Karasu - LASTICA

Karasu was the big surprise of last year’s JACK IN THE BOX 2009 SUMMER festival. The members of this project came from popular visual kei bands like MUCC, Sadie and Alice Nine. Initially, it seemed that the group’s career would be very short, but in January 2010 their debut single, entitled LASTICA and containing one track, was released. What’s more, another single was recently announced.

LASTICA begins after several seconds of silence with a zooming note on synthesizers. Characteristic and amazing as always, Tatsuro’s voice - which joins a moment later - is accompanied by a clear bass line, heavy guitar riffs and funny background vocals put here and there to add an edge to this number. During the verses, the music is rather simple: the vocalist and the background vocals act as additional instruments. But that simplicity can’t be regarded as a flaw of LASTICA - because of it, Hiroto of Alice Nine's guitar solo stands out better. During the chorus, a few more instruments appear, and the melody is seasoned with MUCC’s vocalist’s falsetto. A distinct drum beat, heard clearly throughout the whole song, gives LASTICA a huge amount of energy.

The single comes with a DVD, which includes the video for LASTICA, the making of and the live version of the title song recorded during JACK IN THE BOX. The latter is especially worth watching, although the PV is awesome too and will quickly become one of your favorites. Watching the live version of LASTICA, you can clearly see that Karasu’s members usually play in completely different bands – they behave on stage differently, and each has his own image.

Overall, LASTICA is a really great song, but that shouldn’t be a surprise considering the musicians who created it. You easily can listen to this track on replay and not get bored. In fact, the more you listen to it, the more new things you'll discover about it. Hopefully, Karasu’s second single will be as great as their debut.