EGOIST
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EGOIST certainly goes a ways back for me. they peaked right in the mid-2010s, when anime and the industry had a very distinct feel. Attack on Titan, OSU, Xenoblade, Sword Art Online, and Guilty Crown. looking back at the time has a precise flavor to it, and EGOIST’s Extra Terrestrial Biological Entities (ETBE) embodies that era. sometimes to its detriment; to me? to its benefit. through a surprising blend of orchestral music, rock, and electronica, the album has considerably more depth than might first meet the eye. the album is full of personality and most definitely of a unique flavor.
there are quite a few layers of history to peel away for those interested. coming from the popular group Supercell, composer Ryo has long been established and loved in their respective communities, with many hits in anime music alone (see Bakemonogatari), which explains a lot of the musical similarities between this album and the work of Supercell. alternatively, Chelly, the vocalist of EGOIST, was originally intended to be the singing voice behind the pop star character “Inori Yuzuriha” from the anime Guilty Crown. interestingly, EGOIST, the duo, has gone on to produce beyond the scope of the anime. that’s a lot of deep-cut knowledge, but i think it adds to the sort of allure, the context, that sits around the album for me.
by using a range of electronic rock, synthetic pop, swelling vocals, and even some acoustic designs, ETBE has an impressive range. some parts of the album feel completely artificial and extremely pop-focused, other parts have a powerful rock-focused energy, and others a very human-based singer approach. this gradient of styles adds quite a bit of quality and texture to the album. even if one style doesn’t quite land, there are a few others there to mix up the vibe. and it works.
the album’s opening is perhaps its weakest part. “Genzai no Tomoshibi” is respectably an interesting ballad to open the album, but is ultimately dragged down by the next track, “The Everlasting Guilty Crown,” an exceptionally dated “anime” song. they build and maintain the ultimate feel of the album, but hinder the intro. it’s not that i outright dislike “The Everlasting Guilty Crown”; it merely takes a little too long to get going. by constantly leveraging a lot of sound, the song becomes a bit tiresome by the time it pays off.
the titular track, “Extra Terrestrial Biological Entities,” has been a personal favorite over the years. okay, sure, it’s a bit dated as well. but i think it works much more in favor of this song by distilling that era down to a single track. it reminds me a great deal of those early 2010s rhythm games on PC like OSU or Audiosurf. a time when heavy electronic pop was in vogue, like that of AVIZURA. the heavy BPM drives the song beneath the era-iconic hyper-synthetic pop vocals, making for a great mental visual experience. all that intense, coarse, blaring science-fiction electronica fills up every ounce of space in the music. with no room left to fit anything else, Chelly’s vocals are buoyant on top, bobbing along the surface. i especially love the moments when the song steps off the gas to let the atmosphere build up, reveling in the techno and dub space, before cranking up the intensity once again.
“Ame, Kimi wo Tsurete“ feels much more Supercell, by relying on the rock foundation of Ryo. it feels equally dramatic and high-intensity. the long and drawn-out guitar strings that accompany Chelly’s solos add a space for the song to tee up the following drumrolls and eventual all-out explosion. it’s a bit over-the-top, but so is the rest of the album. in this way, it feels appropriately at home, appropriately fun.
“Teokure” is the dark horse winner of the album. it’s an intense song that starts at 80 and sticks pretty close to 100 the rest of the way. it has a really cool abrasiveness coming from its cranked-out techno beat. like it’s being churned out through a broken digital grinder. the best part of the song comes by the midpoint, as the song lets off and a persistent “wait. wait. wait.” foretells the coming drop. “Teokure” makes the middle part of the album worth the visit.
by this point, you are either in or you are out. if you’re in, “Lovestruck” is a great follow-up song that leans back into the rock Supercell-inspired vibe. i especially enjoy how cutesy it gets over the confident performance of the music. the sudden stops, amp-ups, stops and starts are actually quite well done to add a decent amount of manufactured energy and emotion to the track.
“Departures,” the final song of the album, is a brave chance for EGOIST to subvert and subdue their techno-pop in lieu of an emotionally driven and personal ensemble. what i like most about the song is just how emotionally open it becomes, not just in Chelly’s performance, but in the instrumentation as well. the hard-played drums especially add a strong feeling as the song swells out of its quieter moments. for a long time, it was one of my favorite songs of the 2010s. the earnestness and the almost starving nature of the song were especially good emo food for me back then. today, i think it still stands up quite well. it feels like EGOIST putting the heart of their album, strangely, at the end of the work. to make a clean statement.
because of this, Extra Terrestrial Biological Entities is certainly more than it seems. which is incredibly interesting to me, since it could be written off as a casual industry-feeding pop release. to me, that may be so, but i also see a lot more than that. there is a clear foundation of talent behind the album, which is utilized to meet, subvert, then rise above its intended preconceived purpose. through the nostalgic electronic pop, the dramatic rock performances, and the incredibly earnest last few songs, EGOIST makes something quite interesting to visit. especially today. and in an even stranger way, where the album feels dated, it kind of comes back around on the same aspect. the 2010s were such a great time for Japanese music; maybe it’s time to get back to embracing that time.
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Highlights
Extra terrestrial Biological Entities
Ame, Kimi wo Tsurete 「雨、キミを連れて」
Teokure 「手遅れ」
LoveStruck
Planetes
Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~ 「あなたにおくるアイの歌」
Tracklist
Genzai no Tomoshibi 「原罪の灯」
The Everlasting Guilty Crown
Extra terrestrial Biological Entities
Ame, Kimi wo Tsurete 「雨、キミを連れて」
Lovely Icecream Princess Sweetie
Teokure 「手遅れ」
LoveStruck
Ce que j'aime ~inori no kyuuzitu~
Omoi wo Megurasu 100 no Jisho 「想いを巡らす100の事象」
Kono Sekai de Mitsuketa Mono 「この世界で見つけたもの」
Planetes
Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~ 「あなたにおくるアイの歌」
