 
I was only introduced to the whole J-Rock scene
around 3 years ago when a friend introduced me
to a band called Dir En Grey, but then once I
got hooked on them when they released their latest
album “Dum Spiro Spero” I branched
out a bit more and then The GazettE found themselves
on my radar. Where Dir En Grey went down the really
dirty sinister rock style migrating over to the
metal side as the years went on, The GazettE went
another completely the other way and released
heavy but upbeat material. They also explored
various different styles as with 2007’s
“Stacked Rubbish” I can hear punk
elements, rap elements, screamo elements amongst
many more. The way “Division” is meant
to be laid out is that the first 7 songs are alternative
metal and nu metal tracks with the other 7 being
industrial metal songs.
I can definitely see the distinction where the
Nu Metal ends and the Industrial starts, must
be the scene in Japan at the minute where heavier
metal is taking over as all their acts are spicing
their tracks up with brutality, “Derangement”
is a strange yet amazing song as it uses things
like auto tune, distorted bassy tones and electronic
lines but alongside all these strange inclusions
are screaming vocals, heavy as fuck riffs and
an interesting layout. Comparing that industrial
style to the first full track on the album “Ibitsu
(?; Distortion)” the difference is immense,
the song is much happier and upbeat with still
heavy but different and gentler tones. I just
love songs like “Dripping Insanity”
and “Attitude” because they’re
like extreme metal dance tracks which are so weird
but so energetic, why they aren’t playing
this in our nightclubs I will never know.
The whole album has such range even ignoring the
fact its split into 2 different styles as the
material that is similar in style still has such
range and technique that I just find myself sitting
here intrigued by every track as though it was
as fresh as the first which is really impressive
as not many full releases are like that these
days. The whole J-Rock scene really impresses
me as one band will blast out different songs
in thousands of different styles of music and
still pull it off; Japanese bands are absolutely
fantastic with the likes of Dir En Grey and The
GazettE leading the front I might try to get my
ass over to Japan.
5/5
Review by James Webb
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