Laputa - Kagerou

Laputa

蜉～かげろう～蝣

1996/10/23

01. trance

02. Four leaf clover

03. MASTER～Go beyond dimension～

04. 迷子の迷子

05. Instead of ache

06. 止まない耳鳴り

07. かげろう

08. 硝子の肖像

09. Asleep & Awake～不眠と催眠～

10. 針の筵

11. Venus

Laputa needs no introduction as one of the legendary players of visual kei history. In the mid to late '90s they gave the world such a powerful series of releases that very few bands manage to in their lifetime. Today I'd like to highlight their first major full-length.

Getting into Laputa was a real treat because their discography had a healthy amount of variety but it was also surprisingly consistent (okay, I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of their last few works though). I don't exactly recall which albums I started out with, but I do have fond memories of chatting with passionate fans who sent me their favorite songs and a copious amount of photos of their favorite members of course (I still have a soft spot for bassist Junji!). The story how I got this particular album is actually pretty neat: I was ordering some other CDs via a shopping service and they included the "Kagerou" album as a first-time gift completely for free. What a score!

Due to this being my only Laputa CD for the longest time, I probably listened to this album the most out of all their discography, thus it has a bit of an added sentimental value for me. Even if I didn't have that, it's pretty clear upon hearing the record that the band was in top shape at this point. Everything is in its right place, from the production through the musicianship down to the songs themselves. It might take you a while to get used to Aki's signature nasal tone (which only got more, uhm, 'characteristic' over time) but once you're in the zone you'll realize that it's an integral part of the Laputa experience. Equally important is Kouichi on the six-string playing his heart out, probably one of the more technically impressive visual kei guitarists in the game (back then at least).

If you're into '90s VK at all I think it's strongly advised to check out "Kagerou". Since it was Laputa's major debut album (they already had a mini and a full-length in their indies period) it has that perfect balance of sleekness and explosive power, delivered by a band who sounds hungry to show what they've got. They'd perfect their formula even further on the next few releases, but for a raw distillation of classic '90s Nagoya kei, this album is among the best of the best.