Review Summary: That is the question that Nightmare have failed to answer with this album.
All bands have that phase right? They try to do too much all at once and they end up putting out mediocre material. Hell, all of the greats have had it happen, they release albums that just aren't up to par with their other stuff. Nightmare have been going through that phase... for a while now.
Ever since they changed labels to Avex, they've just not had that same spark they had when they broke through. Even before the label change they were losing their flare, Majestical Parade had some great songs, but it was by no means a solid album. But then to follow it they released their self titled album, their first effort for Avex. Self titled albums in the middle of a career usually mean some sort of come-back or a change of direction and after Majestical Parade, a change was most certainly needed. But it was a bad album, in fact I'd almost say it was a terrible album. Their next effort SCUMS was just as bad, in some places worse and interest and belief in Nightmare's musical capabilities plummeted almost unanimously throughout their loyal fanbase.
Following the release of singles "Dizzy" and "Rewrite" and the announcement of a new album titled To Be Or Not To Be, interest in Nightmare as well as their relevance had reached somewhat of a nadir. After the awfully predictable affair that was "Dizzy" and the plain and uninspiring "Rewrite," scepticism was very high. The only promising aspects being the two singles b-sides, notably those off of "Rewrite," which of course, predictably, were not going to be included on the new album.
Avex then released album teasers for the songs "Gallows" and "Drastica." These songs just further installed worry amongst the waning fanbase, "Gallows" being very bland and having a pathetically weak chorus and "Drastica," at least in my veiw, was the weakest song Nightmare had ever written. Sakito couldn't be bothered writing a good riff or guitar solo, Ruka's drums might as well have been absent all together over the throbbing synths and programming, Yomi sounded tired and Hitsugi and Ni~ya were basically non-existant. When the album finally dropped a little over two months ago, the fanbase braced itself for the worst... those that bothered to stick around we're rewarded.
... With another Goddamned Majestical Parade. A roster of incredible songs buried amongst a swill of half-baked ideas and Sakito and Ruka's new found ambitions to be DJs (or so it would seem). "Gallows," "Dizzy," and "Rewrite" appear right at the beginning of the album, meaning that anyone who had already heard the songs had a pretty good idea of how the album was going to kick off; poorly. The songs buried in-between them doing nothing to make the album any stronger. The title track curiously has lyrics credited to the entire band, a big first but a short and forgettable track by all sense of the word. Most of the "lyrics" consist of "To be, not to be!" repeated over and over which for the life of me, I can't see needing the entire quintet to write. The song writing has taken a bit of a hit in areas, especially during the first five tracks, becoming lazy. "Terminal" sounds almost identical to the classic Nightmare song Believe and several of the albums tracks are incredibly forgettable and of course the new bloating electronic effects smother the album in a sickly sweet layer of programmed rubbish. These weak songs are so uninspired that a couple of songs are easy to play on guitar by ear during the initial listen of the song, mostly due to the fact that on these weaker songs, the guitar has taken a back seat to the electronic slime.
But as with all of Nightmare's albums, To Be Or Not To Be contains a handful of amazing, inspiring and at times, incredible songs. The obvious stand outs being the ballads "Melt into blue sky" and "Lulla[byâ‰*bye]" both songs being a much needed return to form. From the triumphant chord sequences and Yomi's stellar vocal delivery in "Melt into blue sky" and the ambient verses and graceful piano during "Lulla[byâ‰*bye]," those handful of songs alone make the album well worth a listen. "Truth" being a hard rocking piece well worth its salt and the instrumental track, another big first for the band, "Kenka Drive" driving home another insanely good tune that isn't ruined by Yomi delivering an average vocal part (which might be why the song is an instrumental in the first place). That being said, Yomi actually does a superb job with the vocals on this album with the exception of a couple of already poorly written tracks like "Gallows," "Tokyo to Rasetsu-ku" and the title track. Even "Dizzy" and "Drastica" do have poisonously catchy choruses.
One last little aspect of the album that has seen a disappearance is the artwork and costumes. For a visual-kei act, both of these things, while not especially the album art, are important. I mean come on, it's in the damn name if you look carefully enough: VISUAL-kei. Did you see it? Nightmare missed it this time round, most prominently in their album art which is just the band backed by a white void with a tonne of thin black lines. The costumes fit this albums theme of boring accordingly... but in all fairness, this has nothing to do with the music and isn't a problem as such.
To Be Or Not To Be isn't a bad album, it's even a little bit above average in parts. But it is still way below Nightmare's capabilities. Some of these songs are amazingly well written while others are barely even ideas. It's a bit of a rocky listen, but there are parts to it that make it worth it. After a couple of listens, even the bad songs are nice to listen to albeit nothing you haven't already heard or anything you'd want to hear again in the future. To Be Or Not To Be has seen Nightmare pick up the slack a little, slowly but steadily. An important step Nightmare need to take now is slow down and have a rest. Look at the positives and negatives and regain their ability to make a consistently amazing albums like they have in the past. Maybe the juvenile ambition that used to be present is gone, maybe there's conflicting musical ideas going on between Sakito and Ruka. Whatever the problem is, the band needs to find the answer and fast, because even though To Be Or Not To Be didn't entirely disappoint, people have all but lost interest in the band.
To be or not to be... that is the question.
