What happens when four lower-tier VKer's of questionable talent get together to form a band?
Daisuke, formerly of Kagerou, takes on vocal duties once again with The Studs, a four-piece of clueless wonders that also includes Aie (ex-Deadman/Kein/Lamiel) on guitar, Yukino (ex-Gullet/Lynch/Deadman/Kein) on bass, and Hibiki (ex-Blast/Gullet/Kein) on drums.
I hate this shit. It's jangly, alterna-visual hippie rock. The four guys can play good, but what good is playing uninvolving mush? Everything feels belabored. It's a lot like those fashionable bands that fashionable people who don't really like music listen to.
This preview is not even an accurate example of what most of the EP sounds like.
I'm not even gonna bother making a Studs folder in my music library, this dreck is bound for the recycle bin, and when Windows asks me "Are you sure you want to delete these items?" I will so heartily cackle as I click the YES button.
rating: :(
oh lord. i can't agree more.;\
ReplyDeletedeadman ftfw.
ReplyDeletei have every expectation that my negative review will make some people like The Studs even more.
ReplyDeletethose glasses daisuke's wearing don't go with his voice.
ReplyDelete3000 yen for an EP? Damn! What's the deal with Japanese CDs being so expensive? When I went to Tokyo last summer I noticed that the jrock stuff was about 3000 yen but the american imported stuff was 1600-1800 yen. That seems odd to me.
ReplyDeleteI like the album, but I feel like I SHOULD like it a whole lot more. DEADMAN it ain't.
ReplyDeleteone of these parts just isn't clicking with the others!
I second momo, word-for-word!
ReplyDeleteThere were a few good parts here and there, but overall I didn't like it. I found it odd that they made a PV for the absolute shittiest song on the CD. Where's the sense in that?
ReplyDeletewell, it's better than any kagerou stuff.
ReplyDelete...sadly I agree. I loved Kagerou...and Daisuke. But this...this was crap. I shall keep it, only cause I'm an anal collector like that, but I doubt I'll sit and listen to it again.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for more.
Also, I lol'd at the website link.
ReplyDeleteEven though I loved Kagerou , Daisuke just needs to gtfo.
ReplyDeleteWhen I listen to this, I just feel how I would enjoy it just if Mako was on the vocals.
Come on, you've got to love that totally inexplicable key change in "Thursday". "Tonight is the Night" seems to be the only good track, the rest really are pretty dull. I can see them getting better in the future, but whenever I say that about jrock bands, they usually get worse or stay the same. This makes me wish deadman just brought back Yukino and kept going.
ReplyDeleteDeadman nor Kagerou never ever hooked me, so I see no reason to grab this. I can't tell what was so special about either. Could someone rave a little about deadman for a second? I wanna see.
ReplyDeleteIf you wanna hear praise for deadman tell Gordon to upload his damn Beautifools '03 review from the old jrocknyc. That's what made me look into them.
ReplyDeleteThe only song on this release I TRULY enjoyed was Tonight is the Night, because Daisuke actually sang and it was a tad bit reminiscent of Mako's singing.
It's hard to peg down what was so amazing about deadman. They had a way of writing songs that weren't extremely complex, but the notes were just in all the right places. Mako's voice fit Aie's writing perfectly. I lack the articulation to describe why I loved deadman so much.
Seija no koushin/the saints go marching in, while a later song of theirs, summed up the way the whole band seemed to flow.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cS_zE0lLD4U
Also early songs such as 'Blood'(any of the 8 or 9 versions they did whenever a new band member would join, preferably the site of scaffold version) were just fucking amazing awesome heavy rocking Nagoya-kei anthems. 'Blood' might be one of my favourites by them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Silv; I'm itchin' for something out of my norm.
ReplyDeleteI really do need to upload "no alternative." since a bunch of people have asked for it.
ReplyDeleteThat preview makes me want to shoot myself.
ReplyDeleteAnd I loved deadman. I'll still download it.
I love that even when I disagree with you - I still love the snot out of your reviews.
ReplyDeleteElec and whoever else who cares, I threw together a deadman compilation. It's pretty basic: "no alternative" and three or four songs from their plethora of singles & minis that I felt deserved recognition. Enjoy
ReplyDeletehttp://www.megaupload.com/?d=UDOND7TT
Oh and Gordon, you forgot something with The Studs! It's:
ReplyDeleteAie(ex. deadman, ex. kein, ex. Lamiel, ex. Kisui Solo Project)
Yukino(ex. lynch., ex. GULLET, ex. DEADMAN, ex. Kein)
Hibiki (ex. Gullet, ex. Blast, ex. Kein)
:P
omg Silvanos, I completely forgot about Beautifools. I have a bootlegged video of that somewhere.
ReplyDeletethx silvanos
ReplyDeleteadded the full ex-band list, thx Silv!
ReplyDeleteI'll try to find that Beautifuls '03 live report, i remember Deadman fondly from that.
Great selection, Silv.
ReplyDeleteAll the songs I would've picked out myself, except I would've added Saddy. Fuckin' crazy, manic song.
Though ... it probably doesn't count because Aie didn't write that one, Blast's Iori did.
Yeeep, I just about swear by deadman.
ReplyDeleteIt's jangly, alterna-visual hippie rock.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Visual-Emo to me, but that's just my take on how they look.
I'd think that people would notice this band is called "The Studs" and not "deadman". But I guess not. Since when did Daisuke croon in a deep voice for a whole song? What did you expect?
ReplyDeleteSeeing as the guitarist for The Studs wrote all the songs for deadman and most likely wrote all the songs for The Studs, it's hard to avoid some comparisons, especially since these Studs songs sound a whole lot like deadman.
ReplyDeleteWhich I completely understand, but "Singer from Kagerou" should lower the bar. Alot.
ReplyDeleteit should, shouldn't it... :D
ReplyDeletePlus, Go, you don't like either band, now do you? :P
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think Daisuke does this pretty well. There's more rockoutage to the music, so I don't think Mako would be a good fit, since his voice is smooth and calm.
mizaki> Listen to "quos vadis", "Saddy", "blood" or "lunch box" by deadman. Mako does surprisingly well with lots of yelling and growling. As for Daisuke crooning for a whole song, I could name off any of Kagerou's ballads, but I can see you were just trying to make a point XD
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it Xio, Daisuke does do his fair share of crooning on Kagerou's albums. A lot of my favourite songs on their self-titled were ones with Daisuke singing, although I will admit he does lean towards the screaming a bit more.
ReplyDeleteM'kay, finally listened to this thing. Nothing hooked me at all (or pleased me in the slightest) until Thursday, which has it's janglry (angry+jangly) charm. 632, I think by 'key change' you meant 'slight chord change'. :-P
ReplyDelete"Tonight is the night" was pretty okay but fails to save the disc at all.
Yeah Tonight is the Night was too late to save it. It would have been better served as track 2 to weight the bastard down and offset the bad tunes.
ReplyDeleterain drop is fucking gorgeous, you guys are crazy for not mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteomg hahaha. I just clicked on the "site" for the studs. go's a tricksy bastard.
ReplyDeleteahhh wtf... such high expectations for this group and yet they suck? shit on that. especially with daisuke in there, god damn. thanks for the warning anyway... i was hating myself for not being able to see their live show in paris. bleh :(
ReplyDeletethat's cause it's a kein/deadman/gullet band with daisuke and not mako and vocals which is why it sounds so freaking off -_-;;
ReplyDeleteoh well
mehh,true.
ReplyDeletebut i have faith that these guys
will pull it together perfectly soon.
they just need time.
alansmithee is releasing soon and it sounds great. :]