Customer Reviews

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5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like Hide's metal sound you'll love this album. You get his talent, voice, and crazy sound from his american band! First time i heard it i was amazed how different yet so similar the songs are from his japanese band, Hide with Spread Beaver. Lots of diversity in this one! A must get for any Hide fan!

Zilch, 3-person band, with a Japanse vocalist (who made all the music), HIDE and two American guitarists, made revolutionary sounds breaking free from the traditional rocks throughout 1960's - '80's. Their sound so solid and the rhythm so speedy words so powerful, they can instantly knock you down. HIDE, this soulful rock singer from Japan, is an artist (originallly a skillful yet soulful guitarist) with natural talent as a melody maker and an instinct for turning anything rock. The words are with a contrasting combination of romaticism and sarcasm. It is a shame that some of the meanings of POSE and DOUBT seem to have been lost while the Japanese words writtten by HIDE were trans"formed" (not translated) into Engligh. But most of the songs are well transformed and the music itself is so powerful. It is the last album he has created with other Zilch members as he passed away due to an accident in 1998 but he stays as a charismatic figure (in Japan) and will continue to attract thousand of souls worldwide. HIDE's rock spirits foreever!!

This is really a great album. I heard of the band thanks to the Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack and finally found a copy of the cd and it's just amazing. It's really a shame that it's so hard to find and an even bigger shame that the singer is dead. This is a MUST BUY for any fan of newer metal/industrial stuff

While there are hints of late 90's rock in this CD, the production is as good as anything today. hide is amazing, as a song writer, and guitarist. It's amazing that he is actually singing in English! Of course, we will never have another CD of this type, as hide is no longer physically with us. This is a fine example what he was capable of here in America. Too bad it's the last. :(

this album is the best album ever! yo! hide was a great musician and he influenced on many rock kids like me~~~~ i love you hide~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ zilch forever~~~~

A friend of mine spent a summer in Japan, and came back with a Minidisc recorder and several compilations of crazy Japanese music. He'd lost all the artists names, but one track named "Doubt" caught my attention.

Well, two weeks ago, I bought this on a whim because the cover looked neat. Once in my hands, it looked even better, but while I listened to the first track and scanned over the track list, I noticed a song called "Doubt", and then quickly associated the vocals I was hearing with the long-lost song. I quickly jumped to "Doubt" and was treated to an alternate recording that I wasn't familiar with, though it was clear that it was the same song. After a few moments of searching the internet, I'm introduced to Hide. (the version I knew is usually labeled "Doubt '97" or "Doubt (Mixed LEMONed Jelly Mix").

For a westerner, Hide's solo work is pretty spotty. Three albums and a smattering of singles across the mid-90s, much of it sounding like high-speed pop music with soaring solos and dripping with cheese. As far as I can tell, Hide is to hair metal what hair metal is to heavy rock bands. After an evening sampling Hide's solo project, it became pretty clear why his music needed to be "altered" if he wanted any kind of success in the west. I'm not sure if jumping on the over-engineered industrial metal train was the best approach.

While technically competent, none of the tracks really stick with me (aside from "Doubt", for obvious reasons). "Fuctrack#6" is an embarrassing introduction to the tail end of the disc. By the time it comes on, you'll be thirty minutes deep, and you might as well stick around for what follows -- some of Hide's heavier tracks, borrowed and re-recorded.

Make no mistake, this is Hide's attempt to bring his music to the west. Ray McVeigh and Paul Raven are here, as well as a closet full of friends, but nobody really takes the stage away from Hide. Don't buy this for the guest appearances list, you'll be sorely disappointed -- for example, Jaz Coleman shouts for less than a minute opposite some broad who wants to "f you up the a until you bleed". Hmm. And what exactly Geordie and Chris Vrenna contributed to all this, I haven't been compelled enough to open up the booklet and figure out just yet.

Unfortunately, Hide passed away before this album was released. In America, only a handful of fans of X Japan and whoever picked up the Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack ever noticed. Don't let that stop you from checking it out if you're fascinated with this era or this sound, but don't expect a lost gem.

I too bought this disc because Ray McVeigh is the guitarist. His playing on the Professionals "I Didn't See It Coming" record is incredible. The guitar tandem of Ray and Steve Jones (sex pistOls) on that record was, as far as I'm concerned, the punk equivalent of Keith Richards and Ron Wood. Tasteful, catchy, weaving guitar lines that are stuck in my head forever.
There is none of that here. Like many industrial records, everything is so sludged in effects, you can't make out any style at all. There are also appearances by a few other artists I dig, but the same problem exists there.
If you need another industrial record, this is better than Filter, or any of that nonsense, but it's nothing that's going to change your life.

Part of hide's charm was his free-wheeling venture into all different styles of rock music. Here, the american producers of the album seem to have targeted it to a particular industrial-explicit niche, losing a lot of the lightness, humor, and experimentation found in hide's other albums. The english lyrics to Doubt and Pose seem to be guitarist's McVeigh's setting of some standard western rock lyrics to the music and just don't sound right. The musicians are excellent and the mix great, but I don't find any of the songs particularly memorable.

I bought this because I recently saw The Philistines and noticed that Ray McVeigh, an outstanding guitarist, had a Zilch sticker on his guitar. He produced and plays on this CD.
The music is a 4, great sonic tracks with driving guitars and music that takes chances, although it frequently opts for riff-laden techno grooves. But the singing I'd have to rate as a 2-or less. I just don't see what the fuss is about with Hide's singing; I found it grating on every track, and his lyrics are puerile, almost always focused on sex. Gets a little old. If I could wipe the vocals track off this CD, I would. It would be a lot better.