-OZ- - Bulk

Increasingly, -OZ- has embraced the sprinting tempos and optimistic melodies that are popular with young visual kei bands, making them feel like a new band in musical style, though not in technical ability. Compared to the sounds on their first release, it seems they've re-invented themselves, and for the better. With Bulk, they continue this trend of live-centric releases, a trend they hopefully won't abandon any time soon.

Butterfly starts out sounding like a typical heavy, fast paced rock number. With its ominous guitars and racing drums, it seems like it will be a dark, head-banging live song. The surprise is the extraordinarily bright melodies in both the verses and chorus, broken up by antithetically chthonic death vocals. Like the melodies, the lyrics are romantic and seem perfectly out of place with the tempestuous atmosphere the song is grounded in. Natsuki's dramatic vocals pull everything together with their combination of dark urgency and hope, and the result is magic.

Blot opens with violent death vocals, always impressive because Natsuki sings in such a contrasting high register. The screaming and singing styles alternate throughout the verses and chorus, which has another optimistic tune that's lovely, but not at the same level as Butterfly's. Rather, the sections around the chorus are more intriguing. The twin guitar sound, one zipping in high while the other is heavy, and Nao's brief solos interspersed throughout render it another exhilarating number.

-OZ- is a band visual kei fans in particular would be advised to check out, and to those only familiar with their older work, a re-investigation would be worth your while. Bulk is a prime exemplar of the style they've been producing so successfully lately, and though Blot itself is a potent number, the single is worth the purchase simply because of the gorgeous Butterfly. We look forward to seeing what this ever impressive band will come out with next.