It has been a heck of a long time since theGazettE have released any new material so when I found out that they were releasing Fadeless as a new single I was over the moon. So when I finally saw the PV today I knew that this was the song I had to review for this blog next. For two reasons: 1) It's theGazettE my all time favourite J-Rock band so it made perfect sense. 2) There have been a lot of releases I've been wanting to review this week but I wanted a change of pace from my usual idol posts and break the ice with some J-Rock. A lot of people I know online know that I love idols and idols are very popular but it's nice to always meet people who love the Japanese rock scene too. I also am in love with J-Rock too as a genre so I always like to review some J-Rock from time to time!
With their ten plus year career, theGazettE have received an amazing amount of success and have become one of the most popular J-Rock bands in Japanese music history. Their latest single Fadeless is being released on the 21st of August and I just know that this song will reach the same success as their past releases.
Now let's get into this awesome PV shall we?
Woah girl! I I love the nails, the red is fabulous and the nails are fabulous. However, they do need a little trim don't they? We don't want them catching on anything do we?
A-a-are you? You look like...Lady Gaga! Forgive me your Highness your nails are beautiful, everything about your style is beautiful. Please don't unleash your monsters on me...
Okay, I've got her in a good mood...for now. Phew!~~ Well hello there Reita, where are you off to?
Another awesome band performance? He doesn't look too happy either...must be something in the air.
Ooooh pretty butterfly! I love pretty things!
Silver: Hey guys, I don't know exactly where I am. I'm meant to be dancing in Lady Gaga's show but I think I'm in the wrong place.
Reita: Guys just ignore her. She's a fangirl and follows me all of the time. Do not maintain eye contact and she will leave!
Now I know why he isn't such a happy bunny...us fangirls can be quite a handful!
I absolutely loved this shot, there's always something about Aoi smoking that tickles me in all the right places >.<
And of course the B-E-Autiful Uruha <3
Uruha: Now pout, this is gonna look fabulous in the shoot!
Aoi: Let me just finish my cigarette, I do have smoking rights!
I am a big massive fan of these shots, it's such beautiful gothic imagery. They don't have anything necessarily to do with the PV but they do look pretty anyway.
Lady Gaga: C'mon gurls we gotta go! I have a show to do.
Uruha: I haven't got my cherry chap on! Don't let Lady Gaga see!
Ruki: You girls keep ruining the shots dammit! Fine, if I date one of your fangirl dancers will you finally leave...
He soon lived to regret it however...this lady was a lot more hands on than he liked.
Ruki: Er..guys...any help here? I take my decision back!
Oh Kai my little cutie you finally make a debut into this PV! The blue lighting in this is just beautiful!
Ruki is getting more and more angry and I don't think there is anything I can do or say to help...
Uruha: Ignore him, he's always the little diva. Just pout like I do and be fabulous!
Uruha: Aoi gets the drift, but do not outshine me! I am the pouting king!
Uruha: Yep, that's right. Bow down before your King! One does not simply pout as I do!
I do have to say even though Reita does keep his face covered up in all of theGazettE's PVs, his bling bling makes up for it! I really love that jacket, gimme!
Ruki's date isn't improving at all so he tries to distract her with small talk.
Ruki: So...er...what do you do for a living? I bet it's a lot of hands on work
Meanwhile, Aoi decides to steal some of Uruha's spotlight...
And HAIRFLIP!!!
Ruki: Okay when I said hands on I didn't mean you had to put your hand there...STOP!
And while Ruki is performing in the music video shoot he tries to use hand gestures to hide the fact he's trying to wipe away the guilt and shame he had from dating that awful fangirl! And the imaginary germs...
Ruki: My germ phobia is getting into overdrive!
You can tell Aoi and Uruha and very serious performers and wanna practise their performance characters.
Uruha: Keep poutin', apply lipgloss, keep poutin'...
Aoi: Keep smoking, this is my last one I've gotta make it last!
Lady Gaga's finally realized that she is going to be late for her show so she's trying to do big massive hand signals to bring her girls back over!
