I KILL MY HEART - Album reviews

At first, I did not think that I might like this album.
But now, I love this. The guitar riff is amazing. Of course, her voice too.
We witnessed Tomoko's change many times. and We were surprised with her changes every time.
There were negative comments each time. She is enjoying our reaction. I think.
This album is one of her possibility. She has not changed from the beginning after all.
She is a genius. We are in her power.

ひきとめたかったよ＝私はあなたを引き止めたかった。→I wanted to stop your leaving. I wanted to detain you.

Ha ha, I agree. I bow to her wonderous powers!

Thanks for the translation, Hidebow! =D

Well said hidebow

Still no album for me
It is a long weekend in the UK this weekend to celebrate May day, so no post on Monday either. My god, this is killing me.

Crap. I don't see how you can do it. I really thought I could wait, but as soon as I got on my computer on the 29th, I had to download it.

bitches mine came in the mail today! love the photobook. 'tis gorgeous! and the DVD was fun...but bad planning having the Waitfor me there vids right next to each other only to be followed by the leaving you vids right next to each other. they done Wait for me there, leaving you, wait for me there, leaving you.

I think I KILL MY HEART's weekly ranking is #9

same as Heavy Starry heavenly, pretty good.

That is great to hear.

Yay, I'm glad to see it's still doing well.

In the daily it's not doing well. It's not even in the top 30 in the daily chartings.

but the peak is 4, and the weekly is 9, and that's quite good.

Starryeyed wrote:As for the album everything feels downtempo, dreary, more JPOP rather than JROCK.

Just read that. Before I review the album, I must say I 100% disagree with this comment. It is neither JPOP or JROCK, it is Alternative Rock. Why does the fact that Tommy is from Japan mean that we have to put a J in front of any genre we mention. Music is music isn't it? and this certainly isn't pop. I know everybody is entitled to their opinion, but I had to say something about this, sorry if I offend....but JPOP?

Well at last it's my turn -

Wait For Me There

I must admit I loved this song from the moment I heard it. It has a great feel & vibe about it, I love the repetative riff, and Tommys voice sounds amazing. Make me want to jump around alot and sing along to the great chorus. Also great use of backing vocals and vocal overlay.

9/10

Leaving You

The song compliments the previous song perfectly, and already we get a feel of the vibe of the album. The changing of pace is nice, and will be repeated throughout the CD. Vocally brilliant, love the echoey effects. Already these two songs together make me wonder what album the people who said every song was the same was listening too. Couldn't have been this one. I love the use of "I Kill my heart", and I kinda wish she HAD included this in every song.

8.5/10

Do You Know My Heart

Whoa, a complete change of style for the intro. This is slightly more like the old heavenly, maybe LCDDish. Then the chorus kicks in again and we are back to the vibe of the album, but immediately after the chorus it changes back again, GREAT!!! The first song that maybe I could say that it could have been a Buriguri song. Love the "You Really Got Me" style riff

8/10

Sad End To A Fairy Tale

A touch of ABOUT U to the intro of this. Hmmm, slow starting. The great song title gave me high expectations for this song, and part of it does live up to these expectations, but not all of it. Some of it has a real 60's feel about it for some reason. Maybe a tad too long too...

7/10

Shut Up

Punky!! I want to jump around and smash things up. Play it loud and play it proud.

9/10

Flower Crown

A good song, and another great change of pace. A little Heavy Starry Chain-ish....a little I said A plodder of a song I would say, seems to have a lot of angst about it. I can imagine people sat in a dark room listening to this very loudly while slowly head banging (ghitgo comes to mind)

7/10

Surely

A very buriguri-ish intro, has the same feel as "Do You Know My Heart" without the punchy chorus. Could have been an album track on THE WINTER ALBUM maybe. Not my favourite, but I love the atmosphere of this song, fits into the album well. Oh, great guitar solo Shunsaku, Ryo would be proud

7.5/10

Gonna Change My Way Of Life

Nice Bassy intro. Wow, I want to shout along and stomp around the room to this song. I want to walk down the street shouting this at random strangers. Funny thing is this may be my least favourite song on the album at the moment, but I still love it for it's own reasons. Love the rock instrumental part. This would sound great being played loud in a club maybe, I think it will grow on me a lot.

