Formed in 1997, kein had a short run, ending activities in 2000. A few of the members went on to form Deadman, which managed to go on for 2 times longer. Deadman's reunion in 2019 probably surprised people; they certainly weren't expecting kein's reunion in 2022.

Kein's first album, 26 years after their inception, sees them re-recording a bunch of old songs, ones never studio-recorded and ones taken from demos and singles.
It's a good Nagoya Kei album and a much more ... read more

Thanks to @ScottShelby for the recommendation! (I have heard it quite some time before I created my AOTY account, the rec gave me motivation/a reason to return to it!)

A great free improv/noise rock collaboration between Merzbow, Keiji Haino and Balázs Pándi.
Merzbow provides the atmosphere with his noise, Pándi's performance on the drums is great and Haino's guitar is the real noise bringer.

This also kinda puts an end to my break from noise I guess?

Fantômas cover movie themes and turn them into completely different, avant-garde beasts. Did I mention this is their most normal album?

Mike Patton makes what he thinks a pop album should be and cooks up alternative rock and trip hop. Definitely not one of Patton's best projects but it's an enjoyable listen and certainly one of his more accessible outings.

Wanted to review this for 500 ratings but I did it now.
Great album, although a bit bloated. XXX has two halves, the first I would call the "party" one, the second the "serious" one.
Danny raps about sex, partying, drugs, addiction and while quite a bit of this album is fun, with Danny throwing some funny lines, it also delves into the dark reality of it all, especially in the second half.

SEX FOR YOU SEX FOR ME
No.9's lighter, more fun, younger siblng. Maybe not as great but still good!
No.0 reached number 2 on the charts, the highest since Six/Nine's 1st place. And it's another album having something to do with loops! The 0 in the title is referring to life as an endless cycle and the first and last track are supposed to form an endless loop.

PS: I'm not surprised the chorus for Gustave was written while Atsushi was petting his cats.

HAIL PSYCHO BITCH, RISE ABOVE YOURSELF
This is where their cyberpunk era really kicks off, just look at the cover! Electronics are even more prevalent on SEXY STREAM LINER and for an album with a title like this it's got a pretty cold atmosphere (even their other cyberpunk albums don't sound like this). In it's coldness, it's still sexy though.

Fun fact: The track 無知の涙 [Muchi no Namida] was originally written for Darker than Darkness but Imai thought it needed more ... read more

RIP ATSUSHI SAKURAI

The same lineup of 5 members, 36 years and 23 albums since their debut, that was BUCK-TICK's track record in 2023. They somehow managed to stay quite solid through all that time, there were ups and downs, sure; personally I think they haven't released anything *truly bad* through all that time.
One of these things would change though on October 19th, a few months after the albums release, during a fan club exclusive concert frontman Atsushi Sakurai was rushed to ... read more

COVID-19 something something you know the drill.
Continuing their style switching shenanigans, ABRACADABRA ventures into new wave territory, while still being a modern BUCK-TICK album. Honestly from the flak this album gets at least in some places I expected much worse, in my opinion it's quite fun and certainly better than the first two albums and Tenshi no Revolver. Or maybe the Merzbox fried my brain or I caught the glaze virus or something.

After getting some traction with a successful concert advertised by defacing property, major labels wanted to get a hold of the guys. BUCK-TICK imposed four conditions for them to sign though: first, they can do anything they want with their looks and image; second, they will never be forced to change the lineup; third, they won't be forced to use session musicians; forth, they get to do their own production work. (they would still impose them on every label they signed to in the ... read more

BUCK-TICK's debut is easily their weakest album to this day. Nothing horrendous, it's alright, reading about the band's history from this time is more interesting to me than the thing though.
Like, these guys played a quite big concert on the day of release which was advertised by defacing property in hip youth districts with ads.

The band went independent with this album (meaning it's not on streaming as Tokuma Japan helped with distribution) and it also joined the club of a few BUCK-TICK releases that didn't reach top 10 on the charts since they got there.

Yume Miru Uchuu [夢見る宇宙] takes the dance rock of RAZZLE DAZZLE and goes into a more neo-psychedelia direction. There are some cool songs on here but it's not anything crazy.

極東 I LOVE YOU [Kyokutou I LOVE YOU] was supposed to be a double album, a culmination of the bands cyberpunk era. BMG declined the idea so instead we got this and MONA LISA OVERDRIVE with the former getting the more alt rock songs while the latter got the more industrial ones. They even flow into each other nicely!

For an album released in their cyberpunk era it's surprisingly more mellow than some releases even from their other ones. The electronic elements still are present of ... read more

SEVENTH HEAVEN is early BUCK-TICK perfected, before TABOO shifted their sound into a darker direction.
This is where they start getting *good*. Hurry Up Mode and Sexual XXXXX! weren't bad records but they also weren't really special.

BUCK-TICK's last 80s album and last from their new wave era. (While Aku no Hana is still new wavey, it goes into a more gothic direction and kicks off their 90s run)

They went into a darker direction here and it paid off. Maybe not so many standout songs are on this but it's a good listen overall.

This sounds MUCH cleaner than the original, that's heresy!!
Better mastering, better cover and some great additions! (In exchange for I Lead You Towards Glorious Times, still a good deal in my opinion)

I'll return to the Merzbox tomorrow.
EDIT: Okay I lied I started one disc some time after finishing this.

ONE LIFE, ONE DEATH: BUCK-TICK: REVIEW
BUCK-TICK enter the 2000s and continue their cyberpunk era. Imai struggled to achieve what he wanted with the computer yet the band still delivered anyway.
The cold atmosphere of SEXY STREAM LINER is nowhere to be found here; ONE LIFE, ONE DEATH is closer to other BUCK-TICK albums in that matter.

SUBROSA just 2 weeks away!

Moving on from the garage rock of memento mori, BUCK-TICK go into a more dance rock direction with RAZZLE DAZZLE. Some tracks could've been stronger but it's still very fun.

With a new album upcoming I'll probably return to the entire discography yet again especially since I have some albums that I still need to review, so expect some changes in my opinions.

RIP ATSUSHI SAKURAI

THEY'RE BACK! Still going strong after 41 years!
BUCK-TICK's first song to be released after Atsushi's untimely death and it's good! I already heard it on Japanese radio but now with the proper release I can certainly say that I enjoy it. Even more excited for SUBROSA now, after this single I assume it will have electronic elements all over it.
Guitarists Hisashi Imai (you'll hear him singing quite a few times when going through their discography) ... read more

MERZBOX DISC 36 / https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/chtc/album/233220-merzbox/
While Merzbow already had some harsh noise releases, ones even harsher than this, Cloud Cock OO Grand is where Masami starts going in that direction with the project. Something like Brain Forest for Metal Acoustic Concrete does attack you with junk samples, but it's Spinnozaamen and Modular where you get the harsh assaults everyone knows Merz for. (Not ones as brutal as later releases though)
Sadly the tracks ... read more