[a simple review] Let's talk about the GazettE's #NINTH + translations

[album] [2018.13.06] NINTH

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OHP: the-gazette.com

1. 99.999	-	-	-
2. Falling	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
3. Ninth odd smell	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
4. Gush	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
5. The mortal	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
6. 虚 蜩 (utsusemi)	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
7. その声は脆く (sono koe wa moroku)	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
8. Babylon’s taboo	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
9. 裏切る舌 (uragiru bero)	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
10. Two of a kind	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
11. Abhor God	Translation	Tradução	Kanji
12. Unfinished	Translation	Tradução	Kanji

As it's name suggests NINTH is the ninth the GazettE album, it have 12 tracks being 11 full songs and 1 intro.

As any person which follows the GazettE for some time can observe, this album is a kind of a retrospective of the band's work, what they do in NINTH is, simplifying, a great compilation of the band's trajectory since its first concepts, bringing to their actual perform, all the past concepts with the quality that they look up to bring in the present. The band's mature should also be noted, although lots of people (including me) like so much more the simple style of their early career, its absolutely impossible not to say that all the band members looked up to improve their skills since its begining.

So let's go! Starting with the first track of this album, 99.999 its a very symbolic intro that represent everything that I just talked, 99.999 its a compilation of some (or maybe all) of the past intros of the band, and all the elements already used in previous concepts.

"Falling" lyrics are very symbolic too, what can make this song hard to understand for some people, but watching the music video is a quite simple to understand for who already know the way-of-expressing of the GazettE. So, as the album concept is the band self, on the MV of Falling we can consider those problematic characters as the band's phases, being the man (blue) the past and the girl (red) the future, Ruki show itself in purple since NINTH is the present of the band, the lyrics is about insecurity, about how can be hard keep yourself in the light when everything that surrounds you is darkness, and, that sometimes is okay to fall, because the end it's nothing but a restart.

"A distorted shout to solve the past, the mind comes into conflict,
stuck in my head, going mad for the ghosts of the past, where I came from.
(...) To be reborn again I'm gonna fall".

"NINTH ODD SMELL" say into its lyrics that the role of the ninth album it's a "proof of life", or a "proof that they still alive". It says that, even that they feel in their limit after the fall, they will swallow their crying-voice and scream, because "this soul can never die".

From here, what succeeded the album is easily matched in previous works, songs as その声は脆く (sono koe wa moroku), 裏切る舌 (uragiru bero) and Two of a Kind, for example, sounds as a more mature version of songs from TOXIC album, are songs about personal feelings, the first shows fragility and 裏切る舌 (uragiru bero) the hatred of gossips that only lie and manipulate.

To represents the Project Dark Age (Dogma, Ugly and Undying) we have The Mortal, Babylon’s Taboo and Abhor God, these are songs with esoteric content that questions the life, the gods and what people do of filthy in name of it.

The Mortal is a song that shows a quite of maturity in the concept showed initially on DOGMA's album, even more maturity in the Ruki's vocal, which comes with a very emotional load. Babylon’s Taboo and Abhor God are songs that come to question all about the dogmatic systems, the first reveals that the Babylon’s Taboo is to accept an imposed fate and the lies that are told you, the taboo is accept to be an "impressionable spectator of the complete oppression". Abhor God invite you to kill from inside of you all the peace sensation that looks weird and stop hearing all the promises from a God that shakes hanged in the same nightmare as us do.

The sky of lies twinkle dazzlingly, this is obscurely beautiful.
Reflecting in the mud, the bottom of the bottom,
of an accepted fate.
This is Babylon’s taboo

Gush would be fine on Division, although the instrumental being different, the Gush lyrics matches perfectly in sequence to Derangement. Both the lyrics, in different ways, talks about the flatterers, the major difference it's in Derangement there's lot of despise, and Gush a kind of conformation, after all, "they look humans, whichever is the public opinion."

Finishing with 虚蜩 (utsusemi) and Unfinished, which has an "old-school" style, are songs that refer to the phases of 2006 to 2007, when NIL and Stacked Rubbish was being released. 虚蜩 (utsusemi) is an absurdly engaging track, and is a relief to the ears in the album sequence, after listen to Gush and The Mortal, which are heavy songs, the feeling of nostalgia and the sad melody of 虚蜩 (utsusemi) brings a really good sensation.

There's a lot of people who think that Unfinished is a song to the fans, which is almost undeniable after reading its lyrics, that, in a melancholic way, it shows gratefulness, the message that it passes its something like "you supported me, so I will support you too".

"Gather the passing days
and all my love will rain incessantly
just for believing, anywhere I go,
in the value of the support that you give me
that is embed into my chest.".

Although all this songs are a quite different them are clearly complementary, after 3 years without release any new album and leave the fans divided about the band's future, NINTH come to proof that there's the GazettE for every tastes and styles, and its diversity is what build its personality.

So, tell me, what did you think about the album? Particularly I think was a wonderful experience to translate it, as a long time fan of this band I was happy to see tracks like 虚蜩 (utsusemi), which has this touch of nostalgia, and The Mortal that for me has the maturity that was needed in DOGMA.