Sawao Yamanaka Tedious Man Sparta Locals Leecher Hamakita Tsubasa twenty seven MEG JOURNEY Four Tomorrow Self-Titled Perfume ⊿ (Triangle) Perfume GAME Qomolangma Tomato Limelight Blue on the Q.T. Yura Yura Teikoku Hollow Me Ging Nang Boyz 17sai		Pierrot Freeze Released: 2004.12.01 (UMCE-8403) Label: Universal J/Mystic Child Reviewer: James (2004.12.07) Tracklist 01 - Freeze 02 - Smiley Skeleton 03 - Performance 04 - Window 05 - Clown's Mutter 06 - Paranoia (パラノイア) 07 - Unmask 08 - Fukai Nemuri ga Sametara (深い眠りが覚めたら) 09 - Unkown 10 - Pieces 11 - Mycloud Review The title Freeze befits Pierrot's latest release nearly perfectly. When I first listened, I felt as if I were trapped in a frozen, monochromatic landscape, with nothing to see or hear save for a harsh gale howling and buzzing in my ears. Or at least that was my first impression. On subsequent listens the album improved, and within the context of its own songs, Freeze is not a bad hard rock recording. But looking back on Pierrot's prolific discography, it fails to deliver. Homogeneity is this album's biggest enemy. Pierrot's musical world of the past five or six years has revolved around a rather static group of rhythms, progressions and vocal paths, and since the release of 2002's Heaven the Customized Landscape just about all these elements had snuck into one song or another. Not surprisingly, Heaven's follow-up full length ID Attack was where the problems began to surface. On ID Attack Pierrot established the pattern of hard rocking, sometimes amelodic verses falling in line behind karaoke-ready choruses, and relied upon the formula the way American alt-rockers lean so heavily on the soft/loud verse/chorus structure. Furthermore, many of the songs on ID Attack sounded uncannily similar to older tracks, and that's because the band had started recycling elements from them. For a fan of Pierrot's creative output from their 1994 debut up to Heaven, these were not encouraging signs, and Freeze was a chance to try something different to reload their apparently spent repertoire of tricks. Hell, these guys are only around 30 or so and they sound like they're drying up like the 40-somethings in R.E.M. But Freeze sinks further into the mire that plagued much of ID Attack. The devolution of guitars is most obvious, as the same playing styles and rhythms dominate throughout. Aiji and Jun made for a dynamic pair in the past, but here it's rare (Smiley Skeleton) for them to be playing distinct parts that take advantage of them both. Similarly the vocals take a creative hit. Kirito's unique and powerful vocals are underutilized, even in the poppy choruses carried over from the last outing. The desperation of "Hill" or the pleading of "Kowareteiku Kono Sekai De" are completely absent. While Kirito's definitely trying to stick to the hard rock aesthetic his vocals are nowhere near as menacing or explosive as Private Enemy tracks like "Guernica." The most grievous of sins on this album is the continuation of the band's musical cannabalism. With nearly every song played, some element, whether the vocals in a chorus, the guitar rhythms in a verse, or even fairly minute picked notes had been pulled from some previous song, and before I knew it I was singing along with a different song over what was playing. The stake through the heart was that I'd much rather be listening to the originals instead of whatever was blaring off of Freeze. Eventually these songs start running together, thanks to the monotonic nature of the vocals and guitars. Even after several successsive listens I can only really recall "Smiley Skeleton"'s melody. That's the album's real failure, regardless of all the flaws I can pick off, that nothing on it makes me want to sit up and listen. Certainly, Freeze can rock loudly, and it's more than enough to turn up if I ever want to burn my couch and headbang while infuriating the neighbors. But for every song on Freeze there's another song in Pierrot's catalog that does it all better. And frankly with such songwriting and instrumental talent spread across all five members there's absolutely no reason not to expect more. This isn't a creative slap-in-the-face like Ride's Carnival of Light, but with all Pierrot's done in the past I hope they'll break out of their frozen stagnation and deliver something new. back to reviews
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