kannivalism brings about a nu age to their music with their first album release.
After reforming in late 2005, Nu age is kannivalisms first album release since their beginning rush of activities in 2006. The album is a mixture of a typical rock bands instruments mixed with techno and synthesized sounds. As a whole, the album is upbeat and can be classified as pop rock.
Nu age starts off with apple butter II, which contains gentle, aforementioned synthesized sounds before leading the listener into heavy guitar accompanied with techno beats in the background in age.. In general, Ryo has a very powerful voice, but in the track hes able to not only express his own vocal strength, but provide a type of smooth rap-like singing. Another track with similar composition is Hoshi no Yoru, which was released a month prior to the album.
Just as the next tracks title suggests, Domino Party is a bass dominated song, supported by rhythmic and smashing drums, which actually makes it quite easy to dance along with. The song itself isnt exactly heavy, but definitely low in pitch.
Possibly the most catchiest track on the album is Castarina. In this song, Ryo gives his listener a piece of something hes never done before. His voice has a similar rap-like quality, which was mentioned for age., but in this track he actually creates new sounds and noises rather than only singing particular music notes. The electricity in keis guitar is more noticeable in this track when compared to the others and Yuchi even has his own bass solo as an extra treat.
Continuing down the same pop, dance music path, Melancholic has traces of bass and guitar sounds, but is heavily filled with what sounds like electric drums keeping the flow and groove of the track going. The vocals bring a touch of uniqueness into this track, providing a reggae-like mix.
Reaching the first semi-slow track of the album, Sugar rainy, the listener begins to cool down from the constantly upbeat songs. The guitar solo, half way in, is intense but also very soothing. Ryo goes back to his usual compelling vocals without any special techniques. The first slow track on the album is Boku no Basho, which leads the listener in through a gentle piano entrance, slowly intensifying with the guitar while the vocals add a final fantasy-like touch.
From their single release last year in September, Ritori brings back the bands classic sound without any extra help of synthesizers. Following in the same path, the album ends with Kimi Music, which has a similar quality to that of Ritori; not extra frills, just guitar, bass, and drums for the most part. Its a nice end to the album, with once again the noticeable bass line.
Its difficult to pinpoint the type of music kannivalism is aiming for, when with each release they give their listeners something different. Nu age is a very interesting album and easy to listen to; definitely worth picking up.
