Scandal - Kiss from the darkness (Review)

Highly popular musical projects are always a matter of debate. On the one side, the best praise is the rustling of cash. On the other side, art doesn't have to be understood by everyone. As for band Scandal, any person who is at least a little interested in the eastern music has heard about these girls. Therefore, the album released on February 12 was difficult to miss.

My Rating: 52/100 Best song: A.M.D.K.J.

I quite often listen to the album several times and only after that I start to write something. Here, one listening was enough - everything was clear from the very first seconds. The album immediately gives the impression of a typical mainstream: simple patterns, simple lyrics and a lot of pathos. The first thing that catches your eye is some strange, I would even say, avant-garde album cover. At least, this group has not seen anything like it before. What did the author want to say? One can only guess. What follows is the name of the album - is this a hint of something mysterious? And again I have to guess. It should also be noted the primitive naming of songs - this is evidence in favor of the version of weak fantasy.

Next we have the composer. Composer's work is somehow weak. It seems that there was no composer, but there were several ideas. Okay, everyone has their own methods. However, this led to a simple structure of compositions with inserts of “something”. Of course, you can argue that such music (if I'm not mistaken, this genre is called “power pop”) is simple from the beginning. But you could come up with something interesting. Members, apparently, had a different opinion.

The vocalist is good. More precisely, vocalists - there are noticeably many (more than two) voices. True, the ranges are very similar, which somehow doesn’t really add charm to vocal parts. Of course, there is one song where only the upper part of range is used, but this is hardly a variety. However, it should be noted that everything is in order here.

One can also say something about instrumental parts. Guitars - everything is pretty simple here. Somewhere you can hear songs on clean, somewhere - on overdrive. It's noticeable here that guitars are used in the simplest way - as an addition to voice. That is, this is not an independent instrument, but just another element of the overall structure. I am inclined to see this as a negative point, since it was possible to come up with something more interesting. But the rhythm section is surprisingly powerful. And if the bass player has little interesting, then drummer is really cool. There is a relative variety of drum loops, and the intensity is high (for pop music). Additional instruments should also be noted, as the situation here is less clear. Here you can hear strings (1, 11 tracks), acid (4 tracks), Hammond's organ (4 tracks), bell ringing (8 tracks), shamisen (8 tracks), piano (11 tracks) and even a drum machine (1 and 8 tracks). There is a funny situation with synthesizers: in some tracks it seems that they are not enough, while in others (for example, in track 8), it seems that there are too many of them. Perhaps due to the fact that it was invented by different people. Perhaps due to the fact that it was inserted at the very last moment. Be that as it may, I get strange sensations.

Once I heard a very apt expression: “Overrated band is any well-known band.” Because high popularity is often incompatible with the classical criteria of mastery. And these girls are just another confirmation of this regularity. Songs from this album are suitable for airplay or for anime OP. But aesthetic person like me will not enjoy listening this.