You're right Wave. You need to fully listen to Conqueror. It's an absolutely brilliant album, sadly underrated. It contains so many wonders and some only judge it on the bangers (Rinne, blooming, glory). Thanks to you.
CONQUEROR doesn't get the love it needs sometimes. It was my favorite until the Unleash EP came out, not they are tied 😆 but yeah, CONQUEROR is the album where they began really experimenting and you can find elements of what you hear in everything they put out after it. It also has slower songs that can move you to your core. To this day, PAGE is the song I go to when I'm going through a rough time 💜 I do hope you'll give the entire album a go 😊 Rock on, Po! 🖤😎🤘🕊️
I’m so glad you reacted to this. Conqueror is my favorite Band Maid album, “Flying High” is my favorite song. The bass, drums, guitar work, and vocals are all epic and amazing. Most of the time, Kanami’s guitar solos are way too short and leave you wanting more. On “Flying High”, her solo is shredding, hot, very tasty and satisfying. Miku is wonderful and going ham on her vocals. Ironically, this incredible song seems to have quietly flown under the radar because, to my knowledge, they’ve never played it live. Anyway, a great review, you’re spot on.
They’ve played it live once. On 13 Feb 2020. The 1st night of their Line Cube Shibuya show, which did not get a live recording and release. We only got the 2nd night released as BlurRay/DVD
Excepting Line Cube Shibuya and the live streams, they never toured Conqueror - not in Europe or the States, at least. If they ever run out of material, they could tour Conqueror and Unseen World and their fans (meaning me, for sure) would love it. I know they've played some of the hits, I mean the deep cuts like this one and Azure, and Mirage, and Catharsis, etc. (ahem) Shall we? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!! Come out!
@@surfingasongwave Well a few months after conqueror got released, boom lockdown everywhere. Even they weren't sure if they wanted to push the Line Cube Shibuya concerts. Glad that they did though.
@@surfingasongwave: Like I've said, for me, Conqueror is a masterpiece & my favorite album. It's sad that Conqueror got somewhat lost in the pandemic and subsequent shutdowns. It seems that the Maids are back and their plans for world domination are back on track !!!!!
I'm shocked there are still Band-Maid songs you haven't heard! Conqueror is a great album! I remember when I first found Band-Maid. I immediately downloaded every song on Spotify! Now when I am doing anything I play their whole catalogue on random. I found some real gems that way when I was new to them. I have never skipped a track they are so good!
For real, people who skip tracks are just delaying or avoiding the time when it "clicks" for them. (Not talking about playlists specifically for driving, working out, etc.)
@@stevehall5128 My Band Maid Playlist starts from Maid in Japan and goes through to Unleash! Including where I ripped the audio from all of the concert videos and separated all the tracks into their individual songs. Looking at my phone I have over 270 band maid songs on it, once the live edits are added in.
@@Davey-Boyd I am also getting the fancams with the best sound and ripping the audio from them as well to add to my playlist. I want to be able to listen to ALL the songs, ALL of the time :)
Half a dozen stops in the first minute or so - yup Wave's listening to Band Maid, further confirmed by his broad smile and the occassion look of awe 🤣 What a fcken band, thanks Wave and Viva the Maids peace and love Po 👍🎼🥁🎸🎤🍻
Yeah I feel the songs they wrote for the Conqueror album helped them experiment with several concepts they're using quite a bit now. I will be there in Boston.
Yep! This one starts my playlist, it will always be special to me. Starting my 12 hour drive to Boston on Friday for the Saturday show, then driving to Chicago for that one. Hoping to see you! (...Shall we?!? - Yes Miku, yes we shall!...)
Hey Wave we met in Seattle, see you in Boston Buddy! Great Reaction this is one of my top 5 favorite Band-Maid Songs. Crazy that no one seems to react to it.🤘
Flying high is my most favorite song off conqueror. Akanes drums? 🔥 🔥🔥 Kanamis guitar? 🔥🔥🔥 Mikus harmony and melodies with Saiki? 🔥🔥🔥Misa's bass? 🔥🔥🔥 (Tbh Misa's bass line in this song is one of my most favorite bass lines from band maid) and the overall meaning of the song is very positive, uplifting, and makes you feel like a "conquerer" lol (hence the name flying high) this song just makes you feel good
I'm all but certain you've reacted to this before, flying high is for sure one of my favs from CONQUEROR. That bass groove 😗👌Miku's vocals are also on point.
Great points, Wave. Take the foundations of Conqueror, put them through a prism of anxiety and uncertainty and let them mature during isolation. Serve with a few drops of bitterness. There you have Unseen World. There has been a general idea of Conqueror as a soft album because it has more mid-tempo songs than the rest, however I think that many of the surprising things present in Unseen World start with this album. In fact it has more in common than with World Domination. War cries, conversations between the two voices, progressive but at the same time metal riffs and an extremely original use of the rhythm section, to give an example. Thank you!, excellent work as always.
