Radwimps are back with their latest album Human Bloom and after being somewhat underwhelmed by the repetitiveness of their previous album Batsu To Maru To Tsumi To, I was hoping for better things with this one, and whilst Human Bloom is still on the lengthy side, it is an improvement.
Put simply, there’s just more variety to it and it’s more musically engaging. The music doesn’t stick to one rigid style, so the songs don’t all sound the same and merge together, and another great point is that the vocals have a lot more emotion and colour to them. From the stunning ballad Weekly Shounen Jump with some beautiful piano lines and some stunning vocals, to the more energetic and fast-paced early track One Spring Day which is a very feel-good track that makes you feel like you’re actually experiencing a Spring day, Radwimps explore several different sounds on the rock spectrum and it’s definitely worked for them.
However, it does have to be said that Radwimps have taken a ‘quantity over quality’ approach with Human Bloom and the album could easily be trimmed down to about ten or eleven tracks without losing too much from the release as a whole. But as a whole, it’s a decent listen, and definitely worth checking out.
7/10
