Featured Review #57: DOGMA by the GazettE

[Zeus 7997]

Artist: the GazettE Album: DOGMA 1. NIHIL 8. INCUBUS 2. DOGMA 9. LUCY 3. RAGE 10. GRUDGE 4. DAWN 11. PARALYSIS 5. DERACINE 12. DEUX 6. BIZARRE 13. BLEMISH 7. WASTELAND 14. OMINOUS

Rating: | After 13 years, "Gazerock" is officially whatever the band wants it to be.

 

If you're ever having a bad day, remember that time we waited five months for the most underwhelming album of the year. Let's ignore for a second that DOGMA is ARCHE, Iowa-era Slipknot, and a quarter of DIM shoved in a blender and served cold with a side of drop A chugging. The marketing campaign behind this was stellar, and for five months it was the lack of details surrounding this album that sparked my curiosity the most. Just a few weeks before release, the band revealed "OMINOUS" as a teaser. For a brief second, a flash of light shone through the heavens as the hype seemed justified and the band was poised to deliver something interesting.

"NIHIL" even began the experience as I had anticipated, only for dubstep to emerge halfway through to set all my hopes and dreams on fire. I was in so much disbelief, I curled into the fetal position and muttered "What the fuck is this?" to no one in particular. That one minute encapsulates my journey with this band for the last five years, and when the crushing main riff of "DOGMA" kicked in I felt like I was left holding the bag after a bait and switch operation. This isn't what I signed up for. This isn't what this was billed as. But I'm not one to judge a book by its cover - or in this case an album by its case - and I proceeded to give the rest of the album a listen. If it had matched even a quarter of my expectations and contained a song similar to "DIM SCENE", "千鶴" (Chizuru), "体温" (Taion), or "泣ヶ原" (Nakigahara), we would be having a very different conversation right now. If it was at the very least a darker, more moody companion to 2013's BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY, I would have waved the intro off. It was neither.

What followed was a most unremarkable collection of metalcore. Despite the fact that everything between tracks three and thirteen blend into one another, all is not lost. I found the vocals at their most inspired and energetic in years. On songs like "DERACINE", Ruki's vocal melodies are the most memorable thing of all. I haven't been able to say that in years! The GazettE have also remembered that they have two guitarists, and have returned to utilizing both of them to great effect. There's also an obvious attempt at focusing on one thing and doing it well - except in this case it's perhaps too focused. The lack of a ballad or even a mid-tempo rock number to change the pace exposes the one-dimensional nature of the album and makes it feel longer than it already is. They even titled the songs in all caps with edgy one word phrases like "PARALYSIS" or "BIZARRE". No other track prioritizes atmosphere and melody over pure aggression like "OMINOUS", which as far as I'm concerned is the only track you need.

I could dig deep if I wanted and point out minor flaws in specific tracks, but that would require another listen or two and the replay value for DOGMA is low. All of those criticisms have been lost to the haze that was this album. I have some fun during a listening session, but it quickly fades from memory as soon as it's done. Fun does not equate to a good album. The simple facts are that there's nothing new or distinctly "the GazettE" to see here. I'm half convinced this facade was forced by the band because it's been a while and the old has become new once again. Given some time, I believe DOGMA will wear thin much faster than other albums in their discography.

Diving head first into metal has yielded mixed results. DOGMA is an album purely for the biggest of GazettE lovers and metal fans. If this particular brand of Visual Kei metalcore appeals to you, this is your album. As for me, it's another uninspired, soon to be forgotten entry in the GazettE's bloated discography.

Support the band!

Purchase DOGMA from CD JAPAN

[Pretsy 1343]

Definitely agreeing on your points, especially DERACINE having the most, or perhaps the most decent vocalcraft (at least in DOGMA) by courtesy of otherwise totes nasal/bad vocalist RukRuk :/

 

Not sure if your review adequately correlates with the rating you gave though (which might on the other hand say that about 1/4 of this record was kinda okay from your aspect), and if I have to be thoroughly honest and totally dickish (roughly put): I don't get all the wank and bias the last track (OMINOUS) gets from this forum + multiple gazefans...this is not the first time when people instantly approve of Gazette churning out alarming amount of discount Chizurus, right?

Quality reviewing as always though, our almighty Zeus-sama 

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

totally agreeing. In my "review" I also found OMINOUS and DERAsthsth the only somewhat rememberable tracks on this "effort". I have to disagree tho on the notion of them somehow utilizing the possibilities of two guitars. Especially in the immensely uninspired middle part (which, in this particular case, stretches from the second half of the first track to the second to last song) they play like 95% in unison.

