Music Video Review: Alice Nine - Velvet

Released: Apr 24, 2006

Artist: Velvet Nine

Electric and full of energy – If you’re out for a fast paced music video with an edge to it, Alive Nine’s new PV “velvet” is certainly worth a look.

Alice nine is yet another one of those infamous and seemingly never ending visual kei rock bands your Japanese mother would prefer you not listen to.

Formed in 2004, and coming to a greater audience in late 2005, Alice Nine is your reasonably standard issue visual kei Japanese rock band, although maintaining their own individuality within this realm by providing a slightly different slant on the trend. Signed to the PS Company, they join the ranks of the companies other infamous ‘vei kei’ offenders such as gazzette and the arrogant yet highly loveable Miyavi.

Although still young on the Japanese music scene, the band has already managed to earn a large and steady fan base, selling out a number of their 2005 tours, which only seemed to create a larger PR buzz for the band. Although at the moment, you are unlike to see their names next to those such as Gackt or X-Japan just yet, Alice Nine has become relatively well known, and the future looks promising for the five band members. And hey if it doesn’t work out they can just split up and form relatively successful solo acts and subsequent bands, such is the trend these days.

Their first rlease and single "Namae wa imada muhi" was released in 2004 and was met with quite a postive response from the indies community.

The band comes to us again in 2006 with a new PV which will accompany their upcoming album on the 24th of April. This PV gives us a bit of a sneak peak into what we can expect.

The PV presents us with costuming which, if I may borrow from the scene, is bold and delicious. Blending the mandatory gothic element of the genre with flamboyant visual kei and finishing this up with a rough punk rock finish, Alice Nine some how manage to combine these differing elements to form something some how captivating and overall interesting. To put it simply, sure you are getting more of what you have seen before in the past, but it is an amalgamation of that, and it works quiet well.

It is just as well the visual style of the band is well executed, as the eclectic image the band holds is extremely important to this video because for nearly the entire running time, nothing is shown but the band playing in a static, and yes, slightly stale background. Looking like something that has come from any number of gothic films, the stage they perform upon leaves little imagination to what audience the band is trying to appeal to. Apart from this, the accompanying visuals include the movements of a strangely indestructible, yet combustible butterfly along with golden aura of glitter which surrounds the band via the wonders of computers. It’s simple, elegant and works well, but once again it is not like the butterfly is an original metaphor or cast member of a Japanese rock PV. But I guess that can be excused at least in part, as it eventually bursts into flames proving some action and furthering the metaphor.

The overall combination of the costume styling and the background design and placement words well to compliment the song’s fast and exciting pace. There are a few times in the song which take a dramatic turn vocally and will stir your heart. That said this often comes in the way of dramatic pauses, which can easily be argued are a time old convention and are used perhaps one time too many time as they can be perceived as an excuse to break up the song which can be said is slightly vocally unadventurous. You really won’t find anything too knew with the vocal when comparing with what’s around already, but then again those who follow such bands as Dir En Grey and Sid might find that quality as endearing and the style in their tastes.

The lyrics to the song are through even my somewhat limited understanding of Japanese reasonably poetic, but the subject matter really doesn’t seem to be too inspired. Sure, it can be argued that a song’s value is what people can draw out of it to relate to themselves, but you are going to have to draw out quite a lot to fit this to your circumstances. They are reasonably standard lyrics for a band of this type and not much can really be complained about, at least from what this journalist can understand.

The instrumentals are truly a saving grace with some impressive guitar work and some well performed drumming. This is especially true at the beginning of the song and then as the song restarts after the aforementioned ‘dramatic pauses’. While averaging out just a tiny bit in the middle, the performance never falls below an impressive level and you really do appreciate it.

At the end of the day, if you find yourself in front of this PV, you are not going to be terribly disappointed due to its relatively nice tune and reasonably well sung lyrics, however you are not likely to be thrilled to your knees where you will assemble a shrine and worship them religiously. It’s a nice PV, but in reality it is probably going to be remembered as little more than ‘a stepping stone for a great band’ at best and ‘the song that was reasonably good between the two PV’s I loved’ at worst. I commend Alice Nine for their efforts however, and I look forward to their upcoming album and I suggest you do too.