Your Ears and Eyes must of been in another direction lol.. Since Saki's exit they have been very active.. They have redone and rerecorded many prior songs to where Hazuki does both solos or Haraguchi does a bass solo in place of Saki. (They are released a new version of "Style" yesterday) They already done a Japan tour as a 4 piece (doing a couple of make up dates for when Mayu was sick) . So Saki most likely has nothing to do with this album. Unfortunately there appears that there was a falling out between them. They don't even follow each other on social media anymore. As a fan of all of them. I would in my opinion would say that their directions were clashing. After Mayu had her child (son) .. It appeared the direction started to change.. Going from a glam metal rocker to more a toned / dressed down direction. Where as Saki is more a metal flashy style. But that's what I see. I don't know what actually happened behind the scenes. But there was some turmoil. The Japanese culture is pretty closed and don't like to put out their negative issues. As many seen when a a distraught Tamu put out the "Life" drum through, right after the break up. Also "Odyssey" was written for a movie (The Butt Detective) so has nothing to do with their regular music. So there's my two cents.
I did read somewhere that Saki was supposed to be just the musical director, when the band started out. So she may have just been in the band, as something to kill time during the lockdown, and could have gone back to the roll, that she originally intended to do, as she does tend to have her hands full of other things.
Nemophila did a tour this year with just the four. For live shows they did a combination of backing tracks, Hazuki playing both solos, Haraguchi-san playing a bass solo, or just eliminating the Saki solo completely. Pretty sure they won't have any support guitarists; they are determined to go forward as a four-piece.
1st tour as a for 4 piece ?! They toured from May until september (as Nemophila and Beast animals) ... They tour now only in Japan and in small venues (500 people max), maybe because, at that time of their career, the sellings aren't at the point they were 2 years ago, and they can't packed ZEPP around Japan or tour the US.
@@yakidin63 I think the restriction here is caused more by the fall in the sellings since last year cover album "The Initial Impulse", then Evolve didn't made great in the charts either, the Budokan concert was far from sold out (in the minimal configuration), and then the new songs haven't made great either in the Oricon's selling charts. How can a management engage a tour outside Japan in the present conditions? I really hope this 4th album will bring back the hype and be a turning point both in Japan and internationaly for Nemophila!
Saki isn’t the main loss. Their main song writer producer Akiyama left at the same time. He wrote almost all their big songs. Both he and Saki were there to develop the band. They must have believed they had done that. The last 3 songs that they have released are all just with the 4 players. Two heavy songs and a ballad. Exactly like they did when they started. Difference this time is they are on a 10 track album release for 2025. They will be doing more touring in Japan in 2025 after completing their September cancellation concerts in December 2024.
I believe Saki brought Akiyama with her, so it makes sense that both of them left at the same time if that's indeed the case (I just read it somewhere, so who knows). I agree that he seems to be the main loss and that comes from someone who was asking that they would write more stuff themselves and complained in the past that Akiyama wrote as much as he did. But from what I heard on the 3-track single, I wish I never did. Also, the new producer LOVES his autotune too much for my taste, which is the main criticism for me. I can look past the writing on the heavier 2 tracks (ballads are usually not my thing in general), but that autotune makes it impossible for me to listen to the music unfortunately. I just can't stand that sound. It really reminds me of how Alt Idol music is produced and that's just not for me. I hope for them their fanbase likes it, I don't want them to fail, but their upcoming album will very likely be my last studio import for them. We will see how it pans out.
@@MaartenT I'm kind of like you, over "kawai autotune" choruses let me down, They should have put a regular singing like in Dissenssion for those parts (and that made a routine where every chorus have to be "alt idol", as you said). But there is another big problem with their tracks lately: the over using of the "WOW WOW" everywhere and anytime! I mean, i understand that an artist want to force the crowd to sing with the band BUT do it only during the lives, not on the single/album version of the recordings (and not to cover a lead part). Let the crowd decide whether or not they will sing along!
