[ALBUM] 3rd "AMARANTHUS" and 4th "Hakkin no Yoake"

Flowercreek

Just finished the first round of both albums. Amaranthus is definitely my favourite, though I think Hakkin will be more of a grower. I feel like many of the songs don't pop out the same way they did on Amaranthus, but I still really liked it, so I think I'll discover more depth to the songs on further listens. Add to this that Hakkin has the most songs I have already heard, and thus less excitement value.

But Amaranthus, wow! I felt like every song really had its own thing, and even the sound often changed radically between songs I still felt that it had a great flow. I've also always been a fan of Naitemo Iindayo, and I've liked Seishunfu (not a favourite though), so I don't mind the inclusion. It was just kind of odd hearing songs that I've heard so many times before among completely new ones, which kind of interrupted my flow (another reason why Hakkin didn't feel quite as good). But I think that will smoothen out as I become more accustomed to the other new songs.

Highlights!
We Are Born: I've been humming on this one since I first heard it a couple of weeks back.

Monokuro Dessan: Loving this. It sounds like something that could've been played at school discos in the 50's. I'm imaginge the school dance scenes from Grease or Back to the Future with this as the soundtrack. Really, really good.

Saboten to Ribbon: This is wiiiiild. Encapsulates the feeling of the album cover.

Mahoro Vacation: The first time I heard this in the MV preview I wasn't completely sold. But since then I've heard it on Folk Mura, and the more I've heard the more I like it. That slap bass is groooooovy.

ROCK THE BOAT: You can hear the Britney Spears in this. It's cool.

Low points:

Happy Re:Birthday: I don't dislike the song per se, but I think on Amaranthus it's the most boring one. Maybe along with Katte ni Kimi (though that one may grow on me)

On Hakkin I'm having a hard time finding "the worst song". There were a few ones that didn't really stand out to me, like Couhntry Rose and Imagination, but I wouldn't say I dislike them. I'm gonna have to give it a few more listens before I decide on that.

stansfield123

Paco said:
^;-)
I think a few of the new songs will get higher votings from my side. After listening more to them.
Every release after GOUNN was for me more or less "okay" (mediocre). I loved Momoclo because they experimented and surprised me - but after GOUNN (well, I felt a little bit before that a small disappointment with 5th Dimension which I loved but I had a few small problems with it) ...
It is good that you like the songs more. Enjoy it! I will listen to them but find my "music heaven" with other groups (I hope). ;-)

Unfortunately, I share your disappointment. I like some of the songs (and will probably grow to like them more, after I listen to different versions and arrangements), but I wish they were more edgy. I was hoping for a lot better than this.

I haven't heard every song yet, but I heard most, and, as of now, the only song I really like is Mahorovacation.

ebizori

My opinion is the same like Paco. I'm not a fan of "Z no Chikai" too, listen it only 3 times at all. New albums are good, but I can't give them more than 7. (7,5 for Hakkin no Yoake maybe). My hope for a new album of Ebichu is bigger now.

cinnamonpie

I finally had enough time to go through the whole of the two albums, so I'll give my early impressions of the tracks. I'll skip the intros and old songs because there isn't too much to say about those.

Overall, I like these albums a lot. It seems that Momoclo's staff have heard some of the complaints about the more recent material (too little Momoclo identity due to too many collaborations, less creativity, too much mainstream sound, etc.) loud and clear, and these albums present the most diverse and experimental work they've had in a long time (maybe ever). The other thing that stands out a lot is that everyone's voices have improved a lot, and they can put a lot more of an emotional feel into songs now. There's a noticeable tendency to dial back the tempos on these songs compared to past stuff, and there's a lot more ballads than before; I'm guessing this is done to showcase the improved vocal talents. I also notice that there seem to be a lot more challenging vocal lines than before, probably for the same reason.

So far, I'm in the minority and probably like Hakkin no Yoake more, mostly just because all of the most standout tracks for me happen to be on there. I haven't gone through them enough to say which one feels better as an overall unit yet.

