Moment of the week, or year even. This happened really late at night so I wasn't at my peak mode of alertness. I laughed for a full 10 minutes. We were discussing why Kimitsu liked Tackey & Tsubasa's SAMURAI and also how Tohoshinki's latest album T was. It didn't help matters that both Tackey & Tsubasa has a T as their initial, hence the big mixup.


I REALLY DID SEE CLEAVAGE! T_T

So other than reading words wrongly and such, I've been downloading every PV that's being released, and listening to Tohoshinki's latest album T, which I'm fairly sure I would be hooked onto (those few songs at least) had I not fallen in love with NEWS' Taiyou no Namida which I absolutely loathed at first.

That was a long sentence.

So I've decided to review Tohoshinki's latest album T (how freaking sudden, LOL).

I've never been really interested in Tohoshinki and any group remotely Korean due to my bigotry. I'm strangely pro-Japanese and anti everything else, and have always strongly believed Japanese music should only be done by the Japanese. This of course is myopic and too silly a thought, considering there's SO MANY non-Japanese artistes doing Jpop now that it's hardly even an issue.

But I held strongly to my beliefs, until Koda Kumi decided to collaborate with THSK. That's where my beliefs started crumbling. And now, I am listening to Tohoshinki. The only step left would be for me to start squealing over them, much like Kimitsu and Arashi (AHAHAHAHA).


To start off, I must say that these were the best covers from Avex I've seen in a while. Avex is rather infamous for crappy covers thrown together half-heartedly (case in point: EXILE LOVE and MIRAGE). Out of the three above, the one that looks best would be the one on the left. Sunset has always been a very magical period of time to me, and that cover captures everything good about it. The members look best on the middle cover though, although the background is a bit too dark for my liking. The one on the right is another great cover, with the sky being amazingly blue. The members are placed in various positions to give the cover much more action and offset the lack of interest in the background. putting the three together, the differences in time of the pictures taken lend much beauty to the overall look of this album, which is more than an Avex artist could ask for (good AAA covers NOW please).

[The good]

The first song I've come into contact on this album would be TRICK, and it so happens to be the very first song listed as well. It's not the conventional pop that I've always had a soft spot for, but still proves to be a great listen. The rapping is very very decent, except when Yunho comes on. Oh my I just CANNOT STAND HIS VOICE. How can someone be so stunningly nasal?! He sounds like someone stuffed a toilet roll up each of his nostrils. My ears squeal in protest. That aside (he has minimal parts, thankfully, or at least I think so), the song is catchy with a chorus that sounds like "Break a tree Break a tree Break a tree now" on first listen. English doesn't seem to be their strong suit.

TRICK also happens to be a copy of Kuu's marketing strategy (remember the 12 singles release spree?), with each member getting a solo, which will then be released in succession over 5 weeks. The song TRICK is basically a mash-up of all 5 songs. Strangely, it doesn't sound that way. Either I'm bad at diffrentiating songs, or Wiki.theppn is cheating my feelings.

Another song that has gained tons of attention from the fans is Purple Line, which to my dismay seems to start off with some other nasal member of THSK. TRICK is good because of its strong chorus, Purple Line is good because of its strong verses. Suggestive lines like "I really wanna touch myself" further adds to the sexiness of this track. That said though, this track is slightly on the generic side, and someone else like Kuu could have done it as easily as Tohoshinki could have. It's your typical dance/rap which everyone seems to be doing nowadays. Tohoshinki does a good job here, and I'm more than sure that a good PV will just make the fans go crazy over this one (and the #1 on the weekly Oricon, a first for a non-Japanese group, more than proves my point).

Rainbow has a much more relaxed arrangement in both music and vocals, which works to their advantage. The outcome is a refreshing number that might or might not be a tad too boyband-y, depending on your tolerance for such things. This is a pop ballad (or happy ballad, if there is such a thing) that could get boring to listen to after a while, but it's better than irritating from first listen I suppose. Without voice-straining notes, the nasalness of the members seem to melt away as well, which makes for a much more enjoyable listen than most of the stuff on this album. Following the same formula as this is Together, though Together has much more funky silly DJ-effects which really adds nothing to the song as a whole and are just red herrings trying to gain much unneeded attention. It is otherwise the same refreshing sound, with the same cooling breezy feeling throughout. Beautiful life is much more lounge/blues, but is also another song that belongs in this group of relaxed songs. With lesser music to clutter the song, this song just makes you want to snap your fingers to the beat while the boys sit on high stools and sing happily to you. In this track, you'll realize why Tohoshinki was initially marketed as an acapella group. That said, this genre suits Tohoshinki really really well.

Lovin' you comes in two versions on this album, and the "Haru's deepwater remix" version is the superior of the two. Lovin' you in itself is a decent ballad, with verses and chorus packed full with emotion. It has a tinge of 90's ballads in it, but not of the boyband variety, but more of the male solos variety. The remixed version strips the song down during the choruses for a slightly more unplugged-loungy feel, but retains all the romance and sadness in this song, which is like honey for the broken heart, or whatever cheesy metaphor you'd prefer to use. Echoes to further drive the style (of deep water) home, it sounds ethereal and slightly bluesy. Might be worth a listen if you've just fallen out of love, or just trying to be emo by listening to fallen-out-of-love songs.

Love in the ice is one of the slowest tracks you would find on T, and it is thankfully quite well done. It could have done without the "haa~ haaa~ haa~ haaa~"s interjecting every now and then. The boys sound smooth with strong vocals on display in this track. A strong piece made up mostly from strings and piano, the result is a dramatic yet very classy track. Watch out for the delicious blend of voices near the end of the song, it'll show you what Tohoshinki is capable of when they're good.

You're my miracle sounds oddly... late. With bright shiny music, it sounds very much like a winter song (or even a Christmas song, if you aren't picky) that should have been out a long time ago (yes I realize it's an old song). A cheery boyband track with an easy-to-follow tune, it'll definitely please the pop-lovers as I. The boys deliver their parts as festively as possible, and their effort pays off. An enjoyable listen, even if we're not in right season. A slightly (very slightly) slower cousin fo this song can be found in Song for you, which boasts very similar music with a slower pace in arrangements. Both songs are very well presented, and somehow gets me in the mood for Christmas again. YAY PRESENTS!

Let's stay on the topic of winter for a while longer shall we? Winter might be bright and cheery for most, but for the ones who have fallen out of love or are just sad for no apparent reason (you know the kind), winter is a depressing season filled with loneliness and lots of snow. Kiss Shita Mama, Sayonara sketches for us this very picture of sadness. This was written by two of their own members (Jaejoong and Yoochun?), which explains the very toned down piece comprising only one piano throughout, and some strings and vocal harmonies at the back. Sad and touching, this is a must listen for any THSK fan. (Many fans bawled over this, beware.)

[The so-so]

Forever Love is a typical Jpop ballad that has a really soothing verse which leads into another nasal chorus. They can't all be from the same guy right? There must be some other nasal guy in Tohoshinki right? I think four of them sound nasal, just that they have different levels of nasalness. There's one un-nasal one, but I can't figure him out either. In any case, the nasalness is pretty bearable after a while, as you get further into the song. Somehow I have a feeling this track would fit very well into EXILE LOVE, what with having "Love" in the title, and sounding so much like an EXILE ballad. There's a unplugged chorus at the end of the song, and whoever was singing had a shivering-like-mad voice. Not too pleasing to the ears, as it makes me feel nervous both for myself and the poor guy.

I was starting to get worried that there were no pop numbers on this album. Thankfully for me, track 5's Summer Dream fulfills that desperate need of mine. Guy's gotta have his sugar fix. The song is very bright and cheery, which I should have immediately fallen in love with. Unfortunately, the song falls short of addictive, and winds up on the other side of the scale - irritating. Repetitive for the longest time possible, it was a pain to listen to. The nasal voices didn't help matters either. Sure, the chorus was catchy, but the song in general made the guys sound like they were crying, or just got kicked in the balls, or a combination of both. Shine runs along with a very similar style as Summer Dream, and hence I mix the two up far too easily for comfort. Needless to say, Shine isn't all that impressive either.

