志方あきこ - 廃墟と楽園 [2003]

This album builds off of 緑の森で眠ル鳥. It's in the same Celtic style, but with more refined songwriting. Akiko's voice is just as beautiful and soft as ever. This is more soothing than the previous album as well.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.vagrancy.jp/

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

girugämesh - Reason of crying [2007.07.18]

Finally, properly heavy production. Much catchier songwriting than before, and even a hint of interesting elements mixed in with the more stock ones. I can tell that a lot more care went into writing these songs than previous crap. When I first heard this album years ago, I thought that the clean singing sections were more in line with "Emo", but obviously my ears were not adjusted to the sounds of Japanese Rock. "Melody" and "フリージア" largely fall flat for me. Ahh, here's the re-recording of "お前に捧げる醜い声" that I remember.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - 13's reborn [2006.09.27]

I already recognize one of the song titles... hopefully there won't be many repeats of previous singles on this album. The bass sounds like it's coming straight from Korn's 101-level class at the community college. The songwriting on the other hand is definitely making constant nods to Slipknot's self-titular effort. Even so, they do have some decent ideas that tend to mix things up a bit... however, like so many other bands, they limit these ideas to the song introductions. Good idea executed poorly.

Rating: 6.25

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - お前に捧げる醜い声 [2006.04.12]

Production quality is a little better. Hmmm... I believe they did a re-recording of this on one of their later full-lengths. It's firmly rooted in the Metal genre. Not all that inspired, but still catchy.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - 零-ゼロ--無景型円盤- [2006.04.05]

Production quality isn't the hottest. However, I AM liking the use of progressive drumming with a more tranquil Japanese rock aspect. The chorus and pre-verse go back to a more Metal punch. It's a good song, I can definitely see coming back to this one more often. It feels more than just 1-dimensional like the previous stuff.

Rating: 6.75

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - 理性壊乱-乱調型円盤- [2005.11.30]

Off to a bit of a bad start here. "Яeality" is straight up Japanese Hard Rock with no real attempt at Metal. Unfortunate. "Dirty Blue Blood" makes a valiant attempt to rescue the disk and, while it's attempt was heroic, it only managed to save itself in the end.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - 本能開放-覚醒型円盤- [2005.11.30]

...and they start right where they left off on 腐界の闇-迷叫型円盤-... but then, "沈む過去" takes a bit of a dive back into the J-Rock area. Luckily, "開戦宣言(D.B ver.)" kicks things back up a notch. Overall, production quality hasn't increased in the last three disks. I'm happy that they're getting more into actual Heavy Metal, but they still aren't innovating jack shit. At least it's fairly catchy.

Rating: 6.75

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - 腐界の闇-迷叫型円盤- [2005.09.14]

Ok and catchy start to the album, but it feels like more of the same. Ahhh, now they're speaking more of my language with "Deceived mad pain"... much more like. I really hope to hear more of it in later albums. Not unique and hardly creative, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

Rentrer en Soi - Sphire-Croid [2005.01.26]

Post-Rock beginning to the first song. It's an interesting enough album. Definitely can tell that they were trying to stray from their established style. This culminates in "Eyes of forest" which has a charming Gothic bell section, driving drum beat, and interesting keys strewn throughout. It's odd because it's a very driving song that feels strong enough to move a glacier, yet it's very soft as well. Then, without warning, "Last word [ ]" starts off with pure acoustic folk... very nicely done. "Iconclasm" explodes from nowhere! Sure, it's another J-band ripping off a riff from the 007 theme, but it works and so much has been added that it feels fairly fresh. wow, I didn't realize that the secret scars song from Unending Sanctuary was based on the one from this album. I think I prefer this one. "Full Moon" starts mostly like a more typical Japanese Rock song, but some interesting effects and nifty break in the middle do the song well to not sound like everyone else. The first bit of the album didn't do a whole lot to capture my attention, but it's all pretty good in the end... certainly better than most, and the effort for breaking the mold is very much present.

