Blood - Lost Sky
*** out of *****
Over the past 4 years, Blood has really become a staple in the US Visual scene. The best thing about Blood is they are constantly re-working there sound and image. I was lucky enough to see them when they were promoting the Vengeance for Blood concept in Boston. Then, maybe a year later, they returned with there Symphony of Chaos/Les Fleurs Du Mall concepts, which were really opposites. The Les Fleurs Du Mall concept was as Visual as it gets, However, with the Symphony of Chaos concept, they decided to ditch the Visual Kei genera completely and go down more of a Industrial Gothic road. There reasoning was that Visual Kei had become a generic genera in Japan, and nothing new and exciting was coming out of it. And honestly, I don't blame them. With the exception of a few bands, nothing great has come out of the Visual scene for awhile now (chariots, anyone?).
So, after releasing the 2CD The Reaper Behind Me, Blood fans were shocked when the band announced that they will be disbanding following the forthcoming US tour. And with The Reaper Behind Me already being 9 months old, the band had to scramble a recording together in order to have something to support, because you know, Japanese bands can't play shows just for the sake of playing shows. And so, Blood released there Swan Song, titled Lost Sky. The CD has 16 tracks, so you're thinking thats an amazing way for them to bow out, right? Well, not quite.
The album does in fact have 16 tracks, but only 6 of them are new. And out of the 6, one is an outro track. It seems Kiwamu has a case of Kasakiitis, releasing an album with 5 new tracks and a bunch of other artists input to fill out the rest of the CD. Unless you're a huge fan of the idea of remixes, tracks 7-16 will only be filler. The main course is in the first 5 tracks.
Blood incorporates the Gothic industrial feel into there already established feel rather seamlessly. However, the mix can be rather bassy at times, and Kiwamu's guitar work, which is usually crisp and clear, is rather muddy at times. Fu~Ki's vocals are reminiscent of 1st period Blood. Slightly less operatic and more flowing, Fu~Ki is the highlight of Blood's recorded work (I am unsure if Ryo had anything to do with the recording of the album. I know he's still preforming live with the band, but I have not seen or herd anything of him working with the band in the studio).
In closing, Blood ends there 7 years of activity in a few weeks. It's a sad day for all of there fans, which have grown in numbers since they first debuted on the international scene. However, I'm sad to say that there final recording isn't there best. Its in no way shape or form there worst, but every time they create a new concept it always takes them a few releases to really solidify what they want to do. The Vengeance for Blood concept really didn't tie everything together until they released the Limited Edition CD with all three mini albums on one disk. The Les Fleurs Du Mall concept didn't take really hit home until the Les Fleurs Du Mall album. All of these albums really have the listener time to absorb all of the sounds and styles Blood has created in each concept. For me, six songs is hardly enough to end a saga. Don't get me wrong, the six songs released on this album are really good, but I would have loved if they got raid of some of the remixes of the title track ( 7 of the 10 remixes are of the same song!) and added 2 or 3 new tracks. But the new tracks they do present are solid works, but a long time fan such as myself really wants more
Over the past 4 years, Blood has really become a staple in the US Visual scene. The best thing about Blood is they are constantly re-working there sound and image. I was lucky enough to see them when they were promoting the Vengeance for Blood concept in Boston. Then, maybe a year later, they returned with there Symphony of Chaos/Les Fleurs Du Mall concepts, which were really opposites. The Les Fleurs Du Mall concept was as Visual as it gets, However, with the Symphony of Chaos concept, they decided to ditch the Visual Kei genera completely and go down more of a Industrial Gothic road. There reasoning was that Visual Kei had become a generic genera in Japan, and nothing new and exciting was coming out of it. And honestly, I don't blame them. With the exception of a few bands, nothing great has come out of the Visual scene for awhile now (chariots, anyone?).
So, after releasing the 2CD The Reaper Behind Me, Blood fans were shocked when the band announced that they will be disbanding following the forthcoming US tour. And with The Reaper Behind Me already being 9 months old, the band had to scramble a recording together in order to have something to support, because you know, Japanese bands can't play shows just for the sake of playing shows. And so, Blood released there Swan Song, titled Lost Sky. The CD has 16 tracks, so you're thinking thats an amazing way for them to bow out, right? Well, not quite.
The album does in fact have 16 tracks, but only 6 of them are new. And out of the 6, one is an outro track. It seems Kiwamu has a case of Kasakiitis, releasing an album with 5 new tracks and a bunch of other artists input to fill out the rest of the CD. Unless you're a huge fan of the idea of remixes, tracks 7-16 will only be filler. The main course is in the first 5 tracks.
Blood incorporates the Gothic industrial feel into there already established feel rather seamlessly. However, the mix can be rather bassy at times, and Kiwamu's guitar work, which is usually crisp and clear, is rather muddy at times. Fu~Ki's vocals are reminiscent of 1st period Blood. Slightly less operatic and more flowing, Fu~Ki is the highlight of Blood's recorded work (I am unsure if Ryo had anything to do with the recording of the album. I know he's still preforming live with the band, but I have not seen or herd anything of him working with the band in the studio).
In closing, Blood ends there 7 years of activity in a few weeks. It's a sad day for all of there fans, which have grown in numbers since they first debuted on the international scene. However, I'm sad to say that there final recording isn't there best. Its in no way shape or form there worst, but every time they create a new concept it always takes them a few releases to really solidify what they want to do. The Vengeance for Blood concept really didn't tie everything together until they released the Limited Edition CD with all three mini albums on one disk. The Les Fleurs Du Mall concept didn't take really hit home until the Les Fleurs Du Mall album. All of these albums really have the listener time to absorb all of the sounds and styles Blood has created in each concept. For me, six songs is hardly enough to end a saga. Don't get me wrong, the six songs released on this album are really good, but I would have loved if they got raid of some of the remixes of the title track ( 7 of the 10 remixes are of the same song!) and added 2 or 3 new tracks. But the new tracks they do present are solid works, but a long time fan such as myself really wants more
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