Track-by-track comments are in the spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

Amaranthus:
2 - WE ARE BORN: I thought this was going to be mind-blowing from the instrumental preview, but everything other than the piano parts seemed kind of standard. 7.5/10
3 - Monokuro Dessan: Feels kind of like the counterpart to Hakkin no Yoake, but I find this one more interesting. It has quite a fresh sound for Momoclo imo. 9/10
4 - Gorilla Punch: Upbeat rock song as expected from Akirastar, but it throws a few more twists than usual. Shame that the guitar solo is so short, when it actually got a special credit. The chorus and the part after kind of make me think it's like a "sequel" to Momoiro Punch :D 8.5/10
5 - Buryotogen Nakayashimo Monogatari: Also as expected from Hyadain, an interesting song with tons of changes of musical theme. I don't know if I'm totally sold on all the transitions, as some feel like they're there just to make it more "progressive". I'll need to listen to this more though. 8/10
6 - Katte ni Kimi ni: I knew from the previews of this that this was a concert anthem in the making. Could be this era's Hashire! 9/10
8 - Saboten to Ribbon: This is pretty awesome. It brings back the quirky side of Momoclo that I've kind of missed recently, and the beginning is amusingly grandiose. I wish there were more parts like that though. Edit: Also have to agree with Flowercreek that this song basically is like the soundtrack to the cover art :) 8.5/10
9 - Demonstration: This one and its counterpart on the other album are total rhythm game music. 16th note synth runs and drum fills everywhere. Straight up my alley, although maybe not to everyone's tastes. Also, the part at the beginning with dialogue sounds like a recording of a scene from Love Live lol. 9/10
10 - Futsu Kuwa Hana: The instrumental part was quite neat, kind of like a mix of country music and traditional Asian music. The rest wasn't really too interesting to me though. 7/10
12 - GUNS N’ DIAMOND: Wow, the rest of the song doesn't sound at all like I expected from hearing the chorus. The title kind of suggests that this is supposed to sound like something from a heist movie, which I'd agree with. I would prefer a chorus that goes more with the verses actually. 8/10
13 - Bye-Bye de Sayounara: This is quite a neat song. The part where the male chorus comes in was pretty unexpected, but cool. I also like the sing-along la la las. 8.5/10
14 - Happy Re:Birthday: I thought this was going to be something crazier, being from the same person as Otome Sensou. I didn't find it that interesting, although the drumming was nice. 7/10

Hakkin no Yoake:
2 - Tougenkyou: Pretty catchy song, and the funky guitar at the beginning is cool. Is this a sign of the future sound of Momoclo? 8/10
3 - Hakkin no Yoake: I've never really been able to get into this one, although I like the first part quite a bit. 6.5/10
4 - Mahorovacation: This is the standout song of the two albums imo. Pretty much everything that's good about Momoclo blended together seamlessly. 10/10
6 - ROCK THE BOAT: It's pretty much a straight cover of Dangerous. Not really my thing. 6.5/10
7 - Kibou no Mukou He: I'm not really into the ballads, but I like this one more than the ones on Amaranthus. Has quite an anisong sound. 7.5/10
8 - Country Rose - Toki no Tabibito: I never would have expected something called "Country Rose" to be this weird. The subtitle is fitting, as this one is as confusing as jumping into a time warp. I feel the same about this as the Hyadain song on Amaranthus - it might be throwing some of the weird transitions just for the sake of being weird, but I'd need to listen to it a lot more to wrap my head around it. A translation of the lyrics might help too. 8/10
9 - Imagination: Much like Demonstration on Amaranthus, but even heavier on the electronic sounds. Sounds like something straight from Beatmania IIDX, like this:

9/10
12 - Ai wo Tsugu Mono: The chorus and upbeat parts of this really sound like Moon Pride. The rest of the song kind of feels like it doesn't go that well with those parts, but I do enjoy each individual section. I think I like it more than the other Hyadain one right now. 8.5/10
13 - Mo Kuro Ninaru Hate: This song is a lot of fun. More quirky Momoclo style. 8.5/10
14. - Momoiro Sora: Probably the best ballad on the two albums. I like the chill funky guitar parts a lot, and it has nice vocal melodies. The verses are maybe a bit repetitive though. 8.5/10

I hope the sales are good - these albums obviously had a lot of effort put into every song and deserve a good result imo.

momomofu

My favorite songs
1, Mahoro Vacation
2, Buryotogen Nakayoshi Monogatari
3, WE ARE BORN
4, Gorilla Punch

The sales are probably bad.

Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/music/ref=pd_dp_ts_m_1#1
TOWER RECORDS
http://tower.jp/chart/13
HMV
http://www.hmv.co.jp/bestsellers/11000000/
TSUTAYA
http://shop.tsutaya.co.jp/cd/rank.html?rankingId=51
Yahoo
http://shopping.yahoo.co.jp/category/2516/721/724/ranking/?sc_i=shp_pc_ranking-cate_mdRelativeRank_column1-title
Bunkyodo
http://ranking.bunkyodo.co.jp/rankings/rt_detail/4131/1
Rakuten
http://ranking.rakuten.co.jp/daily/101240/

momomofu

Oricon(February 16)
http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2016-02-16/
1. 38,481 Momoiro Clover Z(Hakkin no Yoake)
2. 38,120 Momoiro Clover Z(AMARANTHUS)
3. *8,977 KANA-BOON

AMARANTHUS
1st - 38,120

Hakkin no Yoake
1st - 38,481

5TH DIMENSION
1st - 102,855
2nd - *31,521
3rd - *16,184
4th - **9,891
5th - **8,742
6th - **8,297

vimoral

I do not know how we should interpret the results to measure the success of the release, and perhaps to be fair we should add the result of both discs (I'm sure if 2th dimension had been released while another disk had not sold much)

In any case I am very pleased that they have occupied the top two positions.

socialanimeguy

Bit lower than I expected but don't think it's much to worry about. Have to consider, 5th Dimension got a bigger push with the crowd not usually interested in MomoClo and that got it really high first day sales, plus it seemed to have weeks of store displays and TV adverts ect prior, I don't think any of the new albums songs got performed till We Are Born on Music Station a few days before release so likely many didn't know if they didn't follow the massive online push. In that respect I honestly think it'll go stronger through the first week than 5th Dimension did so not really worried that much the sales seem a bit lower

EDIT: Yeah, and like vimoral said, unless a MomoClo fan it's likely you only bought one or the other and would buy the other later, and with 5th Dimension some fans would have bought both the BD and CD LE so 2 sales so I think it evens up to add them together. I just think it'll have a longer tail and do stronger the rest of the week in comparison to the huge drops 5th Dimension had after day 1

EDIT 2 (sorry): Another thing: official release is 2/17 as well, and these are the sales for 2/16 because lots of stores broke street date by a day, which suggests it'd get strong sales on day 2 (which is technically day 1) as well http://i.imgur.com/Gt0t2cL.png

MM305

I'm surprised the albums are not even on sale on Japanese Itunes!

Invader

I'm not sure how to measure the results either. I'm more inclined to count them separately because they are completely different albums, not just different editions.

I think it's more realistic (and fair to other groups) to count it as their 3rd album selling 38,000 and the 4th another 38,000. You can't really say "momoclo's latest album sold 76,000 copies the first day" because that isn't true.

If tomorrow is the real release date let's see how they do.

stansfield123

I think those numbers are really good. They're on track to at least 100,000 each, maybe more.

Not gonna make any year end sales lists, but enough that we can expect even more new songs soon. Maybe even another album next year. Keep in mind that Momoclo aren't a group that needs to live off album and singles sales. Those sales just need to be good enough to justify spending the money and effort to produce them.

And, unlike Maku ga Agaru last year, these albums look like they've achieved that. So we can expect more albums...not so much more movies.

stansfield123

socialanimeguy said:
EDIT 2 (sorry): Another thing: official release is 2/17 as well, and these are the sales for 2/16 because lots of stores broke street date by a day, which suggests it'd get strong sales on day 2 (which is technically day 1) as well http://i.imgur.com/Gt0t2cL.png

So online sales (and pre-orders) weren't counted yet?

