. This is seriously displayed in "Thaumiel"... and it becomes blatantly obvious why I feel like this album is defanged... these guys are obviously heavily influenced by more modern and popular sources (i.e. post-2003 Dimmu Borgir, melodic death metal, post-2005 Behemoth). One of those bands is still fucking great, Immanifest doesn't capture the same murderous hate and I think it's because of the more melodic influences. The music itself is pretty solid with speedy grinding, chunky guitaring, and the occasional serene woodland. And then, "Among the Dead" starts off with excellent power but loses it within a few minutes. It's a pretty good first effort, but they'll need to really dig deep for the next one if they're going to make people like me a fan. High marks for very good writing, but low score for trying to be Black Metal without capturing the most important part of the genre. AHA! I just thought of what it is... it sounds like a bunch of younger kids after they've heard Black Metal for the first time and mistakenly assumed that everything sounds like new Dimmu.

Rating:

http://www.myspace.com/immanifest

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Bassnectar - Mesmerizing the Ultra [2005]

Not a fan, really... it feels like a whole lot of nothing. Throwaway songwriting that never sticks in your head nor leaves an impression. This is something you just put on in the background to keep you company while you're doing something else.

Rating: 5

http://www.bassnectar.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sister Machine Gun - [R]evolution [1999]

The drums are more natural and free-form. "Carbon Copy" is much more rock than Industrial Rock. "Transient One" is the first time this album feels like it's more of an electronic album. It's interesting stuff, regardless. Average catchiness as well. There's quite a combination on this album; Rock, Blues, Kawaii electronic, Industrial, to name a few. The main problem is that it's not nearly as exciting of an album as Metropolis and it feels like a lack of focus. Songwriting isn't as catchy either.

Rating: 7

http://www.sistermachinegun.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Mitochondrion - Archaeaeon [2008]

"Into the Pit of Babel" is certainly what some would call "organic". Underground production, but it's not too bad. Interesting songwriting. There's a bit of sophistication to these songs. I can't really call it unique, but they've gone for longer songs with changing moods throughout. From pure Death Metal reminiscent of Gigan to clean guitar sections and even a hint of progressive. I think that this album would have been more exciting if the production didn't have such a soft touch and the edges hadn't been rounded off. Other than that, the music is pretty damn good. Sections like the ending of "Wraithlike" really feel like a wonderful massage, and others feel as satisfying as putting a baby in a blender feet-first. It doesn't feel all that creative, though, despite the clear focus on making the music deep... and even with that, it doesn't feel as deep as it was intended to be. Maybe it's just me reacting to the current trend towards "deeper" and more "introspective" songs in metal, or maybe they really didn't pull it off as well as bands like Gigan and Ulcerate. At any rate, I can't wait to hear this stuff with better production quality.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.myspace.com/mitochondrion

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

girugämesh - girugämesh [2007.12.26]

Tribal-like intro track. "patchwork" has a great Heavy Metal punch to it. "Vermillion" isn't nearly as heavy. "stupid" invokes Slipknot. "shining" has a lighter feel that brings things closer to J-Rock. "Shiroi ashiato" is a particularly beautiful song that gives way to the kick in the nuts that is CRAZY-FLAG. Overall, it's a good album. Heavy, but with nicer songs to switch things up a bit. The techno/industrial effects add some depth to the songs. There's good energy throughout. Some songs have sections within them that fall a little flat, but 90% of the time I'm listening to a very enjoyable riff/section. All that said, yeah, I can easily point out that there's not much new here at all and no chances were taken. However, the soul is there and the songwriting is good.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

志方あきこ - Harmonia [2009]

Akiko, you were doing very well until "風と羅針盤". It was soothing and beautiful with the combination of Celtic and Japanese folk that I loved so much from Navigatoria, but with the newer vocal style. But then, "風と羅針盤" ventures waaaay too far into the pop area. Whoa, EXTREMELY uncharacteristic evil feeling in "調和〜焔の共鳴〜"... not sure if I like it. Songs like "久遠の海" really re-ground the album in it's beauty and soothing appeal. However, this is definitely a new direction in many ways... I'd even say that the album leans a bit more towards Pop than New Age and/or Folk. It's neat that she switches between the new vocal style and the more airy style that I prefer. I wonder if the more recent soundtracks she's done has affected her writing style. All the negatives aside, this is still a very good album with a fair amount of easy-going Classical Japanese and Celtic influence. Wow, "謳う丘〜Salavec rhaplanca.〜" is one hell of a journey. Overall, there are only a few songs that change the style significantly. It's a good album, but I still prefer Navigatoria.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.vagrancy.jp/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Fleshcrawl - Descend into the Absurd [1992]

The intro track is not at all what I was expecting from a Death Metal band circa 1992... I would love for there to be more surprises like this scattered throughout the album. Ok, so a brisk start to "Phrenetic Tendencies" followed by extremely slow Doom Death Metal and then back to thrash. Well, they're certainly keeping me guessing, and it's only the first actual song. Damn, "Purulent Bowel Erosion" sort of explodes into a fury of blastology. Overall, the album has some good moments, but it mostly jumps between doom and thrash with fairly stock riffs... which, in all honesty, is to be expected of the period this hails from. It just doesn't really do much for me nowadays.

