Nature Living "Something Need to Be Said About It" CD
[Gods Child]
This Japanese act plays a surprisingly dead on replica of a lot of American emo of the last 10 years or so, from the soft clean breaks and restrained singing of the 90's to a little bit of harsh screaming and lightly metallic riffing more akin to the modern sound.  There's a lot dual guitar riffing with lead lines, octave chords, or slightly caustic playing, but most of the material is pretty constantly melodic.  I actually think the songwriting is pretty damn good, the only thing I don't really care for are the vocals and the recording.  Neither of those two elements is all that bad in any way, I just feel like the band's slightly held back in each case.  The singing's alright but just comes across a little flat, you know?  I don't know if any of that comes from the fact that they're singing in English or what, but I can live with it... I just wish it felt like there was a little more emphasis or emotion involved.  Sound-wise the mix is pretty well balanced, which allows the basslines to play a great role in all of the layered rhythms, but it's all a little thin and raw for this style.  The clean guitars sound pretty good, and the rhythm section has enough of an oomph to it, but something seems to be missing.  On occasion this brand of emo works with a loosely rugged sound, but even though this is very listenable they're not really pulling off that whole angle.  A polished production would be best suited for their style of songwriting, so a smoother and fuller set of tones would make a huge difference - especially in some of the stronger tunes like "Over There".  The vocals are definitely the biggest culprit, though.  If the singing was more energetic and had more life and character I'd really like these songs a lot, because this is exactly the style of emo that I prefer: Melodic and moody, with just the right amount of dynamics and variety - it's catchy without being poppy, it doesn't sound sappy, etc.  Aside from filling some of the gaps in the mix, keyboards do little to help tracks like the instrumental "Theory of Life", and at times sound out of place in their use of ineffective flute sounding patches that sound more like cheesy TV scores or something.  These guys really don't need any added instrumentation to spice up their work, they do a lot with simply two guitars and a bass that holds weight on its own.  "Far Side of the Sun" is a great song that throws in backing vocals and harmonies, which I think would be a good addition to explore elsewhere.  The layout is pretty clean and has some nice photography involved, but of course there is a bit of a language barrier lyrically.  The material is obviously dealing with personal turmoil and such, but it's a little hard to make sense of a lot of the lines.  But that's cool.  It's totally understandable that there would be some complications there.  Whether or not singing in Japanese would help in the long run is a mystery, however.  This is a strange and unrealistic thing to say, but if these guys could somehow write songs and sell them to American bands (especially something like "Far Side of the Sun") I bet they could make a shitload of money with which to finance their own work!  I know that's a dumb thing to say, but I think it somehow illustrates how I feel about these guys as writers despite their minor shortcomings in other areas.  With better vocals and a slick production job a lot of these songs would easily be palatable in the current climate over here in the US, though I wouldn't be surprised if the band has a strong base in their own country already.  All in all Nature Living needs work, but this isn't bad.  I'll really be hoping that they can smooth things over the next time around. (6/10)
Running time - 26:17, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Over There, Far Side of the Sun]
Gods Child Music - http://www.godschild.com.hk

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