Gackt
Redemption

Preamble: before you continue reading this review, let it be clear that the author wrote it for those who possess a very open mind. If as children you were as fixed as stitches to just one musical genre (metal or not), you can stop at the point you see next to this.
Now let's pretend that the review starts from the next line.

Gackt M. S. Camui is considered a j-pop icon (where j stands for Japanese), a particular genre, which “crudely” can be defined as a pop-rock with specific synthetic effects and influences from ’80s funk and European pop; compared to normal pop-rock, it is also distinguished by the vocal technique (softer, less demanding for the vocal cords), by the massive presence of guitar solos, and by the often extremely complex structure of the scores; the most well-known example can be considered to be "L'Arc~en~Ciel", authors, among other things, of one of the songs in the soundtrack of the manga “Inuyasha”, and another present in the OST of “Great Teacher Onizuka”. Also noteworthy are Tokuyama Hidenori and the Gazette.

However, in this single CD, very little of the j-pop appears, and in fact, it can be traced back to nu-metal, with virtually insignificant differences. Among these should be noted the vocal technique, which is still the same as j-pop, and which certainly doesn't look bad on these more aggressive tones. Another distinctive characteristic compared to other nu-metal, or rather, other metal in general, is the fact that Gackt is alone, in the sense that he handles all the instruments by himself: in this case, electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and synthesizer. And in the use of each of these instruments, he demonstrates fine technique, enough to make many people who have been doing metal for years and have perhaps become typical examples of it blush.

But it's time to talk in detail about this interesting work. Very short as befits a single: only 4 tracks and a little over 20 minutes. "Redemption" is the opener as well as the “object” of the single: a dark and aggressive song, sung mostly in Japanese, with English appearing in the form of rap, with a voice altered by the synthesizer and featuring ample parts of synthesizer solo and numerous scratches. It almost seems like talking about “Runaway” by Linkin Park (except for the Japanese, of course), but only by listening to it does one realize it is quite different. "Longing" follows: once again, the singing is mostly in Japanese (without rap this time), but here the electric guitar is more “intrusive”, even in the areas where the synthesizer predominates; it also stands out from the title track for a medieval (at times gothic) flavored passage, realized with the bass drum and with the keyboard emulating the organ; as a finale, a long scratch. The other two tracks are the instrumental versions of the first two.

In this positive picture, something is off: Japanese as the predominant language. Absolutely understandable, given that it is a product aimed mostly at the Japanese; it’s certainly not the most musical language among those existing. Just think of the way the text is arranged in the songs, that is, chaotically, resorting to numerous cuts of syllables or accelerating the pronunciation of the syllables themselves. The English rap in Redemption is a true redemption in this regard. But all in all, this is really looking for the nitpick, because the overall result is excellent.