Redeemer

Redeemer
Studio album by D'espairsRay
Publication (s)	March 11, 2009 (JP) May 24, 2009 (EU) July 28, 2009 (US)
Label (s)	Delicious Deli Records (JP) Spinefarm Records (EU) Hip-O Records (USA)
Format (s)	CD + DVD (Limited Version)
Genre (s)	Pop-Rock Alternative Metal
Title (number)	12
running time	54:19
occupation	Singing : Hizumi Electric guitar : Karyu Electric bass : Zero Drums : Tsukasa
production	D'espairsRay Shinobu Narita
chronology Mirror 2007 Redeemer Immortal 2009

Redeemer (German: Redeemer) is the third studio album by the J-Rock band D'espairsRay and the first to be released under a major label . The release took place in Japan on March 11, 2009 and in Europe on May 24 of that year.

Emergence

In spring 2008 the recordings for a new single were already running. These had to be interrupted, however, because the band was unexpectedly invited to take part in the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour 2008 in the USA. With MUCC , Bullet for My Valentine , Blessthefall and others, they toured the USA from February 29 to April 15 as the first Japanese rock artist in this context. Instead of visiting 43 cities as originally planned, in the end there were 34.

At the hide memorial summit , which was held in honor of the guitarist Hideto Matsumoto, who died in 1998, on May 3rd and 4th at the Ajinomoto Stadium , they presented a cover version of hide's "Pose" and their new song Brilliant . The single came out two weeks later, but was created before the Taste of Chaos tour. Although the other band members were not enthusiastic about the song, Karyu asked them to release the single. Their ROCKST ☆ R taste of Chocolate tour followed on May 17th , after which the recordings for a new album began.

The second single Kamikaze followed in August . The song was used as the ending song on the TBS Kei TV production Ranku oukoku (ラ ン ク 王国) in August and September . Excerpts from the film were used for the music video.

The single Horizon , released on December 3, was again used as background music for a TV production, this time MUSIC BB as the opening song. The A-Side was created together with Brilliant . The song Yami ni furu kiseki of the 2003 single Maverick was re-recorded as an acoustic version with violin and piano and added as a b-side. The band got the idea from a fan reply on their blog. He had found something on Youtube , reported this to the artists, and from this the idea developed to create a song only with piano and violin accompaniment.

Finally, in January, the band's third album was announced, which should be released on Delicious Deli Records . This sub-label was created by the Universal Music Group to give Japanese artists who are very popular outside of Japan a new platform. In contrast to previous releases, this one is designed as a major label . Work on this began immediately after the production of Horizon . The original release date had to be postponed to March 11th. Redeemer's “Regular Edition” contains a CD and one of four photo cards, while the “Limited Edition” includes a DVD.

trip

At the end of the month the associated promotional tour called PSYCHEDELIC PARADE started with three gigs especially for the fan club. The tour for normal fans started on April 1st. It started in Japan, went to France, Spain, Poland, Germany and England. On July 26, Moscow was the first Russian city to be visited. In addition, the Youtube channel Maniac TV was opened on July 11th , where they made a few comments in Japanese shortly before the performances.

style

While the A-sides of the singles Brilliant , Kamikaze and Horizon can largely be located in pop-rock , the B -sides Cocoon , Scissors and Bullet can be found in the field of metal . This change between styles continues on the album. Lizard , Redeemer , Lost in re: birth and Masquerade can be assigned to metal because of their melodic chorus, guttural vocals and e-guitars . While Lizard and Redeemer are dark and energetic, Lost in re: birth and Masquerade are more dark and melancholy. Ballads like Kouhaku (German: Bernstein), Yozora (German: starry sky) and REM -Fuyu no genchou- use bright synthesizer sounds and restrained riffs , the latter also includes strings and a piano in the ensemble.

The most unusual piece is Paradox 5 . A primeval rhythm, bongos , subtle drum accompaniment and piano sounds, Hizumi's gentle singing and a female choir have breathed life into a calming and mysterious piece of music. Heaven's Color is stylistically very similar to Brilliant . Like Horizon , the song has a little spoken vocals and scratching elements.

Compared to previous albums, Redeemer focused more on synthesizer sounds. The chanting used in places is also new . Strings and piano accompaniment were used on Hai to Ame (灰 と 雨) on the album Coll: set , and bongos on the song Maze on the single Kogoeru Yoru ni Saita Hana . The band sees the album as their musical growing up. Karyu said:

“You could compare Brilliant with coming of age. It accompanies you from childhood to adulthood and describes all the feelings that go with it and the change in the way you feel. In relation to D'espairsRay, it reminds me of the times we went through and what we felt. We had almost forgotten that, the song reminds us of our development. "

reception

The music album received rather positive reviews. The variety of dark and heavy songs like Lizard , Redeemer and Masquerade and lighter, positive ones like Kamikaze and Heaven's color was praised . However, it was criticized that this change, as before with the albums Coll: set and Mirror , would destroy the cohesion of the songs on the album.