Ride on is very evidently dance-pop from the start, without much of a melody to speak of. Clicks and clacks and a bass makes up most of the music of this song, which is a style that could go very wrong if not done properly. Tohoshinki has done just that - caused the song to go very wrong. The voices are too smooth for a song that requires this much attitude. Just imagine the cast of HSM singing Sexyback -fun to watch, decent enough to listen, but all in all they should really just leave it to the experts.

Having heard Last Angel feat. Tohoshinki in November, I was surprised (yet not TOO surprised, I mean, they're under Avex) that they re-recorded a Last Angel -Tohoshinki ver.- in this album. Nasal sounds continues to spoil every note possible, and Koda Kumi's parts are covered rather well, even if a little whiny. It might be just me, but the sound like they're struggling in this song, which gives me very dirty thoughts, if you know what I mean. The Koda Kumi version is much more clean and well-produced, but this version is slightly more suggestive, which should please many. Ignore the nasal and you should be fine.

Day moon ~HARUDARU~ is YET another pop ballad offered to fans on this album, but at this point of the album, I'm more than sure I've already described another song that fits this song in the exact same way. (It's actually a mixture of two songs - Lovin' you, which I have reviewed earlier, and DARKNESS EYES which I will review later.)

[The BAD]

NO? starts off with the nasal guy which I absolutely LOVE. It then deviates into a very peculiar style of music which I can't really put my finger on. The chorus was absolute rubbish, being totally messy (as are the other parts of the song), with lazy singing and silly improvisations that I'm sure was supposed to sound sexy and all, but came off sounding like he needs to moan while having a really bad stomachache that happened to make him very femme too. More Engrish awaits you as lines like "kiss me DAHLING" and "I wanna hold you bee bye yeah yeah" (that's what I heard) flow from the boys' mouths. I'm sure that will make many fangirls melt and all, but it was just really funny on my side.

CLAP! starts off interestingly enough, but if you listen carefully during the chorus, someone is screeching, and I mean that in every sense of the word. Mindless rap, and boring choruses (Clap your hands! Clap your hands together!) cause me to start drifting in the middle of the song to the point I have nothing to say about this song. Screeching becomes glaringly obvious near the end when the song hits the overused sudden-no-music moment. Good for a laugh if you're that masochistic.

DARKNESS EYES is mysterious sounding, and borders on creepy. It sounds deep and echoey for some odd reason, and is a slow dance number, much like a DA PUMP song. Other than that, the song has no draw factor whatsoever. The rapping and harmonies in this song are monotonous throughout the song, with a chorus that sounds overused. Listenable at best, but definitely not one of the better songs of this album.

Overall, the album falls into 3 sure-win categories: dance-pop, sugar-pop and ballads. Tohoshinki's voices lack a certain quality to make the sugar-pop sound happy enough (very much like CHEMISTRY), so that was a letdown. On the flipside, this has caused their ballads to be better than most. The dance-pop numbers are really just excuses for the boys to show off their moves during concerts to their millions of drooling fans.

The second disc is generally more wintery, but boasts a stronger track listing. If you really can't be bothered with their dance-pop stuff, you should skip right ahead to Disc 2.

And yes finally I'm done. When writing this final conclusion, my review was nowhere near done (7 more songs to be precise) but I could not think of anything else to say about the 7 damn songs because my brain is starting to fry on me. That said, this post took astoundingly long to finish - one and a half days. I really don't know why. It started off easily enough, but halfway through the first disc, I caught major writer's block, if you can call me a writer that is. Twenty songs? That's really tough to handle. Casual fans might find yourself tired after a while from trying to figure out one song from the next. New fans should be able to find at least one track that caters to your likings. The hardcore fans are just too busy ogling the boys to care. xD

Labels: Tohoshinki