Rating: 6

http://www.fleshcrawl.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Sister Machine Gun - Metropolis [1997]

Awesome intro track. Less than a minute into "Desperation" and I can tell this will be a much better album than Burn. The production is a bit weak, but with a simple adjustment to the volume it changes drastically. Turn this fucker up and all is well. Damn, this is a really good album! Through and through, every song is good in some way. "Admit" radically changes the style to something as beautiful as a rain of rose petals. It's not the most creative, but that lacking is made up for with very good songwriting.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.sistermachinegun.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

ミドリ - swing [2009]

Fairly KAWAIIIIII first track. Not all that catchy, but it's smooth, jazzy, and easy-going. "あかん!!" is much more chaotic, but it's a bit let down by an extremely repetitive section of screaming in the middle of the song. Overall, it's much more cute than the previous album. I like the jazz as well. It's pretty catchy, too. However, I really miss the larger punk influence of the first album. That's where most of the crazy energy came from, and most of it is noticeably gone now.

Rating: 7.5

http://midori072.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Rentrer en Soi - PROTOPLASM [2006]

Definitely a different start to this disk. I'm only 50 seconds in and it already feels better than the previous album. Though, I'm not a fan of the Heavy verse sections of "PROTOPLASM"... they sound too stock and too much like something a rap/pop artist would do. However, the heavy chorus sections are very catchy and much more to my liking. Things drop to the more orchestrated and goodly "太陽の届かない場所〜棺から絲　光を手にしもう一度還る深海〜"... it's pretty effective overall, but it doesn't much stick in my head. "月で涙 (Inorganic Sanctuary MIX)" doesn't much do anything for me. The only cool part is the middle where everything gets all electronic. Overall, it's a good effort, better than Klein, but not as good as I was hoping.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.rentrer-en-soi.com/new.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Rentrer en Soi - Keinの棺 [2005.08.24]

Another serene introduction track. Much more punchy production. Continues from Astre, but "太陽の届かない場所" doesn't really do anything for me... feels a bit too stock. "浮遊追想", back to spastic Metal with screaming... quite odd for ReS. "空夢見る水中花" starts to feel more like they're hitting their stride... though, it's a bit late in the album. This album really doesn't enthrall me at all and I can't really explain why. It just doesn't feel as strong and creative as some of their previous efforts.

Rating: 7

http://www.rentrer-en-soi.com/new.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Damageplan - New Found Power [2004]

Slightly weak production quality, especially for the guitars, compared to Pantera. Wow, that's a bit strange, but it feels like the guitars actually got a bit heavier for "Breathing New Life". I think that the problem is that "Wake Up" is a weak song overall for starting the album. The production definitely isn't the best... I can hear over-driven distortions throughout songs. It doesn't really call too much attention to itself, though. "Energy through songwriting" seems to be the motto for the majority of songs on this album. Many times, the catchiness is so high that it breaks the meter. Other times, not so much. Songs like "Pride" are a nice break from the more sustained aggression of the other songs. Some complain that this is very much "unlike" Dimebag... but I can understand the appeal. Sure, I miss the insane solos and maddening creativity of Pantera, but that's been done and it's cool to hear Dime try his hand at what is basically a slightly more complex Nu-Metal. Naturally, I would have liked to see the next album change up to more interesting and creative music... but it was obviously not to be.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.damageplan.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - The Negation [2004]

Quite heavier production right off the bat. GREAT first track... very heavy songwriting, energetic, and brutally technical. "Three-Dimensional Defect" slows things down just a bit and brings in some Fear Factory aesthetics. The songs go back and forth between slow death and grinding shreds... but most of the stuff is slower as the album progresses. Ok, so the slower parts are certainly catchy and well-written, but it's a bit unfortuitous for the listener that the album that starts with such blazing energy sags so much in the middle. However, this is a much more refined version of the style change that began with Nihility. If I'm in the mood for more groove than fast-tearing-speed, this will be perfect.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - Nihility [2002]

Significantly more technicality on the guitars and drums. Overall, the style is quite different. A bit more mature. It's a bit of a weird album, though, because the groove continually gets broken up making it very difficult to settle down with this album. Too much of it feels clinical despite the style change. The production is a bit odd as well... it's lost much of the heaviness of WoC, but has gained more clarity. An interesting effort, but despite the new style and increased technical prowess, it's not all that catchy and it feels rather like a dulled razor.

