Is easter any good?
The verdict is out! Easter is good. It is also bad. As usual with Asian Kung-Fu Generation songs, early fan reviews are polar opposites (Shinseiki no Love Song) until they melt into one river of consensus—either repulsive (Shinseiki no Love Song) or brilliant (Shinseiki no Love Song). Here is a sampling of how Easter and its B-sides have been received so far —in the harshest, funniest and most illuminating fashion.
Fans can be harsh, right?
“I hate to say it but they're getting old and lazy.”
“I think Easter is the weakest song on (sic) the single's disc.”
“To be honest those over lapping (sic) vocals felt like I was listening to a Duran Duran song lol. And I didn't really feel as if there was that much content as far as the instrumentation.”
“I think they maybe be taking to(o) much influence from Foo Fighters or some other band.”
“I feel like ‘Easter’ is so ‘generic rock song’. Although it's just a radio-rip, maybe in better quality it'll be a grower (sic).”
But they can also be profuse in their praises.
“PARALLEL WORLD IS JUST FUCKING AWESOME. The single is on Itunes (sic) for only 3 euros... support ASIAN KUNG FU BY GETTING IT. Its (sic) cheap...” (Use of capital letters means this fan wants to drive home his point.)
“Parallel world is great. Ah, I'm going to see them next week! I can't wait!”
“WOW.....Easter sounds a lot (sic) different from AKFG's other work...... I don't know if it's a good or bad thing.”
“I love it already.”
“It's a lot better than Standard, I think it's a good aggressive release.”
“Talking about Easter, I will receive the CD tomorrow. I'm very excited haha.”
“Ajikan have yet to release a song that I'm disappointed in…both Easter and Standard are good as far as I'm concerned. I do feel like there is room for even better tracks on the new record, but we'll see.”
Don’t mess with music experts; they can sense laziness in Yamada’s bass lines or boredom in Ijichi’s drum pockets.
“It really was just missing Bass Guitar flavor and fills (sic) Yamada has never just followed the rhythm guitar part…I wonder is he getting lazy (sic).”
“A decent track at its best. It may grow on me overtime due to the somewhat different song structure that consists of multiple short verses in between the highly emphasized chorus.”
“I don't think it's too far out of their wheel house to consider it too different. You may feel this way because they only write so many true minor key songs.”
“…it doesn't sound too aggressive but what I will say is that it is lacking…that consistent Ajikan sound with Kita doing a different lead part they all seem to be playing the same part…Kita is just in a different octave, and Kiyoshi with the different drum part in the beginning verse but soon as it got to the chorus, classic Ajikan drive, this seems to be more punk rock like.”
“I have to say the one thing I am missing from it is hearing Kita do (sic) different lead parts instead of just playing mostly rhythmic chords like Gotch…I do like the song though.”
“The production sounds indeed a lot like the Foo Fighters, not the song itself, though if you compare the chorus with the one from The Pretender…there you go. IMO it's simply too short, something's missing, and once again Gotoh sings way too much, which annoys me the most. I can't really believe the song was written before the lyrics!”
“BTW the album mix is finished, it's being mastered by Brian Gardner who's quite a name in the business.” #FF0000">(That is inaccurate ed.)
“And what do you think of Kiyoshis (sic) repetitive drum pockets?”
Back to their roots.
“IMHO it actually sounds more like their original style, which I really like.”
“This sounds excellent. Almost like a more mature Houkai Amplifier.”
“It sounds very much like Magic Disk material, but with more aggressive tone and overdrive.”
“Sounds like a more aggressive 'Sore Dewa Mata Ashita’.”
Five points for Ken!
“Seaside Sleeping is great!”
“Kita's voice is so much different from Uso to Wonderland.”
“It's a bit lower and more airy.” (I take it that airy here does not mean proud or bragging. ed.)
“I like it a lot, especially the small guitar solo (of) Ken.”
So what’s your take?
