It's been a long wait for fans of the newly formed Abingdon Boys School. The first ABS release was the opening song to the D.Gray-Man anime series in late 2006. They released a series of singles that were also featured in a number of television shows and movies. Their live appearances have been even more few and far between, with only two of note, their debut in November 2005, and again at Live Earth in 2007.
It's been almost two years since the world first heard of the band formed by formerly solo act Takanori Nishikawa (aka TM Revolution.) The album is finally here. Was it worth that wait?
The easy answer is yes, absolutely.
It might be easy for a music elitist (*ahem*) to look at the band as just another boy-band tarted up in heavy makeup and pretty clothes, propped up in front of fake instruments and told to make pretend they are rock stars. This certainly isn't the case. At least not entirely.
Front man Nishikawa, while inarguably a phenomenal vocalist, is just that, the pretty looking voice. The main songwriter and man behind the curtain is Toshiyuki Kishi, the keyboardist and programmer. As I point out on my profile on the band, he's always been the man with the plan, and it would seem as though ABS is more of an excuse to get Kishi on stage and in front of the cameras than it is a chance for Nishikawa to earn his rock and roll cred.
This argument loses steam once you hear the music. It is far more than one member or the other showing off while the band simply backs him up. ABS is first and foremost a band full of excellent musicians. Every song is full of layers, changes and unexpected flourishes, things that you will never find in a factory-pressed pop band. Sure, the production is slick to say the least, but the songs manage to break out of their overly compressed and normalized confines and offer up not only stunning sounds, but an impressive set of balls.
"As One" starts the album off on a bit of a low note considering what lies in wait later on in the track list. I'll note right now that the one major failing of the album is that ever song, sonicly speaking, sounds exactly the same. Namely, really fucking loud and in your face with everything sitting at just about the same volume, full of the aforementioned sparkle and gloss. "As One" simply sets the stage, lumbering through its soaring chorus and wall of guitars and record scratching.
The first of the early singles follows this. "Howling" is the quintessential ABS song, and probably the stand out track. It manages to secretly sneak in some rather wicked heavy metal riffs under the glossy veneer, and Nishikawa gets the chance to show off his slightly angry side. They somehow manage to present what might otherwise be a simple rock song in a way that not only makes it more epic and soaring, but also darker and more complex than anything you'd hear on a rock or pop radio station. All without going too far in either direction to scare off the pop girls or the metal dudes.
Howling
"Via Dolorosa" is all about Nishikawa. It's a slower song, just about as close to a ballad as ABS gets. It's still full of grinding guitars and huge drums, but it leaves plenty of space for him to stretch his range to new and rather impressive heights.
Things pick up again with "Innocent Sorrow" and "Down to You." Both of these are your standard driving rock tracks. They both highlight what I can only think of as a late '80s/early '90s power metal mentality. They are very melodic and guitar driven, yet they have that over the top pop metal quality. While Skidd Row and Whitsnake may have taken into unbearably poofy hair swaying directions, ABS sticks to the basics and simply belts out their massive riffs with nothing but power.
Innocent Sorrow
"Athena" is the first truly pop track on the album. It chooses a driving disco-like beat as its foundation, ala Base Ball Bear or UVERworld. This is pure radio candy, very upbeat and straight-forward. The piano lines and squealing guitars are also very Gackt-like, and I can see this one being played live while either rain or multi-colored streamers fall from the ceiling. Also, a lot of back-to-back guitar playing. Perhaps shirtless?
"Stay Away" opens the second half of the album, again with a very upbeat feel. This one feels rather weak and shallow after the unrelenting sonic feast preceding it. Even before the album was released I felt that this was their weakest song, and that would seem to be the case on the album as well.