 

Also @pretz, i guess ominous doesn't exactly get that much praise because it's some kind of masterpiece or anything. It's just the only thing on the album that's not just another 5minute extension of the previous 50 minutes. I.e. a "stand-out song" so to say. (I do like it a bit tho...)

[emmny 4139]

i kinda liked dogma, but like all ur other reviews, u hit the head on the nail lol.

[evilcoconut 109]

totally agreeing. In my "review" I also found OMINOUS and DERAsthsth the only somewhat rememberable tracks on this "effort". I have to disagree tho on the notion of them somehow utilizing the possibilities of two guitars. Especially in the immensely uninspired middle part (which, in this particular case, stretches from the second half of the first track to the second to last song) they play like 95% in unison.

 

Also @pretz, i guess ominous doesn't exactly get that much praise because it's some kind of masterpiece or anything. It's just the only thing on the album that's not just another 5minute extension of the previous 50 minutes. I.e. a "stand-out song" so to say. (I do like it a bit tho...)

 

re:the last sentence, those are my thoughts exactly. it stands out, but it's far from any kind of masterpiece and considering the album, you might say standing out isn't exactly hard....lol

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

I don't know if I have just changed as a person and chinese alternative rock just doesn't strike a chord with me anymore, but either way you're absolutely correct about this having the least replay value at least on my part. It's so strange because it's not possible for me to give less of a shit about all the songs sounding the same and I don't think it's their worst album either, yet I've stopped playing this album completely. I must have hundreds upon hundreds of plays on each of their albums and this fucking thing didn't even make out of week 1. 

 

Not even long ago I couldn't have imagined that I'd reach a point where I stop caring about this band but here we are. At least I still have pre 2006 godzette that stuff still rocks. 

[yakihiko 1480]

Thank you for the review Zeus.

I don't get all the wank and bias the last track (OMINOUS) gets from this forum + multiple gazefans...

I have to agree with Pretz when saying about it, in my case the same goes for DOGMA song.

I can say that I like like 3 or 4 songs and just it

RAGE, INCUBUS, DERACINE and DEUX

After the great hype that the great part of forum had, listening to it was not the experience we were expecting. (less the gazefans).

[platanity 99]

its been like only a week or so ? that this album has been released. 

but i already feel like it has been in the shelf like a year ago. 

as soon as i got to listen the new lynch single, 凛として時雨's new album,

even an indie from australia released their new album - i immediately switched my music.

 

i know the competitors are very talented (lynch & 凛として時雨),

but this is how much the album had a very small sense of existence to me.

 

i wont lie, 'deux' still sounds a very good and catchy song to me,

i still listened for a few times right before i got to download 凛として時雨's new album,

 

but truly, they need to get some rest, go for a soul searching,

maybe a short hiatus to have some time to explore, experiment ,

even go for project bands like other dudes are doing.

 

this mindset, a formulaic mannerism has got to pause for a while .

 

the album's well structured, but this has had already happened before .

[blackdoll 907]

to  my surprise you rated Lycaon's CO a bit better. maybe somewhere deep deep deep deep deep inside of you, you did give a speck of care for them.

 

M-H's Lycaon memorial accepted being slaves we don't ask for much, and take what we can get

[Pandabear 414]

I don't get all the wank and bias the last track (OMINOUS) gets from this forum + multiple gazefans...this is not the first time when people instantly approve of Gazette churning out alarming amount of discount Chizurus, right?

 

Because its a well crafted song? It uses effective use of atmosphere, dynamics, tension and release, instrumentation and has a good chorus and an interesting progression into an outro solo? Come on who doesn’t love outro solos?

 

But seriously, I would argue it’s the best song on the entire album and one of the best the band has done in recent years. Yeah sure, there’s nothing special about the elements I described above by themselves, but on this song the band actually managed to make the sum greater than its parts. Everything has a purpose for being there and while it’s not the best song ever created, or even for 2015, it’s creative enough and it’s near perfect execution is what makes it a strong track. 

 

To me, this song should have been the standard and should have represented what the rest of the album should have been. Dynamic, creative, well composed, varied and a strong execution.

 

I still consider this album a slightly above average release. I do agree this album will be more favorable with the metal inclined (that’s me) and gazerock fans (also me). I can definitely see myself listening to this when I want something hard and fast from their catalog with just enough sprinklings of creativity for extra ear candy. For me it's got good replay value.

