前作の『Daphne』も傑作だったけれど、このニュー・アルバムはそれ以上の出来映えではないか。頭から尻尾の先まで、ギュウギュウに詰まった情報量の多さに面喰らう。音楽的にはスクリーモから始まった彼らだが、マキシマム ザ ホルモン以降のヘヴィーにもポップにも振り切れるミクスチャー・センスを継承しながら、独自の発展を遂げてきた。今作はその極致に達した仕上がり。〈悪魔の叫び〉と〈天使の囁き〉と言えるコントラスト際立つツイン・ヴォーカルは時に激しく、時に繊細に、マーブル状となって密に溶け合う。加えて、楽曲自体も凄まじく進化。1曲のなかに4～5曲分の要素を取り込み、眼前の風景が瞬時に切り替わるような場面展開はお見事だ。特に“ll:α→Ω:ll”はプログレ・メタルからゲーム音楽までを数珠繋ぎにしたジェットコースター級ナンバー。さらには清涼感溢れるポップ・チューン“Sketch”や壮大なスケールを誇る“Traffic Light”など、起伏のある作品トータルの流れも素晴らしい。完璧だ。
[English Translation]
While the last album "Daphne" is hailed as masterpiece, this album may be more epic than that. You'll be overwhelmed by an incredible amount of information tightly packed from the head to toe. Though starting off as a screamo band, they have developed their own music while inheriting the post-Maximum the Hormone (Japanese rock band) sense of genre-mixing that can go the extremes of sounds -heavy to pop. That is culminated in this latest album. The distinctively contrasting twin vocals, which can be described as [the scream of a demon] and [the whisper of an angel], play out sometimes hard or other times rather delicately, closely melting together in a marble mixture. In addition, significant evolution can be heard in the tracks themselves. With many materials well enough for 4 or 5 songs crammed into one song, the scene in front of you impressively changes in a blink of an eye. In particular, "ll:α→Ω:ll" is a roller coaster-like number that plays strings of sound ranging from progressive metal to game music, nonstop. The album also includes the refreshing pop tune "Sketch" or the grand-scaled "Traffic Light," making the whole of the contoured sounds flow brilliantly. One album of perfectness.
