Abingdon Boys School
Abingdon Road
Sony Music Entertainment
¥2913 | $31.83 | €23.08
BUY IT at CDJapan

I have to admit that I've been dying for this album to finally release. It's becoming more and more common for Japanese artists to release piles of singles before actually putting out new albums. For example, Gackt released four singles back to back last year. As a result of this trend, I've found that we often times get to hear most of an album before it even hits the shelves.

You'd think that'd be a good thing, but maybe not so much. If you're a fan, like me, you've likely played each song to the point that you really don't want to hear them again. In addition to that, you probably already own the singles, and that being the case, you're really only buying half an album. Thankfully, someone probably realized that, and as such, some of the tracks on the final album were slightly modified, and a b-side or two were remixed in order to change things up a bit. It just doesn't change the fact that you're really only getting half an albums worth of completely new material though.

So is that new material worth the cash it'll cost you to import this album? Well, in this case, I honestly believe it is. Abingdon Road comes in at roughly an hours worth of audio, and roughly thirty minutes of that is new or remixed material, assuming you've heard every other single that has been released, or own the Luna Sea tribute album that was released the other year. That's not too bad, and it's not like the previously released material is terrible either. If you've held off on the singles while you waited for the album, then you really have no reason not to get this album--unless, of course, you hate good music.

In terms of the new tracks, you'll want to take a listen to "Pineapple Army." It's got some slick transitions and that, mixed with the high energy, will probably keep you interested all the way through. If you want to something a little different, you might also like "SOUEN", though adding a bit of rap to rock is understandably an acquired taste. Don't worry though, it's not quite Linkin Park.

"Shiosai" is a bit more of the typical Abingdon Boys School we've come to love. Excellent guitar work, strong vocals and decent composition, it's a solid track that definitely has its moments. "Siren" is a bit more progressive in that it likes to change time. Again, this is something I don't really expect everyone to enjoy, but I happen to think it works pretty well. If you don't quite get what I mean by that, a good example would be something by a band like Dream Theater--or you could just listen and hear for yourself.

Finally I just wanted to mention that I love the fact that they included their version of Luna Sea's "Sweetest Coma Again" on the album. It was probably my favorite track on the Luna Sea memorial tribute album that was released the other year. They really did a good job of taking the song and making it their own. It didn't sound much like the original, but that's okay, because I grew to love them both.

There is some other new content, but just take my word that it's all really good and worth your time and money. To put it simply, you're not going to regret buying this album. CDJapan has it for about $31 USD, though there are still plenty of Limited Edition copies left that come with a region 2 DVD for about $5 more. It might just be worth it to drop the extra cash. So there you have it, go buy the CD.