Well, OK, mabye that award should go to "Nephilim." It's another of their (trademark?) ballads that's too loud to really be a ballad. The chorus is certainly epic and full of energy and drive, but overall the song feels too much like your average girl getter. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Nephilim
OK, now is the time when I have to piss off the fans boys and girls out there. Previous to the album, "Lost Reason" was a decent track, a bit in the "filler" category, but still full of that certain ABS-ness. This album version, however, is a horrible fucking mess. For some reason thay saw fit to add some dude (MICRO) rapping over anything that Nishikawa isn't singing on. Any pause and MICRO is in there jibbering away. Then, for some godforsaken reason, the song drops out and a new break is added where this goon raps for a while. Not only does this utterly destroy the flow of the song (ironic!), but it serves absolutely no purpose. It's possibly even worse than what KanYe West did with that Daft Punk song. Well, OK, maybe not that bad. Nevertheless, what has been done to this once good song is not only baffling, but unforgivable. I have already deleted it from album folder and inserted the correct, first draft of the song in its place. Let's never speak of this again.
Moving on.
"Desire" moves things into a decidedly more electro direction with stuttering drum samples and squeltchy synths arpeggiating away ala Boom Boom Satellites. While the song is certainly frenetic to say the least, it's perhaps a bit too chaotic. It's the obvious "let's use this one to play twenty minute guitar and drum solos live" song. It's not so much a song as it is a music bed.
Now, "Dress" is a bit of a mixed bag as well. First off, it's a cover of one of my favorite Buck-Tick songs. No one can compare to the voice of Atsushi Sakurai, so it already has one strike both for and against it. The music, however, is a clear improvement, at least if you've enjoyed any of the previous songs. Yes, once again it lacks any dynamics, running at full steam from the beginning to the end. Yet ABS does add a ton of darkness and a sort of powerful dominance that the original lacks. It's gone from a simple, soft, almost delicate song to something much more brooding and, to use that word again, epic. While Nishikawa may not be able to convey Atsushi's inherent and seemingly limitless supply of raw goth, the band certainly picks up the slack.
The final track "ReBirth + ReVerse" is just a chance for Kishi to strut his stuff unencumbered by the band. This certainly supports my "producer turned rock star" theory. It's a straight up electro dance track, with the thumping kick and echoing piano parts, surrounded by clanging industrial drums. While it is inoffensive in and of itself, it is totally out of place with the rest of the album. Why they chose to include this aimless song and not the far superior b-side "Nervous Breakdown" I guess we'll never know. It's a clumsy end to an otherwise cohesive (well, except for "Lost Reason." Damnit! I said I would never mention it again!) album.
Nervous Breakdown
Obviously, I am a big fan of Abingdon Boys School. While I don't think I could handle listening to this album more than once at a time due to its ear tiring production, it is certainly one that will get a lot of play. It has its faults, some of which are almost enough for me to question my very existence, let alone the sanity of whoever makes the decisions for the band, but those faults are easily deleted or replaced with other options. Overall, it's a triumph of musical alchemy, of mixing pop with rock and metal and truly epic structures without having the entire tower come falling down into a big messy heap.
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Legacy comments:
I just listened to the new tracks included in this album and I have to agree on several things Zac said. First one would be MICRO's voice added to what would have been a great song without all the rap. They just *had to* choose this song to feature Home Made Kazoku's rapper. I just have to find the original song now...
Another one is Dress (ドレス/Doresu). I was so surprised I recognized the beat and lyrics to one of my favorite songs from Buck-tick! Nice choice of song to cover, ABS.
I also liked the electro song ReBirth + ReVerse. It made me nostalgic of the TMR days.
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I agree with the review's comments - except I feel the need to stand up for LOST REASON. I liked the original song anyway, and putting MICRO over the top of it... frankly, it's hilarious. Taking music too seriously is silly, and it adds a bit of humour, intentionally or not. It's just something different amongst some rather same-y songs.
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Another one is Dress (ドレス/Doresu). I was so surprised I recognized the beat and lyrics to one of my favorite songs from Buck-tick! Nice choice of song to cover, ABS.
I also liked the electro song ReBirth + ReVerse. It made me nostalgic of the TMR days.
In whole, awesome album!