BUCK-TICK - Aku no Hana

One of Buck-Tick's earliest albums, Aku no Hana is nothing short of a masterpiece. A perfect blend of insanity, darkness and seduction, all wrapped up in an air of mystery and fantasy awaits you in the world of Aku no Hana.

Seek out the first three tracks, National Media Boys, Maboroshi no Miyako and Love Me if you have a taste for insanity and chaos. National Media Boys starts off with a strange beat and has an almost Bohemian Rhapsody-like chant interlaced throughout while the second track, Maboroshi no Miyako, has some Middle Eastern influences showing through.

Fans of the harder stuff will like the tracks Dizzy Moon and Aku no Hana, both of which have a rockin' eighties feel to them. Or, if you like mystery and fantasy The World Is Yours and Sabbat are sure bets. Sabbat gives the mental imagery of haunted castles and dark, stormy nights while The World Is Yours has a more mellow feel.

When everything is getting you down, you can find solace in the fourth track, Pleasure Land. The song features Atsushi singing very softly and gently to the soothing music playing in the background. The best way to describe this song is a short, but sweet, springtime daydream.

And finally, if seduction is your thing then Misty Blue and Kiss Me Good-Bye are the ones for you. The final track, Kiss Me Good-Bye, is perhaps the best song of all. The way Atsushi croons out “Kiss me good-bye...Make me cry” should be illegal!! That sultry voice, melded with the hypnotic way the music flows so effortlessly, makes this song seduction personified.

OVERALL RATING: 10/10. Nowhere else will you find such a balanced and almost perfect representation of everything that early nineties JRock (and Buck-Tick) should be.