7/10

Playground

Very dark sound with a great pace and flow about it. Another headbanger, again it surprises me with it's twists and turns. Not the catchiest chorus but the rest of the song has some great hooks.

7/10

Things I Can Do

A fast action packed song, great for listening to very loudly while driving a car very fast, wind in your hair, sunglasses on. I want to do that now! A bit harsh of some to describe some of Tommys vocals as 'Whiny', I mean it's the way her voice is, but with this song I can understand that sentiment a little I suppose.

7.5/10 8/10

You Should Live In The Sunny Light

Beautiful, and a complete surprise!! No drums, very dark but very beautiful. I can so imagine Tommy and Shunsaku recording this song together, I wish I could have been there.

8/10

FINAL MARK 86/110

As regards my marks, no 10 out of 10 you may ask, but I'M GONNA SCREAM and LCBG would both get 10, and I do not like any of these songs quite as much as those. The mark may increase a little in the future, but this is my opinion as I listen to it for the second time.

All in all, it is a great album, but I must admit I do prefer HEAVY STARRY HEAVENLY, but I love this album for different reasons. It is just a great Rock album, she has thrown aside the JPOP/Anime shackles, at least for one album and she has done it perfectly. She has made no effort to fit in or be popular with the modern way of selling records and I love her even more for this brave decision.

I could very easily play this album thru at anytime, and it would fit in with any of my 'non Japanese' music collection too. I can understand the criticisms from some people, but I feel most of them have gone too far. Like giving the songs 2,3, and 4 out of 10 when other are giving 8,9 and 10. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground. Some of the things people have sad I think are really cruel and way off the mark, but they are entitled to their opinions, and I respect them of course

Please! A live tour and DVD of this album, it would translate so amazingly onto stage.

Heh. No, I don't headbang to flower crown. I play the air drums. To every song on here.

Okep! After reading Sneaky's review and also that I have listened to the album so many times, I'm gonna do my review!! (it may be a little poor, as it's a bit difficult for me to say it in english u.u)

Wait for me there (4/10)

I listened it for the first time and it gave me a very bad impression :S Now it's "ok" I guess... but still not my cup of tea. For me it's the worst song from the album, it shouldn't have been promoted with this one.

Leaving you (6/10)

At first this one also gave me a bad impression, but after many times listening to it, I can say that I like it ^^ It's growing on me day by day. I love the vocals, and also the maybe "sadness" feeling that the song gives to you.

Do you know my heart? (8/10)

When I heard the beggining I was like "umm... the same again?" but then when it started, and when I got to the chorus OMG!! It's amazing!! I love this change we talked about so many times >w< When I listened for the first time I thought "thanks god! some energy to the album!!!" It reminds me a bit of heavenly's beginning.

Sad end to a fairy tale (7/10)

I like it a lot too ^^ Specially the chorus and that guitar in the background! And also the chorus ("Why do you ever try to live a lie? It's so Sick") >W< It gave me a feeling of "stop being so hypocritical and be yourself", I want the translation for this one so bad!!

Shut up (8/10)

Fast rhythm! I love it!! It makes me wanna do head banging XDDD

Flower crown (6.5/10)

I was expecting a lot from the intro, but then when it started it decieved me a bit. It's ok but nothing out of place.

Surely (8.5/10)

The first thing I thought when it started was the same as sneaky!! This is so suitable for "THE WINTER ALBUM"!!! Maybe the chorus isn't as burigurish as the rest of the song, but really good anyway.

