Okay, y’all. I got about thirty minutes before Between the Lions comes on, and I’m not about to miss my “stories.” Haha.
I stumbled upon this single entirely by chance. I liked the cover so I thought I’d give it a listen. I don’t know if you guys love experiences like that, but I sure do.
Luzmelt is a new-ish visual kei band that I had not heard of until yesterday. But apparently they played at Tekkoshocon back in April. They were right here in the U.S. and I didn’t even know it! They have released two mini albums called “Swallowed Scenery” and “Luz-Destination” which I’m going to check out as soon as I finish this review. “Sacrifice” is their first single.
Sacrifice begins with a slow piano opening, which to me felt like a tip of the hat in the direction of the older style of Japanese rock from the late 80s and early to mid 90s. Then the song explodes into a hard, driven rock paradise with some impressive drums and robotic-sounding vocals. Totally unexpected. The song is a great journey through many styles of music. It moves from classic rock, to some techno elements, and into a comfortable Visual Kei sound. I also have to give props to the vocalist. He seems very talented and for some reason his vocal style reminds me of Hyde in his younger days. The space-oriented PV for the song made me think of XodiacK’s PV for Kimi ni Furu Zetsubou no Ame. I miss XodiacK so much.
Under the Starlight is a nice compliment to the a-side. In fact, I liked this song just as much as Sacrifice. That’s rare for me.
The final song is a remix of a song called Blind Scope which I’m going to assume is on one of the two mini-albums. (Yup, it is. The original is found on Swallowed Scenery.) I liked this remix, but would not feel comfortable saying much else considering that I haven’t heard the original.
In Conclusion: I can’t wait to hear what other songs Luzmelt has to offer. In a world seemingly dominated by Visual Kei bands that all sound the same, its tough to find one that stands out. This band is seriously worth a listen because its not your average v-kei. The borrowed elements from other genres all work perfectly in their songs. Now, I can only hope that this band doesn’t suffer from “XodiacK Syndrome” and suddenly decide to break up as soon as I start listening to them. That would be enough to make me tear my lungs out through my ears. 
~Alisa~
Reader Question: What is the best song you’ve ever stumbled upon by chance?
Whoa they look like Final Fantasy characters. It might be the outfits haha.
By chance? ahhhhhhhhhh I need to think about this long and hard.
Setsuna by GReeeeN. Gosh I love that song. Though I love Haruka more, to be honest.
or. or. or. Sayonara Memories by supercell < )
Not sure if it’s the “best” song I’ve stumbled on by chance, but it’s once that I remember recently. I was on last.fm radio and I heard both “FREE FREE” and “ONE” by Ami Suzuki and I fell in love with her music.
Although I’ve heard the name tossed around a bit in the VK community, I never actually checked this band out. Lately I’ve been snobbing out a bit, I’ll admit. However, I would like to thank you for writing about them, as it finally inspired me to watch their Sacrifice PV- and I must admit, I was mildly blown away by it.
By the way…did you hear that the drummer and bassist are leaving the band? Thanks a lot for cursing them with that XodiacK remark! XD
Well, dang. I’m a jinx. I need to stop listening to Visual Kei because I keep messing up all the good bands!
I listened to both of Luzmelt’s mini-albums last night. Swallowed Scenery was decent, and Luz-Destination was fantastic, in my opinion.
Thanks! I’ll definitely check both of those out– especially the latter, since you recommend it so highly. Think you’ll be doing reviews?
Yeah well, I just hope that these guys bounce back and find replacements. There are certainly enough Jrock bands with a history of lineup changes and rough beginnings (didn’t the vocalist of DuelJewel leave the band like 3 times before finally settling down with them?). It’s certainly a bit harder to keep going on three legs, as it were, but hopefully they’ll manage. Don’t just become a good band for five minutes and then quit, right? ^^;
Exactly. I seem to recall hearing about problems with DuelJewel, and they are one of my favorite bands.
I plan on reviewing both mini-albums as soon as possible. You read my mind because that was what I wanted to tackle next. I also have a reflection article in the works as well. I’m trying to post more often to recover from my hiatus.
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