Memoire review by Moonlightprince

Moonlightprince

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when people today talk about Japanese rock often associate it with otakus and freaks who dress up singing manga music. it's a shame that many people for lack of musical culture do not open up to other bands and markets beyond the close and everyday in their culture. When we talk about Malice Mizer we are talking about genius, originality, innovation, and creator of a unique world that if you know how to appreciate it will captivate you forever.

This is my first humble-simple review and I hope you like it. I'm not a critical music expert so I hope you get an idea of my feelings towards each song on the album.

"Memories" is the band's first album and plunges us into a journey into the past memories of its members.

De memoire: In this first cut we listen to a piano intro that takes us deep into the world of memories expressed in this album. Many will think that an intro is worthless and does not contribute to a musical work, but I respect all opinion for me if it does, serving as a link to what comes next.
In this case I always imagine a spiral staircase that takes us to a corridor until we finally arrive at the lounge that we can see on the cover of the album.

Kioku to Sora: The first time I heard this song I didn't like it at all. I saw Tetsu singing extremely strange and not used to his way of singing. With time and understanding the meaning of the song you realize the reasons.

The song maintains a great energy from the beginning with the punctuation of the bass and the background organ that I like so much. The guitars fit very well completing a quite tetric gothic atmosphere.

Egge umi ni sasagu
: very quiet song that transports us to a quiet Aegean sea. I love the guitar score at the beginning accompanied by the incessant bass next to the waves that gives the sensation that is waiting for us to walk the beach of this place.
Tetsu takes a more melancholic position and not as energetic as in the previous song, until the end of the song where he returns to get a great feeling when singing.

Gogo no sasayaki: Rhythm of Bossa nova that goes from less to more providing something different and quiet.

Miwakuu no Roma: Captivating song about the city of Rome that begins with energy and keeps that melancholy that has the whole album, also adds a violin at a certain point of the song that brings for me rightly a good classic element to the song. Something that the band has always done excellently in all their work.

Seraph: The song begins with a piano entrance that seems to take you to heaven just as its lyrics narrate and ends when. Tetsu this time takes romantic tones among the instruments that keep the song magistal, adding violins strategically added to give an angelic atmosphere in which that seraphim the song speaks of seems to raise us to the clouds to go with it and ends with the piano fading.
Everyone gets their interpretations out of the lyrics so I leave it up to you to find yours.

Baroque: A song we can only hear in the DX version of the album. The song begins with the sound of a bell and envelops us with a classical-baroque atmosphere that remains throughout the song. Tetsu sings again energetically and with a lot of feeling with an overwhelming chorus that will leave you breathless, then the song continues to maintain a good rhythm with special mention in certain melodies of the guitars that lead to the classic Bethoven "Fur Elise" momentarily.
The song ends with the sound of the bell and the ambient lugubre after the last phrases of the song:

As a final contribution I think that to be the first work of the band was very good and we can appreciate a little idea they had of what they wanted to do in the future.
 

Hampo

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I have to say, I'm a bit surprised someone wouldn't like Kioku to Sora at first listen if they like Malice Mizer. To me that song is so MM 101. Tetsu's vocals especially fit the melodramatic tone that the band loved and the outro really sounds like all the future MM albums. It's like a taste of what's to come.

Memoire is genuinely pretty amazing, but it was a pretty bold move from the band to say "let's not put our best songs on the album. Just leave them on demo casettes lol." I'm kidding, I do like the songs on Memoire better, but still... It would have been nice if they re-recorded their demo songs in better quality and threw them in as bonus tracks or something. The album in general is pretty short, even the DX version that adds Baroque. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. At least it doesn't drag.
I'm one of those suckers who own both releases, lol.

I'm glad that Gackt joined the band, because the MM albums with him are 10/10 stuff, but I do sometimes wonder what it would have been like if Tetsu continued with them. Why on earth did he leave before recording a proper studio version of Ma Cherie?! Goddamit. Based on the live recordings, I might actually like his take a bit more than Gackt's.

I'm sure everyone here have already heard this one, but here it is anyway
Gackt is an amazing vocalist, but there's really no way you can beat Tetsu in his own game.
What do you even call his vocal style when he was in MM? Melodramatic wailing? I'm pretty well versed in the old school western gothic rock, which is full of interesting vocal styles, but I've never really heard anyone sing like Tetsu does. Maybe it's a Japanese thing. Or maybe because he was more rock and roll. Dunno.
 
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