JRock Mix: Hello World!

Yay for our first Music Mix that doesn't feature idols! Although it's still Japanese music, this time I bring a review of all-girl pop rock band Scandal's newest album release: Hello World! 

First, some quick background about the band: they were formed in Osaka, Japan in 2006 by four high school friends. After being in the indie scene for a while and finding great success, they had their major debut in 2008 with the single, "Doll." Scandal are well known among international Japanese music fans and have continued to evolve in their music sound throughout the years. The band is made up of (from left to right in the picture above): Tomomi Ogawa (bassist, lead vocals); Haruna Ono (lead vocals, secondary guitarist); Rina Suzuki (drummer, keyboardist, secondary vocals); and Mami Sasazaki (lead guitarist, secondary vocals).

Hello World is Scandal's 6th studio album released in December of 2014. Now, I own every single album release from Scandal and I have enjoyed the way they have explored different sounds to add to their music. Their fourth album, "Kirifuda wa Queen" (Queens are Trumps) is one of my favorite albums just because it's markedly different in style and sound than their previous albums. It's the most experimental of their albums. With Hello World however, Scandal delivers an album that sticks to their more traditional pop rock sound. As I consider their 5th album, Standard, to be my least favorite of their releases, it was nice to see them going back to their roots in their 6th release, returning to the sounds and arrangements that made me a fan in the first place.