L'Arc~en~Ciel tribute album...wait...WTF?



When I first heard that Polysics was going to be on the new L'Arc~en~Ciel Tribute album, I was excited. Of course I'm always excited about Polysics. Then I saw the rest of the line-up and, well, I had to triple check.

Listed among a hand-full of other Japanese bands were rather more incongruous names. Names like Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks), Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and John 5 (Marilyn Manson) (itself a head-scratching paring), Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe), TLC and, get this, Boyz II Men.

Yep.

If that all sounds a little weird, well, so is the album. I'm not a huge L'Arc fan, but I do like some of their more rockin' songs. This album is not rockin'. In the slightest. It's mostly washed-up has-beens sucking the life out of songs that didn't have much life to spare. For crying out loud, Vince Neil sings the super-saccharine "Blurry Eyes" and not "Shout at the Devil." Sure, it's not the same iconic metal anthem that Crüe rode high on through the '80s, but still it was a giant missed opportunity. (I should also point out that much of this tribute is sung in English. Another jolt to the system.)

Ah well, at least Polysics managed to produce a really heavy, noisy take on "Seventh Heaven," a track otherwise totally out of place in this collection of zombies sluggishly devouring L'Arc's brains.

Listen to more of the carnage below.





3 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, in fairness, some songs are pretty decent.

Phil said...

LOL ZB is back! awesome!!! But yeah, I thought TLC and Boyz II Men were quite entertaining (different flavors). It is a TOTAL surprise though that these people would compile a Larc tribute together. (TLC and Boyz II Men... really??? I still can't believe it)

Xavier Tenka said...

I got it because of SID (my fav band). I listen to L'arc~en~ciel too and with the exception of Niji and Shout at the Devil I really didn't like this at all.