@@sebastienlangonnet8852 I have never liked the "wow wow" stuff either, which might be a hold over from me listening almost purely to metal as I have read plenty of forum posts and reviews on metal archives and such that absolutely hate that stuff. It's an other similarity with Tridents new sound, because they love to do that as well and I compared one of their 2 newest tracks to Alt Idol as well. It also was one of the toughest things for me to get used to when I started to listen to Japanese rock/metal in general with Band-Maid 4 years or so ago. They didn't sound like Alt Idol, but they also like to have sing along parts and "wow wow" type of stuff is not uncommon in their songs either although to be fair to them, they don't always use non-lyrics like "wow wow" and use actualy lyrics instead. I completely understand the reason for it just like you and it bothers me way less than it used to, but I am still not a fan to hear that kind of uninspired "lyrics" on studio recordings either. I am curious if Band-Maids usage of that type of vocalization and their popularity in the West might be a reason why bands like Trident or Nemophila are trying to use it as well or if it's just something that is popular in the Japanese music scene.
I preordered it even with how little I enjoyed their latest single and even the latest album was a bit meh for me. This is probably their final chance for me. If it's the same Alt Idol type stuff they did on the single where they fully butchered Mayu's vocals with autotune and terrible synthy stuff it means they are not for me any more and I will probably only check out their live stuff in the future (just like with Trident). I am honestly more nervous about this one than the Trident one because while I enjoyed Trident before I actually loved Nemophila when they started and it went all downhill from there (for me) with every single album to the point that I only enjoy a couple of tracks on the latest album and none of the 3 tracks on the latest single. But as long they enjoy making this music and the fans like it, then that's fine I guess. It just won't be for me any more and that's ok. On the other hand, no wonder Saki didn't want to have anything to do with this and that they cited "creative differences" when she left, this has been a pretty crazy shift compared to their early work.
Your Ears and Eyes must of been in another direction lol.. Since Saki's exit they have been very active.. They have redone and rerecorded many prior songs to where Hazuki does both solos or Haraguchi does a bass solo in place of Saki. (They are released a new version of "Style" yesterday)
They already done a Japan tour as a 4 piece (doing a couple of make up dates for when Mayu was sick) . So Saki most likely has nothing to do with this album.
Unfortunately there appears that there was a falling out between them. They don't even follow each other on social media anymore. As a fan of all of them. I would in my opinion would say that their directions were clashing. After Mayu had her child (son) .. It appeared the direction started to change.. Going from a glam metal rocker to more a toned / dressed down direction. Where as Saki is more a metal flashy style. But that's what I see. I don't know what actually happened behind the scenes. But there was some turmoil. The Japanese culture is pretty closed and don't like to put out their negative issues. As many seen when a a distraught Tamu put out the "Life" drum through, right after the break up.
Also "Odyssey" was written for a movie (The Butt Detective) so has nothing to do with their regular music.
So there's my two cents.
I did read somewhere that Saki was supposed to be just the musical director, when the band started out. So she may have just been in the band, as something to kill time during the lockdown, and could have gone back to the roll, that she originally intended to do, as she does tend to have her hands full of other things.
I assume Neon stormed off in a huff when he realised he had Benedikts channel linked under his name. Also, YAY!! KITTY!!!
Nemophila did a tour this year with just the four. For live shows they did a combination of backing tracks, Hazuki playing both solos, Haraguchi-san playing a bass solo, or just eliminating the Saki solo completely. Pretty sure they won't have any support guitarists; they are determined to go forward as a four-piece.
1st tour as a for 4 piece ?! They toured from May until september (as Nemophila and Beast animals) ...
They tour now only in Japan and in small venues (500 people max), maybe because, at that time of their career, the sellings aren't at the point they were 2 years ago, and they can't packed ZEPP around Japan or tour the US.
They have 3 young children which probably has an effect with world tours as well.
