IBUKI - ExMyself (Review)

When you have been doing something for a long time, sooner or later you will want to become popular. For Ibuki, Disqualia became such a project, which aimed to catch the listener as quickly as possible. But experiment with a rapid rise on pedestal failed. Reason for this was not difficult to predict - rapid audience growth will necessarily affect the intellectual value. Well, this artist has seen many projects and now we see a rather interesting solo album.

My Rating: 87/100

Source - amazon.co.jp

After the failure of band Disqualia she had to recoup, restore its self-conceit. Accordingly, from this album you expect something interesting or at least new. Of course, this phrase can be interpreted in different ways. But here is only one question: this artist will show real skill or finally break talent on mass market cliffs? In the answer to this question, first variant prevails.

This release is not always easy to describe. Nevertheless, album sound is quite diverse. There are songs with the influence of pop music and hook rhythm section (2, 6 tracks), a rather peculiar modern metal (1, 3, 4 tracks), power metal with a skank beat, aggressive constructions and metalcore breakdown (5 track), as well as slow songs that are aimed at maximum impact on emotions (7, 8 tracks). This is an interesting album structure - in the beginning there are songs that are interesting from the point of view of performing technique (sometimes diluting with some pop), and at end there are songs that are interesting from the point of view of emotions. Listener's mood is controlled from beginning to the end of album and this testifies to good composer's work. It's also noticeable that the composer worked very carefully every composition, every passage, every bar, every note. In general, composer's work is good, although the 3 track looks like a quickie.

To say that vocalist simply complements this picture means insulting such a great talent. It has long been known that Ibuki is an excellent vocalist. And here we see another confirmation of this fact. It's noticeable that over the voice and vocal parts worked very long - performance is excellent. It's also noticeable that vocal parts were created very carefully, taking into account a very large number of shades - there are no flaws towards the vocalist, which is very big rarity. Although vocal parts are not original everywhere - 3 track is very similar to song Mad Desire (Disqualia).

In instrumental parts, it's hard to find something amazing - too much attention is paid to voice. But here is not just a compilation of patterns, but their correct use with all the attendant shades. Although the synthesizer is also a lot of attention. Here you can hear strings (5 tracks), acid (6 tracks), industrial synthesizer (1, 6 tracks), piano (7, 8 tracks). Guitars's sound of is also diverse - here you can hear both classical (2, 5, 6 tracks) and modern (for rock music) sound (1, 3, 4, 7 tracks). However, great guitar solos are also a positive thing. Rhythm section also sounds good and varied. Here you can hear hook structures (2, 6 tracks), standard heavy metal drumming (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 tracks), blast beat (5 track), skank beat (5 track), Booty Camp beat (5 track).

Crown is not just pictured on project logo. Here is not just a huge amount of high-quality work. Here you can really hear something new, not another copy of band Around The Nation. So you can forget the frightful fairy tale "Disqualia" and listen to this solo album again and again.

PS: Special thanks to Timothy Snider.