First Impressions: [NINTH] - the GazettE

Preface: I received my copy of NINTH on the storefront day (see the FYI entry about furage for more information if you haven't read it yet), June 12^th, and have listened to it and would like to share my first impression of the songs and the album as a whole.

Evidently, this will contain spoilers, so if you don't want to spoil your first listening experience of this album, you have been warned.

1. 99.999
In the lyrics booklet, there's a subtitle under this title, 2002-2018 which is the time the GazettE have been active to date. It is an instrumental, and sounds different from those they've made before. That being said, there are elements of familiarity, because they mashed all their album instrumental introduction tracks into one to make this one.

I think the subtitle works as an appropriate addition, as the instrumental itself showcases some of the changes the GazettE has gone through over their sixteen-year history. It makes for a good setup and introduction to the album.

2. Falling -NINTH MIX-
the GazettE released this song as the PV on their OHP and YouTube on their 16th anniversary, March 10th, and it's difficult (for me) to hear the differences between this version and the PV version. What I heard on YouTube for the first 25 seconds or so was a little fuzzy, but on the album it's much clearer. Either they did that in-studio, or it's just the poor audio of the version available on YouTube. The only clear difference I could hear is in the last three or so seconds, which has a somewhat jarring sound before the song ends. In the YouTube version, the synth simply peters off with a few final notes.

My opinion on this song hasn't changed since I first heard it: it's very catchy, which is a strength of the GazettE, but it also doesn't offer anything new to long-time fans of the band. We've heard these elements before, although not necessarily paired the way they've done in this song. That being said, I do love the song.

Like their classically catchy songs, Ruki's voice is gorgeous, and the chorus is melodic and indeed very catchy.

3. NINTH ODD SMELL
The first thing I noticed with this song is how much synth they used. It's not bad, but it does stand out. Another thing that popped into my head is that this song will be great at concerts, it has a strong headbang-ability, and it's fairly obvious where those sections are in the song.

It's a somewhat slower song than I'd expected, but the guitars and drums drive the beat of the song overall very well. The beat is solidly hard, in spite of the slower pacing. Ruki uses some varied vocal styles in this song, which I appreciate. His range has grown over the years, and he's settled in very well as a vocalist, I think. There are also background vocals! I've missed these. I may be imagining things, but it feels like it's been a while since they included backing vocals (that haven't been Ruki doubling himself).

I like it, but I think I'll need to listen to it more to get a better feel for it, and to decide how much I like it.

4. GUSH
The introduction to this song is great. I knew within the first 15 seconds that this song is going to be a favourite of mine. The song begins with what sounds like a single guitar, and ends similarly. Within the song there's a guitar solo that sounds very similar to the intro/outro, and I love it. The beat is very catchy in this song, as well, although it's musically rather simple.

They played with different speakers, and have a different guitar's sound coming out of opposite sides. Kagrra,, did this with the drums in their song 歪 (ibitsu) a million years ago, and I wish more bands utilised this technique. It's very cool.

The guitar solo itself is very cool to me, it sounds like they've put some kind of an effect on it, but I can't place my finger on it. I really like it, though.

5. THE MORTAL
At first I thought this was going to be a ballad, from the introduction. They used synth and it's very reminiscent of a few of their previous albums, notably TOXIC¹ or DIVISION².

Reita's bass line in this song is absolutely to-die-for. I'm a total sucker for sexy bass lines, and this song has five stars for that, in my books.

Ruki uses his more gentle, softer vocals in this song, and it's a bit discordant against how heavy the instruments sound. I think it's complementary though, and it works well.

6. 虚 蜩 utsusemi
First of all: why Ruki, with these song titles.... Apparently there isn't technically a reading for this song title?

The first ten seconds of this made me think it was going to be a ballad. Softer synth, and then the band joins in, and then Ruki. He uses clean vocals for this song, and it's very pretty albeit poppy. I'm not a huge fan of it, as I do prefer heavier, harder songs in general. It's a nice song, though I do find it musically simple as compared to some of their other songs.

7. その声は脆く
I think this is the first song on this album where the guitars genuinely sound different from what the GazettE has done before. I like it.

The beginning is very gentle with a guitar and synth combination, and Ruki's voice is absolutely beautiful. The beginning sounds very much like a ballad, and they close this song out similar to the intro - with a single guitar. It ends clearly, and is very pretty. I like this song.

8. BABYLON'S TABOO
The first notes are hard for me to differentiate whether thy are guitar or bass chords, but it's lovely.

They used some effects on Ruki's vocals that for whatever reason make me think of Marilyn Manson. He whispers a lot in this song, and I absolutely love when he does that. This song is definitely another favourite. The bass and drums are heavy, but the pacing is a little slower. As I said earlier for THE MORTAL, I'm a sucker for bass. The bass line in this song is just as good.