Aoi is finally in the zone now! He's fulfilled his smoking habit so he can finally get back to into the zone
Aoi: Let's rock guys!
Uruha: That's the spirit!
Finally, now that the bad moods in the room are finally lifting, it's time for Uruha and Aoi to keep everyone smiling...hopefully
Lady: So...err any plans for this date then?
Now that this lady has finally got her claws into Ruki she now clearly has no clue what to do. Your planning skills are awesome gurl!
Well there's a chair opposite, and some lovely candles. Why not actually be normal and have a lovely candlelit dinner? (AS IN SCAT AND KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THAT GORGEOUS MAN XD!)
The thought of Ruki's date is making the guys hungry.
Uruha: Dude, can you smell any cooking?
Aoi: No, Uruha. Do not get distracted now!
Keep your rocking spirit going Aoi, keep theGazettE spirit alive!
Ruki has finally caught on with my idea of a normal date after he's seen the chair and the candles.
Ruki: Er...I'm a little hungry...is dinner cooking?
Another artistic shot, I love that blue butterfly the shade is so pretty!
Erm...can we go yet? Lady Gaga we're gonna be late for the concert is she finished with her date yet?
Ruki: I have had it up to here today. The music video shoot is ruined and after this disastrous date all I want is a good dinner...comprende?
I think Kai has also got the same idea. After all of his drumming, while all of this stuff has been going on, he is finally exhausted and wants to finally eat. I know the feeling Kai, I know the feeling!
You want me to make dinner? I think Ruki has made a mistake, I have a show to go to.
Pfft she really doesn't know how to cook. Her plans to date Ruki have gone up in flames. Bitch please!
So we're leaving? Finally! But can someone guide me out of here I can't actually see.
As much as Lady Gaga loves her weird fashion she does need to make sure it's safe and doesn't blind her performers xD How are they to perform with their eyes closed?
Ruki finally waves the girls off and is so relieved that he can finally get back to his music video shoot.
I bet the other guys aren't pleased that their front man has been slacking off for a woman. This is their big comeback, they need him!
Oooh pretty!
Aoi: Ohhh so now you come back after another rejection? I know the roadies are hot but we do need to concentrate now!
Kai: Is dinner done yet?
I feel a lot of pity for Kai, not an awful lot of shots and now he thinks he is having dinner when his hopes are gonna be dashed. Poor Kai! Let's hope someone else stands in to make dinner. I can make a good cake? Anyone?
Now that the girls have given up their hopes on digging their claws into theGazettE they can finally return to their show.
Lady Gaga: Silver lady, follow the light and we'll get back to the concert!
I can see the light!
Kai: Is dinner done yet? I'm gonna drop any moment!
Reita: *sighs* fine! Now after I've done my kick ass bass solo I'll make dinner. I don't see anyone else volunteering.
Reita: I'll guess I'll have to clean this mess up as well. Ruki, next time you bring one of your roadies here I ain't cleaning up.
And Reita finally saves the day by making some good food!
And the beautiful butterfly finishes it all off! Pretty!
I don't know where I was going with these screenshots, I guess I kind of made my own wierd storyline that kind of doesn't make sense? It's the day of their music video shoot and of course with Lady Gaga being Lady Gaga she crazily allows one of her dancers to have a date with Ruki against his will. Therefore because he disappears to be on this date the whole music video shoot goes topsy turvy. Uruha and Aoi don't really know what to do so they keep practicing and hope that everything goes fine. Kai keeps doing his thing but then as they all realize that this date is a fluke and the woman realizes she can't make dinner, she leaves with Lady Gaga and the rest of her crew. This leaves the guys hungry for food, and the silent Reita decides he'll make dinner to keep everyone happy. So strangness aside let's get into this review!
The PV was a very fantastic video, and as much as I loved it there were some features of the video that I have seen before in previous music videos. The red setting and the suit that Ruki wore in the band performance shots did remind me a lot of Red but the appearence of it was very different to Red as well because the shots of Red were very shaky whereas the camera shots here were very much more clearer so I could see the setting of the band shots much better. I know these guys also like their women and they always have some sexy women being placed in most of their music videos somewhere so it's no surprise that Ruki has one giving him a very special massage.