 

However, I don’t understand the people that tear this band and album apart like its the biggest pile of doo doo known to mankind. In fact I feel a lot of negativity toward the bands recent releases, this one included, are extremely exaggerated. The same goes for the praise for their well received albums. I love the band, but I’ve never considered any album they released to be a masterpiece or even close to one. The negativity might make sense if they ever had a streak of masterpiece albums, but they really never have. 

 

I’ve only taken the band seriously on occasion, where I feel a large portion of everybody else takes this band seriously 110% of the time. But i guess this is an entirely different topic. 

[Pretsy 1343]

 

 

Because its a well crafted song? It uses effective use of atmosphere, dynamics, tension and release, instrumentation and has a good chorus and an interesting progression into an outro solo? Come on who doesn’t love outro solos?

 

But seriously, I would argue it’s the best song on the entire album and one of the best the band has done in recent years. Yeah sure, there’s nothing special about the elements I described above by themselves, but on this song the band actually managed to make the sum greater than its parts. Everything has a purpose for being there and while it’s not the best song ever created, or even for 2015, it’s creative enough and it’s near perfect execution is what makes it a strong track. 

 

To me, this song should have been the standard and should have represented what the rest of the album should have been. Dynamic, creative, well composed, varied and a strong execution.

 

 

1) Atmosphere isn't differing that much from earlier discount Chizurus a la "Yoin" for instance (which is much shorter but at least somewhat more intriguing)

 

2) "Dynamics, tension and instrumentation" were addressed quite well by Bonsai: heavily Pro Tools'd playing in unison throughout the whole album might be your thing, but a mix of variety and cooperation in Aoi x Uruha guitarcraft is what I'mmissing here. Rhythmic backup has reached their dullest point too (which shouldn't be the case, e.g. DIM SCENE).

 

3) Outro solos are legit quality indicators now?

 

4) To quote 2ch aficionados (whom I find to be much more trustworthy) - chorus and a huge chunk of lyrics are totes devoid of originality Gazette-wise (a.k.a. "UNTITLED" syndrome) and are actually breaking thin walls of pure discount Arche worship (*cough* Kuukoku, even PVs + certain lyrics + parts match). Most parts sound rather plastered around too.

 

I really fail at seeing that why this piece of rehash should be triumphing over DOGMA, so to speak. Whatever floats your boats though, just my take .

[Zeus 7997]

i kinda liked dogma, but like all ur other reviews, u hit the head on the nail lol.

Despite the fact that everything between tracks three and thirteen blend into one another, all is not lost.

The very heavy implication there is that I enjoyed "DOGMA" (the song). It's much heavier than I anticipated and contrasts well with the opener. It's also the first track, so that helps me to remember it a lot. I can remember parts of "RAGE", even fewer parts of "DAWN", most of "DERACINE" and then the album falls off hard until around "DEUX" - "BLEMISH".

 

Definitely agreeing on your points, especially DERACINE having the most, or perhaps the most decent vocalcraft (at least in DOGMA) by courtesy of otherwise totes nasal/bad vocalist RukRuk :/

 

Not sure if your review adequately correlates with the rating you gave though (which might on the other hand say that about 1/4 of this record was kinda okay from your aspect), and if I have to be thoroughly honest and totally dickish (roughly put): I don't get all the wank and bias the last track (OMINOUS) gets from this forum + multiple gazefans...this is not the first time when people instantly approve of Gazette churning out alarming amount of discount Chizurus, right?

Quality reviewing as always though, our almighty Zeus-sama 

I could only remember about one-fourth of the album so that's not that bad methinks. And nothing was horrific either. It really doesn't deserve a super-low score. At its lowest points it's completely unmemorable and uncreative...which is really the worst thing I can say about this album.

I like OMINOUS simply because it's a well done song. I wrote a BNT blurb about it because it's far and away my favorite song from DOGMA but I wasn't hyping it (or this album) before release. It doesn't mean that it's the best ballad they've recorded (or even one of the best). It's not. That doesn't mean that the lyrics and mood weren't lifted from ARCHE. It totally was. I just prefer their Chizuru rehashes to everything else they do apparently.

 

I don't know if I have just changed as a person and chinese alternative rock just doesn't strike a chord with me anymore, but either way you're absolutely correct about this having the least replay value at least on my part. It's so strange because it's not possible for me to give less of a shit about all the songs sounding the same and I don't think it's their worst album either, yet I've stopped playing this album completely. I must have hundreds upon hundreds of plays on each of their albums and this fucking thing didn't even make out of week 1. 

+1. Thanks for the very concise summary of my feelings toward this album!

[togz 2004]

Nailed it.