Gonna change my way of life (7/10)

I had this song in my head for a few days XDDD (imagine a girl in the street singing all loud "GONNA CHANGE MY WAY OF LIFEEEE!!!".. yes, that's me XDD). Reminds me of some heavenly song (probably from heavy starry heavenly) but don't know which one :S

Playground (8.5/10)

The same as with "gonna change my way of life", so catchy!! I love the guitar riffs, don't know why it makes me think about children games XD

Things I can do (8/10)

The song it's great!! And I love the fast chorus >w< !!! Make sure that I will sing this one when I have time XD

You should live in the sunny light (10/10)

OMG!! This song was A BIG SURPRISE!! For good, of course XD I love the vibrato thing that Dammyf6 mentioned, it's such a different register from what we are used to! It gives me a feeling of "I wish I could do something for you Tommy TT". It seems a really sad song, and it makes me think about a lot of things. I WANT A TRANSLATION!!!

FINAL MARK (81.5/110)

The final review to it all it's that I was being too negative about this album, and I thought I wouldn't like it at all, but it still has real good songs and it gives me a special vibe different from anything she's done before. As sneaky said, I think that she's very brave to release a kind of album like this, very different from what she's done before and that she seems to be very sure of what she wants to do and doesn't mind about what labels or anime fans would say. I'd say that the best sentence to describe it all is to say that this album is "a tribute to music and self-rewardness".

RANKING CHANGE - Things I Can do - 8/10

This grew on my immediatley, and when my wife pointed out that it sounded like "I'm a Player in TV Games" that made me like it even more.

Total Score now -86/110

Oh, just read your review TC, it's great and our scores are really close!! Your English is fine as usual, no problems

Wow you guys were harsher than I was. hahhaha! but then again I really love this type of music, and with Tommy vocals it's like an explosion of perfection. Honestly i disagree with both of you on Do you know my heart? in my opinion, it sounds stupid, and annoys me and is shaping up to be my least favorite heavenly song...I mean that's just my opinion though. also changing my score, 9 outta 10 for sad end to a fairy tale, it's a little too slow to the choures.

Also i have officially welcomed Flower Crown into my favorite Heavenly songs. therefore making the list
PAPERMOON
Heavy Starry Chain
Unlimited Sky (this one grew on me from first listen)
Flower Crown
2BFree

Things I Can Do
A fast action packed song, great for listening to very loudly while driving a car very fast, wind in your hair, sunglasses on. I want to do that now! A bit harsh of some to describe some of Tommys vocals as 'Whiny', I mean it's the way her voice is, but with this song I can understand that sentiment a little I suppose.

I can't speak for anyone else, but hen I was talking about 'whiny' I was talking about the 'grunge note'. It doesn't matter who it is (male or female, Tommy or someone else, or even a musical instrument), if they hit a certain note, and hit it long, and repeat it enough times, I'm usually not going to like it. Whatever that note is, it seems to be popular in grunge, so I call it the 'grunge note'. This is the first time I've ever really felt that Tommy's singing was 'whiny' 'grunge note' sounding. It's not her voice, it's that note. I love Tommy's voice!

Having said that, I can see how calling it 'whiny' comes off as harsh. ^_^' I don't usually like 'grunge note' but calling it 'whiny' is giving it a negative connotation that I don't mean for it to have, since I'm trying to describe the pitch and not the sentiment behind it. And it's not an incorrect pitch/note, it's just a pitch that I prefer hearing in smaller doses and at less frequent intervals. I'm funny that way.

... The 'grunge note' is like fudge! It's good but I find it overstimulating in larger quantities. So, in this album Tommy's voice some times gets like fudge, and overstimulates my senses with its fudgey goodness. I blame my brain!

Haha, wow sailorlum you are a real deep thinker. Thanks for the explanation, I think I understand what your brain is talking about

Do you study music?

