[kuro_neko]

yeeeeeeees, a new non-hater fan to the forums, whats up?

I gotta say that this album is quite polished. after a few listens each song gradually manages to grow on you and overall there are only one or two tracks (I'm looking at you, season sayonara) which haven't managed to grow on me. overall the lyrical content is really interesting and probably the best Ringo has done (Uki too, for his part) since Adult. Zettai Zetsubou really stands out in my mind as having amazing lyrical content (the entire song is about being oppressed by sadness). I guess I get why Kimaru is so popular, it is something radically different from Jihen, but I got to admit I actually prefer some of the more hyper work on the album. What didn't work for Variety really works on songs like Noriki and Uten Kekkou. I don't get why people have been hating on Sweet Spot, but Karada was really loved back in the day. Lyrically and sonically, Sweet Spot sounds just fine to me!

edit: thought this was interesting (and sure to piss some people off), but the lyric booklet lists izawa kameda and hata on their respective instruments and chorus, but ringo is listed as "vox, guitar" and uki is listed as "guitar, vox" so they are being billed as dual vocalists (which makes sense considering he has significant vocals on several songs on the album, including FOUL, which is really a Ringo Uki duet the entire song). Just thought that was kinda interesting.

also, the album is number 1 on iTunes (overturning We Are The World For Haiti "album") and Kachiikusa is somehow the most downloaded track with an insane amount of downloads, followed by Denpa Tsuushin and Zettai Zetsumei.

its also number 1 for daily ranking on Oricon, having sold 31092 in first day sales, with second place having 13597. Adult is the only other Jihen album to debut number 1 (Kyouiku and Variety were 2nd). Just for comparison, Variety sold 106, 686 its first week, but only debuted at 2nd, so it will be interesting to see how much this album sells total week.