Post
by WNight » 26 Apr 2016, 14:45
Alright, time for a little review of my own of what is the best album of the 230s so far.
01. Hero / Ken Martin
I still don't care for Saifam as a whole but I'd be lying if I say this song didn't catch my attention. I also have to say I do not buy Saifam tracks from Juno so I don't get an early bird bonus like some of you do. Their way of production (i.e the tom-tom beat thingy, not good with musical jargons sorry) is probably still what I'd consider the worst style among all the labels present on this album. Fortunately, this song has a very strong melody with the chorus being the highlight of the entire track, but the rest of the song are fairly strong in their own rights. The way the word "Heroooo~~~" is sung, especially the ends of the chorus is single handedly what ups the enjoyment factor of this track for me. Vocalwork is fine, I have no preference for vocalists when it comes to Saifam, I'd just be thanking the heavens if they can put out something worthy of attention like this track instead of being a "skip button bitch" wasting a slot on an SEB album all the damn time. I'd give them this, at the very least, this is 10000000x more inspired than most of their usual faire, which is much, MUCH more than I can say for 99% of their especially atrocious female tracks.
Grade : 3.75/5
02. I Wanna Be A Star / Lolita
Having fun you Gobbi fans? I am not the biggest Gobbi fan around but this song deserves every bit of love it can get. Gobbi has been singing eurobeat for ages, but I haven't heard her sing anything in this umm, disco-ish(?) style (Sorry, I am not good with genres, because I mostly only listen to eurobeat) before and that's something definitely deserving of praise at least. Also, such a style of eurobeat doesn't usually get much from me but this is something different. From the starting intro when I heard her sing that "I Wanna Be A Star" and her "ohhhh yeahhhh!", I knew this was going to work. What really makes this work are the vocal parts, they are not the "average GGM" faire (i.e nothing noteworthy), every portion flows nicely, beautifully constructed and dare I say, Gobbi delivering a style of vocals that doesn't have her screechiness on overdrive, which makes it a MAJOR highlight of the entire track. She has not sound this good for a long time, and never has she sounded so convincing ever since she made the move to GGM. A special mention also needs to be given to the lyrics, which while still doesn't make complete sense from an english perspective, is at least trying to say something instead of what usually basically amounts to plain useless texts. Of course, I am not going to let this one go, the song is not SO good that I can overlook the short length of this song, so I'm taking this one down a notch. Overall though, eurobeat or not, this is an excellent piece that qualifies as what I feel is one of Gobbi's best track and of course, Gobbi's best track ever on GGM, a feat not so easily achieved when you consider the amount of eurobeat she sang and the time she has been on GGM with mostly sub par stuff.
Grade : 4.25/5
03. Boom Boom Booster / Tora
The weakest links of this song are the verse and that sub-par bridge. It just does not flow well with pretty much everything else about this song, which is a pity because they are 5/5 material, the chorus especially. Overall, a very nice song with some minor but not fatal flaws. Not much else to say about this one.
Grade : 4/5
04. Forbidden Love / Cherry
What's going at the Delta studios lately? I swear Mr Matteo Rizzi and the gang at Delta are on freakin' fire. One hit after another, the creative juices at Delta recently has been flowing at an all time high and it seems there's no stopping them! After a slew of aishu, it seems they finally decided to give Clara an upbeat track that of course, still has aishu themes because let's be honest, Clara and aishu just goes together but nothing too dark and gloomy like "My Last Breath Of Love". Honestly, what else can I say about this song besides excellent? Hearing that introduction was enough to sweep me off my feet. It's beautifully sung, it's a very energetic song and it has semi decent lyrics as well. The best part of this song has to be the middle break where Clara sings "Forbidden love, love I keep on dreaming. Forbidden love, love that I regret". I don't know what it's about the part but it sounds the closest to this song being aishu and it just makes me smile hearing it all the time. All in all, this is a great, great, GREAT song, absolutely loving it!
