Voyage sans retour
review by Elec

In 1996, Malice Mizer came back after losing a singer, and found a whole new sound and direction with their new group. The lineup at the time of this release is Gackt Camui (vocals, piano), Mana (guitar, synth), Közi (guitar, synth), Yu~ki (bass), and Kami (drums).

TRACKS

1. 闇の彼方へ

Here’s an example where intro tracks don’t work. It’s just some sounds of lightning, thunder, carriages, horses, wolves howling…it’s just a gothic mess, and it upsets me because it’s like padding. There are only nine songs on here anyway.

2. Transylvania

Here’s an interesting sound from Malice Mizer—some thicker, not-so-fake sounding orchestrations. The violins are suitably creepy, and the thing sounds like a prelude, with how much it sounds like a concert piece.

The verse is the first time we hear Gackt sing. It’s deep, powerful, and smooth. He truly does have a beautiful voice, and he’s one of the few people who can record his own vocals over his own melody and make it sound perfect.

There’s sort of a break in the middle here, and for some reason I like it. It’s random enough to be interesting, and then some organs come in. And quotes from “Interview with a Vampire” never fail to impress.

I like the part in which they take the compression off of his vocals; it gives that section a bit of a chaotic feel.

This is a pretty good song, I think, but it definitely turns Malice Mizer into a slightly inaccessible sound. Everywhere, they’re touted as a Japanese rock band, but when someone hears that and then listens to this, I bet they’re a bit thrown off. There are no guitars in here, inaudible bass, and concert percussion. But it’s all right, because the composition is just smug enough to hold its own.

3. 追憶の破片 (R: Tsuioku no Kakera {not exactly the kanji written)

This song starts off with a fairly famous piano tune, the name nor composer of which I can recall at the moment. (My mother would kill me if she found out that I forgot!)

However, the tune then goes into some really nice guitar work at this sort of cool vibe, then picks up into the main guitar lines. It’s nice and all, but very, VERY repetitive.

The verse is quite interesting; Yu~ki plays a nice, technical bass line, and I have no clue what time signature Kami is keeping it in. The more a song reminds me of Yes, the better. That part wins, especially with Gackt’s harmony over himself.

I’m not a fan of the chorus, which includes the title in the lyrics, because it just really doesn’t do much. HOWEVER, the part immediately after the chorus, with the rock-out drums, where the lyrics are “dare mo tomerarenai” is one of the best parts on this album.

Then we go back into the repetitive line, but this time Gackt throws some piano over it to make things interesting.

The song lulls with this totally slow bridge thing that doesn’t fit at all, but it’s forgivable, as long as I can hear the “dare mo tomerarenai” part again.

The chorus, when they do the half-time thing with the piano, is a better chorus version than they normally play. It flows better.

Then, the song fades with the repetitive part again.

I keep mentioning that it’s repetitive, but I do really like this song. It has a nice groove that I can only attribute to Malice Mizer.

4. Premier　Amour

If you have any friends who are skeptical about Japanese rock, DON’T SHOW THEM THIS SONG. This has to be the single most embarrassing thing they ever put out. The chorus is catchy, which is a plus, but the instrumentation is overly prissy, and the schlock is just painful.

Gackt sings a lot of songs (especially in Malice Mizer) about two people walking about. It gets a little old.

However, just to say something good about it, I do like the part that goes, “mawashii hisashi no naka de boku wa kono sora ni…”, as well as the little music box bridge interlude, even though it doesn’t last hardly long at all.

I also like the little end calypso thing. Other than that, this song is sickly sweet. And not in a wonderful way.

5. 偽りのMusette (R: Itsuwari no Musette)

Közi’s writing is hit-and-miss, as far as my opinion goes, and this is a definite miss. It just plods along and doesn’t go anywhere. There’s always one “SKIP” song, and this happens to be it.

And while I think Yu~ki usually plays great lines, the very beginning of this song makes me cringe due to its simplicity.

I appreciate that they tried to do a classical dance tune, but it bores me to tears.

6. N.p.s.N.g.s.

I really dig the war-like vibe in this song, but I can’t help but think it’s like watching your little brother play a video game that you yourself are very good at, but they keep dying.

Like, this song sounds like it should be rocking out, thrashing, squealing guitars everywhere, but I just keep hearing it…not rock out. I try to push it along: “oh, come on!...you can do it!...no no no, don’t use harpsichord there…no, no synth bass, for peace sake!...yeah, rock!...Well, better luck next time.”

The chorus is pretty catchy and such, but just lacking…oomph, I guess.

I normally don’t talk about remixes, but the remix of this song as a b-side on the ILLUMINATI single is so much better. Not that this is exceptionally terrible (at least they try to rock out at the end), but the remix sounds like they smacked their foreheads and said, “Oh, so THAT’S how we can rock!”

7. Claire―月の調べ (R: Claire—tsuki no shirabe)

The first sounds we hear are old phonograph pops, and some pretty strings. Közi’s writing here is much better than track 5, and I find the chorus catchy, as well as the bit right before the chorus, in which Gackt sings an ascending pattern. It’s a nice phrasing job.

