It might just be my opinion, but I feel they did better when they had concepts. Under-world had some weak points. Yet, it was still a stronger album than Beautiful Freaks, which kind of lacked direction. After that one, their releases have been quite good, but nothing as memorable as Peep Show, for instance.
I’ll never understand the widespread hatred for that album in Lé Fanbasé. it was one of literally few examples of the 2000s when a VK band on major contract released something truly timeless.
strip was a good restart for them, and three years later, Kenichi is still nowhere in sight… something that to me screams a lasting burn-out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
or some really heavy disappointment in the way the scene operates over there.
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huh? he left the band, why would he return?
to make more music solo, or form another different band?
he’s not the first legacy member to drop out from a band with good scene cred (penicillin lost one when they were doing incredibly well compared to merry’s state… in a different era too), I’m just really sad he has seemingly abandoned music as a venture.
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Yeah, I didn’t really consider that considering all the drama when he “left”. I think he’s done with the scene lol
Well, I got on the Merry train just before they released under-world, so I can only guess it was the transition from their indies punkish album to a more polished sound. Yet, if you listen to it now, it feels really coherent and, yeah, less punkish than previous effort, but still a good balance between their more aggressive and their more jazzy/retro sound. Not saying “it was better before”, because we can listen to these albums whenever we want. Nonetheless, I do hope they’ll manage to produce as strong as that era in the near future.
I sometimes wonder what the impact of Kenichi’s leaving the band has had, but for the most part, it seems it hasn’t changed much.
Kenichi composed some amazing tracks for the band. And I still think the left and right guitar duo playing different things was part of the signature of the band.
They decided to continue… I respect this decision but it’s very different, especially for live shows.
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am i the only one who likes beautiful freaks? that was the first album that got me into merry tbh
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I actually loved it. M.E.R.R.Y. might be one of my least favs as an album and after Identity/under-world felt more like an experiment, I had the impression that Beautiful freaks combined the darker aspects with the retrock and punk parts perfectly.
I remember The cry against/monochrome being heavily crizicized as sounding too much like Dir en grey because that was the time when Merry joined Free will.
What would you guys say are top 5 of their songs they have released the last 10 years?
I stopped listening around the time they released ringo to uso, which is one of my favorite songs ever.
Top 5 songs (not ranked):
Fukurou, Chiyodasen democracy, Tooi mukashi no renai song, Tabako, Black flag symptom
Albums ranked:
- Nonsense Market, 2. Strip., 3. for Japanese sheeple, 4. M-ologie
Beautiful freaks was more than 10 years ago, but it’s probably on par with Nonsense market or Strip.
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any 5 songs from strip would be better than a very long stretch of their output before that album + I enjoyed their previous single a lot; it didn’t feel exciting, but there’s a very sweet nostalgic note in there I appreciate.
it did not blow me away in any way, but it also didn’t get boring yet, so…
While I do agree with you on the importance of having two guitars for Merry some years ago, I reckon it kind of decreased even before Kenichi’s departure. It surely has an impact live, but the same goes for many bands which have just one guitar. And it can still work for them. I mean, SEX-ANDROID had this kind of blues punk style for years, and it looks like it worked perfectly fine for them.
I don’t dislike it. There are many solid tracks on this one. It just feels more like a collection of songs rather than a coherent album, apart from the production which was a departure from their raw sound (I mean, even the cry against sounds quite polished).
Well, Ringo to Uso was released in 2006, way more than 10 years ago, so did you stop listening to them at the time they released Peep Show? Or around Beautiful Freaks? Cause my answer could be totally different depending on your answer.
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I love M.E.R.R.Y. but a big part of it is hirahira tonderu pulling a ton of weight
might be my favorite song of theirs
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Been re-listening to Strip and wow, crazy how it was released 2 years ago… seems much closer. I really didn’t vibe with it back when it was released so I shelved it away for good, but this second listen wasn’t too bad, some pleasant moments for sure (the electronic elements will take a bit to get used to still, tho). Well it’s Merry for sure so I was bound to find something enjoyable in it, just takes more time with these more recent releases I guess. 
Does anyone happen to have a track-by-track rundown on who composed which song? I suspect Yuu did most of the heavy lifting as always, but I’m curious to see if there are any stray Tetsu or Nero contributions.
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I wish their whole disco was at spotify, I have no idea how to find their songs any other way. Their hidden gems etc.
“Kanashimi Blue Train” is by far my favorite song from them. It has such a melancholic feeling to it. Actually all of Nu Chemical Rhetotic is wonderful.
I’m actually curious about what’s the general ranking of their records among the fans.
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If I’d have to order the albums I’d probably go with something like:
- モダンギャルド
- 現代ストイック
- Peep Show
- nuケミカルレトリック
- アンダーワールド
- M.E.R.R.Y.
- NOnsenSe MARkeT
- Beautiful Freaks
- エムオロギー
- Strip
The first three are kinda interchangeable depending on my mood, and the last two are kinda equally just “well it’s an album, not bad but I can’t remember much about it”.
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I remember M-ology sucking ass, like I could not get into it at all… may say the same for Strip and Japanese sheeple except for a couple of songs but my girls have been flopping ever since 
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In the meantime I managed to track down the info, so in case anyone else is interested: on Strip all music is by Yuu, except for tracks 5, 6, 8 which were composed by Nero (and all lyrics by Gara ofc).
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