Grade : 5/5
05. I'll Never Break / Ace
Delta took a break from delivering aishu, and apparently SCP decided to take it on to them to deliver something melancholic and naturally, who better suited to such a task than the crooning prince of SCP himself. This is a song that is probably going to evoke the age old topic of "Is it eurobeat?" but honestly, I couldn't care less. This song is awesome, and anyone who disagrees can fight me with torches and pitchforks. This is perfect, and there's so much aishu being jammed into this song, it makes me leak tears with joy, but honestly, listen to the chorus, just listen to the damn chorus, it's hands down one of the most awesome chorus I've heard from SCP ever since "Walkin In The Shadow", and that was a good 10 years ago. Not even "Heavensent", which is in my opinion, probably the best Ace song ever to be made managed such an incredible chorus. Beautiful melody, beautiful vocals, serviceable lyrics with some kind of message I guess, insanely infectious chorus with such an enjoyable yet heavy mood to it. A good song? Hell yeah.
Grade : 5/5
06. Firegun / Vicky Vale
Clara back for a 2nd round, the high level of the album is not slowing down one bit at all and Delta is still burning hot. Ironically, it's Vicky Vale delivering the aishu melody this time while Cherry becomes bubbly. Apparently, Mr Rizzi is not involved in this track, and it sort of shows. No matter though, because this is epic level stuff. This song is catchy to the maximum, and unlike in 236 where the Vicky Vale track was very unfortunately shoved to the sidelines by the far superior Cherry track, this time round, this VV track is just as good as the Cherry track, which makes for a double dose of awesomeness from the Delta studios. I don't like the lyrics on the chorus here though, I mean, the taste of kisses, fireguns and desire, sorry, but seriously?. Anyhow, excellent song, and for those who dislike this track, Delta needs to have a firegun pointed at your skull.
Grade : 5/5
07. Do You Remember / Aleky
Pretty much what you'd expect from a Dima female track that is not Stephy (debatable, but just for the sake of review) : Predictable, bubbly and safe. Not that I am complaining but one could also make the case that it's nothing extraordinary. The only few parts that I find particularly noteworthy are the verses and the synth inserts in between each line, very effective use of minor elements! Other things include a decet vocal melody and of course, Aleky's vocalwork, I love hearing her sing and it's been so long since I heard her sweet voice. The rest of the song is okay, nothing really substantial but serviceable at the very least. Either ways, good to be able to hear Aleky again.
Grade : 3.75/5
08. Blat The Trumpet / Jeff Driller
A weird title Hi-NRG track with probably the funniest yet at the same time, super catchy melody ever. I have loved and hated a ton of Hi-NRG track in the past and am not generally a fan of songs which has wacky themes, but none have came close to this song making me laugh while wishing I could give 100 likes to this song if it was a facebook status. Seriously though, this was unexpected, the preview for this song sucked, but this might, MIGHT very well take over "Piston Go" as my favourite male sung Hi-NRG track, and here's the thing, I have no idea what "Blat" is and I don't even like Federico as a vocalist as compared to Malvicino! That's how much I like this song. Alot of why I love this song is mainly because of the riff, which is downright hilarious sounding and in turn, makes all the rest of the song so much better. Also, those trumpets, ahahaha. The at first annoying introduction slowly became rather ... umm, adorable after a few runs of the song and the wacky "Blat Blat Blat" weren't even an issue anymore. In short, I am sold on this song. It's incredibly wacky and all, but my god, it has one of the best sounding melody from the label in recent albums. Try not to LOL while listening to this, I don't think it's possible.
Grade : 5/5
09. Baby Baby / Ciao Ciao
Malvicino Hi-NRG Attack, again, excellent BGM makers, but it seems as though most of the time, 99% of the effort went there. Vocal portions are mostly either half assed or dare I say it they simply aren't very talented in that department. Not saying that Festari era Hi-NRG Attack was any better but ... let's be honest. Fortunately, this time, they are not blatantly rehashing the same old melody structure but maybe, just maybe, they could very well be masking it somehow, who knows? I am not totally sold on the vocal portions but at the very least, the production is slightly on the meatier side as far as Hi-NRG female tracks go, which is very much a plus, and the BGM is plain excellent. However, I am still not totally on board with Elisabetta's vocals but at this point, I dare say she fits the style of the label perfectly and I'd feel out of place if I were to hear another woman on Hi-NRG's tracks. All in all, by Hi-NRG's standards, this is actually a rather nice piece. A solid 4 at the very least thanks to their knack for BGMs.