I am not taking away from your comment as it's somewhat subjective. But I can't hear a lot of Conqueror in Unseen World myself, I agree that World Domination doesn't sound like Unseen World either as it is way more hard rock based. I have honestly not heard a lot of metal riffs from Band-Maid personally, the only riff I can think of of the top of my head is that one part in Beauty and the beast. Most of what they have produced (to my ears) has been either punk based or has hard rock based riffs (usually a mix of both). The only thing they lend from metal regularly imo is Akane's drums, especially on Unseen World and later. You can hear she practices drums to metal tracks (she said so in one of her mails to the fanclub), especially her double-bass drumming. I do agree that the dual-vocals have probably started on Conqueror though as did the more progressive writing, so in that sense I agree. Maybe it's just the production that makes it sound so different to me. But Conqueror still has quite a few hard rock songs, Unseen World has almost none of those, most of it sounds punk based to me. I think Screaming is the closest to Unseen World and later they have done before including the use of Kanami's harmonizer. To me that was Kanami trying out something different (as a b-side of a single) and it stuck. Screaming could have been released on Unseen World or the single and EP after that and it would have fit in perfectly with most of the other tracks.
I've always thought of Flying High as kind of experimental for them. They had recently finished working with Visconte on Dragon Cries and learned a lot from him about the western way of doing things musically. You gotta know Miku was relentlessly picking his brain while her and Saiki were in NY. The pigeon isn't going to let an opportunity like that pass her by. I think this was their way of trying it out from scratch. Worked pretty goddamn well, I thought.
Everyone really dismissed Conqueror. Everyone loved World Domination and Unseen World but Conqueror is their most polished and diverse work and it was just unfortunate that the mastering is so poor that it hides all the musicality of the album. Conqueror is my fave Bandmaid album and I am in the minority :D
The Ladies need to take the original files and sit down and re-master them. And then re-release the album with maybe 2 or 3 new tracks as call it the Re-Conqueror. Then make videos for Flying High, At the drop of the hat, PAGE, Liberal, Azure, and Dilemma. Basically videos for the ENTIRE album. I know I would love it. Maybe just the Ladies had a mini concert where they just performed the entire album itself and released that as videos for Conqueror.
My second favorite song on the album after Blooming (which is my #1 B-M song). I never realized the similarity to Manners before, very cool! I really love all of Miku's additions in this song. I'll see you again in Chicago!
"Flying High" has been my fav track from "Conqueror" almost from day 1... it reminded me a Lenny Kravitz-ish kind of groove... Besides "Blooming" and "Bubble" that had videos launched before I bought the album this was the one that hooked me on "Conqueror"... There was already "Glory" and "Rinne" but definitely my fav track on this album was "Flying High"... later on I got me another fav: "Azure" ... The album came out in late 2019 and short time after, they released that live BluRay in February and the pandemic started... I've watched all the live streamed Okyuji's that they did during the pandemic years and always been praying for them to play "Flying High" but they never did. I would love to see that one live. Speaking of "sexy playing"... "Awkward" from "Just Bring it" and it's Maiko version "Akasimahen" it's another song worth a little more spotlight from reactors/reviewers. Anyway, "Flying High" would be a highlight for a "Stomper Tour For Maidiacs" along with "Chemical Reaction", "Order", "Thrill", "FREEZER", "LOOK AT ME", "Brand-New Road", "FATE" and even "Balance" and "I'll" would fit quite well in here and I'd throw "Hate?" as the ending song that they would play 3 or 7 times in a sort of a loop 😅
Howdy Wave. In an interview Kanami said that this was her take on arranging a song in the style of The Dragon Cries. I think she pulled off magnificently. Cheers.
Wave, I say this with the utmost sincerity. Get there at dawn and just hang out. It’s part of the experience and you won’t be disappointed. You will be tired but the adrenaline hit will carry through the show. DO IT! All hail the Dawn Patrol!
Great reaction! I never thought you hadn't listened to Conqueror yet. Sadly that album is underrated. I still think their agency should have made a music video for "Flying High." It's a masterpiece that reveals the musicianship of the five maids!
I love Conqueror. So many great tracks, and so much variety. This track has stellar performances from all of them, especially Akane. Love to see how you enthusiastically respond to their overall awesomeness, and yes check out the rest of the album. It's a bit long, and meanders a bit in the middle, but it starts and ends SO good. Thanks, Wave!
I prefer Conqueror to Domination. Shows far more experimentation, not just instrumentation but especially vocally. This is the modern trend of Band-Maid.
