This is officially the first time I've gotten a Japanese CD in my hands upon release day, and it likely won't be the last, either. This showed up in the mail yesterday, straight from Amazon Japan in an atrociously mangled DHL package, but this CD thankfully survived the ordeal in immaculate condition. This is the new single from Brahman, a Japanese punk band who has been around since 1995, releasing two of my new favorite J-punk albums, A Man Of The World and A Forlorn Hope, earlier on in their career.
This single was released as an appetizer for Brahman's upcoming 2/4-disc 20th anniversary compilation album 尽未来際 (Jinmiraisai), which is currently scheduled for release on August 12th in three different editions. The most expensive of the three will contain a few extra goodies such as a photo booklet and a reproduction copy of their original demo tape in an elegant box package. However, only the A-side to this single will be featured on the upcoming compilation, so if you don't want a bunch of material you may already have, spring for this. Who knows if it'll show up on another album of more new material somewhere down the line?
As for what I thought of the little material here, I have no clue how it fits into Brahman's more recent material, since I haven't listened to their last two albums of new material yet (I have a copy of Eternal Recurrence forthcoming, but that's re-recordings of their entire pre-A Forlorn Hope era), but it fits pretty well with the softer material on A Forlorn Hope and The Middle Way. It's good to see that Toshi-Low has committed to fully Japanese lyrics now; from what I've heard out of Eternal Recurrence and recent live shows where Brahman played older material, his English vocals had deteriorated to a significant degree.
My copy of this single is the limited edition 2-discer, which includes a bonus DVD of a show from Brahman's recent "TOUR 1080°", which I haven't been able to play yet since I don't have immediate access to a Region 2-capable DVD player. However, I noticed that the two B-sides to this single were included in their set for this show, while the A-side wasn't. Not a big deal, but strange. If you're interested in keeping up with Brahman, you have no reason not to get this single, really.
The tracklisting for the CD single is as follows:
2. 終夜 ~yomosugara~
3. 汀に咲く ~migiwanisaku~
The tracklisting for the live DVD is as follows:
1. For One's Life
2. 賽の河原
3. Speculation
4. 時の鐘
5. 汀に咲く ~migiwanisaku~
6. 終夜 ~yomosugara~
7. Causation
8. 警醒
9. Answer For...
10. 霹靂
11. 虚空ヲ掴ム
12. 初期衝動
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