your self indulgence
MERRY’s under-world album, Limited Edition. Includes the Regular Edition version (in red), plus a separate case with a DVD (in black below the CD case), a booklet containing lyrics, interviews, and photos, and a slipcase. But the lyrics (and I think some of the photos?) are also in the Regular Edition, so I don’t think they thought this one through. Bought it and a couple of other J-rock albums off a seller on Tumblr.
under-world kind of represents MERRY’s transition from a more melodic blues rock band to a chaotic hardcore punk band. It includes the masterpiece “Gekisei,” which may be my all-time favorite MERRY song, and the very catchy “Enzetsu ~Surrealism~”, as well as a couple of other favorites, such as “Friction xxxx” and “[human farm]”.
My one real complaint about the album is the inclusion of “Fuyu no Castanet” as its final track. It’s a Christmas ballad, very gentle and mainstream, and totally discordant with what is otherwise a harsh and violent tracklist. It feels included obligatorily, as if somebody was the inclusion of that single would be the difference between people buying or not buying the album. And maybe it was, but it does a disservice to the cohesion of the album as a whole.
The DVD is really disappointing. It’s just the “under-world” PV plus some B-roll. The Limited Edition is nice to have for completion’s sake but not really that much an improvement on the Regular.