GazettE, The – Pledge

by ROXY · January 11, 2011

Release date: December 15, 2010
Label: PS Company

Tracklist

PLEDGE
THE TRUE MURDEROUS INTENT
VOICELESS FEAR

It’s my belief that the GazettE is one of Japan’s best rock products. These guys know what they’re doing. With every single they keep proving it. PLEDGE is the last single of three released last year. 2010 was a good year for the GazettE, culminating with their first ever Tokyo Dome performance, which was their ultimate live performance dream. I hope that from here on their goal is to expand their music across the borders!

PLEDGE includes three songs which exemplify some of GazettE’s major talents. From Pledge to Voiceless Fear you can tell they can pull off variety. While Pledge is a beautiful, soft ballad The True Murderous Intent starts out with rough vocals and heavy guitar riffs, then Voiceless Fear is somewhere in between those two. You didn’t even notice they switched it up on you.

These guys know how to make rock ballads. The guitar riffs are lethargic but never boring or drawn out. Aoi’s acoustic guitar solo takes you to a calm place while Uruha’s lead electric guitar enhances the beauty of the song. Ruki’s vocals are flawless in Pledge. Kai on the drums and Reita on the bass keep everything mellow. At 6:04 minutes, Pledge is an atypically long song, but definitely my favorite piece of this single. The True Murderous Intent is a much heavier, more mysterious tune. This one includes the GazettE’s odd tendency to include female voices in the background, but this time it doesn’t really bother me, they blend in quite well.

My favorite part of this song is definitely the drums, though. The screaming is not overdone; the guitar riffs are rich as always; bass riffs rock. Voiceless Fear is my least favorite of the single, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad song, quite the contrary. On this one, the girls in the background do bother me, but I do like how the song starts out like a ballad and moves up to a high paced rhythm. The guitar riffs take this one. They’re brilliant. It’s very pleasant to hear those surreal notes with the bass steadily rumbling in the background. When it comes to vocals though, not my favorite.

Overall PLEDGE is very well done. It’s quality rock music with interesting vocals and variety to please almost everyone (rock-wise, of course).

Rating: