Mari Hamada - Gracia (Review)

Famous professionals with over 20 years of experience - this is a very predictable persons. Abraham Maslow wrote about such people "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail". I remembered that because in new album of Mari Hamada you can find something very similar. What do you expect from such a specialist? Obviously, we are not waiting for what we can hear here.

My Rating: 73/100

Source: mari-hamada.com

Of course, I will not write about all causes and consequences. I'll just say that in general, the album leaves a pleasant impression. The work can be called quite complex and diverse. But the moon always has two sides. Very many shades in formulation and implementation of artistic tasks testify to the version that project leader, composer, songwriter and sound designer are different people. Very different people. I don't want to say that this is something bad, but there remains the impression that the leader did not fully understand what he wants and that this remained even at the stage of mixing. That is, most of the final result is made up of external ideas. And if 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 tracks are quite typical for a person who started career in 80's, then 1 and 2 tracks sound a little awkward. As if the old music school teacher saw on TV some modern metal in the spirit of Amber Bullet, late The Gazette or Loudness (the time of single "The Everlasting") and said "I want the same." There is also frank quickie here - it's 5 and 8 tracks.

Now about vocalist. I think it makes no sense to remind who I'm discussing right now. This time, she again shows an excellent level of skill. It's noticeable that a lot of attention was paid to voice - vocal parts were painted and performed very carefully (although there is nothing special in structure). Also here you can notice a very strong voice processing, and the number of tracks with a voice of about 10 pieces (perhaps more). I would like to single out the use of a vocoder as a separate item. At first it may seem that this is an octave or a very cunning sound designer, but it's a vocoder (vintage). I don't quite understand why I had to use it. If you want to express an unusual idea, then it can be expressed in words. So why? I did not hear the answer.

Instrumental parts are very diverse. There were 18 musicians working on the album and it's very noticeable. A lot of attention was paid to synthesizer. There are a lot of slow losses on synthesizers in the spirit of late X-Japan (3, 5, 6, 9 tracks), and also an excellent addition to general constructions. But the rest instruments were given little attention. As a result, the rest instruments are ordinary patterns. Although it's worth noting that a large number of shades in performance give a pleasant color to sound. The only thing I would like to emphasize in a separate paragraph is the use of guitars with an extended range (1 and 2 tracks). Here it's used for a more modern, more evil sound, and this underlines the overall dramatic nature of narrative.

I think it's pointless to deny that her creative growth stopped in middle 90's. This granny has already sung her best songs. And this release is only released so that they don't forget about her. Yes, here is not the usual repetition of previous ideas - high skill level affects. Yes, in some segments "something unusual" is inserted. But when you exploit the same model, you only show more weaknesses. So it should be keep in mind that, no matter how you decorate an old wooden house, it can collapse because of rotten boards.