New album "Beautiful Freaks" on 2011/7/27
For those not in the know yet, a new 16-track album will be out on 27 July. Most of the details have been released since the tour final on Sunday -- a special page has been set up on the official site here where you can view pretty much all the info related to the album. There's even a countdown ticker to remind you of the date, how convenient!
The album will be released in 3 types this time! First press limited edition type A will come with footage of Kuroi hitsuji, while type B will come with Shiroi hitsuji (both filmed at the 2010/12/29 double show at Shibuya AX, live report here.) The CD+DVD versions are ¥5250 each. The normal press edition is CD-only, at ¥3360!
CD tracklistJapanese
1. -choral-
2. finale
3. モノクローム
4. ザァーザァー
5. Fleeting Prayer
6. -sabbat-
7. 不均衡キネマ
8. 絶望
9. スカル
10. 夜光
11. クライシスモメント
12. 消毒
13. The Cry Against Me
14. アイデンティティー
15. SWAN
16. -dawn-
Romanized
1. -choral-
2. finale
3. Monochrome
4. Zaa zaa
5. Fleeting Prayer
6. -sabbat-
7. Fukinkou Kinema
8. Zetsubou
9. Skull
10. Yakou
11. Crisis Moment
12. Shoudoku
13. The Cry Against Me
14. Identity
15. SWAN
16. -dawn-
Some tracklist notes... Track 7 Fukinkou Kinema was first played at Shirokuro hitsuji in December 2009 and has been a staple song at nearly every show since, so they're finally putting it on CD after 19 months, hooray! Also, it's officially titled Fukinkou kinema but Gara sings "Unbalance kinema" throughout the song so everyone just calls it Unbalance kinema now. Track 9 Skull may or may not be the same song that appeared as a live recording on the atari version of Gendai Stoic (2003) -- if it's the same song, then they've waited nearly a decade to put it on CD! Track 13 The Cry Against Me is most likely a rerecorded/rearranged version of The Cry Against...
As for the DVDS...
First press limited edition Type A
黒い羊 Kuroi Hitsuji DVD tracklist
1. Yakou
2. Lost generation -replay-
3. Crisis Moment
4. Akai kutsu
5. stupidxcupid
6. Fukinkou Kinema
7. Enzetsu ~surrealism~
8. [human farm]
9. Aikoku ni ~BURST~
10. Japanese modenist
11. The Cry Against...
12. T.O.P
13. Violet harenchi
First press limited edition Type B
白い羊 Shiroi Hitsuji DVD tracklist
1. Tasogare restaurant
2. Bara to katasumi no blues
3. Omohide sunset
4. Crisis Moment -UNPLUGGED-
5. M.E.R.R.Y.MARCH
6. - Medley -
Utagoe kissa "Modern"
Renai kousaten
Refrain ~doyoubi no namida~
Chikku-takku
7. Mayonaka
8. Yakou -TAIHAI mix-
9. "Tokyo ni furu yuki..." (Piano ver.)
10. Komorebi ga boku wo sagashiteru...
The cover art for the type A limited and regular editions are works by doll artist Katan Amano (deceased since 1990). Macabre stuff, but hauntingly beautiful and well suited for Merry, especially with the whole "freak show" theme going on this time. And look who we have on the type B cover again, isn't it gorgeous? 8)
Please support Merry and buy the album! I recommend HMV, Amazon or CDJapan. If you can't decide on which DVD type to get, go with type A if you want to experience the pure energy of the show, and type B if you want something a little different. You can't go wrong with either though!
Also, if you are on Twitter and want to talk about the album, use the hashtag #Beautiful_Freaks (but don't spam, it's an official hashtag!!)