Imaginary Flying Machines - Princess Ghibli

I'll be honest, anime music and weeb shit has never really been my thing. I have no nostalgia for any of the source films nor songs, nor much anime in general. Save for Blood Stain Child, I haven't fallen in love with any Japanese bands, much less any Japanese music. The lads out east are incredibly creative, but nothing ever quite scratches my itch. Enter a collaboration started up by Disarmonia Mundi, a band I love, that includes two other Italian bands, Destrage and Living Corpse, and Blood Stain Child. Well, shit, that should be a recipe for success, right?

The thing that's kinda sad is that, no matter what, there's no way I'm giving this a 100%. Ettore produced and mixed the album, and he doesn't have the best track record. Alessandro Vanara did the mastering, and although I don't know him, I'm pretty damn sure he's the reason the mix isn't fucked. So cheers, it's not completely fucked because of faulty engineering.

Let's start with the positives: A four band collaboration is incredibly ambitious, and I love that. Granted, I've only listened to two of the bands involved, but I do love them both. Yoko Hallelujah is the perfect pick for a vocalist for this, and she carries a lot of songs that I'd otherwise find to be decent at best. Sophia is also a pretty good vocalist here, though I do prefer Yoko overall. There's a bit of a lightness that Yoko has that Sophia just doesn't. Let's pretend that I segued into the rest of the vocalists.

Paolo, of Destrage, has some good harsh vocals, but I don't particularly care for his cleans. Rafael, of Living Corpse, isn't my cup of tea, but he's not bad at all. I'm going to assume Claudio does some backing growls on most of the songs, but it doesn't say that he does anywhere, nor is he even credited here, when he is here without a doubt. That'd be one thing if it was just Metallum, but Coroner's website only says that he's featured on the seventh track, which isn't the only track he features on. Ettore sounds good, but he sounds like he always does. There isn't really much of a need to further elaborate.

The guitarwork ranges from pretty damn good (Blood Stain Child, Living Corpse), to complete and utter filler (Mainly Disarmonia, unfortunately). The bass actually sounds quite nice and is actually audible in some of the songs. In the Disarmonia Mundi tracks, not so much, but not everything can be nice. Then we have the drums, which are easily the weakest part of this album. They meld together quickly, and although they actually sound different on songs like "Gaku no Ue no Ponyo", "Mononoke Hime", and "Arrietty's Song", it's all the same damn blast beat over and over. I could excuse it if it was at least two or three different blast beats, and maybe it's like that by the second half, but I really couldn't tell. The kits themselves do sound great, I'll give them that, but the playing is too damn same-y for its own good.

Now for the other bad part: There's quite a bit of filler. "Itsumo Nandodemo", Kimi wo Nosete" (Which should've just had Yoko on vocals), "Toki Niwa Mukashi no Hanashio", and "Sanpo" can all be taken out, and nothing of value would be lost. "Sanpo" is easily the strongest one out of the filler tracks, due to the nice groove breakdown at the middle, but even that isn't too original or extraordinary for breakdowns. I just love breakdowns in groove metal. But I saved the biggest pile of shit for the end of this paragraph: "Country Road". I was never huge on the original, or whichever one people went nuts over, but this cover has given me a new appreciation for it. It's an absolute mess. Only Ettore sounds good here, and it feels like the care and organization taken to make the opening track work was completely neglected here.

As for the good, while the rest of the album is alright, "Gaku no Ue no Ponyo", "Mononoke Hime", and "Arrietty's Song" are the shining stars. I was tempted to put the opener here, but I feel like it'd annoy the shit out of me after a few repeat listens. The first of the three is like a nice country rodeo song, particularly during the chorus, and I'm all for its energy. Never thought I'd see a good southern Japanese song, but here we are. "Mononoke Hime" shows Yoko at her most angelic, the mix is great, and the guitarwork is right up my alley. Despite being a somewhat brutal (But not too much so, simply comparatively to everything else), it's a beautiful rendition, particularly with the piano at the end. There's a sort of 'spiritual' feeling from it all that likely carried over from the original (After listening to the original, I can safely say that this rendition carried the exact feeling perfectly, and I appreciate the cover even more now). Meanwhile, "Arrietty's Song" is just goddamn infuriating. Why? Because it shows that the folks at Disarmonia Mundi can write and play gorgeous clean passages and more mainstream material with a mix that gives every element room to breathe. It's the most refreshing song by the band that I've ever listened to, taking tracks like "Awakening" and "Beneath a Colder Sun" from their discography and taking them to their most natural conclusion. The inclusion of Sophia here is exactly what was needed, as the fullness of her vocals works better here compared to Yoko's lighter voice. The guitar solo at the end also sounds really nice, and it's a wonderful way to end the song. The way it fades out as it starts to have harmonized leads is simply perfect.

There are moments of brilliance here, there really are. And those moments, those tracks, add a good 20-30%. The latter two tracks of my favorites list portray such beauty that seems to be lost in translation for a few of the other songs. Metal can work for the original compositions, but you have to truly understand how and why, and I just think that while, yes, this was a passion project, they only understood what to do and how to do it in certain instances. I know "Country Road" was a losing battle, and that I like the opener and love "Arrietty's Song", but Disarmonia Mundi is ultimately the weakest link here. I love some good brutal growls here, and they come in full supply, but they just aren't needed as often as they come. Tracks like "Kimi wo Nosete" would've been better off without them. In fact, the one instance in which I love Disarmonia Mundi on this album doesn't even sound like them. If you would've shown me "Arrietty's Song" without telling me that it was them, only to reveal it at the end, I'd call bullshit. But somehow, reality is stranger than fiction, and they excel in a sound that is not only completely unlike them, but completely unexplored by them, and that's why "Arrietty's Song" is frustrating. Because it shows that they can actually make some nice material outside of their comfort zone.

Ultimately, I'm not sure how to feel about this album. Does it deserve the 100% that it has here or the 4.5 star rating it has elsewhere? Hell no. This is three stars at best. It's a bunch of two to three star stuff with three five star heroes, and that's it. Album's basically a fucking gacha game. But man, I'd absolutely recommend those three songs to all my weeb friends. I have no idea what to rate this, but I think a 60% is the most accurate percentage I can give.

Tracks to Recommend: "Tonari no Totoro", "Gaku no Ue no Ponyo", "Mononoke Hime", "Arrietty's Song"
Tracks to Avoid: "Itsumo Nandodemo", Kimi wo Nosete", "Toki Niwa Mukashi no Hanashio", and "Sanpo"