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

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ジュリィー - アイデンティティ [2009.02.11]

Happy-punk start for the album with "グローリー・ジェネレーション". "卒える春" is fairly catchy high school-style j-rock that you could easily hear in a Japanese coming of age drama... still, not as bad as the shit I hear in American teen-market share movies. The pop-punk comes back with a vengeance in "夕空"! It's a catchy album overall that is set in the standard style for this band. So, nothing creative or unique about it, but the songwriting is pretty good.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.jully-web.com/

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ＬｕＬｕ - Dr.ステルベン [2008.04.23]

So, I've gone back in time after fucking up the sequence of these albums. "精神鎮痛剤" was re-recorded on a later album, and now I can say that I prefer the original more. This album is a blend of punk, j-rock, and background keyboards. I'm actually liking the keys. Not that good of an album overall, though.

Rating: 6.25



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ジュリィー - 「現」と「真」の実 [2008]

"バースデイ" is a bit too poppy for a kickoff, but it's quite catchy once it gets going. "東京" has a somewhat fun bluesy feel, but it's not all that inspired until the solo. Damn, the rest of the album is pretty much throwaway stuff. Unfortunately, it's very clear that there's no real progression to their albums. They all are very much in the same style and every once-in-a-while they hit gold with a really good song.

Rating:　7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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ジュリィー - ストロボ [2007]

"ストロボ" is very stock and doesn't have a soul. "木漏れ陽" is much better; it has more feel to it and the buildup towards the end is quite enjoyable. For that matter, even "晩餐" is better than the opening track. This seems to be quite a trend among the Japanese bands, where they put some shitty sell-out song first to capture a large fan base and then the real songs come after it.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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Jealkb - Metronome [2006]

Yup, pretty stock J-Rock beginning to it. Although, "Love Balance" has a bit of an American Blues-Rock feel to the main verse riff. It's even got some punk influence with the vox. Quite catchy stuff even if it's derivative.

Rating: 7

http://jealkb.jp/

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Jun - Atomic Smile [2007]

Interesting. Pretty catchy J-Rock. Kinda surprising that there aren't any vox on the first track. There's a significant amount of techno / industrial effects, and I'm almost certain that most of the instruments are actually programmed (certainly the drums and maybe even the guitars). Very catchy solos, but bit stock. Actually, it's a bit stock overall. However, it's pretty well done, catchy, and good production.

Rating: 7



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ジュリィー - イノチノ衝動 [2007.04]

After a very odd intro track, track 2 starts off with a riff that could easily be used in Atmospheric Black Metal, which is enjoyable in this context. The riffs are catchy and much more somber than previously, but the vocals are less fitting and catchy than the music. It creates an interesting contrast, but I wish the vocals fit better. The third track is a bit more punky and up-lifting. Track 4 has much more catchy vocals that fit with the music better. Track 5 is definitely on one of their previous singles... which is a bit depressing. This album, overall, is a bit average. There are some standouts like track 9, but most of it is somewhat lacking and average-feeling. I do like the production, especially of the drums.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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Juliadoll - Departure [2006]

The first two tracks have a great dark and heavy quality to the music. However, the vocals are in typical J-Rock style and it feels a bit out of place and cliché. "Departure" is more of a J-Rock song all around. I like the heaviness and the darkness, but I'm not too much a fan of the vocals. Especially in "Departure", the vocals are quite distracting and choppy. The pitch control is ok, but there are notes that are noticeably out of tune. It's good and catchy music, but the vox should have been adjusted to fit the mood of the music.

Rating: 7



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Juliadoll - Eternity [2007]

Heh, I've forgotten how sick of the generic Japanese rock vocals I am. However, once the first verse of "Eternity" kicks in, it's pretty catchy and almost even enjoyable despite the quite stock nature of the music. Overall, I'm happy that it's got some heavy songwriting and it's definitely catchy. They keys are well-done. However, I'm not happy about the stock nature of the vox and songwriting.

Rating: 6.5



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Sugar - letter [2009]

Unexpectedly calm first track. The second track is much more catchy. Much of the jazz elements and quirkiness is gone, though; making it feel more like a normal Rock single than previous efforts.

Rating: 7

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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Sugar - 【Re：261156】 addere [2008.11.05]

First track is bland and completely stock compared to the second track. Holy shit! Two fucking drum tracks at the same time on t3!!! Overall, it's a pretty damn good album if you ignore T1.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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Sugar - ruddy afterglow [2008.07.16]

Continues on from Sweetest with the addition of more jazz elements.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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Sugar - Sweetest [2008.03.05]

Unexpected. First track was a bit more on the atmospheric side of things. Cool. There's a huge amount of jazz influence, almost to the point that I want to call this J-Jazz instead of J-Rock. It's catchy stuff and has some pretty unique sections within each song. Certainly a pleasant surprise. There's not a poor song on the album. Sparks of creativity and experimentation are strewn throughout the album. Vocals are pretty good, not stellar, but not bad either. Admittedly, I'm kind of annoyed that a band that looks as gothic as Sugar do is so non-goth… this is certainly a frustrating part of the J-music scene.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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

ジュリィー - 碧空 [2006.09]

There's only one song on here that's not on 空が堕ちた日, and it's track 1. It's a good song, though a little more straight-forward in feel. Very catchy song overall. However, it's really annoying that two of the three songs would go on to be on the next single.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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ジュリィー - 心叫 [2006.03]

It's not quite as catchy as サクラ心中, but it's competent in its song writing. It's one of those albums where the chorus parts are nice and catchy, but the verses really aren't anything special.

Rating: 6

http://www.jully-web.com/

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ジュリィー - 空が堕ちた日 [2006]

Cool. Definitely continuing on with their unpredictable songwriting style from the first album. Very well-written and catchy album. It's not a huge step up from the first album, but it's definitely more polished. Different than what I'm used to, and still very good, so I'm inclined to give it high marks.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.jully-web.com/

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ジュリィー - サクラ心中 [2005]

Interesting beginning. Cool when it kicks in, too. Nifty guitar lead right off the bat. Cool and subliminal usage of techno leads. Other than that, it's a fairly stock style, but I'm really enjoying it. It's different enough in the song structure that it keeps you guessing. It's almost got this J-Pop quality to it. The vox are a bit strange and off in some parts, but it's not very noticeable. More like a strange stylistic choice than a mistake.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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Juliadoll - hate [2006]

All of the "oi"s are more funny than they are serious… the vocalist sounds like he's trying to be a street punk and it's fucking adorable (though, I doubt this was the intended response). This is probably appropriate since the music is pretty much straight-forward punk. The vox are a bit grating and there's really nothing much to this song… it's the same chords over and over again with boorish production.

Rating: 5



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Juliadoll - Rusty Rain [2006]

Live, huh? Nifty. Decent song. Nothing new, but good.

Rating: 6.5



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