Thanks and you're welcome I'm glad I was able to explain it well (sometimes my brain is hard to explain, lol)

I haven't studied music in an academic way or in a class in a long time... if I had the money I'd probably take guitar or piano lessons though...or maybe voice lessons again. I used to play the violin (but not since middle school) and I was in chorus since then and through high school (and in high school I took voice lessons and participated in one or two competitions - I did well enough to get a pin or a medal but not a trophy). At one point in college I took a jazz theory class, just for the heck of it, I think. ^_^

My father's side of the family is very musical (many of them play drums and/or guitar (just for fun) or sing in a church choir). At the moment, I just sing for myself for fun (although I've been sick the past three weeks and haven't been able to sing well enough to post that last karaoke request).

I think this album is bueno.

Rating: 10/10



Music Style: This album is Alternative Rock / Grunge Rock. I'm a huge fan of this type of music. "I KILL MY HEART" sounds like what the brilliant green would release if they were on Anti-Depressant meds. The songs on the album are very mellow and dark. I think that was the whole point of the album. It's such a downer lyrically and musically. The title of the album is the exact correlation to the songs in it.

The Album Cover: I pointed this out in a previous thread but I'll say it again. Tomoko is quite humorous and sarcastic. We all know this, and we all know she makes homages to things she likes in her music. An example that comes to mind is her last MV for february6. It was an homage to Beastie Boys's "Sabotage" MV. She made her humor evident when she was with the brilliant green; dressing up as a Harry Potter character in performances , or holding onto an Elmo doll while singing. Hell , the whole creation of Tommy february6 was a combination of homages to a style of music she adored and her weird sense of humor. So when I first laid eyes on the cover I knew it was a joke and an homage to the 80's; the Boy George/ Glam Rocker look. Unfortunately , not a lot of people understood this.

In the one hand I'm not surprised by the backlash that I've read in the online English speaking J-pop communities. The majority of fans that Tommy has gathered in other countries expect and like a certain style of music from her. Releasing this is the antithesis of that. I think if she continues to go in this direction she'll lose a lot of fans , but she'll gain new ones. I hope she releases more music like this , or goes back to the brilliant green. Even though I own her heavenly6 album's and singles , I have never enjoyed her generic pop rock releases. So far , "I KILL MY HEART" is my favorite heavenly6 album.

Well, I she won't lose me as a fan. Even though I'm not too keen on this album, I love the way she constantly surprises me with every song/video/album.

I just feel that "I Kill My Heart" is pretty bland and unimaginative. The videos and the CD book are all from one photo shoot and the music is pretty much one note (pun maybe intended). It feels like a rush job and an afterthought to the big "best ofs" that came just before it. I mean, I like it, but I don't LIKE it.

Plisskin (love "Escape from New York", do ya? ), I think you underestimate Tommy's audience overseas. We get the jokes and references and we know to expect the unexpected from Tommy. We don't expect a certain style of music from her. If we did, we wouldn't have taken to Heavenly6 after February6 (or either after brilliant green).

The cover isn't so 80's as it is 70's however. I mean, yeah, the boys look a bit like Poison, but it's much more in the line of New York Dolls and (early) Alice Cooper. We get the joke. It's just really not all that entertaining this time, IMO.

Yupgiboy wrote:Plisskin (love "Escape from New York", do ya? )

Either that or the METAL GEAR SOLID computer games series? Solid Snake = Snake Plisskin (Which was a referance to Escape from New York anyway.)

Otherwise the split in the fans down the middle about this album constantly surprises me, it's one of the most extreme differances in opinion about an album I have ever seen. I still sit somewhere floating somewhere above the middle. I love Tommy heavenly6 for her fun, punky, childish, pop/rock songs, and adored Heavy Starry Heavenly. I would love it if she carried on making these type of songs, but she didn't, and judging the album on it's own merits it is a very good album, if not a very great album. I cannot go along with all these opinions that it is a terrible and boring album that will (quote LastFM contributors to Th6's page) "kILL HER CAREER". This opinion is far to extreme for my liking, like they take the fact that she has not made an album that they like personally, and that somehow this is the end of Tommy? Somehow I don't think so....

Courtesy of JPM, AHS, and Last.fm

Spoiler:

I'm only hinting at it being a career killer cause of how Tommy works. at this rate, her next album will be the same, if not MORE boring. here's hoping she digs up some emotions for future releases.;o

Tommy + Drag Queens = No thank you.