And steel drums = cool. I don’t know why. But fake horns = always bad.

The moment the bridge hits, the song suddenly gets really powerful and cool.

It’s one of the jazzier songs they’ve done, and while I usually disapprove, it’s a nice little tune. I also like the deceptive cadence at the end, where we go back to the strings on phonograph, and luckily it resolves to the major. Rather pretty, but nothing, like, epic or anything.

8. Madrigal***

This is definitely my guilty pleasure song. It’s got all the things I don’t like—prissy instrumentation, lack of guitars, lyrics about two people in love, and homage to a terrible piece of classical composition—but I can’t help but adore it. I mean, come on; it has a key change. Key changes are winners.

It’s here we notice a trend on this album, and in a good percentage of MM songs: chorus comes very first. It’s interesting, and a great way to hook.

The verses aren’t as catchy as the rest of the song, but that’s okay because the good parts, in contrast, make up for it.

I do wish, however, that Japanese bands would do away with choruses of girls singing “la la la la” sweetly.

When they come around to the chorus again for the second time, it makes you smile. And while the lyrics are typical Gackt fare, they’re really cute, I think.

GAAAHH NO; then they do this horrible little bridge that disrupts the whole song and they play Mozart’s Tarantella, I believe, easily one of the most annoying piano pieces in the world EEEWWW because then they use fake horns too YYYEEECHH—

But then it’s over, and we can move on. Thank goodness it’s short. The build-up, with the “I shall put it out of my mind” lyrics, is really pretty, and cute, and what? I’m not supposed to say things are cute. Ugh.

And then, a very deft key change, and a nice ending. Such a nice song. My favorite on the album.

9. 死の舞踏 (R: Shi no butou)

This song strats off with some slow organ, then a lone guitar playing the riff by itself, which almost sounds lame, but luckily it doesn’t last long and we go into the next part, the main riff with full instrumentation. I’m not a fan of the pauses at the ends of the phrases, nor am I a fan of the melody itself.

But the dual guitar part that leads into the first verse is awesome, rockin’, and technically difficult. WINNER.

This song has a decidedly more “j-rock” vibe than even some of the stuff on memoire, despite the Malice Mizer signature dual guitar parts, of course. It’s definitely an enjoyable enough song, it just doesn’t really stick out. However, it’s still better than tracks 4 and 5.

There’s another solo here, which isn’t bad, it’s just not played like a ‘guitar solo.’ It’s slightly amusing.

10. ～前兆～ (R: Zenchou)

This is a slower piano sort of ballad, arranged by Gackt, so we get to see how well he can write, or, of course more appropriately, arrange.

First of all, I love Gackt’s piano playing. I find it very evocative of emotion, and I really wish I could compose like that, let alone play like that.

The drums, especially the snare, are a bit too loud in the mix. I’d like to hear the bass brought up in the EQ more. The guitars, incidentally, are perfect where they are, adding sparse tinkles when necessary.

The middle to the end of the song is treated as sort of a piano solo, and I like what he does. It’s just ‘not the main part of the song’ enough to make you not realize he’s soloing until he’s almost done.

It’s pretty, and a good ending track.

MUSICIANS

Gackt Camui: Undoubtedly, he has an incredible, well-trained voice. I like his piano style, it has a unique touch. He also seems a touch operatic, which certainly helps with the music. He’s also a very charismatic performer and writes some pretty good lyrics.

Mana and Közi: Again, I can’t tell who’s responsible for what part, but again, when they’re playing their guitars, the work is impeccable. The keyword here is ‘when’. The rest of the time, they decided to experiment with the synths. Experimentation is perfectly fine by me, but they do miss the mark a few times here. But otherwise, they do write fantastically.

Yu~ki: There aren’t many opportunities to showcase any lines of note on this album, which is a bit of a shame. He plays well despite how he looks when he plays (i.e. a bit stiff is all), but he either wasn’t brought out too much in the mixing, or there really weren’t any standout parts here. At least he doesn’t stick out in a bad way, though.

Kami: I almost feel bad for Kami on this album. A lot of the songs are really, really prissy, and there aren’t any real opportunities to…drum. I mean, he’s keeping time and rhythm and everything, but other than track 3, there’s not much for him to have fun on. Gotta keep the drummer entertained.

OVERALL

I certainly seemed to have ragged a lot on this album, but honestly, I do come back to it quite often, especially to Madrigal. I can’t, however, feel anything but slighted: Track 1 is 26 seconds of noise, and track 10 is a short instrumental, which resembles more of a ‘ditty’ than anything. Yes, it’s long enough to be considered a song, and while being pretty and likeable, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. So, we get 8 songs on an album. Maybe it’s the indies thing, maybe it’s the Japan thing, maybe it’s both. Still, my personal conviction has always been ‘10 full songs, or it’s a mini-album.’

There are some good bits underneath all the prissiness here, but some of the songs are just far too cheesy. Luckily, we know it won’t last long.

Some people will fall in love with the sickeningly sweet compositions on Voyage, others might be completely turned off. Me, I’m in the middle. Maybe not their greatest release, but by no means terrible at all.