Sadie - MASTER OF ROMANCE

It's Sadie's fourth year as a band, and the long awaited MASTER OF ROMANCE is their first full album. Resulting from this long wait is a first album that demonstrates a craft that is incredibly well refined. Somewhat predictable and rooted safely within the established rules of their art, the album remains an impressive, enjoyable and beautiful CD not without its subtle twists and turns in keeping with the group's musical world.

The album opens with imaginary creature, a ballad that grows in intensity and aggression as it progresses. Beginning light and soft with mostly piano and strings, Mao's voice enters quietly, evolves into angelic falsetto and ends with anguished screams that are kept distant from the song. The piano follows the vocal progression, accelerating and growing more frenzied toward the conclusion. This blend of haunting classical with a hint of metal in the vocals makes for a very unique and beautifully eerie piece.

Following is Ice Romancer, the A-side from the group's most recent single. A driving, catchy rock number full of anguished melodies, death vocals, headbanging riffs and quiet, jazzy verses, this one captures the coolness, elegance and unbridled rage of Sadie. In contrast, Shingan is all metal, all rage. Mao treats us to a number of demonic vocal styles that direct the musical shifts, alternating between fast and sinisterly cumbersome. To get lost in a headbanging metal number, look no further.

VIRTUAL FAKEMAN features some serious yelling, but it turns out to be the most dance-like number on the album. The melodies in the verses are reminiscent of 60s garage punk and are contrasted with Aki's ominously droning electric bass. The chorus is similarly fun with a hint of a throwback feel while managing to be purely Sadie. Impressively combining a rhythmic catchiness with inspired animosity, this is Sadie's inevitably angsty take on a dance number.

Track five, Scarlet, seems to lack vitality in comparison - until you reach the chorus. While the tempo is much slower and heavier than VIRTUAL FAKEMAN's, Scarlet creates its own intriguing atmosphere. Kei's drums are powerful and heavy, leading the guitars, though the chorus is almost balladic and surprisingly romantic like its lyrics: "Can you take me away? I'm waiting for your love." Mao's variations on the melody in the last chorus also draw attention to the beauty of the tune, which the heavy loudness of the song somewhat detracts from.

When the beat comes in for Ageha no nakigara, it's accompanied by heavy guitar and powerfully roared screams from Mao, establishing this as a slow, weighty song. The scream and death voice that introduce each chorus create a beautiful contrast to the light verses. With a real progression in the rhythms and vocals as the song continues, this track presents an impressively complex composition.

Crimson Tear, released earlier as a single, offers the well refined fast paced style of raging Sadie. We're also treated to Mao's high pitched screaming, which is far rarer than his lower death voices. Kagerou is another racing number, upbeat and without the previous track's dark, hostile flavor. Emphasized here is the driving energy and heat of the track, and its melodies are relatively optimistic.

Following a disarmingly innocuous keyboard opening, Parasite scene becomes a hard song of layered death vocals and seriously moody guitars from Mizuki and Tsurugi. Rather than conveying rage and horror, this track seems to express revelry in conveying the creepy and otherworldly. Mao's vocals are intensely eerie during the verses and become playfully monstrous in the chorus. The guitars and drums play the same pattern together in the bridge, making for an excellent headbanging section. This is one of the band's most delightfully fun and demonic numbers yet.

Next is from another single, Grieving the dead soul, which is more along the lines of CrimsonTear - fast, raging, anguished. This one has something of a hip-hop tinge in its rap parts. Aki's bass is especially prominent during the lead-in to the chorus, its melody echoed by the guitars. The vocal and guitar melodies are poignantly beautiful even while they are heavy, tortured and driven by a relentless pressing pace.

Things slow down with the last number, Swallow Rain. With glinting guitars and a playfully roving bass in the verses, the song becomes heavy in the chorus as Kei's drums explode into action. The pace deviates with a shouting interlude from death-Mao, and when the chorus returns, its melodies rise in pitch and the lines themselves are altered brilliantly and backed by a new layer of relentless roaring.

The album demonstrates all of Sadie's fortes: their compositional complexity, tendency towards variation throughout a given song, mastery over every mood that can be covered under the heading of "dark," original and poignant melodies and finally, their inventive and extensively expressive vocalist. Having said that, Sadie has been more experimental with their B-sides from recent single releases, exploring some different atmospheres and styles with songs like Recall. While this album more than fulfills expectations, it might have benefited from another lighter song. As multifaceted as we know they are, we hope the group will continue to experiment and show us more of their - at the moment - less explored sides. At any rate, MASTER OF ROMANCE provides a great introduction for those who want to know what the hype around this group is about. And for hardcore fans, most of the tracks on this album are so well made, they'll repeatedly leave you thinking, "That's one of their best songs ever."

This review was made possible by Hear Japan, where the item is available for purchase.