the

GAZETTE

ROCK 'N ROLL

NIL

Nameless Liberty

underground

The [NIL] album is Gazette's second complete album since [DISORDER] in 2004. Released in early 2006, [NIL] features the song "Cassis", which was previously released as a single in December 2005.

[NIL] consists of 12 tracks. "THE END"; the first track, like in [DISORDER]. was an introductory song to the album. Those of OUR AUDIENCE (M-11) were the guest vocals for songs like "Nausea & Shudder" and "D.L.N." A piano and synthesizer were also used in the composition of this album. Last, but not least, Ruki (vo) plays his own guitar verses in [NIL], which has never been done before in Gazette's previous works.

Starting off with the first track and flipping through the lyrics booklet, I realized that there were no lyrics to "THE END", but yet it was such a cool way to start off the album. It kept me going, craving for more. Each track offered something different. Despite that both "Maggots" and "Discharge" were more of the "heavy-metal-headbanging" type of songs, after listening to them over and over, it wasn't bad at all. It was perfect for feeling like you could lean over the edge of reality and just rock out with Gazette.

If I were to categorize the songs by their style and sound, "Nausea & Shudder"; "Bathroom" and "Baretta" would be one group, defining them by the heavy use and emphasism on the guitar verses.

"D.L.N." and "Cassis" can be catergorized as the softer toned songs.

The fifth track, "Namaatatakai Ame to Zaratsuita Jounetsu"; "Shadow VI II I"; "Silly God Disco" and "Taion" are all original songs and cannot be grouped together. Each song had a different style, completely unique on its own terms.

Overall, I believe that this album, [NIL] was better than [DISORDER]. [NIL] was more acceptable because [DISORDER] consisted of half "headbanging" rock music and softer toned songs to balance the album. For [NIL], it was very balanced as a whole. Unlike [DISORDER], I never deliberately skipped a track because it was too much of one style of sound.

I would recommend this album to anyone who would like to experience a variety of styles in rock music.

The [NIL] tour DVD was released May 7th, 2006. Don't forget to check out Gazette's newest singles, "Filth in the Beauty" and "Regret"! If you plan to buy [NIL], I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!