Rating: 7

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Keep of Kalessin - Reptilian [2010]

Production is way weaker than I was expecting. Ok ok ok... this is gonna be tough for me.... gotta remain objective. "Dragon Iconography" starts off on the right foot, but less than two minutes in it breaks its foot clear off. Let's get this straight right off the bat, if this music was being produced by anyone other than KoK, it would be really good... but I listen to KoK for creatively riffed and epic BLACK METAL, not complex Death Metal with bouts of melodic (puke) thrash. Fuck, this song gets worse as it goes on... more and more into the stock and well-traveled melodic area of metal. "The Awakening" has potential, but loses it all at around 1:18 when the pointless technical riff kicks in. Damn, what a shame, the chorus really has a grand Black Metal feel to it. Oh fuck me, 3 minute mark and now it feels like fucking Nightwish... ugh. "Judgment" is different in that it STARTS off awful and attempts to get better. Fuck. You know what this album is? It's a hand-full of fucking great ideas sandwiched between legendarily fucking AWFUL ideas. This album had the potential to be fucking awesome. They had a 6 ounce perfect amethyst and then they buried it under 30 pounds of fucking cowpat. I've never been so disappointed and frustrated in my life. The only song worth a damn is "The Divine Land". Extra low score for being such a let-down. Plus the production is shit.

Rating: 3.5

http://www.keepofkalessin.no/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - Winds of Creation [2000]

What a start. Heavy as hell; punchy-ass production; catchy as fuck; BRUTAL. Wow, I've forgotten how good this album is. Not all of it is catchy, but it's certainly better than I initially thought when I first purchased the album 10 years ago. There is one production issue that has been nagging me: the left guitar is not as loud as the right guitar... poor mixing. Other than that, this is an awesome first effort that makes most bands' peak albums look immature by comparison. Well done.

Rating: 8

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

志方あきこ - RAKA [2006]

She's changed her voice a little to be less airy... which is initially a disappointment to me since I LOVED her voice. However, after hearing one song, I know that I will grow to accept and love the new vocals. The album starts much in the vein of new age, but the second track jumps head-first into the Celtic style that she seems to be most comfortable with. "金環蝕" is a bit surprising since it is not at all calming, it's much more epic and quick-paced; it also is missing that small Japanese element that I loved from Navigatoria. "春告げ〜Raggi di primavera〜" calms things down SIGNIFICANTLY and, very rarely, a hint of Japanese Classical in the vocals. The cover of "Ave Maria" is interesting. Overall, there's more up-tempo and attempts at being a bit more epic, but there are still plenty of soothing and calm songs. It's certainly not as good as Navigatoria, but still wonderful.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.vagrancy.jp/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

ＬｕＬｕ - 毒 [2008.07.23]

Very punky start, but with a hint of progressive metal. Interesting keys. "白濁妄想テリトリー" has even more of a punk feel and the chorus is as infectious as Ebola. This is much better overall. The vocals are still awkward, but I'm starting to get used to them. The music is pretty catchy most of the time. The production has quite a long way to go, but it's not unlistenable. Wow, they have a karaoke version of the first track...

Rating: 7



All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Rentrer en Soi - Astreの絲 [2005.08.24]

Atmospheric/industrial intro track. "星屑の螺旋" is extremely catchy, but without being cliché or rehashed. "廃墟と化した箱庭" is a very strong foray into metal with a pinch of noise for additional chaos. "月で涙" is much more benevolent with post-rock-styled echoing clean guitars surrounding me like the morning mist. Seeing as how this is one of the first Japanese bands and albums that I listened to, I can see that I was clearly spoiled by the songwriting. It's not a very active album after the first two tracks... it really calms down quite a bit. So, it's not great all the way through, but it's still pretty damn good.

Rating: 8

http://www.rentrer-en-soi.com/new.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Rentrer en Soi - 水夢見る蝶々 [2005.05.25]

More interesting stuff here. They're really pushing out of the J-Rock mold now. Lots of progressive drumming and more experimental sections within songs. Very strong song writing. There's much more confidence and conviction. Through all of this, they've still managed to make a catchy album. Production is slowly getting better (mostly notably regarding the drums). Atmospheric, progressive, hard rock, post rock, and even new age at times.

Rating: 8.25

http://www.rentrer-en-soi.com/new.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Rentrer en Soi - 全景色腐り果てる今、唯一… [2005.02.27]

Interesting song, no other way to put it. Pretty catchy with a large blend of styles.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.rentrer-en-soi.com/new.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.