Anlique - ANSWER / Wilderness sign (Review)

It's better to search for music projects in such cities - not the capital, but not the villiage. In capitals, people are determined solely to earn money (this affects the choice of methods for solving artistic tasks), and in villages there are few good musicians. Today my choice fell on band Anlique from Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture.

My Rating: 66/100

Source: anlique04.official.ec

I will not discuss economic subtleties. I'll just say that the release is done well. Yes, it's hard to be surprised at anything. Nevertheless, the overall structures is quite pleasant. Here we hear something between indie rock and hard rock with some elements of post-punk. First track is dominated by features characteristic of hard rock, in second - typical for the indie rock. A simple, but good idea, although I don't know how many releases this will be enough. Also in the release there are instrumental (without voice) songs versions. This is also a good idea.

Since these are newcomers, you also need to look at the quality of mixing/ mastering. Here the minimum for commercial level. That is, the shortcomings are hidden and it can be sold, but there is no special sound here.

Now about vocalist. I can say, that voice are good. Vocal parts are correct, but they are monotonous. In both tracks identical vocal parts, although the songs are completely different. Yes, you can try to write it down as "some post-punk elements". Nevertheless, in first track the voice is absolutely not suitable for instruments. For a "heavy" sound, a very high (even falsetto), emotional voice would suit. But everything is monotonous here.

Instrumental parts are diverse, but they can not be called very interesting. Guitar does not particularly surprise - even I can perform such parts, although I am not a professional. Yes, pinch harmonics in main riff are cool, but interesting ideas end here. But guitar re-amp is done well. This was done by a good specialist with knowledge of his work, and not just cut resonances with the help of an equalizer. About the same I can say about bass. 5 string bass - it's cool. But here, a patterned twitching of two strings. Also, bass re-amping was very simple. I made such a conclusion because I very badly heard the upper part of tone. However, this may be due to a weak attack. Drummer - here everything is predictable. The maximum that the composer could create was the abundance of hi-hat in first track.

"Right" and "Good" are not always synonymous. It's all right, but there's nothing special to find here. Here only what is needed and not a anymore. On the one side, nothing superfluous - you can not think about every trick. On the other side, nothing special - you want to think about it, but it will not work. But also it's worth noting that for the second release in a row they show good abilities. And if in next release they show something more interesting, then I can say that band has good prospects.