Redeemer would not bring salvation to D'espairsRay, but still has its merits. The sound and the mood of the album would be better than with Mirror , where a lot of atmosphere has been lost due to volume and energetic playing style, but does not match the mood and inner cohesion of Coll: set . It is not their best album, but for the band just an intermediate step between what they are and what they will one day be.

The visual implementation of the music video was praised on the DVD of the limited version . The making of was criticized for its dull sound quality, as smaller statements were difficult to understand due to operational noises and the song playing in the background. When shooting poorly lit locations, the image noise was also criticized. The contrast of the colors was positively highlighted in the music video and making of .

Track list

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Redeemer   JP 39 3/2009 (2 weeks)

Singles

Brilliant   JP 30th 5/2008 (2 weeks) kamikaze   JP 30th 8/2008 (3 weeks) Horizon   JP 47 12/2008 (2 weeks)

Track list CD:

1. Lizard - 4:29 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
2. Brilliant - 4:37 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
3. Redeemer - 4:28 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
4. Kohaku (琥珀) - 4:28 (Music: Tsukasa / Text: Hizumi)
5. Kamikaze - 4:23 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
6. Lost in Re: birth - 4:09 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
7. REM -Fuyu no Genchou- (REM - 冬 の 幻 聴 -) - 4:58 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
8. Horizon - 4:08 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
9. Masquerade - 4:00 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
10. Yozora (夜空) - 4:17 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
11. Paradox 5 - 5:41 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
12. Heaven's Color - 4:41 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)

Title list DVD (only in the limited version):

1. REDEEMER PV
2. Making of REDEEMER

Singles

Brilliant

The record was in stores on May 14, 2008, two weeks after it appeared at the hide memorial summit . The first pressings contained a photo card.

Track list CD:

1. Brilliant - 4:35 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
2. Cocoon - 4:57 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)

kamikaze

The single was released on August 6, 2008 in Japan under Sword Records . The first pressings contain one of four different photo cards. The regular CD also contains a bonus track, the limited version a bonus DVD with the live performance in the Long Beach Arena ( Los Angeles ) on April 10th as part of the Taste of Chaos Tour.

Track list CD:

1. Kamikaze - 4:22 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
2. Scissors - 4:03 (Music: Tsukasa / Text: Hizumi)
3. Brilliant - Live Dec 30 07 - 4:55 (regular version only)

Title list DVD (only in the limited version):

1. TRICKSTƏR
2. Garnet
3. SCREEN
4. SIXty∞NINe
5. 「Fuyuu shita risou」

Horizon

Horizon was published on December 3, 2008, first press releases include a poster . The regular CD also contains a bonus track, the limited version also a DVD with the music video for the A-Side. Bullet was originally supposed to be called Bakuretsu (explode, burst), this was changed before it was released.

Track list CD:

1. HORIZON - 4:08 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
2. Bullet - 4:25 (Music: Karyu / Text: Hizumi)
3. Yami ni Furu Kiseki (Classical White Version) - 5:13 (regular version only)

Title list DVD (only in the limited version):

1. HORIZON (PV)

Web links

• Homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2016 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. 
2. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000822362
3. ↑ ^{a b} D'espairsRay 10th anniversary special talk I 2008 (The 200-page brochure with interviews was sold on the 10th anniversary in the CCLemon Hall, English translation of a blog )
4. ↑ http://www.hearjapan.com/news/interview/DespairsRay_Interview
5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.jame-world.com/de/articles-6945-d-espairsray-horizon.html
7. ↑ http://www.jame-world.com/de/database-items-20608-redeemer-regular-edition-.html
8. ↑ http://www.jame-world.com/de/articles-54010-d-espairsray-in-moskau.html
9. ↑ http://www.jame-world.com/de/articles-4918-interview-mit-d-espairsray-beim-rtoc.html
10. ↑ Neolog Reviews
11. ↑ allmusic
12. ↑ JAME-REDEEMER Review
13. ↑ http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/760684/1/
14. ↑ http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/775376/1/
15. ↑ http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/793760/1/
16. ↑ Oricon Charts
17. ↑ [1]
18. ↑ http://www.jame-world.com/de/articles-5509-d-espairsray-kamikaze-ltd-version-.html