[Furik 832]

Can we please just talk about how Ruki's vocals have improved a lot on this album? His singing and especially his growling. It's actually tolerable on this album. 

[Pandabear 414]

1) Atmosphere isn't differing that much from earlier discount Chizurus a la "Yoin" for instance (which is much shorter but at least somewhat more intriguing)

 

2) "Dynamics, tension and instrumentation" were addressed quite well by Bonsai: heavily Pro Tools'd playing in unison throughout the whole album might be your thing, but a mix of variety and cooperation in Aoi x Uruha guitarcraft is what I'mmissing here. Rhythmic backup has reached their dullest point too (which shouldn't be the case, e.g. DIM SCENE).

 

3) Outro solos are legit quality indicators now?

 

4) To quote 2ch aficionados (whom I find to be much more trustworthy) - chorus and a huge chunk of lyrics are totes devoid of originality Gazette-wise (a.k.a. "UNTITLED" syndrome) and are actually breaking thin walls of pure discount Arche worship (*cough* Kuukoku, even PVs + certain lyrics + parts match). Most parts sound rather plastered around too.

 

I really fail at seeing that why this piece of rehash should be triumphing over DOGMA, so to speak. Whatever floats your boats though, just my take .

 

1) You're right, by itself it's nothing mind blowing.  However I feel it's an interesting part and used effectively especially when combined within the rest of the track.

 

2) I agree with you on the lack of aoi X uruha guitarcraft. Not just on this song but the overall album. However, I feel the dynamics and tension of the track are some of the best on the entire album. Probably up there with DOGMA to be honest. How that composition was arrived at to achieve those results isn't really a matter of importance to me. I.E shifting or experimenting with tracks in pro-tools. I don't feel this should deter from the final result.  As far as instrumentation is concerned, it wouldn't really surprise me if the parts were heavily edited/punched in. I know to some people, this is a huge negative, to me, not so much. As long as the parts don't sound obviously edited, and or distract from the music. Playing those songs live and not having your shit together is an entirely different matter and something I'm not ok with.

 

3) Yes I love outro guitar solos, however, I wouldn't use them as quality indicator for an entire song. This was a jest :)That being said I did enjoy that there was an actual guitar solo in the track since most of the other songs on this album were void of them.  

 

4) Can't say much about lyrics because I never look into them with this band or other Japanese bands. Sometimes I do, and I find they actually have decent to good lyrical content, other times not so much. This isn't as a big deal to me with Japanese bands since I don't really focus on the lyrics and stick purely to the music. It is however disappointing, though not surprising, the bands has quality issues with their lyrics.

 

By creativity I meant the way the song was composed, the structure, not your typical straight verse-chorus-verse, although its a variation of it, and how the rest of the elements are brought in together and stripped away throughout the song. I'm not saying the track stands on a island of unattainable creative genius, but I believe there is enough going on throughout for it to be considered creative.

 

It's how all these different elements are brought together and executed that make the track strong IMO.  Even if it's a rehash to some extent.  And I''ll take this track over Chizuru, which I never really got the hype for. 

 

I will agree DOGMA is the other great track from this release. 

[lichtlune 915]

Ominous, Wasteland, and Bizarre are all great songs imo. I personally thought wasteland was the best song on the album but no one else seems to share that opinion with me. I still don't understand what's so great about Deux. Deracine had a pretty intro but that's all I can really say about it. Grudge had a few nice sections. Everything else is pretty lackluster and forgettable imo. 

 

 

 

Seriously why don't you guys like wasteland though???

[ghost 2686]

^I liked Wasteland '-'

After ripping the album to shreds I like the "support the band, buy their album!" tag at the end. Really good points though Zeus.

[Shmilly 519]

I'll admit that I too was a bit disappointed on my first listen to DOGMA; it's not a lie that on first impression a large chunk of the album seems to blur together, and through perhaps a combination of poor track ordering and little compositional and stylistic variation, a lot of these bland metalcore efforts are sadly forgettable. However, determined to give this album a chance and a fair judgment, I've been listening to it a lot lately and I have to say it's grown on me. There's still several tracks that are so average I decide to skip over them, but some of the mid-album haze begins to show redeeming qualities if you give it the time to.

 

First the songs I really like: the dramatic and atmospheric atmosphere of OMINOUS easily places it as my favourite track here (much like TO DAZZLING DARKNESS provided an awesome outro to BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY before it). Certainly had this album followed up on the promise OMINOUS showed as a teaser with more moody, thematic compositions then this could have been one of the GazettE's best releases to date.

