With their new mini-album, Sel’m presents five remarkably diversified songs.
DIVE is Sel’m’s second release after the band added to its line-up. It consists of five very diversified songs that continue the direction started with Creature.
The first track, Last Scene, begins with heartbeat-like sounds and a gentle melody that remains in the background. The music becomes more vigorous as the song progresses, to which the emotion-filled vocals fit perfectly. After the first verse, there is great musically developed chorus, once more proving that adding a second guitarist was a good decision. The song ends with the vocalists’ scream and a peaceful, gradually quietened down piano melody that allows you to calm down after the emotional ride.
In contrast, Hebimitsu starts with rough, somewhat dirty guitar sounds and clear drums. The vocalist, who joins in a bit later, competes with the instruments for supremacy, and verses are separated by growling. Compared to this, the chorus seems to be almost cheerful – it contains high pitched guitars and Tora’s more vigorous singing – but after this you fall again into the abyss of rough guitar sounds.
If in Hebimitsu the vocals and instruments are on the same level, in diagram Tora’s voice seems to be disconnected from the music. This impression may be caused by the interesting construction of the verses; in the beginning, the vocalist is accompanied only by rhythm section – the guitars join in after a while, sounding alternately from left and right speaker. painkiller, written by Nagi, was based on a similar concept, but it creates a completely different effect. After first listening to it, you probably won’t like it very much, but after few sessions it reveals more and more of its strong points: a long, instrumental intro, strong drums and interesting guitar riffs.
The mini-album ends with crimson fish, which mixes low-tuned guitars, powerful bass and chaotic sounds in the verse with a dance beat. Tora’s synthesized vocals add an interesting taste to this composition. It is followed by a funny chorus which stays with you for a long time.
If you thought the songs from Creature were great, you'd run out of adjectives to describe DIVE. It’s hard to pick out just one outstanding composition – this mini-album should be listened to as a whole. The group’s sounds seem to be heavier and more complicated than on their previous release. Hiring a second guitarist was definitely a great move!
