When I saw a friend shared this, I just have to share it as well because it amazed the hell out of me as a Filipino, a Japanese music fan and a visual kei fan as well.
First off, I noticed that they seem to be going on tour here in the Philippines. I was pretty surprised by the idea because this is actually the first time I've heard and seen them. I'll do the promotions later since I'm not really a fan or anything. I'm just one of those pretty amazed person seeing a news that a vk (visual kei) band is performing in the country despite not being one of those big shot vk bands such as the GazettE and Alice Nine and vk still not being that popular in the country.
Now, let me go through my impression of them, their song and their performance(:
As someone who calls myself a vk fan, I have to sincerely admit that I haven't really gone through a lot of bands since I'm pretty picky with the music. The looks doesn't entirely matter but it makes an impact. Uchuusentai NOIZ's looks is one of those vk bands that I honestly avoid. My type of vk bands include: vistlip, Alice Nine and ViViD; I mostly listen to typical jrock (but if you consider them vk, I guess it can't be helped) such as: UVERworld, ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D, Fade, ONE OK ROCK and My First Story. I write the line in there marking vk as a part of jrock. Vk are those bands who give effort on their appearances by wearing make up with standout clothing and hair style and such (you get the point). Now going back to Uchuusentai NOIZ, I have to honestly admit that I dislike their obsessive use of make up and their style of being a 'cosplay band'. I remember watching the PV of Shiny Tale by another cosplay band, Mix Speaker's,Inc. and believe me, I'd rather listen to the song and read through the lyrics and translation than watch the PV. Those colorful hair and costume and those make up probably got my impression of Uchuusentai NOIZ pretty low since I'm more of those bishie vk bands with their amazing vocals, music and PVs that I barely get my eyes off. LOL.
Musically, Uchuusentai NOIZ isn't entirely new to my ears. They seem typical and probably one or two times my fave vk bands have probably done something similar to their style. Of course we're all looking for something new and refreshing to listen to every now and then so, I won't be browsing this band's songs and see which song has a unique sound since they seem generic. Now, I'll go through their performance and comment stuff that caught my attention in this song.
First off, I'd like to comment on the vocals. I like how good his pronunciation of words is. There could be mistakes of one or two but that makes him pretty amazing because it's honestly somewhat difficult to pronounce words that aren't your native language unless you've been using it for more than 1 or 2 years perhaps. I've listen to vk bands (or Japanese artists in general) singing in English and their pronunciation varies (hmmm… I'd like to talk about this but probably some other time). Anyway, his voice on the other hand isn't really that impressive for me. Of course there could be people going against it depending on one's type. His voice is pretty far (or not really) from my type of voice. If anyone has heard of vistlip and Alice Nine, Tomo's and Shou's are my fave because they sound very distinguishable from other bands and mainly because they sound really good. Tomo's somehow high-low voice and Shou's manly (LOL) voice.
As for the musicality of this song and their performance, I'd say that it's pretty decent. I've heard this song countless times when I was in high school and I even remember a number of bands doing a cover on this when we had the first ever Battle of the Bands in out school. This version is relatively fast but good to listen to as well. This style isn't entirely bad for the song and I'd say that Uchuusentai NOIZ had actually made it a bit catchy. And no, it's not bad. The drums (which I always try to listen to in a song) isn't really outstanding. I'm disappointed. LOL. It seem pretty flat for me. Their drummer should try listening to vistlip's Tohya or Alice Nine's Nao or even Kra's Yasuno. As for the guitar solo, I have to admit that I liked it. It's not as good as Alice Nine's Hiroto and vistlip's Yuh, but probably on par with SCANDAL's Mami. LOL.
Wrapping this post up, I know I may sound a bit bias here (but honestly I'm not) but I personally find the original version sound a lot better. Comparing the two, the original version may sound a little slower than the cover but I like it that way. The guitar solo was a pretty nice touch for the cover and their version is pretty good as well so I have to hand it to Uchuusentai NOIZ(: I hope that they'll have a successful tour here in the country :D
Now for the final note, as seen in the video, Uchuusentai NOIZ will be holding three live concerts at Davao on September 7, 8 and 9 and here in Manila on September 15 and 16. For more details, drop by this page: Uchuusentai Noiz in Davao 2012.