^ Top 20 is a bit much for IKMH. She could've added "PAPERMOON" and "Unlimited Sky" to make it a better.

wow, low.. oh well, the album didn't really deserve great sales anyway, lol.

I think I've hit a good majority of Tommy heavenly6's overseas audience right on the nail; I don't think I under estimate them at all. The above quotes is only a fraction of similar opinions about "I Kill My Heart" floating around the net. Only a handful of fans initially understood the cover as a joke and homage to the 80's. When the track listing for "I Kill My Heart" was first revealed, the lack of heart symbols, asterisks, and random UPPER CASE and lower case songs was absent; only to be met with declarations of how un-Tommy it was compared to her previous albums. With the backlash of small changes such as track listing, the cover, and "un-Tommy" things about this release, I don't think many fans expect the un-expected from Tomoko, they expect the usual music she cranks out which they've come to love. The last 4 albums she has released under her Tommy persona's hasn't really given fans an inkling to expect the un-expected from her. She's generally stayed within the confines of the images she created for the 2 Tommy's. This is the 1st time she has branched out from the usual sound she puts out.

Many ( not all ) overseas fans of Tomoko pigeon-hole her 2 persona's into a specific box. They expect her to portray a similar style of music and image for heavenly6 and february6 with each CD release. Under heavenly6, her 2 albums were relatively similar in style and substance. She attracted many new fans with her heavenly6 Pop/Rock style. But this is not exclusive to Tomoko. This comes with the territory of being a musician. When an artist does a complete 180 or goes in a slightly different direction from their usual sound, it isn't odd to have their new record be met with backlash from fans. As heavenly6, Tomoko captured fans who adore her Pop/Rock sound. By releasing an Alternative Rock record on them, it's hardly surprising that it has left a distaste in some mouths. The only problem I have with the fan community about this album isn't not liking it, but the over-dramatic reactions and assessments of this album like Sneakglove pointed out above.
Sorry friend, but I'm still saying the cover is 80's inspired. The style was first started in the 70's, but the 80's popularized that particular look with an insane amount of bands copying that image. Then taking into account Tomoko is a fan of the 80's era of music, I still say 80's.

I feel that "I Kill My Heart" has been the most original thing Tomoko has released under heavenly6— granted that it sounds like the brilliant green. With her last 2 albums I'm the complete opposite and felt that her songs were, in Yupgiboy's words, quite "bland" and "unimaginative". There was nothing special about the songs she made previously. I wanted more creativity and risks in her music instead of accessibility and mediocrity. Yet with this release she has caught my interest again.

Sneakglove wrote:

Yupgiboy wrote:Plisskin (love "Escape from New York", do ya? )

Either that or the METAL GEAR SOLID computer games series? Solid Snake = Snake Plisskin (Which was a referance to Escape from New York anyway.)

Bob Hauk: I'm not a fool, Plissken!
Snake Plissken: Call me "Snake."

Can you believe their remaking this classic? Shameful.

^ yes that Avrily comment...made me die a little inside.

Y'know what i really find funny is that this album is probably what Tommy intended Heavenly to be in the first place, but Sony probably wouldn't let her...Like this is the first album where she really got to do what she wanted, right? I remember reading somewhere that Sony didn't want to do the album, but let Tommy anyway.

All this talk and such nonsense about IKMH being a career killer makes me sick. If you don't like it, fine. That doesn't mean you have to trash it at every available moment. Why can't people just say "It sucks, I don't like it," and just move on?? It's like some people want to let the world know how much they dislike IKMH every day, just in case we've forgotten.

I personally do not think her first 2 albums were bland or boring. IKMH may not be the best alternative rock album ever, but it's pretty close, IMHO. Whether a 4th heavenly6 album reverts back to the pop/rock style or continues down the IKMH path, I'll buy it and love it forever and a day.

Final thought: