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gackt_army**all remarks are the opinion of those posting. Please be considerate and thoughtful in your responses, we look forward to your personal thoughts on what Gackt's new work means to you.
I was pondering where Gackt was going with the JESUS concept, and knowing that he is revisiting the themes from his REBIRTH album of 2001, down to the Neo-Nazi costumes, I wondered how truly 'new' the sound would be.
As the song opens, we hear the static sound that opens Secret Garden, as well as the accelerating notes from Redemption so the shouts that come after are almost a relief. The melody line, I feel, does not copy any existing Gackt song, and gets you right up to speed. Not being a musician, I can't be specific, but everything sounds tight to me.
I think Gackt sounds great in this song, a comfortable range for him, and the English was a not unpleasant surprise. I usually prefer songs in all one language, but I just think, how odd to just shout out in English in a Japanese song, though I hear this constantly in Jpop-Jrock. I can comprehend the English fairly well.
The song has a great drive, I enjoyed the little layers (machine gun behind the drum beats) and the shouting chorus works for me. (This will be great to drive to VERY LOUD in rush hour traffic)I think you can fit it in the category of Gackt Sound, but it's new enough to me to be enjoyable. I think it's a newer sound than last year's RETURNER.
Now, as for the theme of the lyrics, I've heard some say, this is a song about suicide, but I think that's too simple. I think 'wake me up' and 'take me out' and references to pleading to a prophet (any prophet be they religious or even political, or Gackt himself) are about Rebirth, the desire to move on, move forward, in this life. And Gackt's goading you to 'just do it' don't look to a deity* but find the power within you. That's the personal interpretation I'm sticking with, just going on lyrics and not the visuals.
*I've read a translation of the article in PatiPati where Gackt states the cry 'Jesus' in the song challenges (any) god if they are out there to 'come and help' - so I'm glad I got that right.
THE VIDEO -
Clammy, claustrophobic and dark, if Gackt had to get back to Requiem et Reminiscence, it looks more realized this time. I only wish we could see a little more, as the screen stays quite dark, and I don't get clear shots of GacktJOB. The focus is however, on Gackt and the figure of the man in the Luftwaffe Uniform.
The NAZI reference here is interesting, I don't know if it's intentional that the uniform of the protagonist is grey and not black. The uniforms of the regular Soliders were grey, the uniforms of the Secret Police within the Nazi Army were black - which is what Gackt and GacktJOB are wearing.
The idea of ritual suicide among the military is not exclusive to the Japanese, it was also Roman, and many of the Nazi Army's insignia (standards) harkened to ancient Rome. The scenes in Gackt's JESUS brought to mind the story of the German General named Edwin Rommel (Known as the Desert Fox) the one adversary who was laudable to the winning Allied powers after the Second World War because of his honor toward captured enemy soldiers, a refusal to persecute 'undesirables' by sending them to concentration camps, and becoming involved in a attempted coup on the Dictator Hitler. As he was a popular Hero in Germany, instead of being killed in an execution, his family's lives were to be spared if he agreed to commit suicide, which he did.
This makes Gackt's role as instigator in the video, goading the man to put a gun to his head, an interesting figure. I enjoyed the flashes of the skull through his face, and after so many repeated scenes of the gun to the head, the only way it could have ended satisfactorily *spoiler*
was for the man to shoot himself, luckily, without gore, but by the reaction of my friends list, quite powerful.
I was pondering where Gackt was going with the JESUS concept, and knowing that he is revisiting the themes from his REBIRTH album of 2001, down to the Neo-Nazi costumes, I wondered how truly 'new' the sound would be.
As the song opens, we hear the static sound that opens Secret Garden, as well as the accelerating notes from Redemption so the shouts that come after are almost a relief. The melody line, I feel, does not copy any existing Gackt song, and gets you right up to speed. Not being a musician, I can't be specific, but everything sounds tight to me.
I think Gackt sounds great in this song, a comfortable range for him, and the English was a not unpleasant surprise. I usually prefer songs in all one language, but I just think, how odd to just shout out in English in a Japanese song, though I hear this constantly in Jpop-Jrock. I can comprehend the English fairly well.
The song has a great drive, I enjoyed the little layers (machine gun behind the drum beats) and the shouting chorus works for me. (This will be great to drive to VERY LOUD in rush hour traffic)I think you can fit it in the category of Gackt Sound, but it's new enough to me to be enjoyable. I think it's a newer sound than last year's RETURNER.
Now, as for the theme of the lyrics, I've heard some say, this is a song about suicide, but I think that's too simple. I think 'wake me up' and 'take me out' and references to pleading to a prophet (any prophet be they religious or even political, or Gackt himself) are about Rebirth, the desire to move on, move forward, in this life. And Gackt's goading you to 'just do it' don't look to a deity* but find the power within you. That's the personal interpretation I'm sticking with, just going on lyrics and not the visuals.
*I've read a translation of the article in PatiPati where Gackt states the cry 'Jesus' in the song challenges (any) god if they are out there to 'come and help' - so I'm glad I got that right.
THE VIDEO -
Clammy, claustrophobic and dark, if Gackt had to get back to Requiem et Reminiscence, it looks more realized this time. I only wish we could see a little more, as the screen stays quite dark, and I don't get clear shots of GacktJOB. The focus is however, on Gackt and the figure of the man in the Luftwaffe Uniform.
The NAZI reference here is interesting, I don't know if it's intentional that the uniform of the protagonist is grey and not black. The uniforms of the regular Soliders were grey, the uniforms of the Secret Police within the Nazi Army were black - which is what Gackt and GacktJOB are wearing.
The idea of ritual suicide among the military is not exclusive to the Japanese, it was also Roman, and many of the Nazi Army's insignia (standards) harkened to ancient Rome. The scenes in Gackt's JESUS brought to mind the story of the German General named Edwin Rommel (Known as the Desert Fox) the one adversary who was laudable to the winning Allied powers after the Second World War because of his honor toward captured enemy soldiers, a refusal to persecute 'undesirables' by sending them to concentration camps, and becoming involved in a attempted coup on the Dictator Hitler. As he was a popular Hero in Germany, instead of being killed in an execution, his family's lives were to be spared if he agreed to commit suicide, which he did.
This makes Gackt's role as instigator in the video, goading the man to put a gun to his head, an interesting figure. I enjoyed the flashes of the skull through his face, and after so many repeated scenes of the gun to the head, the only way it could have ended satisfactorily *spoiler*
was for the man to shoot himself, luckily, without gore, but by the reaction of my friends list, quite powerful.
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Date: 2008-11-13 08:25 pm (UTC)I have nothing against revisiting themes in music, but I was also wanting to know if Gackt would write a song that didn't sound like something he'd done before, since he'd fallen into that rut a bit. A friend of mine made a good point - albums like Mars, Rebirth, Crescent had songs full of epic unleashed sound, and then songs that had less dynamic energy but just as filled with emotion: freesia~op. 1 and 2~, Mizerable (despite not being on the album), memories, seven, etc. These songs were not only strong by themselves, but also boosted the impact of the more-heavy hitting compositions.
With Diabolos though, there was much less variety, Future being the only real song that was soft, and since then we haven't seen that kind of variety on a body of work of his.
It was as if he'd gotten a little caught up with trying to sound hardcore rock, and had abandoned the more reserved sound; the combination of both had really strengthened his albums before and people noticed the lack of it with Diabolos, hence the accusations of writing a lot of music that sounded the same.
All that said, the energy he has in his interviews that have been recently translated is awesome to see. He seems very enthusiastic about this tour and this upcoming album. So I'm really optimistic he'll be able to deliver in a way that will shock and delight. I wish I could go to the concerts, too, but I'll just have to beg my friends for tour goods!