 

Next is probably DERACINE. Toning down the over the top chugging and focusing on powerful and memorable vocals (yes, this is Ruki) makes DERACINE a track well worth repeating in my opinion. Maybe it's partly an effect of this track dividing up other more forgettable songs, but personally I love this one.

 

While I'm unsure of its positioning in the overall album, BLEMISH is another great track for me. It's energetic with a catchy chorus and I'm sure this will work well towards the end of a concert. As it is, it's a very enjoyable listen in its own right without letting the metalcore influences weigh it down.

 

Finally honorable mentions go to the two promotional songs DOGMA and DEUX, which are both solid works, and INCUBUS has been growing on me too thanks to the blend of female vox and screams that leads into the chorus.

 

As for the other (more than) half of this album, unfortunately most of it is fairly average and sadly forgettable. Had the pacing been better considered, with more variety and at least a ballad or something to lighten up the oppressive chugging, this could have been a great release. Ultimately the most disappointing thing about DOGMA for me is that it didn't follow up on the promise the excellent marketing teased us with. I hope the GazettE take a moment now to pause and remember what's important in putting together an album made of entirely new material. If they can find a happy balance between the atmospheric tracks they do so well and more upbeat, energetic songs, I think their next effort will be awesome.

[Ro plz 1290]

This review was well worth the wait, sir.

 

Thanks Zeus.

[ghost 2686]

I think DOGMA really badly wanted to be a mini-album, but Ruki bullied it into becoming a full-fledged album with mostly fillers.

Seriously, just have something like this for a tracklist:

Nihil

Dogma

Deracine

Wasteland

Incubus

Deux

Ominous

*bam* perfect mini.

But then they don't have a good excuse to charge 10,000 yen for a release (although I wouldn't be surprised if they did it anyways).

[Yukimoto 1237]

I do think that since the album was pretty much metalcore everything seemed to blend together but I did have a few tracks that I enjoyed very much and overall still love the album. The tracks that I liked the best were Dogma, Deracine, Incubus, Deux, and Ominous and I think as a whole the album seemed like it would do wonders LIVE but probably less on a cd fo rmost people. 

 

Ominous was probably my favorite because of the many layers it had as a song with its conceptual atmospheric melancholy and Ruki's "Truth Dread" thing going on I was pretty much sold, but for me that was after listening to it a few more times as compared to mostly everyone else loving it the first time around? I think for them it was a different album because it pretty focused on metal core which they may add one or two songs hear and there became a full fledged as you guys said "CHUGGING" album

 

I think the one thing it didn't have for me was their signature ballad but I'll live. Maybe their next single or whatever my include one of those so there's always next time. However I do think if they added their middle positioned ballads ( ballads situated in the middle) like all bands tend to do that it would've broken apart that long bullet that said Start.End.

 

But the 5 tracks previously mentioned along from being what they were highly metalcore based they were wonderful. More variability would've been great but I still love the album and Im sure its rated like a perfect 10 if you headbang with them live.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

...post about tracks...

 

exactly this^

 

if you'd condense the album to these very tracks (plus maybe the intro for good measure) it would be a pretty kick ass mini album (I'll probably do exactly that, even if i'm usually against messing with album structures).

This Album is one of these rare cases, where the sum is actually less than it's parts ^^

 

EDIT: i see already said something along the same lines...

[ghost 2686]

Glad someone else shares my sentiments

[bada9412 28]

I think DOGMA really badly wanted to be a mini-album, but Ruki bullied it into becoming a full-fledged album with mostly fillers.

Seriously, just have something like this for a tracklist:

Nihil

Dogma

Deracine

Wasteland

Incubus

Deux

Ominous

*bam* perfect mini.

But then they don't have a good excuse to charge 10,000 yen for a release (although I wouldn't be surprised if they did it anyways).

 

Ha, I love this album but I have to agree with you,

unfortunately it's all about the mula for the GazettE nowadays

[Elazmus 1873]

This is why  I really consider DOGMA to just be one long ass song. ^^

As much as I see the dynamic of whittling down the track list to more focused like this (I do this often myself with albums)

there are still sections from almost ALL of the missing songs that it feels a shame to forget about.

 

I think in this sense the album is actually smartly put together, there are still no songs here that when playing, I think "OH FUCK NO" *skipskipskip*

Which is something I found myself doing a LOT on Beautiful Deformity. More so than on DIVISION and probably even TOXIC.

 

Could have used some SEs. but considering how Nihil turned out, they don't seem to have much in the way of ideas for them, shame. Malformed Box was actually tiiiight.