I really loved the pacing of the shots throughout the music video too so it showcased Ruki as the frontman but also showcased the other members of the band well and having cuts between the band and the "story" shots were at an excellent pace too. I also loved where the different members of the band were placed too, usually each guy as their solo shots but they also got paired up into different shots too with Uruha and Aoi paired up and then Reita and Kai as the other pair. It added a little more variety to the set up that they usually have with their PVs.
One thing that I was really in love with was the gothic imagery within the music video. The whole set up of the chair with the candles created a really unorthodox romantic setting and it looked quite beautiful despite dark imagery of the shots. The close up shots of the woman with the butterfly and flower on her mouth were also shots that I loved as well and I'm sure they had some symbolic reference to them, but due to not having an English translation of the lyrics I have yet to know what the symbolism is. The use of the color of the blue butterfly and the red flower also allowed a clear connection between the shots with the use of color. The blue of the butterfly connected with the shots of the gothic settings whereas the red flower accessorized well with the red room shots and then the flower and butterfly shots connected to each other so it was a nice, clean, creative circle throughout the PV. A lot of PVs I know like to have an awful lot of creativity to them but if they aren't connected or make sense with each other then it makes the PV look messy and over the top and I am glad that this video doesn't do that.
theGazettE also looked fabulous in the music video and even though they are known for their very extravagant V-kei fashion in the past I am glad they were very simple in this music video. They managed to maintain their signature look but didn't go over the top with it to make a statement. And yes I did notice Uruha's fabulous hat! He does suit very feminine fashion! I also loved Reita's studded jacket too, I'll have to see if I can find one similar to it.
What I loved about this song is how it showcases how theGazettE can mesh different genres together. At the beginning of the song they manage to put their heavy rock instrumentation together with RnB female vocals and it works well together. Before I listened to this band I could never imagine putting together RnB and metal musical components together but these guys manage to make it work and I guess that's why I love them a lot! This song was also very reminiscent of some of their older songs that I really enjoy like Filth in the Beauty and Red but at the same they also managed to make it very fresh. I was also very surprised to see a lack of amazing guitar solos off of the amazing Uruha and Aoi like their amazing guitar solos in Pledge, but then at the end of the song when I heard Reita's kick ass bass solo it made up for it! The bass is a very under appreciated instrument I think and I am glad Reita got to showcase his talent at the end. Now let's just hope Kai gets his spotlight next with an amazing drum solo! Despite the lack of guitar solos of the amazing Uruha and Aoi I did love how their guitars sounded in the middle 8 phrase when Ruki went for softer vocals. They way they were mixed were pleasing to the ear.
The first thing that captivated me with theGazettE when I first heard them was Ruki's voice. His voice is an amazing recording voice and really pulls you in when I hear it in a single or album song and that's what made me want to listen to them more, of course along with their music, but Ruki's voice was the main component that pulled me in. Once again he executed amazing vocals in this song and I loved his whiny vibrato throughout because it really emotes the meaning of the song very well even though I don't know what the lyrics actually mean. Then with the backing female RnB vocals, especially as they shone in the chorus, it contrasted with Ruki's voice very well and made the chorus rise out like a phoenix in the flames. The melodic vocals of the song really make this song enjoyable to listen to because a lot of theGazettE songs become my favourites because of complex instrumentations, but the instrumentation was much simpler in Fadeless. I am just very happy that the vocals filled up the gap instead!
As much as I love the song and how much I know I will be replaying this song over and over again, there wasn't anything new from the band that was put into this song. Once again, they managed to combine older and newer elements of their music to make a classical theGazettE song. However, it hasn't made much of an impact on me (like literally making me squeal at the first listen) as a new release like Vortex did. However I will definitely be purchasing the album this single is featured on when it is released.
This release once again makes me realize why theGazettE are all my all time favorite V-kei rock band.
RATING: 8/10
If any of you guys have any requests for me to do, anything J-Pop then please send it my way! Thanks for reading!