Grade : 4/5
10. Shoot! / David Dima
Whenever I see Dima's name now, my instinct would be for me to compare it to "Spirit Of The Night", which was pretty much the "perfect" Dima track. "Shoot!", with it's lower tempo and calmer atmosphere is obviously not going to measure up, but the song is not without it's merits. For a start, I don't think anyone will claim this to be the catchiest melody considering the huge discography of Dima, it's okay at best and might be good when I guess you need a chill or something, but I am certainly not the target audience for this kind of track. Also, I could be missing Sun Fire or something but this song gives me a really heavy Dave Rodgers vibe, like I could totally see a song like this coming from the studio of Pasquini and doesn't even help that "Tell Me" was released just a mere 2 albums ago, which gives me extremely similar feelings. Bottomline, I could give this song the same review I gave "Tell Me", it's not the song I am expecting from Dima and I would be lying if I said I wasn't feeling mildly disappointed. Of course, one could make the argument that a diverse style from artist is always good, and yes, I'd buy that argument, so is this a bad song? Not at all, it's still after all a Dima production and the David Dima alias at least, doesn't do bad songs. The guitar solo was impressive enough for this to be an easy 4 pointer at the very least. All in all, I enjoyed it for what it is but with songs like "Spirit Of The Night" and "Insomnia" just a few albums ago, this song is at best, a "part time" that I would listen once or twice before going to something else. Again, nothing against this track and I know there are audiences who would devour this track, but just a matter of preference.
Grade : 4.25/5
11. Walk In The Sunshine / Lilly
Again, Malvicino era Hi-NRG Attack, great background music makers, average vocal melody makers. I say that all the time but it's pretty much what in a nutshell, my general opinion towards the label as of this point. This track has a stronger chorus than "Baby Baby" but not so much in the riff department. Guess you can't really have the best of both worlds, but I'll say this though, the two female tracks here are without a doubt, very worthy follow ups to the all around excellent "Girl In The Night" instead of whatever it is on the last two albums, so again, while I don't know what else I can say about Hi-NRG female tracks in general considering they're sort of the way they are, but I'll take this one too.
Grade : 4/5
12. Fun / Jager
This guy was once an upcoming fan favourite from SCP, with even a whole website dedicated to this man but his output has been so sporadic that it doesn't even seem so relevant anymore, which is a shame because I thought he had immense potential to deliver the more "non eurobeat eurobeat tracks" from SCP. "Fun" fortunately, is not some Adam Lambert ripoff which is nice. The production, thank heavens, also sounds meatier than what has been served mostly on the SCP plate as of late, especially anything that isn't Hotblade and after the fluffiness they peppered all over 237 (yes, even the Fastway song isn't some hard stuff, what an irony). Still, this song is pretty much what you'd expect out of the Jager name, club/radio friendly eurobeat that will give most traditionalist a major heart attack if they were made of cotton candy. The track does shine best during it's chorus though, at least that's how it goes for me. The rest of the song is pretty much "club music", that's all. I personally love hearing Jager's voice too. Either ways, I love this song but again, it could benefit from a stronger break, which would in turn increase it's length. At this point of time though, you might have an easier time catching flies while wearing boxing gloves than see SCP do songs past 4:25.
