So much potential!
So, I want to review some music albums on my channel too, since movies and music have always been my big interests in life followed by video games. I like to change things up and not become locked into doing the same thing over and over again when making videos.
So, I’m always searching for something new, and I am a huge fan of Maximum the Hormone and good old Clawfinger. And to cut things short, I was already a metalhead from 1985, and my favorite band from that era is Helloween. My favorite singer is Michael Kiske, and my favorite genre is power metal. Michael Kiske is God! Other vocalists I love from that time are Sebastian Bach and Geoff Tate. So you see, I have great taste in vocalists.
I can’t remember how I found Hanabie, but the first thought that popped into my mind was Maximum the Hormone when I heard “Be the Gal”. And look at that, it turns out that they started as a Maximum the Hormone cover band, which is cool, you know! So I’m going to start at the beginning with their mini album called “Cherry Blossoms Are Blooming.”
Let’s start with track 1:
Track 1: Cherry Blossoms Are Blooming
This is a short instrumental song that doesn’t tell us anything about the band and the music they are playing. It feels like something they would use when going out on stage. It doesn’t represent the style of the band at all. So truth be told, the mini LP has five songs.
Track 2: Envy
Oh yeah, I’m in LOVE! This is pure Maximum the Hormone style, especially with the high-pitched Donald Duck voice or whatever the hell you call it. That’s what I love the most about Maximum the Hormone when the rapper uses a more high-pitched voice. And man, Yukina, the vocalist, is just insanity to listen to with her growling, and her pitch going up and down, and then she kicks your teeth in with my favorite part when she goes up in pitch with that cool Donald Duck voice. I love it! And the chorus is so catchy, and I also like the clean voice of the guitarist, Matsuri. There are also some really heavy parts in this song that kick ass. This is such a good and impressive song! Absolutely one of my favorite songs they have made. Play it live again, girls!
Track 3: TIME OUT
This song has a hard and catchy start and some cool vocals by Yukina. She is so angry, but the chorus doesn’t do it for me. It’s so generic, and it doesn’t fit with all the other things going on in this pretty cool song with some heavy riffs. The verses are catchy as hell.
Track 4: Ghost Mania
The vocals of Yukina in this song remind me of the Swedish band, Lok, a band I loved in the early 2000s until they broke up. The song has some really cool guitar playing that takes me to Five Finger Death Punch, and there is some heavy and playful energy here that makes me nod my head. But the chorus is a miss again, especially in the beginning of it. It gets a little better halfway through. It’s better than the chorus in “TIME OUT.” I hope this isn’t going to be a trend. I really love the clean vocals of Matsuri. And she rocks that guitar hard!
Track 5: ZERO
The opening is really terrible. But then the guitar starts rocking, and it’s angry time with Yukina that has a cool tempo change, and then the awful chorus takes over. And this is a trend with this album, and to be honest, with a lot of Japanese music. This is a really cool song ruined by the chorus. The guitar rocks, and it’s a fun song, until the chorus.
Track 6: Drastic Nadeshiko
I have no idea what the name of this song is. The breakdown in this song is freaking fantastic! This is the highlight of the song, and the drumming hits hard! The chorus is decent since it fits with the overall sound of the song, so it doesn’t stand out that much. So this is one of the better songs on the album after “Envy.”
Conclusion:
This album shows us how much potential Hanabie has. The best song on the album is Envy that they should start playing live again. Ghost mania is a really good song, but half of the chorus takes you out of the headbanging.
The problem with the album and its five songs is that three of them have awful choruses that takes you out of the song. Ghost mania is such a fun song, but half of the chorus is just killing me, the start of it. Remember, I’m a power metal man, and we love the buildups to the chorus. Of what I have heard of Hanabie, they miss that target several times, but to their defense, they are not a power metal band.