Review: DIM (2009)

Yes another one of these reviews. I promise to keep this one a bit more brief and concise than the others. You probably noticed that there's not much artist/genre variety around here.. anyway lets move on.

Just some intro as usual, you probably know who the GazettE are by now from the previous post. You may have heard of their '07 record, STACKED RUBBISH, from the previous post. Well now I'm here to review their more recent work from last year. Overall, this album is much more narrow than the last. Variety doesn't seem to be part of the tangent anymore as their sound now is now slightly more focused. Of course you'll still find some variety in this album as that's what they do, but to a lesser extent this time around.

How can they convey so many different feelings in different types of songs while still keeping to the same 'GazettE' sound? The band works in a way where every member gets to contribute their own musical interests and talents and you may have noticed that their line-up is very stable. What does this mean? Well it means that everyone's happy with where they are and what role they play in the band. Equality is just one of the good things about the inner workings of this band.. and how it works is that everyone writes material and one day they all meet up and put it out on the table. From there they work out what they want on the next record and how to go about it, as well as receiving input and various from other members. Eventually the songs end up become generally a collaborative effort.

The album starts off with the interlude 'Haruki' (from this point, tell me if any of these romanisations are incorrect). As with the title 'DIM', I guess this wants to tell us that this isn't going to be a ride on a merry-go-round on christmas day. Right to the action, THE INVISIBLE WALL is my personal favourite on this album. I don't know how to describe this song, it just has the energy and heaviness, yet they manage to incorporate a sense of serenity during the chorus and especially the ending.

A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN is one of their simpler work. The focus here would be simple but effective. The 'talking' vocals in some parts are a nice addition, and we see the return of female vocals. Once again it fits surprisingly well. The breakdown section on the other hand is a slight rip-off of their own work (BURIAL APPLICANT).

Next up we have a rather heavy and metallic song 'LEECH'. Fast bass drum runs and exceptionally put together drum parts are just one of those things that set this song apart. The guitar riffs are great too, and the slowing down during the chorus is an awesome touch.

The heaviness of LEECH is contrasted with the next track Nakigahara. If you want my honest opinion I think this song is completely boring, however it doesn't go without mention of the cool Koto part before the chorus, as well as the sequencer in the background during the verses. The interlude 'Erika' which follows right after is sort of creepy and dark.. and repetitive.

HEADACHE MAN is on a different heaviness level than LEECH, where the riffs follow a much simpler pattern and with the vocals being more aggressive. 'Guren' is a ballad initially released in '08, it's one of those unique, laid back works by GazettE with a great melodious guitar solo. The topic-matter here also seems to be a death of a baby in it's mother's womb, which is.. interesting to say the least.

Another interlude Shikyuu is again creepy but with a more disturbed touch. Which leads onto '13STAIRS[-]1', a unique experimental piece by GazettE which starts off slow-paced and speeds up near the middle. The song keeps building up right until the end where it slows down back to the speed it was at the beginning. When I say speed up, I literally mean tempo changes. The whammy pedal used after the first breakdown section is a nice touch.

DISTRESS AND COMA is not exactly a ballad, but it comes pretty close. Another one of those 'simple yet effective' formulae GazettE has been utilising for a while. It sure isn't a groundbreaking track but it certainly delivers. It contains one of the few guitar solos in this album, and not a bad one at that. Tasteful use of harmonies and pitch shifter is always welcome.

Before we move on we run head-first into yet another interlude. This has been going on for a while and quite frankly I'm getting sick of these. Luckily, the sound on 'Kanshoku' is much more pleasant than the previous ones, featuring a repeated piano phrase with a drum beat backing. 'Shiroki Yuutsu' is another material altogether from the previous tracks, giving off once again a ballad, laid back vibe and featuring another melodic guitar solo. The acoustic guitar during the first verse is great as well. Also interesting is the focus on string-based instruments in this track.. dominating parts such as the chorus and the outro.

'IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS' could possibly translate better in a live rendition, but certainly the energy that was lacking in the last two or three tracks is compensated which this head-bang inducing, hard rocking track. Once again delving into metal genres, this track has some tasty riffs and another (not great, but still fitting) guitar solo featuring harmonies. I like what was done with the intro, and in general how the song starts. The isolated rhythm guitar before the first verse starts and the ending is also a very cool touch.

Another interlude Mourou, is possibly one of the more annoying ones and I guess is like a warning that after this.. you're going to be seeing some noise. Which is exactly what 'OGRE' is.. it is noisy. This is going on the same tangent as HEADACHE MAN so if you didn't like that, I highly doubt this track will do anything for you. Definitely a head-banger and a fun track, featuring dominantly screaming vocals and heavy guitar work.

To end it all, we have 'DIM SCENE' which I guess is a suitable ending. This low-tuned ballad-esque track is anything but energetic or lifting, as the title would suggest. 'DIM SCENE' features a guitar solo saturated with effect processors. A criticism of Uruha's continual use of these quirks is that this solo hurts your ears when translated live. Throughout the song is a string trio accompaniment, something that GazettE has been doing with many of their compositions as of late. What bothers me is the way the song ends.. fading out is always seen to me as a lazy way out.

This review may have seemed unnecessarily long once again, but yes I did make it briefer and to be fair, there are MANY more tracks in this album. I guess you can thank the interludes (which are not real songs), but whatever. The GazettE's work is only getting more interesting and heavier, and overall this album is exciting, however as the title suggests, it's not the most uplifting album and has lost a huge amount of the jumpiness effect and upbeat feeling that the previous record had.

Whether or not that is a bad thing is up to the listener I guess. Worthy to note is the lack of a funk/jazz-inspired piece, something that they've always done but decided to omit on this record. Overall I find myself going back to STACKED RUBBISH more than I presently listen to DIM.. but still, you can hear the growth in the bands music, and no they are not revisiting past successes and hooks, they are continually evolving and looking for new ways to sound good.