Versailles - Serenade

Serenade sounds like it came out of the 80's, to be honest. And not in a bad way; it's a pretty decent ballad - moving and emotional without being too whiny, and as with many songs by Versailles, it is epic and powerful. I say 'too whiny' because in the first part, Kamijo sounds like he's singing with that awful voice I thought he ditched back when Lareine ceased activity. The accompaniment of the piano and violin, though beautiful in its own right, somehow reminds me of Gackt's Freesia, and Hizaki and Teru's twin guitar solo reminds me an awful lot of X's Endless Rain. Perhaps it's because of this that I do not like this song as much as I thought I would. If I had not heard any of the other songs I mentioned, I would probably adore this song to death.

The melody is very nostalgic for me - it reminds me of my childhood (watching melodramatic kung fu dramas with music just like Serenade).

So, then. The PV. What upsets me most about Visual Kei PVs is that they are all dressed up nice and pretty, and sometimes they go and film in a stunning location... But the end product just has no cinematic substance whatsoever. The same can be said of this PV. The band sing/play as usual, looking soulful and whatnot, and that's about it. I can barely focus on the song since I'm so busy headdesk-ing over how unimaginative the PV is, so much so that I had to close my eyes in order to concentrate on the song.

Now, I don't mean to offend, but I have a major problem with Teru's face, or the way it appears on camera. Maybe they just put too much makeup on him. It is as if his face is made of wax, or got truckloads of botox injected. He just looks so artificial. I mean...without makeup, he looks just fine. He's actually rather cute *fangirl*. Perhaps it's the makeup artist who is to blame...

And the guitarists are SITTING DOWN? I have nothing against them sitting down, but in the context of the song and taking into consideration the fact that it is wrought with power and emotion, sitting down quite casually does not seem to fit. They could've even sat down and leaned forward and looked like they were actually getting into the song.

Oh, and Yuki doesn't get nearly enough screen time on this PV (I lol'd at the part when he looks at Kamijo who is standing at the window, and Kamijo turns away as if to disown him XD). What is it with bands and giving the front man all the attention? Why is the vocalist the 'front' man anyway? Why is the drummer always at the very back (back man XD), never to get any camera action? The whole band contributes to the music, and in the cases of some bands, the music is better than the vocals anyway. But that's another rant for another day.

I'm still waiting for a remotely interesting PV to be made. I haven't seen that many, especially for a genre that defines itself by its visual aspect. The only one that really springs to mind anymore is Dir en grey's [KR]Cube.