Why is this song not played during the current US tour is mind boggling to me. Makes me sad that Conqueror seems to be the one that will fade over time.
To be fair, they have to choose 18 tracks out of 100+ tracks. If you check on one of the setlist websites (I don't dare mentioning the full name because youtube likes to eat my comments if I mention websites, but it's name is litterally setlist), you can see that they try to skew to newer tracks in general (which is normal) and then try to add a couple tracks from their older album. This list is from their current tour. I am somewhat surprised that there are more tracks from Brand New Maid than from Conqueror actually, but they seem to have done alone and Freedom 9 times each, so that adds up quickly. 1 Unleash 40 2 WORLD DOMINATION 36 3 Unseen World 31 4 Others 19 5 Brand New MAID 18 6 CONQUEROR 14 7 Just Bring It 7 8 New Beginning 3 Conqueror has had: endless Story (9) glory (4) Blooming (1) Not sure why they didn't throw in flying high. My guess is that they either tried to gauge how popular tracks are + the difficulty and fun they have playing them (for the older tracks). World Domination probably has their most known tracks (at least with the most views/reactions because of Domination and Play). I personally am not a big fan of Daydreaming, but it makes a lot of sense that they play it with how popular it is. I also think the perfect set would be different for most Maidiacs, I like flying high but I wouldn't have even thought putting it in a 18 track setlist. I would personally scrap Daydreaming in a heartbeat, while most people are probably thrilled that they played it as much as they have.
Just a few thoughts about A-chan's drum patterns. (Babble alert - you will probably fall asleep if you keep reading, and I don't promise not to be full of shit.) Once you're "in the pocket" enough, you can run the subdivisions in your head, and experiment with placing notes where they normally don't go - and it's amazing how putting notes in unusual places will "work" as long as they're accurately placed within the subdivisions. I bought the wifey some bongos (she was a percussionist in college), and I like to fool around with them playing Reggae. Reggae often places single notes in places you'd never hear them (like the 2nd sixteenth note of the 2nd beat of a measure or something) - and it's really cool sounding. So anyway, I think Akane smacks those drums in really unusual spots and it just makes everything just that much more interesting. Add that to an already creative composition - and well, you get Band-Maid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great reaction! Have Conqueror in car CD player along with World Domination ready for road-trip to Chicago. First time to see the Maid’s Okyu-ji, was fortunate to see Scandal in NYC & Boston in July - Band Maid songs seem to get more love with each listening. So many layers to enjoy, and something new always pops through. Thanks!
I found quite funny when some fans claims that Conqueror is the weakest Band-Maid album, considering that it contains at least three of the best hard rock songs of the 21st century: Blooming, Rinne, and of course Flying High. And the rest is equally great! This one in particular was love at first listen for me, it has all the elements that makes old school hard rock so good in my eyes, but at the same time it doesn't sound like any of those... that's the magic of B-M: they take something that you're familiar with and elevates it above the rest
There seem to be a few too many self-appointed "experts" who dismiss every new B-M record based on one listen to the first track released. And they look dumb every time when the other songs (or even that first song done live) are exactly what they're complaining about not getting. :D
MISA is the star of this one for me but Wave only gave her a glancing mention. Watch out in Boston Wave….the Barefoot Assassin might be coming for revenge! muahahaha
It reminds you of Chemical Reaction? So that means Champ will probably hate it ;). Still plenty of tracks of Conqueror that I am not a huge fan of, but I do enjoy this one for sure. That album has a couple of fantastic tracks including a couple that are really high up my favourite list (Wonderland and Rinne), it's just that it also has a couple that are really low on that list for me personally since I am not a huge fan of slower, ballad-y songs in general and they have a couple on this album (not sure why I love Wonderland since it's somewhat of a ballad as well). The whole album did grow on me though over time, I really couldn't stand most of it when I first heard it when I was starting out with Band-Maid. There are only a couple tracks left that I really don't like too much and the Acoustic Okyu-ji even helped with those. I certainly recommend giving the whole album a shot and see what you think.
Wave have you heard liberal from Conqueror? Its got a REALLY wierd drum bit i'd LOVE to see you react to & talk about - never heard anything quite like it.
I've enjoyed every bit of Conqueror. Never understood the animosity toward this album--this band cannot be put in a box. There are a couple other songs amongst their catalogue like "Flying High" where Akane seems to be doing the equivalent of tickling the ivories. A wonderful bubbly constant percussion. Hope to see you in Chicago.