Rating: 7.5

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

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

Coal Chamber - Dark Days [2002]

It's strange, they go from the great songwriting of Chamber Music to this, a fairly large step backwards to the days of the first album. It definitely feels like most of the "magic" is gone. There aren't many gems in this album, but at least a few songs are overall good (Fiend, Dark Days, One Step, Row Boat, Drove). One production quality failing I've noticed is that the two guitars are completely different types of distortion and tone, making them feel very uneven while listening through headphones.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/coalchambermusic

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

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/

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

Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance [2000]

There's a significant amount of exciting song writing here. Some decent creativity as well. It's not nearly as polished as later albums, but it's still quite awesome. The production quality isn't half as exciting as later albums, but what could I possibly expect from an earlier album like this? There is a nice amount of variation throughout this album with quite a few Ancient-Egyptian-themed folk songs thrown in.

Rating: 8.25

http://www.nile-catacombs.net/

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

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



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

Kenji Kawai - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack Vol. 2 [2006]

First four tracks are mostly dark atmosphere, but things seem to get more interesting with "怖震" when really dark and evil strings haunt the air. This OST is much more dark than the previous. However, it's also much more repetitive... one theme in particular has come up in at least 5 songs and I'm only halfway through the album.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.kenjikawai.com/

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

girugämesh - 獄-初犯型円盤- [2005.05.25]

A bit more catchy than 【開戦宣言】～企画型円盤～ and with slightly better song writing. Wow... "【獄】" is mostly a direct copy of a song from Slipknot's self-title album. The first four tracks are indeed fun, but uninspired. Production quality is pretty good, but it's more of a hard rock production than a metal production.

Rating: 6.25

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

girugämesh - 【開戦宣言】～企画型円盤～ [2004]

Catchy for the most part. A bit more punk rock than metal. It certainly has much better production than I was expecting... I suppose this band was aiming for the mainstream right from the beginning. It's okay stuff, nothing special, but nothing bad either.

Rating: 6

http://www.girugamesh.jp/

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

志方あきこ - 緑の森で眠ル鳥 [2001]

This definitely has more of a Celtic feel to it. It's not that calming, but it's wonderfully written and great for when I want to listen to Irish Folk with some Japanese tweaks.

Rating: 7

http://www.vagrancy.jp/

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

Anomalous - Ohmnivalent [2011]

Shiiit. The technicality is just as maddening as the last album, maybe even more so. The keyboard and effects are still there in fairly large quantity for Death Metal. Atmospheric keys contrast nicely with the madness of the Tech. Death Metal. Ahhh, when "The Seraphim Veil" drops into clean guitars briefly, I know now that any fears I had that this album won't live up to the hopes set by the first one have been made into dust. The soft and light sections blend so amazingly well into the structure that it freaks me out. Now, it seems I can finally put my finger on it: Technical Death Metal with elements Dark Ambient and Progressive Metal. The production is incomparable to the previous album... very powerful, punchy, yet delicate at times. The main vox are a tiny bit low in the mix, but the wall of sound attitude really makes up for it. It is a bit long, though, and it doesn't feel quite as fresh as the first album.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/anomalousmetal

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

志方あきこ - Navigatoria [2005]

Ahhh, now this is more like it. Seemingly New Age at it's core, but also naturist and even rock. However, what I find the most charming thing is her voice: very restrained and almost polite, with Japanese folk subtly mixed in... and she's quite an incredible singer. It's like a gentle scalp-massage. Great album all the way through. I will certainly be putting this in my regular rotation. Creative, very soothing, beautiful, catchy, very well-produced, but lacking in variation of the songwriting style. It's so obvious that a massive amount of care and work went into the writing of this album. Wonderful. Well done, Shikata, well done.

Rating: 8.75

http://www.vagrancy.jp/

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

分島花音 - 侵食ドルチェ [2009]

"真紅のフェータリズム"..... Cello mixed with keys, effects, and a distinctly electronic rhythm. It could've been awesome, nay, incredible, but it's not very well put together and it's attempts at combining classical with modern gothic are faux because the vocals are obviously geared towards the pop crowd. In fact, it seems like most of it is aimed at pop. The cello parts aren't particularly inspired, more like clichéd. What this really feels like is Moi dix Mois ver.2, but a little more catchy. While some parts are quite good and I can feel the amazing potential, it's never really done correctly and she (or whoever wrote the stuff) just can't seem to make the blend seamless. Goddamn, this REALLY sounds like Mana's songwriting... potentially incredible, but constantly falling short. Massively disappointing, and yet, I just can't give it an awful rating. At least some kind of effort was made in the writing of this album.

Rating: 6

http://www.kanonweb.jp/

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