OLDCODEX - Rage on

Free! OP

Tracklist:

1. Rage on

2. Now I am

3. Swamp

1. Rage on

Like your standard shounen-like anime opening, but on steroids, Rage on opens with a torrent of percussions, hard drums and guitars, unraveling into a very aggressive J-rock track. Differing from the actual show, which doesn't take itself quite seriously, this song is gritty and dark, but still easily likeable and catchy. Although the melody is still relatively simple, and the vocals show no special or artistic elements because of it, the high point is the synthy, distorted environment in the middle eight section, crossed by some great guitar solos, before a calm buildup to the final chorus.

Rating: 8

2. Now I am

An even more hostile and offensive start suddenly calms down in more of an R&B fashion with only occasional intermissions of guitar chords. Even with the mid-tempo, the vocals are still not as good, and are constantly being overpowered by the rich arrangement, and the bad try at screamo does nothing to improve them. Like a big, unstoppable hammer, the instrumentation is pointlessly drumming in the background, though, it would be very unmemorable without the pure hitting power, and it sounds even slower now that the rhythm speed has been slightly lowered. Now I am just takes on all the bad points of the previous song and amplifies them.

Rating: 6

3. Swamp

Unsurprisingly (especially with the not-so-hopeful title), the second B-side has nothing special to be mentioned that wasn't already taken by Now I am, except that the guitar chords have been replaced with heavy distortions, which still try to make up the complexity element by their sheer strength, unfortunately. I sincerely do love rock music, but even it takes some originality to be interesting, and not just try to replicate "more of the same". 

Rating: 3

The B-sides of a single are what really tests the artists, and OLDCODEX failed at it, except for the averagely good A-side. You can find much better J-rock done even by some seiyuu. My overall rating is: 6.

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