SMK (L) Abingdon

Before I start with the review, let me borrow a word from DiGi's advertisements: FUIYOH! Oh man, that's the best expression I can come up with to describe how incredible this darned concert is. You simply can NOT not enjoy 1 hour and 45 minutes of sublime awesomeness by these four men regardless whether you've heard their songs or no.

[caption id="attachment_530" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="(L-R) SUNAO, Takanori, Kishi, Shibasaki"][/caption]

The DVD covers their final Zepp Tokyo performance interspersed with cut scenes from other concert venues so prepare to be wowed out of your socks. The segmenting between songs change are smooth, the setting is plain and simple with only a huge backdrop of their insignia, there's numerous camera pan-ins on the whole stage and the crazy audience, and then there's the band themselves!

Takanori is an amazing vocalist and a capable MC who can throw a really good rock concert. He has fun screaming, jumping and dancing around throughout the performance and seldom hits a wrong note. He runs out of breath during 'LOST REASON' but picks up quickly after that.

[caption id="attachment_531" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="SUNAO embodies raw power and is responsible for the edgy riffs"][/caption]

SUNAO and Shibasaki bring the heavies notably on 'HOWLING', 'NERVOUS BREAKDOWN' and 'Fre@k Show'. Shibasaki is justified as the better guitarist (eh since he wrote most of the tracks) but he falters quite a bit on his leads and loses his stamina nearing the second half. SUNAO then takes up the lead as his songs are slotted towards the end. Pretty balanced tracklist.

[caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Shibasa injects complex fingerworkin' into his songs"][/caption]

Leader-san Kishi is the brain of the band (Takanori is the heart, of course) and holds his presence strong on the techno & piano parts. I especially love his intro on 'Via Dolorosa' and bridge on my favouritest song, 'DESIRE'.

[caption id="attachment_534" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Dancing and swaying to their infectious music"][/caption]

The encore is finally saved for Buck-Tick's and Luna Sea's covers. Omg 'Sweetest Coma Again'... They just made me severely rethink that LS song. Heheh. Well, there's no part of this concert that anyone can hate. They are just so damn good at this, even with it being their first official tour. Built from a background of experienced musicians, I'd say they are ridiculously too humble for their own good!

[caption id="attachment_535" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Say goodbye to diva S.K.I.N and kowtow to the masters!"][/caption]

Oh! The English dubbed documentary, which is only available with the limited release, shows the backstage clips of the quartet. Endless funnies courtesy of Takanori and Shibasa. Apparently TAKUYA∞ from UVERworld was the rap substitute in 'LOST REASON' at other concert venues while MICRO only came in for this Tokyo leg.