Sadie - Gain

Sadie’s mini-album Gain came out in mid-December, the first album since February 2009’s Master of Romance. Expectations were high since fans have, in the interval, had to satisfy themselves with only the single Kagerou, released in July of 2009. But as usual, Sadie does not disappoint.

The album opens with the fast-paced, polished rock number ever. This piece is relatively commercial and formulaic, with tame guitars and limited death vocals. Overall it expresses less rage than a lot of their other songs. Having said that, the composition has a number of things going for it, not the least of which is some unexpected rhythmic changes from drummer Kei. The bridge is another interesting area, as the pace slows and Mao adopts a sort of mystical chanting style. More than a gimmick, this part of the composition definitely works and complements Mao’s otherworldly death vocals. Even despite its commercial catchiness, the anguished edge that defines Sadie is still very present.

With the next song, we find ourselves on more firmly Sadie ground. Guitarists Tsurugi and Mizuki are back with a vengeance in brain core, intense and raging ominously throughout. The overlapping of death vocals, escalating squeals, hellish barks and earnest singing is put to great effect in this piece and calls attention to Mao’s creativity and impressive repertoire of techniques.

Beauty shadow is exactly as the title indicates, a mix of beauty - found mostly in the chorus - and darkness - evident in the dark edginess everywhere else. Sadie’s choruses at their best take the melody to unexpected places, and Mao does just that with his raw expression of vocal lines here. He does not hit the high notes with ease, but the strain in the vocals suits the sort of wrenching, desperate feeling of the melody. Undeniably beautiful with ballad-like aspects, the song nevertheless conveys pain and hardship expressed most aptly perhaps in the phrase “genkai no namida” (tears at the limit).

CHAOTIC WORLD is the most aggressive song on the track. Menacing and heavy, the pace and intensity change throughout, taking your sense of excitement along for the ride. Accordingly, the vocals go from rhythmic growling to demonic, undulating screams. Mid-song, there is a slower portion of mysterious, hummed falsetto and Aki’s reverberating electric bass, a brief segment but impressive and redolent of the mystical sounds in Dir en grey’s Uroboros.

If there’s a song on the mini-album to skip over, it would be Itoshisa wa kodoku no shihaisha. The ballad of the album, it’s a little slow and sleepy despite the gently trotting pace. The disappointment is that the intensity never really builds, and even the chorus is unexciting. Still, the softly glinting guitars and Mao’s easy, crooned vocals create a nice, unique atmosphere. The chorus also features some synths and electronic falsetto vocals that show us the band is willing to try new things.

The album finishes powerfully with Regret, which has exactly what we want from Sadie: an irresistibly catchy chorus, death vocals in incomprehensible English punctuated by eerily high squeals and perfectly complementing guitar play. Unfortunately, there are plenty of slow, drowsy segments, but the contrast only makes the exciting parts that much more exhilarating.

Sadie has brought us another masterpiece, varying their sound in some ways while consistently maintaining what we love best about them. They’ve been unable to recapture their glory on the Oricon Chart since Grieving the Dead Soul, with which they reached number one. But their releases since then have been extremely consistent without becoming stale – If you liked Grieving the Dead Soul, you’ll enjoy this one too.

This April Sadie will release a singles collection, which will be a great introduction to the band for those who haven’t listened to them, and we look forward to hearing what they will bring us with their single Dress, also coming out in late April.