Various Artists - NEO VOLTAGE (2010)
- v[NEU] - in my secret... - Wait, this album is v-kei, right? It sounds like bad disco... oh wait. There we go. Shouty, rappy vocals. But this still sounds like a reject track from DanceDance Revolution. The chorus is actually pretty catchy in a camp kind of way. My, my. Also, bands get no points from me for having a name that I can't figure out how to pronounce. This track is all over the place, and not in a good way. Fail.
- HERO - Days. - Wow, the opening is blatantly ripped from Green Day's American Idiot. Hey, you know I am smart enough to catch stuff like that, guys! This is watered-down pop punk at its very worst. The singer has one of the most nasal, annoying voices I've ever heard. Ugh. This is just kind of pissing me off.
- exist†trace - unforgive you - I hope I can count on ET for something a little more... rock. Thankfully, the opening is all dark guitars and shooka-shooka percussion. I like the shooka-shooka. Jou has such a lovely voice, and it's always nice to see an all-girl V-kei band doing so well. This song has a gorgeous melody and some positively soaring moments. Absolutely recommended.
- シリアル⇔NUMBER - SPACY LOVER - Did I like a SerialNumber song a few years ago? I can't remember... not a good sign. This is some more lightweight pop-rock, which I like when done well and despise when done poorly. This sounds like a track that AnticCafe threw away. Again with the pathetic nasal vocals. Match that up with a completely uninspired arrangement and you get... blargh. This hurts my heart.
- 花少年バディーズ - 落陽 - Is this a ballad? It sure starts off like a ballad, with some actually decent (if simple) piano and gentle guitar work. Hmm. The vocalist is okay, but certainly nothing to write home about. I feel kind of burned out on this kind of song, and it sounds like it would work better on a Christmas album, not on one released in the sweltering months of summer. Weird disconnect, but not horrible. :/
- Aioria - 光彩の沈殿 - Wow, bad keyboard/harpsichord that sounds like it was taken from a Castlevania soundtrack. Did Mana produce this? Didn't that era of v-kei kind of die? That said, this song at least has some drive to it and an arrangement that doesn't instantly put me to sleep. But the keyboards are really infuriating. And the vocalist does not have the kind of voice to pull off this style of pseudo-goth. I don't hate the song, but I'll probably never spin it again.
- 愛狂います。- 春夏秋冬 - This song opens in a bouncy, synthy kind of style that gives me hope for a decent oshare-kei track. As it continues, that's pretty much what unfolds. The vocals are cute, the lyrics are playful, and the musicians are at least competent (but nowhere near overwhelming). Do you remember the band Charlotte? This sounds like one of their lesser songs. Again, I don't hate it, but I won't cry if I never hear it again. Yay for ambivalence! (Also, 4:38 is too long for a boppy pop track. Keep it under 4:00, guys!)
- 【_Vani;lla】- AUTO DEィATH CUSSION -別会議 ver. - Oh my god... the chanting at the beginning makes me want to hunt these guys down and crack their heads together. The sneery, growly vocals are so obnoxious I can't even find the words... And I refuse to use a thesaurus! ARGH. Who thinks this kind of music is fun to listen to?! They need slapped, too! DELETE!
- ゴールデンボンバー - †ザ・Ｖ系っぽい曲† - Okay, I love the title of this song (ZA V-KEIppoi kyoku) as it means "The V-kei-ish Song". That's just kinda funny. It starts off with some very Vidoll-esque grunts, then breaks into some pretty typical half-spoken/half-sung vocals. We also get some dark, metally bits and absolutely cliche lyrics. As an actual song, this sucks, but as a parody of the hundreds of nearly identical songs being released in the v-kei world, it's kind of brilliant. I have to give them props for that.
- ベルベット - 四季 - It has to be a ballad, right? Yup, it sure is. Unfortunately, it's a ballad by a band whose singer can't really sing and the guitars are absolutely uninspired. This song wants to put me to sleep so badly...
- キャンゼル - Wish Upon a Star -first edition- - This is actually the first really mid-tempo track on the whole album. Sadly, it's a very very forgettable bit of white noise whose melody I will forget three seconds after I hit 'stop'. I used to like tracks like this, but they just bore me any more. There is no inspired songwriting, no clue that the guys put any soul into this song at all. It's a carbon-copy of songs from ten years ago. -sigh-
- 凛 -the end of corruption world- - Foolish - Please, Kisaki, do something to save this mess of a omnibus album. This is only Rin's second song so far, and it stays in the same vein as Phantasmagoria and Kisaki's other bands. Thankfully, Kisaki is usually able to write and (over)produce some decent songs. Riku sings in a way that conveys his passion about the music, even if I don't always dig his screaming. This is a heavy, fast track with no discernible melody in the verses... but the guitarwork has some nice moments, and there is a fun sing-along chorus that will surely become a fan favorite.
Final Thoughts: Well, I think the biggest problem with this omnibus is that it never knew what genre it wanted to be. It has oshare, pop-punk, dark metal, sappy ballads... It's the kind of collection that only pleases crazed fangirls/boys who collect ever track mindlessly. The only standout tracks were by exist-trace and Rin... the rest is throwaway filler trash. A big disappointment, because a lot of these bands are being heralded as the next best thing in young v-kei. That makes me a very, very sad person.
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