Nano - Unborn Child's Dream

No album with Chisato’s guitar playing could be bad, and if you’re a Penicillin fan you wouldn’t consider Unborn Child’s Dream a waste of your money. But, putting on my schoolteacher’s outfit, specs and a stern expression, I’m sending the guys away with “could do better” written in big red letters on their report.

Positive things first, though. The guitar playing is very good, particularly in the solos, where some rather attractive shreds emerge. The album as a whole is solid, with a tight and professional technique and slick production. It’s bouncy, dancy, catchy, sing-along-able… you get the picture! The pace is nicely underlined by a couple of slower and more melancholic tracks, but the album as a whole has an upbeat, cheery, “Let’s rock out!” feel to it. A nice touch of jazz influence popped up in Garakuta no Maria and at the end of I Believe.

On the negative side: solid, yes, but dare I say it, repetitive and decidedly cheesy at points. The riffs are good to get your feet tapping, but they don’t catch your ears and the melodies don’t seduce you to listen harder and deeper. I felt that the songs needed something more. More depth. For example, War Dance has great potential, with excellent verses and a hot solo, but the chorus is incredibly distracting and out of touch with the mood that had been built up.

Two of my favourite songs, Mr Freez and Romance, are remakes of Penicillin songs (as are God of Grind, Quarter Doll and Ultraider). The gentle break in Mr Freez, featuring some nice picking, worked really well. Some of the other songs would have benefited from such areas of contrast. Romance – well, I don’t think that could be made into a bad song! There were some interesting things going on, even though I missed the intricacy and delicacy of the original version. Another interesting song was Prison, where the vocal melody avoided clichés and the guitar work was impressive. Darling also captured my heart for some reason: pure traditional rock, it doesn’t pretend to be anything else; catchy and uplifting, it’s a good one to revel in even if it’s not particularly original – or maybe that’s just my nostalgia talking. Whatever. Enjoy it!

While the vocals were technically sound, the melodies were mediocre, and even the guitar solos didn’t always stand out as much as they should have. The album was too slick and over-produced, with too many keyboards, synths and FX distracting from the actual musical skills which Hakuei and Chisato certainly do have. The songs were all very much “on one level” and lacked interest and depth except in the guitar solos. Also, the bass playing was hardly noticeable at all. It’s fun, but I can’t help thinking that Penicillin-nano have more to offer.

In summary: nice enough tracks, and I wouldn’t skip them if they came around on shuffle. A couple of noticeably good songs, but on the whole, it doesn’t lift itself above a “feel-good” album. Buy it if you’re a Penicillin fan, sure; it’s cheerful and bouncy with some Chisato showcase moments, just don’t expect any stunning revelations.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.5/10. C’mon guys, you can do better than that! Lacks punch at critical moments, lacks different levels of interest, and lacks bass.

FREELANCE REVIEW BY:
Kinsao--kinsao_ikioa@hotmail.co.uk