EDIT - I replaced the video with a version that has english subtitles
Hello Folks, It's me Kaldath with my first true post here in what seems forever. I am still not 100% and will not be returning full time for some time yet however I am feeling reasonably well today, at least while under the effects of my pain killers so I figured since my favorite band "SCANDAL" just dropped a new video for their latest single "Take Me Out" that i'd do a quick review.
First let me share the video. The only place I could find it at the moment was on the SCANDAL Heaven Facebook page which you can watch below:
https://www.facebook.com/scandal.heaven/videos/1136188973122579/
Well now for the review. At first I didn't think I was going to like this song because it starts out feeling way to "popish" for my tastes, but it quickly grew on me especially at around the 1 minute mark when the pace and sound transform to a more standard SCANDAL rock sound. I haven't yet seen an english translation for the song and my own poor japanese is no where near ready to try and translate it especially with my most recent medical issues disrupting my study so I have no idea what they are saying and don't know what the girl performing martial arts in the middle of a bust tokyo street has to do with the song but I have to say the visuals are very nice indeed! Speaking of visuals I have to take a moment to say that I think Mami's hair ( the lead guitar player ) looks fantastic in this video with her current dye job but I kind of question the rest of her fashion sense as I think she does not look all that flattering in the ultra baggy clothes she is wearing.
Back to the Song. While I enjoy Haruna's voice and her singing is superb I find myself disappointed that they are continuing to follow the trend from their last album "Yellow" of focusing on her as the only "lead" singer instead of the more typical format of sharing the singing with Tomomi and occasionally Mami. All four ladies in the band are excellent singers and though like I said I enjoy Haruna's singing I would like to hear more from the others, Especially Tomomi ( I just adore Tomo's voice ) . In the end I have to give "Take Me Out" a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. It is an enjoyable song with a nice video but not quite up to their old music in my book!