Baiser (1)
Belles (1)
Eliphas Levi (1)
Klaha (1)
Nookicky (2)
Omnibus CDs (1)
TRACKLIST
REVIEW
Seppun came out in 1992 - it's definitely representative of the stuff that other visual bands would put out over the next 10 years. When I first listened to this CD, I was really surprised, because it sounded a lot like some of the stuff that came out at the end of the decade. Between this mini-album and Kuroyume's Nakigara wo... you can literally hear most of the visual bands who would follow. While I'm not sure one could say that Seppun was influential in the way Nakigara wo... was, it's definitely a forerunner of all the melodic dark visual kei bands to come.
The opening track, "Birth" is an instrumental, and I really like it. It's capable of standing alone - one of my favorite instrumental openings. Clanking noises, bass drum beats, and other industrial noises but still with a touch of piano melody.
The soft-spoken, quick "You" really starts this disc, and it's a decent song. Not great, but certainly representative of Seppun's overall style.
"Perfume" is the only song not written by Yukari (vo) or Baiser as a whole - it's an Akane (gu) piece. A bit on the exotic side - jangly guitar work and echoey, haunting, vocal work.
The next song, "Fortune" is probably the most punky of all the songs - Akihiro's hard, downbeat drumming and the vocal style.
Track 5 is the only song with a Japanese title, "Bara e no sonaemono". Probably my favorite due to the memorable guitarwork. Haiji's active basswork is also standout - livens this piece up.
"Die for..." starts out speedily, but Yukari's voice cuts in, the tone becomes melancholy. The mood lightens once the instruments rejoin, and the mood doesn't really seem to fit the lyrics, translated here by Kurai. Also features a bit of "guitar god" style soloing.
The final song, "The end of eternity..." features an echoing piano and Yukari's quiet, sorrowful vocals. Kurai also translated this song.
There's also a bonus track hidden at the end of "The end of eternity...", the last official track on the disc. I can't decipher the kanji, so I don't know what the name is, but lord, it sounds horrible. Like a demotape just put straight into CD format, which usually means bad quality, but with the overall bad production, the quality is degraded even further. >.< The song itself is different from the rest of the CD - Yukari's vocals are punkish and the music itself is more "speed" and less "melodic". This track is also really reminiscent of later stuff.
All the band members are solid musicians. I'm ever so grateful that Akane and Hiderou's guitarwork doesn't drown out Haiji's basslines. Yukari's a fairly proficient vocalist - a smooth voice with a few edges here and there that could and were smoothed out by experience. (His style and sound changed later on.) Akihiro's also a very good drummer.
The only detraction from the disc is the incredibly crappy production. Everything is in varying degrees of whiny and tinny - it's especially bad when the music gets loud and Yukari's yelling, like in "Fortune". I'm thinking about getting the re-mastered version of this mini-album, just to hear how it should sound.
The CD came in a fold-out case, and just looking at the pictures of the band members... XD Wow. 80's, anyone? Foofy hair... and I mean foofy. In Hiderou's headshot, his hair takes up 60% of the space. The background takes 25%, and then his face gets the leftover space. It's really funny. :D Akane is the least foofy of the crew, but he's got an unfortunate face - long and thin, so he looks like a sleazeball. And Akihiro is pretty. :D
For $5, this was a good deal. Unfortunately, this disc doesn't really stand out to me because "I've heard it all before" but that isn't due to any fault of the band - blame the hundreds of late 90's copycats.
(I also want to note that much-later Baiser works are terrible. The only original member left is Yukari, and they degenerated into this crappy synthy bad-pop manure. Like instead of a vocalist, two guitars, bassist, and drummer, they sound like they've got a vocalist, a guitarist, a little man twiddling with a cheap synth, bassist, and drummer. It sounds so bad. >_<)
Adapted from a blog entry and edited. :D
GRADE: B
Reviewed on March 22, 2004.