They paused in some places, and the timing is perfect. It adds to the song so much. This will be another great song for concerts.

There's a guitar solo, and it sounds like they used some new sounds (to the GazettE) for it, and then they revisit that same sound at the end of the song.

9. 裏切る舌 uragiru bero
Ruki whispers in the introduction to this song. The pace is fast, more similar to what I feel the GazettE has done before.

Musically, it's very similar to previous songs they've made. In that sense, there isn't much "newness" to this song, though I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. The backing vocals in this song sound like Ruki, rather than Reita, Aoi, or Uruha.

Around the 1:45 mark, there's a stringed instrument that sounds like it could be a harpsichord. It adds an interesting little twang to the song.

This is the only song on the album that ends abruptly. Every other song has a gradual end, or something similar. I was surprised, and thought I was missing something, but nope. Sudden end!

10. TWO OF A KIND
This song works well, coming off of 裏切る舌, as it begins similarly to how 裏切る舌 ends - sudden. All the boys are playing from the start.

The guitars here also sound similar to previous songs on the album, and from others, although the guitar solo sounds new. The chorus is very poppy, which isn't a bad thing, but I don't like that too much. The rest of the song is really good.

This is another song that has excellent concert potential; there are portions which would be perfect for headbanging. Since the GazettE has a large repertoire of headbang-able songs, this is an important factor. They've been delving into harder, heavier music over the years, so I'm happy to see that they're making more songs with this flair.

Ruki has a last ah ah~ ah ah~ at the end of this song, and it is absolutely beautiful. For me, that may be this song's saving grace.

11. ABHOR GOD
the GazettE haven't had a song with clapping in a very long time. The last was BREAK ME³, as far as I can remember, and that's a few years ago, now.

There are familiar musical elements to this track as well, so while there aren't very many new things, it feels like they've put the familiar ones together in ways we haven't really heard before. In that way it's similar to Falling.

I love the backing vocals, and the way the guitar chords pair together. Aoi and Uruha seem to play off each other, and I am a fan. This song is yet another one that I can see being a tonne of fun in-concert.

12. UNFINISHED
Well, this song was a total surprise. I was expecting it to be very different than it is.

TWO OF A KIND starts a bit sudden, but not nearly as much as UNFINISHED. There is no warm up, the boys just dive right in. It has a very pop-feel to it, and while Ruki's voice is very pretty, the guitar chords sound familiar, and remind me of REGRET⁴.

The guitar solos sound a little different from typical solos for the GazettE. I like those.

To contrast how this song starts, it peters off more than having a clear conclusion. It'll be really pretty in concert, although I'm not much a fan of this song.



OVERALL
As a whole, I think this album fits very well into the GazettE's existing catalogue. It has familiar elements to their other albums and singles, but they also incorporated some new elements. In spite of the familiarity with their previous work, they did mix those elements in different ways than we've heard before, and added some of that newness in.

I don't think it's anything ground breaking, and for myself personally it was a bit of a let-down. It sounds very quintessential for the GazettE, but I've been looking forward to them dipping more than their toes into harder and heavier, and with each album they seem to hold back. It's my own fault for having such high expectations, but I know they're capable of doing some amazing hard-hitting songs, and this album just doesn't have very much of that, on first listen. It is a very listenable song, but there were more pop-infused songs than I had expected or wanted, so that was another disappointment.

There were three songs that were too pop-y for my tastes. I prefer the GazettE's purer rock/metal sound. The three tracks, 虚 蜩, TWO OF A KIND, and UNFINISHED reminded me too much of REMEMBER THE URGE, and I do not like that song.

A very important thing for me to make note of is something that they used too much in previous songs and albums: random female backing vocals. Some people liked it, some people hated it. I'm sort of in the middle-camp - for some songs it was okay and it fit the tone and style of the song/album, but in some cases it felt very jarring and was irritating. I want to hear Ruki sing, not some random woman I know and care nothing about. I find it a wonderful blessing that they seem to have completely abandoned the backing female vocals for this album. It was wonderful being able to listen to them uninterrupted in that way, so that's a big plus.

The cover art made me think two things: they'd go very pop because of the colours and effects, or they'd go harder, with the distortion in the image and its blasphemous nature.

For now, based on my expectations and hopes, on a first listen, I'd give this album...
★★☆☆☆

In a few weeks, after I've had a chance to get used to the album and listen to it several times more, I'll revisit and see if my opinion changes on it. Thank you for reading!



Notes:
¹the GazettE's fifth studio album, released 2011.10.05
²the GazettE's sixth studio album, released 2012.08.29
³Second coupling track off the GazettE's nineteenth single's "Auditory Impression," VORTEX, released 2011.05.25
⁴Title track from the GazettE's ninth single, released 2006.10.25; also included on their third studio album.