The Oral Cigarettes is a band that was very underrated for a long time until recently. With each album release their sale have steadily improved. I first knew this band as the band that scares you into feeling a certain emotion by way of lyrical craft and vocal resonance. Something resonated with someone in Japan because their last album was number 23 on the Oricon chart but Unofficial hit the number 3 spot with 21,016 units sold in its first week. Promotion does wonders when record labels are willing to shell out the money to get it. The kind of music being promoted matters too.
Unofficial was made with the intent of getting The Oral Cigarettes into the top ten spot on the Oricon Charts. You can hear a sort of sound that will bring in new listeners and please old fans. Sorry to say but a huge part of this bands old sound is gone but not completely. Their old sound was very angry and dark. Some of their most chilling lyrics are just them hating any and everything. I had never heard a Japanese band that outright make such aggressive songs. Japan has other music like this but their culture isn't know for being direct with one's feelings.... I guess that's why their entertainment(movies,music,etc) is so lively and strange at times. Got to get out that penned up emotion somewhere. This kind of sound isn't for the mainstream market and was most likely the reason they stayed so underrated this whole time. Unofficial pushes their aggressive style to the back of the line and comes in with more radio friendly tunes. Tunes that are catchy enough to make you forget that this band used to hate everything and their lead singer used to look like he was possessed when he sang. I believe the transition though, as these songs sound honestly like The Oral Cigarettes have leveled up their musical capabilities. Then there comes a time in the album where their old aggressive ways slowly seep back into their music. These boys won't let old habits die with tracks like 5150 that makes you want to dance in the dark and a history of tracks that have voices in the background chanting "HELP ME!" at the track's bridge. WARWARWAR also sounds like a track that could have been on one of their old albums. I like the creepy feel of the chorus. Other tracks like Love and some of the slower songs sound like they were made for people who don't like the dark gritty stuff but these tracks aren't sell out tracks. They're more like a trap to get new fans to listen to their version of crazy all wrapped up nice in a present. You never know what you'll get when you receive a present.
Vocals sound like they come from a singer that should be in a Jack skeleton television special. I always think of Halloween when I listen to their vocalist sing. Even their happier songs have a dark edge because of the vocals. He sings more with a falsetto range for this album than he did on their other albums. Or maybe its that the falsetto notes sound more stable this time around than on their older albums. I watched some of their live performances on youtube and I didn't like how their lead singer sounded live. He might have been having a bad day but I didn't like what I heard. The notes still have to be on pitch even if your doing rock music.... I'm going to go watch some of their more recent live videos. His vocals could have improved since then.
My mouth formed the words,"this was a good album!" after I finished listening to it. I'm proud to see them gaining popularity and using the mainstream music style to redefined their sound. Learn to work the music industry up and coming musical artists. That's the only way you'll survive in there.
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