QROSS - Bloody†Cross

QROSS

ブラッディ†クロス

2001

1. Intro

2. 血賛歌

3. D (ディー)

4. bloody site

The dreaded time has come! I literally have no bands starting with the letter "Q" in my library, so let's take a dive into the murky depths of visual kei history and come back up for air with some... generic kote-kei? Fine by me!

QROSS is a band I wasn't familiar with, so I decided to do a bit of research but looks like there isn't much to know. They released this one demotape and based on one of their old flyers they might have published another demo and even a music video VHS, but the existence of those releases are debatable. Most of the musicians involved didn't do anything else that's noteworthy, except for the bassist who had ties to CROW-SIS (for like a minute) and Eye for you, and later Lanus Dune and Ruellia along with the drummer. Not exactly chart-toppers but names that might ring a bell for connoisseurs I guess.

Now onto the demo itself! The guys start us off with a properly cheesy and 'spooky' synth intro complete with spoken-word babble and random deranged moaning on top of a strangely upbeat swingy rhythm. Not the exact vibe I was expecting but not bad.

The title of track two has the kanji for "blood" in it, so you already know it's gonna be good. The synths from the intro make a ghastly return but then the band kicks into that typical dark and fast-paced kote-kei aggression. There's a pretty hilarious solo that's either played by a guitar with a MIDI effector or just a straight-up MIDI line. In any case, it bangs.

The enigmatically titled "D" is up next and it's basically more of the same punky craziness. It's the sort of same that I like though, so it gets a pass from me. Some sick vocal torture heightens the atmosphere of madness.

The tape closes with "bloody site", which is... yep, you guessed it, kind of more of the same again. This time the band treats us to a slightly more melodic affair, with stereotypical soaring VK guitar leads and fluttery frills which ultimately culminate in a nice chorus before the song abruptly fades out (it could have gone on for a bit longer).

Well, there you have it: QROSS's (possibly) only recorded output. Can't say that I'd purposefully want to listen to more from them, but it was fun to spin a couple of times. If you're a fan of this era of visual kei you'll probably find enjoyment in it, but objectively it's just one out of the many many similarly faceless acts of the time.