January 21, 2004 - Kusoban

Happy New Year! Five weeks since my last release and 16 months since their last EP "Mimi Kajiru", Maximum the Hormone released their third EP "Kusoban" on January 21, 2004. Maximum the Hormone are still the same crazy nu-metal band they've always been, they still don't have a full-length album, but it's EP #3, here we go!

The EP kicks off with "Koi No Sweet Kuso Meriken" and Nao sings the first part which makes things sound very light and pop-y, then Maximum the Ryokun takes over with his classic singing style and the heavy guitars are front and centre. They segue nicely into the first verse where Daisuke-Han sounds great screaming his head off, hitting some low and high notes! It's overtop a nice headbanging riff and Things sound pretty great! Things briefly return to the pop-y opening, which turns out to be the chorus and it's a clash of different styles that they make work pretty nicely! Obviously I like the heavy verse better, but the lighter chorus does well to Break things up! Up next is "Seiritsu Wa Kannazuki O Korasu Kion" and Maximum the Ryu starts us off with a cool guitar riff, Ue-Chang syncs up with him for some cool bass, then Nao completes this pretty sweet main riff with a nice drum beat. Daisuke raps in Japanese very fast to start the verse, then nicely devolves into some heavy screaming. Just like the first song the chorus begins with Nao singing in her high pop-y voice before Maximum the Ryokun takes over with a nice yelled chorus and some cool heavier guitars. Both these songs clearly showcase the heaviness that makes Maximum the Hormone so great, while also showing them maturing into some more radio-friendly choruses. Track 3 is "Healthy Bob" and they jump right into another hard-hitting headbanger of a main riff led by some pretty cool guitars by Ryokun. Daisuke lays down a vicious verse with some phenomenal high screams, then Ryokun sings a much more pop-y, sing-along chorus that has some nice bounce to it! Together this makes for a pretty sweet little tune at just over two minutes! The next track is "Cefiro Radio Comeback~Seishun Saikai" and Daisuke comes out the gates screaming nice and low, then they quickly move into a groovy and cool main riff with some pretty interesting upbeat bass by Ue-Chang. Nao sings overtop a fast, punk-y riff and she actually sounds solid in this setting, then Ryokun takes over the lead vocals with a pretty bland verse by these guys raging hormone standards! When Daisuke comes in after a couple rounds things definitely sound better as he screams very nicely overtop a heavy new riff that takes us right to the end of the song, that closing part was awesome! Track 5 is "Mr. Boogie Tambourine Man" and it's a unique song for sure as Maximum the Hormone mix their nu-metal style with a little reggae! A simple reggae-style guitar riff keeps a slow pace and somehow they play a fast rhythm section behind it and things actually sound fairly smooth! Ryokun sings at first, then Daisuke raps high and fast, then they segue perfectly into a heavy and fast new riff with Daisuke switching to heavy screams. This heavy chorus is done very nicely and it hits nice and hard, which makes the drop back to reggae verse even more profound! I like this little bit of experimentation; they do the reggae part really well, and still bring it home with some classic, awesome heavy stuff. A pretty cool tune! Up next is "Heisei Strawberry Vibe" and they kick into a more typical riff that is heavy with a bit of bounce with Ryokun leading the way on guitar. They alternate between a slightly quieter part, and then fire into a furiously amazing heavy riff with everyone Sounding pretty awesome! After a bit of this Nao starts to sing a pop-y chorus before Ryokun joins her for a decently catchy chorus that even has some Nintendo-esque keyboards in the background that sound cool! This is another pretty sweet song, these guys just know how to bring the energy to whatever they are doing! Track 7 is a minute and a half song called "Bouriki" and everyone is going pretty insane right from the get-go as we're blasted with some loud and pretty sweet music! The bass is all over the place and sounds funky and great, the drums and guitars hit plenty hard and Daisuke is relentless with some great screaming! This sums up most of the song, until they end it on a bit of a comical note with someone laughing manically and very high as things fade to a finish. The final song on the album is "Tatari-Kun" and it's a mere 48 seconds long! We jump right into what sounds like a typical Ryokun-led chorus and it's a solid little jam for the 48 seconds, a bit of a weird way to close things out though!

That is the end of "Kusoban" and I thought it was another pretty sweet EP from Maximum the Hormone! There was a good amount of more radio-friendly stuff on this EP, but it was still very heavy and sweet at times as well. I think it's better than their debut EP "Ho (Ootori)" but I don't think it surpasses their last EP "Mimi Kajiru" so right in the middle will have to do. Can we finally please have a full-length release from these amazing metal unicorns?!