theGazettE - Derangment/Ibitsu Preview Reviews

A few days ago J-Rock/visual kei band theGazettE released two twenty second previews to what appears to be two singles releases (maybe) from their new upcoming album DIVISION which is due to be released on the 28th of August. Being a diehard fan of theGazettE when I saw these two video clips pop up onto my youtube home page a little fangirl in me squealed.

Ibitsu was the first clip I saw and to be honest even though it's only a small segment of the song I am very excited to hear the full thing. I love heavy instrumentation from theGazettE because it does make me pumped when I listen to songs of theirs that follow that pattern. I am also massive fan of Ruki's voice and because of the autotune that was heavily used in their last album TOXIC I was very happy to hear clean vocals in this song. The smoothness of the vocals and the simplicity of the effects used on the voice makes it simple and underrated when put together with the instrumentation so it sounds fantastic but it isn't too heavy for my little ears to bear. The music video does look simple in this with the use of the black and white and there are just clips of the band but then again this is only a small fragment of the music video so there may be a storyline that could also be showcased in this but who knows? We'll just have to wait and see. The use of the black and white does make the music video look sleek and clean, but this effect has been used in previous PVs before like Pledge and Remember The Urge so I hope there's something in this video that breaks it away from them other two singles.

I then listened to Derangment straight after Ibitsu and again I like this song as well but not as much as Ibitsu. This does sound like something you could hear from TOXIC so it does make me wonder whether they will be going with near enough the same sound for the DIVISION album. Again there is heavy instrumentation in this track yet again, but it seems more jagged whereas in Ibitsu the progression was much more clean cut for me. I do like the transition from Ibitsu to this though. I definitely see this as a single that will be released. The vocals aren't as clean on this due to some distortion and autotune on the vocals but it does add more layers to the song and allows it to be a very busy with the instrumentation. I really do like the cuts used in this video and how there are red filters on some shots of Ruki, and it does remind me of The Invisible Wall which was the first theGazettE song I heard so it's nice to remember those memories through this song. The storyline in this video seems to be centred around a male protagonist who is engaging in some sort of sexual activity with a female and for some reason he does remind me of the male protagonist from The Suicide Circus. Maybe it's the same guy? I am interested to see where the storyline goes. Again there are English lyrics in this song and I can hear it from Ruki's Engrish. I sometimes find it difficult to understand what Ruki is singing when he's singing in English but once I find the lyrics then I will be excited to hear what the song is about! They also seem to be maintaining the same simple style that they had from TOXIC so it is a shame that they have gone safe with their look because through their career they have been known to change it up to make it exciting but this time they've decided to keep it safe for their own reasons. Maybe it is to make fans concentrate on the music? Or maybe some other reason? Anyhow I do like this style even if some people may like their more extravagant styles that they have gone for in the past.

Both of these songs are amazing so it does make me as a fan get high expectations for the album. The title DIVISION sounds kick ass so I hope the album is too!

IBITSU: 10/10

DERANGMENT: 8/10