箱庭
2004/03/03
01. 脈
02. 楽園
03. 罪重なる罰
04. 灯
05. シカバネ
06. あの空は冷たい
07. ネツ
08. 友便
09. 革命
10. 蒼い鳥
11. 緋園
Oh hey, these guys sound like MUCC, sort of. Comparisons will be inevitable, especially with such a distinct sound, but Kalimero totally made it work and even added their own extra little spice into the mix! Their only full-length is living proof of that.
I'm not sure how well-known Kalimero was in visual circles while they were active, but I've always had an impression they are (still) tremendously underrated. Granted, they didn't stick around for too long either. As is the fleeting nature of the scene, I only got to taste their music not long after they disbanded. Somewhere I found the two music videos they released on DVD, so for a long time I was just watching those back to back. Band in smeared makeup dressed in minimalistic black playing their hearts out in front of a backdrop of industrial desolation: pretty cool.
One thing that's immediately apparent just from those two songs is how expressive vocalist Yuuki is. It took a little while for me to get used to him, but he really is the perfect elevating factor to the instruments with his slightly whiny but hyper-melodic singing that really feels like it comes from the heart. It's a cheap and shallow move to liken visual kei to emo, but I kind of hear something emo-ish in his delivery (through a VK filter of course). The other musicians are no slouches either. A tight rhythm section with a deliciously distorted bass sound lays the foundation for some jagged chunky guitar action that is occasionally broken up by cleans that sound borderline folky.
The album clocks in at a whopping sixty minutes (including the few-minute pause before a hidden closing track), and as such is quite robust. There is a certain sense of minimalism in the heavier riffs that are in turn countered by more upbeat sections, creating a good balance that lasts to the end of the record. The overall sound and atmosphere is so unified and dense that I can't really pick any highlights, everything flows together seamlessly. It's an album I can always reliably turn to when I just want some good ol' meat-and-potatoes heavy rock with an emotional edge. Also I realized just now that this album makes me think of hot dry summer afternoons somehow. Can't really explain why.
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