@@yakidin63 I think the restriction here is caused more by the fall in the sellings since last year cover album "The Initial Impulse", then Evolve didn't made great in the charts either, the Budokan concert was far from sold out (in the minimal configuration), and then the new songs haven't made great either in the Oricon's selling charts. How can a management engage a tour outside Japan in the present conditions?
I really hope this 4th album will bring back the hype and be a turning point both in Japan and internationaly for Nemophila!
Saki isn’t the main loss. Their main song writer producer Akiyama left at the same time. He wrote almost all their big songs. Both he and Saki were there to develop the band. They must have believed they had done that. The last 3 songs that they have released are all just with the 4 players. Two heavy songs and a ballad. Exactly like they did when they started. Difference this time is they are on a 10 track album release for 2025. They will be doing more touring in Japan in 2025 after completing their September cancellation concerts in December 2024.
I believe Saki brought Akiyama with her, so it makes sense that both of them left at the same time if that's indeed the case (I just read it somewhere, so who knows). I agree that he seems to be the main loss and that comes from someone who was asking that they would write more stuff themselves and complained in the past that Akiyama wrote as much as he did. But from what I heard on the 3-track single, I wish I never did. Also, the new producer LOVES his autotune too much for my taste, which is the main criticism for me. I can look past the writing on the heavier 2 tracks (ballads are usually not my thing in general), but that autotune makes it impossible for me to listen to the music unfortunately. I just can't stand that sound. It really reminds me of how Alt Idol music is produced and that's just not for me. I hope for them their fanbase likes it, I don't want them to fail, but their upcoming album will very likely be my last studio import for them. We will see how it pans out.
@@MaartenT I'm kind of like you, over "kawai autotune" choruses let me down, They should have put a regular singing like in Dissenssion for those parts (and that made a routine where every chorus have to be "alt idol", as you said).
But there is another big problem with their tracks lately: the over using of the "WOW WOW" everywhere and anytime!
I mean, i understand that an artist want to force the crowd to sing with the band BUT do it only during the lives, not on the single/album version of the recordings (and not to cover a lead part).
Let the crowd decide whether or not they will sing along!
@@sebastienlangonnet8852 I have never liked the "wow wow" stuff either, which might be a hold over from me listening almost purely to metal as I have read plenty of forum posts and reviews on metal archives and such that absolutely hate that stuff. It's an other similarity with Tridents new sound, because they love to do that as well and I compared one of their 2 newest tracks to Alt Idol as well. It also was one of the toughest things for me to get used to when I started to listen to Japanese rock/metal in general with Band-Maid 4 years or so ago. They didn't sound like Alt Idol, but they also like to have sing along parts and "wow wow" type of stuff is not uncommon in their songs either although to be fair to them, they don't always use non-lyrics like "wow wow" and use actualy lyrics instead. I completely understand the reason for it just like you and it bothers me way less than it used to, but I am still not a fan to hear that kind of uninspired "lyrics" on studio recordings either. I am curious if Band-Maids usage of that type of vocalization and their popularity in the West might be a reason why bands like Trident or Nemophila are trying to use it as well or if it's just something that is popular in the Japanese music scene.
Kitty wins again.
I preordered it even with how little I enjoyed their latest single and even the latest album was a bit meh for me. This is probably their final chance for me. If it's the same Alt Idol type stuff they did on the single where they fully butchered Mayu's vocals with autotune and terrible synthy stuff it means they are not for me any more and I will probably only check out their live stuff in the future (just like with Trident). I am honestly more nervous about this one than the Trident one because while I enjoyed Trident before I actually loved Nemophila when they started and it went all downhill from there (for me) with every single album to the point that I only enjoy a couple of tracks on the latest album and none of the 3 tracks on the latest single. But as long they enjoy making this music and the fans like it, then that's fine I guess. It just won't be for me any more and that's ok. On the other hand, no wonder Saki didn't want to have anything to do with this and that they cited "creative differences" when she left, this has been a pretty crazy shift compared to their early work.
Honestly. In my opinion Nemophila is done. They peaked in 2022. The sound with just the four of them is not the same. They should replace Saki