PHANTOMIME

This is not an improvement, it's just more of the same. 1 step forward 1 step back again. I think if I had to describe this (and JIGOKU 6) succinctly, it would be "progress without evolution". More styles and genres taken on but with hardly any improvement in the song-writing or vocals outside of I guess less "muh haters" and "lol I'm so cringe, right" songs. We're almost back to where we were with her first 2 EPs, but with less character (both in terms of her actual personality and her Vtuber persona). Outside of her usual net-rap and the UnAlive-onwards pop additions, she's also added more nu-metal and alt metal, but absolutely nothing has been refined. Not her vocals (outside of showing she can sometimes keep up with harder cuts like Overkill), not her song-writing beyond what I previously mentioned.

"Tide" feat.AI is a bland mix of hip-hop and pop with a midly aggressive angle in the verses before turning into radio pop for the single chord piano "whoa-oah-oah" choruses and refrains. It's one of her most inoffensive and milquetoast songs, devoid of any personality, let alone her own. "SNEAKING (revenge)" is what happens when you damn a solid metal instrumental by setting it to cringy late 2010s anime YouTuber music. Better than the original I guess but I'd rather they do something else with said instru which matches her aesthetic. Yes, Mori is a cringy YouTuber but the point stands, turning that meme MGS song into a metal track doesn't make it good, it makes it still a lowlight.

"Go-Getters" is everything I hate about a lot of modern electro-pop with a Giga comp I dislike about as much if not more than Mera Mera which has a worse chorus and beat drop. The chorus is at least bearable, catchy without any obnoxious vocal licks or production, but it's not enough to save the song from being intolerable. The version featuring Yoon isn't much better even if Yoon is a more proficient singer than Mori. Thankfully, after this painful first act of the record, things pick up with probably its best song. "Overkill" is the first highlight of the record. Not a huge fan of the hip-hop high-hat sections (mainly the second one with the digitally muffled hum leading to the second chorus) but Mori's aggressive vocals paired with the frantic alt metal riffs go hard as the Vtuber sequel to Ado's USSEEWA but about idol Vtuber culture. She's actually able to keep up with a heavier metal cut by leaning into her slightly raspy vocals.

She then immediately fails to do this in the next song. "Cult Following" feels like a diet Linkin Park. It's just your average Nu Metal/early 2000s alt metal with someone who does not have that energy, and if anything, would be a particularly weak cut in something like Hybrid Theory or Meteora."DONMAI" is more of a jazz pop track with metallic guitar riffs and a bit of spoop & hip-hop. Feels the most like a Calliope Mori experience, but with a less lively and in your face performance than the likes of "Dead On Arrival" from UnAlive or "Ijimekko Bully" from Your Mori, not playing to her attempted showmanship.

"Midnight Mayoi" ft. Kobo Kanearu feels so out of place, both in tone/genre and in that it's actually kinda pleasant and fun. Maybe it's cuz anything dance pop and city pop adjacent tends to do it for me, but this was kinda nice, even if neither singer can fully keep up with and match the dreamy city pop vibe. They're no Nerissa Ravencroft in "Sweetest Scarlet" Still, this is probably the last highlight of the record. By this point, we're out of the metal cuts and are into a bunch of pop songs. "skeletons" is something that a better singer could make great but not Mori. A piano ballad with no larger than life production is not somethying she can carry, and even when the beat kicks in and she starts rapping, it's no "Scuffed-Up Days" from UnAlive, that's for sure.

"Last Days" has her best performance of the record so far aside from maybe Overkill, and most of the instrumental is nice. It would be a pretty good song if it wasn't griefed by the hi-hats that playthroughout a large chunk of it. It's never quite there, which is pretty emblematic of the record and Mori's capabilities, especially post-UMG signing. "through the blue" starts off with tacky ass guitar and finger snaps Carole & Tuesday ass music. Thankfully when the beat gets in and replaces the finger snaps, it becomes ok...and goes in and out of these two. Her singing and the guitar strums and the beat are pleasant enough I guess, but it's one of the weakest final songs of a Mori project, down there with the climax and endings for Shinigami Note and Sinderella.

The final line of the song and I suppose the record does strike a mild chord with me: "If I said 'I think it's finally over', that 'I finally had enough' would you be kinda disappointed?" That's how I feel regarding Mori as a whole. I liked clips I saw of her well enough back in 2021, and followed her music since her debut EP Dead Beats, back when her tracks were less serious and more infused with her character. The productions got larger and nicer on Your Mori, and she felt like she was really getting the hang of writing songs involving her Vtuber persona. UnAlive tried to expand more into pop additions and feel like a big Calliope Mori experience but didn't quite hit the mark. Then she signed to Universal Music Group and it felt like she was losing herself more to "I'm so cringe, right" and "reee my haters" songs, which did somewhat appear in UnAlive along with more fun and even introspective tracks. She also started making tracks not at all reflecting her personality, and both of these problems led to Shinigami Note and Sinderella. With the metal forays in JIGOKU 6 and the larger productions, we saw her experiment but not exactly improve, and that's also the case here. It's been 3 years. Maybe someday she'll top Your Mori and make something great or even particularly good, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm kinda done trying to be a Mori fan. With her controversies, her middling music, and "Internet Brain Rot" being a painful Tom McDonald "you're offended" synthesis of the two, I'm calling it here in terms of my failed attempt at being a Mori fan.