Hard to be human
| Hard to be human | ||||
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| Studio album by Chiba-Ken | ||||
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Publication |
April 2009 |
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admission |
November 2008 - March 2009 |
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| Label (s) | In-house production | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, TUE |
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Title (number) |
14th |
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running time |
53 min 35 s |
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| occupation |
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Mike Watts, Rich Liegey, Chiba-Ken |
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Studio (s) |
Vu Du Studios |
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Hard to Be Human is the second studio album by the US post-grunge band Chiba-Ken , released in April 2009. The album was produced by Mike Watts, who also produced albums for the band As Tall as Lions . The album was sold as an in- house production after the band split from the label. It was offered as a CD with twelve songs and as a download with two bonus tracks.
production
The album was produced in the Du Vu Studios by Mike Watts (including As Tall as Lions ), Rich Liegey (including Wheatus ) and the band. Rich Liegey worked as a recording technician on the album. Hard to Be Human was mastered by Andy Van Dette from Masterdisk. The cover is by Lena Brunstein. The release party took place at the end of March 2009, but the album wasn't released until April 9th .
sale
The album was distributed worldwide at times by Amazon , iTunes , EMusic , Rhapsody and ReverbNation . In Germany , the album was only offered as a download from Amazon.de and was removed from the online retailer due to the low demand from buyers.
Cover
The cover shows an angel sitting sadly on a bed. The angel's wings are hanging in a wardrobe. In the mirror that the album shows, this angel looks angry. Since the album was released under the old band name, CHIBA-KEN can be seen on the cover. The cover artwork is by Lena Brunstein.
Subject
In terms of content, the songs are about the social grievances in American society, war and the dark side of love. In addition, the band takes up topics such as substance abuse and sexuality in this album . Other issues are depression and suicide .
Examples
Hard to be human
The title song Hard to Be Human deals with several topics, such as the serious differences in American society, and packs them into a tragic love song . The protagonist does not ask these questions to point out these grievances, but to open the eyes of the great love. The song begins with several questions that are opposite to each other.
“Am I too bad? Am I too good? Am I too mad? Or misunderstood? Am I too vain? Am I on time? If I'm too early then tell me, I'll go home and come back tonight. "
"Am I too bad? Am i too good Am i too angry? Or misunderstood? Am I Too Inflated? Am i on time? If I'm too early tell me, I'll go home and come back tonight "
In the second stanza he asks whether it is due to his origin and thus alludes to the racism that is very pronounced worldwide and asks whether it is due to his age. In the further course he reveals that he has a mental disorder . He wonders if he can be good enough for her if he doesn't feel good enough for himself. Towards the end, he reveals that he has already thought about suicide .
The song ends with the sentences "It's hard to be human today ..." This sentence is repeated until human . then the singer whispers "always" . Translated it means that it is always difficult to be human.
Zero Percent
The song is about the abuse of drugs . The FDA is said to be making drugs more accessible to the US population.
The chorus says that drugs temporarily erase problems but are bad for your health. It is also said that the start of a new life should be in a pill .
The song later says that there is a lot of money to be made in the drug industry and the government just looks on.
Casual sex
This song relates to several themes. For one, casual sex is about prostitution . Other topics include drug abuse and dysfunctional politics of Barack Obama .
While initially mainly denounced prostitution (e.g. through porn ). In the further course, the singer blames the wrong policies on youth protection and drug abuse . The song also says who is interested in the opinion of a rock musician if everything stays the same as before.
Moonlight Mass
Moonlight Mass is about the hopelessness out of depression and other mental disorders . The protagonist tells that he can see the face of the devil and asks God if he could not let him die.
“Oh god, could I be dead? If there is a stairway up to heaven can't you come down and bring me up to you? Oh god, give me wings… ”
"Oh god, may I die? Can't you come down to me in case there's a stairway to heaven Oh god give me wings ... "
What Do We Do Now?
The song is primarily about the loss of virginity . The protagonist describes having sexual intercourse and that the world becomes more complicated afterwards.
In the chorus he asks what to do when innocence seems to be gone.
The funeral
The Funeral ( funeral, from English for funeral ), one of the two bonus songs, which can only be acquired by downloading in online music stores, is about the death of a hero .
At the very beginning we learn that he suicide committed and express it in this neither his name can still look at his face. The chorus says that he planned his own funeral.
The Funeral is the only song besides The War in which singer George William uses screamings.
Music videos
A music video with built-in photomontages has been released for the songs Hard to Be Human and The War . To the song What Do We Now? a video was also made. It is, however, a contribution to a DVD of the Internet porn portal SuicideGirls and is therefore to be regarded as independent of the album.
Music genre
Compared to the previous albums Faces of the Moment and Are We Innocent? the melody has become calmer. The Screamings the singer have become on Hard to Be Human rare. Only in the songs The Funeral and The War does George William use even harder screamings at times.
Track list
- Paradise Lost
- Hard to be human
- Breaking away
- Darkside
- Casual sex
- What Do We Do Now?
- Broken
- Goodbye
- Zero Percent
- Citizens
- Moonlight Mass
- Hate
- The Funeral (download only)
- The War (download only)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b CD inlay Hard to Be Human
- ↑ HArd to Be Human Radio J Podcast
- ↑ Hard to Be Human ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lyrics on magistrix.de
- ↑ Zero Percent ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lyrics on magistrix.de
- ↑ Casual Sex ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lyrics on magistrix.de
- ↑ What Do We Do Now? ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lyrics on magistrix.de
Web links
- Chiba-Ken at ReverbNation . Including lyrics for the songs Hard to Be Human , Casual Sex , Zero Percent and Paradise Lost
- Hard to Be Human at spirit-of-metal.com