Grade : 5/5
13. Kiss Again / Les, Ana & Roberta
Les, Ana and Roberta in a single track. If Sinclaire didn't give his all in this one track and it ends up as a crappy piece of music, I would DEFINITELY mock him with the intensity of a thousand suns. Thankfully, he sort of delivered, rather impressively too. First things first, the introduction is interesting, but I have no idea what's going on what with the whole marijuana thing but with the "Come on!", the show officially begins, Les sings and right there and then, I was sold. The synth usage is still tradiional Sinclaire and not the "Tearful Eyes" Sinclaire but with such a strong melody, I got over it pretty quickly, much more I can say than most other Sinclaire female track. The song also benefit most from having a very memorable chorus, and some cool elements like the short but extremely seductive sounding "comeeee~" near the end of the track. However, I don't think anyone will disagree with me when I say that Les completely steals the show here, and that's not just because she has the most exposure in this track but because I totally fell in love hearing her low, somewhat manly voice. Ana's distinctive and sharp voice was great too, I wish she had more parts and Grana, well, she probably has the most "socially acceptable" female voice among the Sinclaire female roster so no complains there. I would like to make a bold claim just for this song though, the song's 5 minute run time is way too short, while it's nice to have a line up like this, I just feel like this song could have been "The big one" and needed a longer run time and more parts to give each female the time to shine instead of this being somewhat mostly of a Les showcase in my opinion. All in all, this is pretty much "girl power" that could have been fleshed out more, but as it is, it is certainly one of the more memorable female Sinclaire track since "Tearful Eyes".
Grade : 5/5
14. All Over Me / Pamsy
It's amazing how much the previews can differ from the full version. The preview for this track absolutely sucked, it was boring as hell and I was ready to knock this track off. Thank the heavens because the full version is an excellent track! This track is pretty much the definition of what Pamsy is all about, trancey eurobeat that again, might probably piss off a bunch of traditionalists but, let's be honest. It's actually a good sign that SCP is doing something with their introductions while sure, is nothing to write home about, but their habit of beginning song with just an altered version of the chorus is not good and is frankly one of the worst ways to make a good first impression in my opinion. With that out of the way, the riff is still nothing to write home about but one of the defining parts of this track in my opinion is that trance beat in the background, one could say "BUT IT'S JUST A BEAT!" but it's proof that even the smallest elements can make or break a song, at least that's how it goes for me. The preview also picked the wrong chorus to showcase, the first portion of the chorus where Pamsy sings "Stars all over meeee~" is one of the stronger portion of the song and would have made a better first impression had it been on the preview. The trancey "break" starting at 2:53 to 3:15 was A-W-E-S-O-M-E, and was what eventually sealed the deal for me that this is indeed, not just a normal good SCP female track but an exceedingly great track that deserves to be put into my top 10 personal favourite female SCP track hall of fame. SCP, you totally rebounded from the low that was 237, with 3 bullseye in a single album, you guys are awesome.
Grade : 5/5
15. Hysteria / Manuel
And we end off this amazing album with the wildman of eurobeat who I suppose, based 85% of his tracks on "Bohemian Rhapsody". The title of this song could not be anymore well fitting, the song begins with a ominous build up that eventually explodes into for the lack of a better word, a hysteric, over the top riff before taking a slight drop in the wildness in the verse and bridge before once again delivering an explosive and very well sung chorus that is sure to have you on the edge of the seat before again, unleashing a super good instrumental BLAST at 3:11 that lasts for a good 30 seconds or so. Basically, this song is just an outright testosterone injection that delivers hard punches every single moment, and rarely lets up, essentially making most of his other tracks in the past regardless of label seem WAYYYYYY too tame for this tiger eurobeater called Manuel K/Caramori. Vocalwork is also as impressive as usual, I mean, let's be honest, it's Manuel, delivering bad vocals is not his job, delivering flamboyant over the top vocalwork? Most certainly!. Again, the song ends way too fast at a mere 4 minutes but the advantage this song has over the Lolita song is that it sounds a whole lot more "complete" and therefore, I am willing to look past that fact for this track. In conclusion, I have not heard a Manuel song more raw and exciting than this, and because of it, I hereby deem it : THE BEST MANUEL GGM SONG EVER. A great end to an amazing album. Also : Remember to eat your vegetables! Manuel says so, so you should definitely follow it. Weird choice of lyrics, but good lord they're insane, I'll take them.
Grade : 5/5
Top 3:
Bottom 3:
HM:
To hell with this, the whole album is awesome.
You and me like a fire tonight
Me and you 2 guardian angels
Now I feel your touch into my heart
A ray of sun~
- Guardian Angels / Oceania
½
