In addition to AxU's comments...
Haven't heard Maid Attack, but if you're congratulating HRG on using guitars nicely, well, there's a few other labels out there that *gasp* use guitars nicely too. And guitar isn't a new thing to HRG in this song. Heck, those pics going around of the Avex Rave (or was is something else) performance of Velfarre 2000, you'll notice Rimonti there with a guitar strapped on.
The singing in HRG songs is nowhere near terrible (I know *I'm* not that good... yet...), but when you compare it to other labels...
Yes, every label generally has their own distinct sound, but still manage to do fairly different styles. In A-Beat-C it goes from the hard rock of Ace Warrior and J. Storm to the trancey Nuage, hyper Lolita/Go Go Girls and calm Norma. SCP has from Go2 to Christine to Pamsy, with the odd Scream Team to vary it up. Delta's done Dark Angels, the Niko style, Kevin Johnson's Rick Astley style. HRG has... HRG hyper and HRG less-hyper.
And I DO doubt they have the most expensive mixer in Europe. Heck, I doubt they have the most expensive in eurobeat. With Time and SAIFAM doing other styles, and the Rodgers Studio mixers are pretty darn nifty, and even SCP's Neve is fairly high end. And, as AxU (and Newfield (using mostly computer based mixing at times)) mention, it's not what you have, but how you use it.
An earlier quote:
Cosmic_Bard wrote:
HRG, on the other hand, would seem to prefer to stick to their guns and release fewer unique hits.
The heck? Looked at their catalogue lately? Looked at their catalogue since they've been on SEB? Gotta be a reason there's not all that much on there. HRG *does* put out some amazing hits from time to time, but if you listen to their releases, a lot of their stuff is TOO similar. I got ParaMoo when they first released their cds, and the "new" material, well, it showed why it never made it on Euromach. Even a couple that DID make it didn't impress me much. Like Panu said referring to Vibration in a review, but it applies to HRG too, when you have so little coming out on SEB, the ones that make it ARE going to be good.
Cosmic_Bard wrote:
Case in point, if people didn't like HRG, avex would probably think twice about using them as much as they do in SEB.
Conversely, if more people DID like HRG, Avex would probably think twice about using them more than once or twice a cd. (I really don't think you can use the phrase "... using them as much as they do..." when referring to HRG in SEB)
I don't want this to be a huge HRG bashing post, because I do like the occasional song they do. But personally, they are nowhere NEAR being the top label in eurobeat. Personally, I'd have rather them been kicked off instead of Vibration, had that been an option. (Although best is crowding everyone onto those 18 small tracks)