Not that much, I’d say. Sure, there were another releases, all pure electronic, so that hardly matters. But now all of a sudden we have ‘Deadly Melancholy’, an EP, 6 tracks and 27 minutes of intense sound, and now it totally matters! The EP was released under Vocallective label, and guys there swear they pushed release dates of other albums to clear the road for ‘Deadly Melancholy’ – so much they were impressed by it. Heh, I’d discount their words, record label is a cheesy business… still, for good music the sooner we get it, the better!
Scythe of Luna are Russian guys. The two main contributors for this EP are Cyfe who produced all the sound as well as lyrics for several songs, and LaryNox who wrote the lyrics for two EP songs. All lyrics are in English, by the way, as are the Vocaloid voicebanks used in the release. Each one – Hatsune Miku, Gumi and Macne Nana – gets two songs. You must be familiar with Miku and Gumi but Nana rarely gets into the spotlight. Despite she’s been around for more than 6 years and can boast of decent engine versatility, I’ve never heard any heavy songs featuring her before. But here she’s participating as equals with her more renowned colleagues so I consider this a serious achievement! Welcome to metal, Nana! :)
No, Nana isn’t the main special feature of ‘Deadly Melancholy’. Its main special feature is chiptune. LOTS of chiptune. The heavy legacy of past Cyfe’s producing career doesn’t even try to hide itself, it creeps forward stubbornly, seeps through and stirs like some sort of bizarre alien fungus. Oh, and I should mention it creeps over some quite decent metal riffs, seeps through tight distorted sound and stirs in a heavy and atmospheric environment. The overall impression somehow reminded me of Knightrider of Doom Video Game Metal tracks. You don’t know KoD, dontcha? Small wonder, we’re talking about underground stuff here… Anyway, these were goode olde times! :) For the best, authentic experience I totally recommend listen to these tracks in MIDI format. And remember, kids, we haven’t SoundCloud back then, that’s how producer’s page used to look like (earlier versions were even more… well, let’s drop this topic :).
But KoD was into power metal mostly. Scythe of Luna is more diverse in its genre choices. ‘Deadly Melancholy’ swings back and forth from post-hardcore to industrial metal, and some stuff (like the opening ‘White Tale’) is too stylish and precious to be swept under some general label. The heavy styles are almost all the time infused with synths, most often 8-bit samples. But even with higher-quality instrumentals chiptune aesthetics is always recognizable. Sometimes the music slips completely into 8-bit sequences, and these parts sound organically enough to enhance the whole song.
The other notable feature of the EP is its tempo. Gosh, it’s slooooow. Luckily, of 6 tracks we have one (relatively) mid-tempo and one (again relatively) fast, otherwise I’d have thought it is a deathcore release where someone replaced pig squeals with Sega noises just for lulz ;) Well, OK, in fact I like how it’s implemented. The slow pace sets a special, a bit serious but sedated, even hypnotic mood.
Well, it’s definitely not deadly (c’mon, I’ve joked about deathcore! :) And not even always melancholic. So I can’t say ‘Deadly Melancholy’ lacks a variety in moods. There is a certain style which is consistent through the EP. And within it the producer creates an impressive array of themes, deftly switching and fusing synthetic and heavy parts, intense bursts and gentle acoustic melodies, cranking up effects and experimenting with genres.
If only the emotional finesse of the music was led by Vocaloid parts! The electronic music legacy must be heavy indeed because Vocaloids in ‘Deadly Melancholy’ seem to lack the force to show who’s in charge here. Sure, they’re provided with non-trivial parts, and they fit perfectly, enriching and accentuating the music, which is important thing. But they serve just as another element in the overall picture, not as its focus. They just serve whereas they should rock. Their performance contributes a lot to the sedated, meditative and stern feel of the songs.
‘Bleeding Source’, the 3rd track, is an awesome exception from this. And Miss Nana is definitely the strongest vocalist on the EP, outsinging her famous counterparts by far. Her vocals are clear and emotional, bright yet rich. And all that words matter just until the moment you hear the final part of ‘In Bloom’ (4th track). Because when you hear the final part of it… Now, guys, just to be clear: I have been listening to Vocaloid heavy music for quite a bit of time – more than five years. And now I split this time into two periods: before I listened to ‘In Bloom’ and after it. So a quick warning: when Nana starts singing ‘la-la-la’ RnB in her meowing voice, you feel your brain is being hacked. I don’t know whether it’s voodoo magic or some modern technology or whatever, I don’t care anymore. But this ‘la-la-la’ penetrates your brainbox and does certain things within. When this ‘la-la-la’ repeats in metal style, you know the patching is over and you KNOW you LOVE every second of this magnificent music and ALWAYS will LOVE it. The feeling seems unnatural at first but you gets used to it :) I strongly hope this was the only effect and my sanity and free will remain relatively intact :)
Ahem, back to more serious topic. Basically, Miku and Gumi are totally not bad, their vocals just feel subdued. There is a fair amount of screaming for all three vocalists but its quality seems to vary. Which is strange - as far as I know, the work on the project hadn’t taken too long. Anyway, there are some prime examples of Vocaloid brutal vocals, like in ‘White Tale’.
You won’t find super-advanced metal musicianship in ‘Deadly Melancholy’. There’s a feeling that’s not Cyfe’s primary field, which is understandable. But what Scythe of Luna can’t get by metal means they get by extensive and clever use of electronics. The outcome is very impressive fusion, novel and distinctive, which is very hard to achieve staying completely within metal boundaries.
At the same time there’s nothing to complain on the technical side. The EP features harsh, rasping and tight distorted guitars forming a wall of sound, filling the audiospace with its presence. The distorted riffs are not very melodic which is compensated by sweet acoustic parts and synths. The bass guitar is just delicious. It really is. Like a fucking birthday cake! You can turn off all other instruments and simply enjoy bass sound, each note, each pluck. All that – without any complex stuff, just pure sound. A wonder!
The bass drums are impressive too, featuring clear-cut, tight and deep tone. There seems to be exactly right amount of them – enough to balance the sluggish tempo. The other percussion is not that great – I don’t like how drum machine sounds. Its level might be below optimal too.
But these little things will come with experience. What really matters is that the potential to make interesting, distinct, and great music is already here. Here in Russia, that maybe matters too. So how did Vocallective Records guys put it, gaijinP? Enough try, and we’ll make those funny dudes living on the islands JapanesePs. Let’s try! :)
Bottom line: 8-bit metal/core with cyber-divas. Embrace digitality!
The EP is available for download at Bandcamp. The price is $4 + option for donation.
Album link: http://vocallective.bandcamp.com/album/deadly-melancholy
Lyrics: https://vk.com/board33010641
Scythe of Luna SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/scythe_of_luna
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scythe_of_luna
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