[Album review] Lynch. - I Believe in Quarter Life
Reviewer’s notes: Remember, these are my thoughts and opinions. I am happy to have discussions about it, but if you cry Britney on me, then I will have to bitch slap you. Lynch. is my favourite band. Considering that I live in Australia, I have seen them live five times, which says a lot. However, I will criticize when and where needed.
INTRODUCTION - Much like Last Nite from Shadows, this is amazing. Haunting piano, calm and yet eluding to something heavy and violent coming up. It gets you excited and, in a strange way, gets your heart pumping in anticipation.
UNTIL I DIE - And then it dies. Seriously. I was under the impression that nothing - NOTHING - could ever be more annoying than I Don’t Know Where I Am. Lynch. boys, I take my figurative hat off to you as you have officially achieved the impossible. It is nu-metal mixed with pop and upbeat tones with Reo (or maybe the new dude) death screaming bits in the background. Actually, it reminds me of the suicidal goth kid in the movie Dead Man on Campus who was secretly actually into Broadway show tunes.
I BELIEVE IN ME - Well, I now believe in miracles. I didn’t like this song when it came out. Not at all. I tried to force myself to like it by staring at the PV on repeat for hours on end. It didn’t work though I did almost go into a Hazuki lip lick coma. Listen to Until I Die and suddenly this song is the best ever. I am actually being rather serious here; I have had it suck in my head for ages now.
JUDGEMENT - I wasn’t a big fan of this song for ages either, but then I saw it live at Over the Edge and that just made it. Now I love it. All I will say is that I never actually realised how much of this was in English…
LIE - This has promise. Again, they seem to be trying to blend a few too many genres into their songs, but this one is almost ok. Same sort of beat and tune as I Don’t Know Where I Am which really does make me want to headdesk, but with a few listens it may grow on me. It does feel like the song that never ends though.
-273.15℃ - Oh, the intro to this song is painful. Meaningless noise, too fast and just sounds like them trying to piss off someone with a hangover. It does get better though. Not a favourite, but the whispery vocal with the short, blunt shouts and repetitive beat is actually kinda catchy. I would give my right arm to see this live. No, in fact, if I saw this live I would probably lose my right arm; it will be a crazy violent one, girls! Lots of chances to body slam into the people in front of you as well. I failed to hear the classic ‘get the fuckin' out of my face’ line though, which was disappointing.
THIS COMA - Oddly enough, this is the first song on the album that struck me as purely lynch. That within itself is just wrong; This Coma is slow, calm, almost soothing; it is reminiscent of Quarter Life and Maze, Prominence and Mujun to Sora. Washed out instruments, toned down vocals; the sort of thing you would listen to at night with all your doors and windows open even though it is storming and raining outside. The only let down is the fact that the whole thing has a really 80’s Buck-Tick Dress feel to it. If there was a PV, it would have Hazuki cosplaying Atsushi with flowy purple curtains blowing in the wind and far too much lipstick.
SCARLET - Soothing, calm and relaxing… and then this song starts with Hazuki screaming ‘Shout!’ It works. Throws you a complete 360 and instead of being surrounded by serenity and candles, you find yourself back in a live house with flashing lights and flicking hair. This is the other side of lynch. The one that picked up fans like a snow ball tumbling down a mountain. It is them forgetting all the Major label shit and going back to their roots (or well, mid-life roots; aka when they started to get popular) and is much like Adore. It is upbeat but not pop, it has screamo bits but still with melody and Hazuki’s impressive vocal range.
AND OMFG! Fangirl moment! They reuse lines from Quarter Life in it! My favourite song ever! And the line they used was the one I used for my new header... like, WTF creepy ESP moment.
ALL THIS I’LL GIVE YOU - I always loved this song. When A Gleam in Eye came out, the title track was almost forgotten to me because of the B-side. I’ve played it to death, and then played it some more. I’ve seen it live and gone utterly ballistic to it. And this remastered version is a lot like it is live.
TIAMAT - I’m sorry; England called. They want Cradle of Filth back. (Reviewers note; I had to google where they were from. England is responsible for that; FL) Vocals are horrible, song is bland and was actually - quite thankfully - over rather quickly. Music was pretty good though, so may grow on me if I learn to ignore Hazuki death wail chanting.
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT - Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Ummm, I don’t know what to say about this one actually, other than brilliant. And maybe holy shit. It is like Bonus Track gone almost creepy with acoustic flamenco guitar. Really not what I was expecting, but damn, it works. Hazuki’s vocals are soft and eerily flat, breaths between his sentences obvious and exaggerated which gives it an almost desperate feeling despite how slow it is. And the whole time Asanao's drum is just controlled and heavy in the background, like a languid heartbeat.
A GLEAM IN EYE - Reworked slightly; it is ok. Remastering things is great for a band to do and I oddly loved it when they did the same with Adore. All This I’ll Give You is another great example of it going right. This however, falls a little short. It is not bad by any means, but it doesn’t come up and slap you in the face with awesome either. I do like the added bits towards the end; gives the song a really uplifting, upbeat and positive feel to it.
-*-*-*-
JUDGEMENT DAYS
It is odd; this entire album has made me appreciate their softer side. Lynch. have always been the masters at blending heavy and hard with melody and rhythm. They take the norm for their genre and run amok with it; that is what makes them so unique.
This, however, is not a shining example of their strengths.
The first half of the album is almost a write off, but the second half redeems itself wholeheartedly. I think, as an album, it is not very well constructed. Some of the songs that were bland or boring or just plain horrible may be ok shoved into a random shuffled playlist, but as a flowing whole, it just doesn’t work. It is too disjointed in ways that fail to make impact. It is not until the different between This Coma and Scarlet that the listener can feel the effect of a band that can foray into multiple genres jump out of the speakers at them.
All bands must change. They grow and evolve; their outlook on life is altered over time and their fanbase changes with them or gets left behind. If you are good, however, your fanbase will grow. You will keep your old fans and introduce them to something new while picking up new supporters as you go. What labels a band as good is their ability to pull off this change fluently. It shouldn’t be dead fish to the face obvious and yet a fan or listener should be able to pinpoint the differences between the early and the current.
Unfortunately for lynch. they have only half achieved this. They seem stuck, flicking between heavy screamo and serene melody in different songs with their previous ability to meld both into one track far gone.
And that begs the question; how much of this change has been theirs, how much has been influence from the new fifth member and how much has been directly due to the assent (I really wanted to write decent) to a major label?
I hate to say it, but only time will tell. Maybe this was just a small set back in what was a flourishing career. A momentary lapse in judgement that will be forgotten come the next single or album. Or maybe we old fans will be introduced to a new lynch and left to either adjust, or fade out of existence.
Over all rating: 7.5/10 (it gets major points for reusing lines from Quarter Life and for Before You Know It)
INTRODUCTION - Much like Last Nite from Shadows, this is amazing. Haunting piano, calm and yet eluding to something heavy and violent coming up. It gets you excited and, in a strange way, gets your heart pumping in anticipation.
UNTIL I DIE - And then it dies. Seriously. I was under the impression that nothing - NOTHING - could ever be more annoying than I Don’t Know Where I Am. Lynch. boys, I take my figurative hat off to you as you have officially achieved the impossible. It is nu-metal mixed with pop and upbeat tones with Reo (or maybe the new dude) death screaming bits in the background. Actually, it reminds me of the suicidal goth kid in the movie Dead Man on Campus who was secretly actually into Broadway show tunes.
I BELIEVE IN ME - Well, I now believe in miracles. I didn’t like this song when it came out. Not at all. I tried to force myself to like it by staring at the PV on repeat for hours on end. It didn’t work though I did almost go into a Hazuki lip lick coma. Listen to Until I Die and suddenly this song is the best ever. I am actually being rather serious here; I have had it suck in my head for ages now.
JUDGEMENT - I wasn’t a big fan of this song for ages either, but then I saw it live at Over the Edge and that just made it. Now I love it. All I will say is that I never actually realised how much of this was in English…
LIE - This has promise. Again, they seem to be trying to blend a few too many genres into their songs, but this one is almost ok. Same sort of beat and tune as I Don’t Know Where I Am which really does make me want to headdesk, but with a few listens it may grow on me. It does feel like the song that never ends though.
-273.15℃ - Oh, the intro to this song is painful. Meaningless noise, too fast and just sounds like them trying to piss off someone with a hangover. It does get better though. Not a favourite, but the whispery vocal with the short, blunt shouts and repetitive beat is actually kinda catchy. I would give my right arm to see this live. No, in fact, if I saw this live I would probably lose my right arm; it will be a crazy violent one, girls! Lots of chances to body slam into the people in front of you as well. I failed to hear the classic ‘get the fuckin' out of my face’ line though, which was disappointing.
THIS COMA - Oddly enough, this is the first song on the album that struck me as purely lynch. That within itself is just wrong; This Coma is slow, calm, almost soothing; it is reminiscent of Quarter Life and Maze, Prominence and Mujun to Sora. Washed out instruments, toned down vocals; the sort of thing you would listen to at night with all your doors and windows open even though it is storming and raining outside. The only let down is the fact that the whole thing has a really 80’s Buck-Tick Dress feel to it. If there was a PV, it would have Hazuki cosplaying Atsushi with flowy purple curtains blowing in the wind and far too much lipstick.
SCARLET - Soothing, calm and relaxing… and then this song starts with Hazuki screaming ‘Shout!’ It works. Throws you a complete 360 and instead of being surrounded by serenity and candles, you find yourself back in a live house with flashing lights and flicking hair. This is the other side of lynch. The one that picked up fans like a snow ball tumbling down a mountain. It is them forgetting all the Major label shit and going back to their roots (or well, mid-life roots; aka when they started to get popular) and is much like Adore. It is upbeat but not pop, it has screamo bits but still with melody and Hazuki’s impressive vocal range.
AND OMFG! Fangirl moment! They reuse lines from Quarter Life in it! My favourite song ever! And the line they used was the one I used for my new header... like, WTF creepy ESP moment.
ALL THIS I’LL GIVE YOU - I always loved this song. When A Gleam in Eye came out, the title track was almost forgotten to me because of the B-side. I’ve played it to death, and then played it some more. I’ve seen it live and gone utterly ballistic to it. And this remastered version is a lot like it is live.
TIAMAT - I’m sorry; England called. They want Cradle of Filth back. (Reviewers note; I had to google where they were from. England is responsible for that; FL) Vocals are horrible, song is bland and was actually - quite thankfully - over rather quickly. Music was pretty good though, so may grow on me if I learn to ignore Hazuki death wail chanting.
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT - Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Ummm, I don’t know what to say about this one actually, other than brilliant. And maybe holy shit. It is like Bonus Track gone almost creepy with acoustic flamenco guitar. Really not what I was expecting, but damn, it works. Hazuki’s vocals are soft and eerily flat, breaths between his sentences obvious and exaggerated which gives it an almost desperate feeling despite how slow it is. And the whole time Asanao's drum is just controlled and heavy in the background, like a languid heartbeat.
A GLEAM IN EYE - Reworked slightly; it is ok. Remastering things is great for a band to do and I oddly loved it when they did the same with Adore. All This I’ll Give You is another great example of it going right. This however, falls a little short. It is not bad by any means, but it doesn’t come up and slap you in the face with awesome either. I do like the added bits towards the end; gives the song a really uplifting, upbeat and positive feel to it.
-*-*-*-
JUDGEMENT DAYS
It is odd; this entire album has made me appreciate their softer side. Lynch. have always been the masters at blending heavy and hard with melody and rhythm. They take the norm for their genre and run amok with it; that is what makes them so unique.
This, however, is not a shining example of their strengths.
The first half of the album is almost a write off, but the second half redeems itself wholeheartedly. I think, as an album, it is not very well constructed. Some of the songs that were bland or boring or just plain horrible may be ok shoved into a random shuffled playlist, but as a flowing whole, it just doesn’t work. It is too disjointed in ways that fail to make impact. It is not until the different between This Coma and Scarlet that the listener can feel the effect of a band that can foray into multiple genres jump out of the speakers at them.
All bands must change. They grow and evolve; their outlook on life is altered over time and their fanbase changes with them or gets left behind. If you are good, however, your fanbase will grow. You will keep your old fans and introduce them to something new while picking up new supporters as you go. What labels a band as good is their ability to pull off this change fluently. It shouldn’t be dead fish to the face obvious and yet a fan or listener should be able to pinpoint the differences between the early and the current.
Unfortunately for lynch. they have only half achieved this. They seem stuck, flicking between heavy screamo and serene melody in different songs with their previous ability to meld both into one track far gone.
And that begs the question; how much of this change has been theirs, how much has been influence from the new fifth member and how much has been directly due to the assent (I really wanted to write decent) to a major label?
I hate to say it, but only time will tell. Maybe this was just a small set back in what was a flourishing career. A momentary lapse in judgement that will be forgotten come the next single or album. Or maybe we old fans will be introduced to a new lynch and left to either adjust, or fade out of existence.
Over all rating: 7.5/10 (it gets major points for reusing lines from Quarter Life and for Before You Know It)