mucc | shangri-la (2012)

MUCC’s new album is an underwhelming mess of mediocrity and genre fad hopping with some quality lightly speckled around to a point where you almost forget it’s an album and not a b-side compilation. Evan said this in the shoutbox, and it’s something I rather agree with, …

… seems like the album where MUCC got fed up and said let’s record whatever the fuck we feel like and have fun while doing it. They then proceeded to grab a style-wheel and spun it twice and blended two styles into most songs.

mr. liar
     It opens with some softsynths and clean guitar, then quickly jumps into by-the-numbers metalcore with awkward auto-tuned vocals over top. The chorus comes in and sounds more like something off Kyutai, an album I absolutely loved, but doesn’t quite recapture the same magic. The whole track sounds like something DELUHI would’ve done way later on after they got boring.

     Also, I can’t tell if the screamy(not growly) bars that come up in the first half are actually Tatsurou or Miya. I’ve never heard Tats do harsh vocals of that pitch before and Miya does them pretty well IIRC.

g.g.
     Some wah-wah’ing guitars come in introducing a riff that’ll probably last the whole song, and with a “WAHAAAAA!”, Tatsurou beckons the sound of a yawn that may or may not have came from my own mouth. A woah-oah chorus jumps in with some pep and makes things a little more enjoyable on a let’s-dance-it’s-a-party safe social-rock level.

     Oh god, was that a BASS DROP? Am I really hearing MUCCSTEP? Come on, guys …

arcadia featuring daishi dance
     After all that rock and metal, ARCADIA comes in with cheesy MIDI pianos and Tatsurou lazily crooning out the forgettable melody of a song I didn’t like when I first heard, and still don’t.

     It achieves neither the involuntary-body-movement, adrenaline pumping energy of a good dance song nor the infectious, charming melodies of a good pop song. It just stagnates.

nirvana -shangri-la edit-
     For a whole few seconds in the very beginning, NIRVANA sounds like it’s gonna be some cool picopop song or something, but then I fall asleep as it turns into a piece of throwaway that could’ve been done by anyone else who has ever done an anime opening theme.

     Again, heard it already and the “edit” hasn’t swayed me into giving it more listens than required for the review.

honey
     Oh shit, a cool distorted riff and powpowboompow drums? Is that Tatsurou belting or is it Michiro Endo?! Okay, I exaggerate, but it really is a great STALIN-worship track. Fun, energetic punk rock that gets your head shaking wildly and makes you wanna get on your feet and pump a fist or two.

     Like in track 1, there are segments in this with a different vocalist(spoken word and screams) and I’m not entirely sure if it’s Miya or somebody else, but it sounds awesome here.

shuuchaku no kane
     From the instant the vocal melody comes in, I’m flashed back to Zekuu and maybe a bit earlier, and even to MUCC-influenced bands of a lighter tone like Kalimero. When the pre-chorus slides in with that delicious chorused guitar and leads into another Kyutai-esque chorus, I already know this be my favorite off the album.

     They could’ve done a lot more with the solo at 1:53 than just reprising the theme, though, and the whole song is way too short. Everything on this album is just way too short, I think. Or just the good ones.

pure black
     Oh boy, jazz piano! Oh boy, jazzy rockabilly guitars! Oh boy, violins! Loungey vocals! There was a song like this on KARMA called CIRCUS and it was pretty much the only song off that album that I enjoyed. This one ranks as something similar.

     The jazz/lounge rock approach is super played-out in Japanese music by this point, but this song gets by on its charm and catchy melodies. The sample of the lady speaking engrish(?) is kinda silly, but then that solo comes in and I feel like I’m listening to SCISSOR.

kyouran kyousho ~21st century baby~
     Awesome primal drums and badass chant-y sorta-rapping starts off this one sounding like a Tokusatsu song, but then the INSULTINGLY BLAND 3-note chorus comes in and TOTALLY DEMOLISHES the whole vibe and I’m left with blue balls.

marry you
     Sugary pop rock of the mass-produced and disposable variety. Man, this is something I’d expect out of a Hello Project attempt at a rock song. What the hell, Tatsurou, writer-of-this-song-who-I-blame-entirely?

yozora no kurepasu
     Almost as forgettable as the above, but along the same style of radio shovelmedia. The chorus isn’t so bad, but it’s those changes into to minor notes that bands are always trying to sucker me into appreciating and DAMMIT IT AIN’T HAPPENING NOW.

you & i
     Leave it to SATOchi to instill some balls and personality into a track he writes. Starts off sounding sort of like a grunge tune, with YUKKE’s bass fingering reminding me of Alice In Chains, but it gets more standard fare alternative rock when the guitars enter.

     The vibe and energy is a bit like a sequel to Libra. The chords that come in at 0:58 are really awesome and I feel like that part should’ve been explored a little more. The chorus isn’t so interesting but doesn’t quite bring the song down.

mother
     Heard this awhile back and enjoyed it well enough, but it has sort of a “MUCC being uncreative and just playing music” feel to it. Not interesting, not stand-out, just easy, inoffensive listening with a tinge of MUCCitude.

     Better than the anime opening status would lead you to assume.

shangri-la
     The eponymous track is the also the longest on the album … it’s a 6-and-a-half minute powerballad. A really weak and forgettable one.

     Call me a bad reviewer, but I couldn’t make it through this whole song at one time. I really tried.

madyack (bonus track)
     Punky, heavy, awesome. Way awesome. Should’ve replaced something else as a real, legit track of the album. Not sure if this is a cover or not, but it’s called OMAKE on the album and, according to a lot of Japanese blogs, the official title of it is MADYACK. So basically, what I’m saying is, LET’S GO TO HEBUUNNNN!

So, if I took out all the lackluster tracks and pretended it was a 6 track EP, Shangri-la would be a pleasant experience. Judging this album as a cohesive whole, however, I can’t summon up any expression stronger than :/ …

… which is still better than I could give for KARMA.
Glass half full and whatnot.