Invader

Finally had time to listen to Hakkin no Yoake so here it's my review (once again too long for this forum):

http://invadermcz.tumblr.com/post/139489946344/first-impressions-hakkin-no-yoake-momoiro

In the end I liked Amaranthus much more than Hakkin no Yoake. After listening to Amaranthus I though it was much better than expected and got my hopes up, so I Hakkin no Yoake was a bit of a letdown.

Someoneelse

Yay I got my two versions shipped from Amazon today :) Can't wait to get them!
I have only listen to the singles we all know of course, and Gorira Punch (or what it's called), and it's really awesome like the rest of you say :)
I bet it's about Godzilla punching King Kong :P

dj_mischief

ok, here's my 2 cents on the albums. first off, I don't think I went in with super high expectations - so I'm actually very satisfied. I've been skipping the tracks that were previously released for now, just to get to the new music. The way I see it, neither BAR or 5th Dimension were totally great all the way through (don't kill me). We all have our own preferences - and the great thing is there is something for everyone...usually the more quirky the better.

Amaranthus
Favorite tracks are We Are Born, Monoclo Dessan, and Guns N Diamond. After that probably Buryoutougen Nakayoshi Monogatari and Saboten to Ribbon.
The one track I just can't get behind right now is Demonstration.

Saboten to Ribbon is one for me that really needed to sink in. First reaction was what the...?!?! It was a cross between a Polka and an Amusement Park. But then it is really catchy and quirky...in otherwords, its very Momoclo.

Hakkin No Yoake
Def Mahalo Vacation is my favorite. But I think that Tougenkyou, Hakkin no Yoake, Ai Wo Tsugu Mono and Country Road are pretty solid as well. I think someone said it already, that this one might have to grow on you a bit. Nothing really stands out after Vacation. But, I'm guessing that Country Road is the one that grows on me. Again, the style and tempo changes and randomness is catchy.

cinnamonpie

Hmm, I thought the sales would be a bit higher, but it's not too surprising that they'd be reduced a fair bit by having two albums at once. Getting both of them is probably pretty spendy for the average CD buyer, especially the limited editions. Still, I'm glad that they chose to give us so much new content at once, even though I'm sure they knew it would probably hurt the sales. I really feel like they were trying to address a lot of the things that fans were less happy about with the recent singles.

Hopefully these albums will have a long sales life though - the music is interesting enough that I could see random people choosing to pick it up for quite a while.

Someoneelse

Cinnamonpie, I don't think this will affect their sales negative.
AKB does almost the same thing, release their albums in an A, B and Theater version, all with the basic album and a "bonus" disc with totally different songs, so that the fans HAVE to buy the albums at least 2 times if they want all the new songs. Really shitty in my opinion, but for some reason it works.

Regarding Momoiro in this case, there are two completely different albums and you don't need to buy the same one all over again to get different songs. And as for me, I ordered both albums because I see them as two stand alone albums with new material, I want both :)
But since I don't have a Blu Ray player and prefered the font covers for the regular edition, I only got the regular ones but it sure cost a lot that too.
But I'm sure I'll be satisfied when I get them :)

Someoneelse

Man, my grammar do suck when I get a migraine.. it should of course say "front covers", not "font" :P

socialanimeguy

stansfield123 said:

socialanimeguy said:
EDIT 2 (sorry): Another thing: official release is 2/17 as well, and these are the sales for 2/16 because lots of stores broke street date by a day, which suggests it'd get strong sales on day 2 (which is technically day 1) as well http://i.imgur.com/Gt0t2cL.png

So online sales (and pre-orders) weren't counted yet?

A better way to put it is more that many people may not have necessarily gone out to pick it up because it was advertised as releasing 2/17. Not sure what's counted tbh

And I think it's fair to count as one release for other reasons mentioned, most won't be willing to put to 2 albums at once unless they're a fan, comparing to AKB for that is a bit silly I think as the fans would have to buy both yes, but I think arguably many MCZ fans would've bought 2 with 5th Dimension and the difference is with more casual observers of MomoClo's music who may only buy albums, may not put basically 7-8000yen down on 2 albums at once so would only buy one, fragmenting sales

MCZ

Does anyone found a lyrics for a album not kanji
#Mcz

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

Momoclo's Event Calendar