This might be a little controversial to some fans, but lately I've been thinking about my personal favorites of GazettE and thought since I haven't written a blog almost all year I'd end this one with a list.
As far as releases go, I am only doing full albums-leaving the singles out despite Remember the Urge being a standalone as well as UGLY/UNDYING.
And despite it just being a rehash-I am including Traces vol. 2 on this list after thinking hard about whether or not it belonged on this list. The songs have been altered enough, it's almost a new album [despite only rehashing old songs.]
With that said this is only my personal opinion, and though an album might rank lower than the others it doesn't mean I hate it entirely.
So starting from the lowest number, let's get started.
10. Disorder
To this day I still don't personally own Disorder, for whatever reason I've never got it. I remember the friend I once had burnt the CD for it, but between that and NIL I've always preferred NIL. It isn't necessarily bad, and I know a few fans who wish GazettE would go back to days like Disorder-but I suppose it really wasn't the album for me. I had to debate whether I'd put this above my next album on the list or not, but for now it'll sit at this spot.
9. Division
Division isn't really an album I think to listen to a lot. For what it's worth I appreciate the band's need to experiment and it did give us DERANGEMENT and DRIPPING INSANITY. But Divsion hasn't always been my favorite album, and to this day I don't think to put it in. [Or play it on Spotify, since I do most of my listening on there.]
I know fans preferred Division to Toxic, but I suppose I was the opposite.
8.Traces Vol. 2
I was one of the few who didn't mind the changes of lyrics in Cassis, or how they changed Taion. But I do agree that despite being updated versions of the other ballads, that it sounded a little bit too....manufactured. Other than that I do like the addition of Aoi's live version of his ending solo in Cassis, plus the lyric changed. I know the old version had it's charm with Ruki's English, but it's kinda nice to see how he improved.
7.Beautiful Deformity
This album gave us INSIDE BEAST, what more do you want? Like Division, despite having INSIDE BEAST and LAST HEAVEN, I don't really think to listen to this album a lot. It's probably the album that made me stick with GazettE even after Division, but after their next couple of releases I tend to stray away from it even now.
6. NIL
I really had a hard time putting NIL at number 6. It'll always have a special place in my heart, and honestly will always still be one of the first three albums I recommend to a friend who's interested in listening to the band. It's iconic, c'mon. It probably was one of the first albums I played all the way through, and I wish I could place it higher in my head due to Nausea&Shudder especially.
5. Toxic
Go ahead and hate me for putting Toxic above NIL, but I can't really place it lower than my top five in my own head. I just vibe with Vortex, and Venomous Spider Web too much for me to not put it in my top five, I even got a Vortex related Tattoo. As I said with Division, I really did appreciate the experiment they went with this album. A lot of fans didn't like it, but if the band did the same shit over and over honestly would be bored with them by now.
4. NINTH
This album will probably always have sentimental value to me considering Phase 04. I really do love NINTH, the whole album really is good. I did like the era surrounding this album as well, despite Ruki's velvet suit. I still think of NINTH era a lot, and I'm glad it happened.
3. DIM
I really loved DIM, I think a fan said it before that DIM was really the album where Kai started to show his true....power. [I think they said it more snidely, like it was when he realized he was a drummer?? Whatever. LOL] I started to notice him a lot more in songs during this time, and I really appreciate him for it. I think he's really the one who shone in this album, so I'll give credit where credit is due.
2.DOGMA
In the past year alone, DOGMA has become my favorite album. Despite being only number 2 on this list, I've grown so attatched that DOGMA was probably my most played album from this band all year. I am also planning a tattoo around it, but I won't go into much detail about that.
1. Stacked Rubbish
This was the first album I ever got from them, so of course it's going to be number one. Plus it has a lot of great songs on it, especially Hyena and Burial Applicant. Chizuru is also by far one of my favorite ballads of the band, I wish they had at least touched it for the Traces album, but perhaps it was good enough that it didn't need an update.
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Well I didn't have much to say in terms of why I chose this order, so I guess it really isn't much of a fun read. But I had fun talking about it anyways.
Until next year.