Truly an underrated album even though it is filled with great songs. 1. "Page" 2. "Glory" 3. "Liberals" 4. "Endless Stories" 5. "Mirage" 6. "At the Drop of a Hat" 7. "Wonderlands" 8. "Azure" 9. "Dilemma" 10."Bubbles" 11. "The Dragon Cries" 12."Flying High" 13."Catharsis" 14."Blooming" 15.”Reincarnation” (Rinne) I'm pretty sure that a lot of musicians out there wish they had an album like this or at least have these songs on their album. But sadly they don't and won't be able to. Except BAND-MAID. #bandmaid #takeovertheworld
We're all still waiting for the headline, "Popular RUclipsr Wave Potter was escorted out of the latest Band-Maid concert after he forced his way onstage mid performance and started screaming 'PAUSE!' over and over again." 🤣
Hey, I'll be at the Boston show. Maybe I'll see ya there. Make sure you don't get stuck behind the massive support pillars in the middle of the venue. The architecture in Boston is . . . not conducive to viewing live events. Just ask anyone who has had to sit directly behind a pole at Fenway Park during a game. 😞
I keep hearing Phil Ehart in Akane's drumming. All those broken, syncopated beats and stutter-stepping patterns landing in unexpected places in the measure. Very Kansas-like. Very prog.
No bad songs. It's not fan-boy hype. Kanami - Akane - MISA are so freakin' creative, it never gets old or repetitive. I'll be interested if you think they are much tighter in Boston and Chicago than they were in Seattle. They have been playing a *lot* of shows; 14 shows over 24 days and Chicago will be the 6th show in 8 days. Miku commented they get stronger after an overseas tour, but that's a pretty grueling run. When you love your job and the people you work with, maybe it isn't so bad. I hope they get some champagne on their flight home.
This quite totally different with many song i heard so far... from BM... very much like... beside the drums & guitars also Misa... what she doing on bass also great... Is Misa Oftenly more using with or without picks...? hhe... Send ours regards to Alan even to Eric maybe... if you meet there wave, because I heard Eric has coming back... hhe...
What blows my mind is that a lot of fans list Conqueror as their least favorite album or as Band Maid’s weakest album.🤯 That’s just pure rubbish, this album is brilliant and sounds terrific. Far superior to the first releases.💪🏻🤘🏻
I preferred everything over Conqueror for a long time with the exception of Maid In Japan. I would now probably place it over the first 3, but I still prefer every full album from Just Bring It and later over this one, although the gap certainly tightened, it might kick Just Bring It of it's 3rd spot over time. And there are a couple of tracks on Conqueror that I absolutely love. But I just discovered Band-Maid and basically only knew Unseen World. When I first put on Conqueror (from a bunch of new Band-Maid CD's I bought) I immediately was very disappointed because of Page. Page is still a track I really don't like that much and it left such a bad taste in my mouth (just the first few seconds) that I immediately wrote off the album. At the drop of a hat and the way everything sounded productionwise didn't help with it either. I would say I somewhat hated both Page and At the drop of a hat the first time I heard them. As far as one of the more debated tracks of the album goes, The Dragon Cries, I never disliked the track/music I don't like the production on it. But I think it's ok even though I think the chorus is very whiny. The only tracks I really liked off of this album back then were probably Rinne, bubble, glory and blooming. And I am not as big of a fan of blooming as most people are (I still like it though). Wonderland has become one of my favourite tracks though and the Acoustic Okyu-ji helped me appreciate some of the slower songs a bit more (page, at the drop of a hat and endless story), but I still don't gravitate towards those tracks and would still place them low on my list for Band-Maid tracks. The album grew on me over time though and I at least enjoy most of the tracks and appreciate what they were going for. I don't think it's a bad album and I understand what people love about it, some of the songs on there just really aren't my thing. The poppy opening of Page especially is what made me run away from more popular music to metal about 20 years ago. I might have had a different feeling on the album if it didn't start with Page actually, first impressions can make a big difference the same goes for expectations. It actually made me listen to the album less, which is why I am still not super familiar with a bunch of tracks on it (I can't place the name of the track with the song, I do recognize all of them when I listen to the album). Edit: I am actually curious to know if people who love Conqueror were fans of Band-Maid before it came out or discovered them through music off of Conqueror. Unseen World is my favourite album by them (closely followed by World Domination) and I discovered them just after Unseen World came out through a buch of tracks off of Unseen World and World Domination (Domination Live, Play Live, ...). I am curious if this might be something that colors people's views on specific albums.
@@MaartenT In my opinion, Page is misplaced. It should close the album and leave you humming. Blooming should have been first. The opening four bars are like a curtain rising on a stage. It's uptempo and dramatic, and very well constructed. They could have moved Endless Story for pacing, maybe right after The Dragon Cries to balance the pessimism. On all their albums they tend to group similar songs together; maybe they could split them up for pacing. But Saiki chooses and I don't want her mad at me. I knew of Band-Maid before Conqueror. It was the first album they released after I heard of them though, and not long after. Blooming was one of the songs that really *really* impressed me, just the quality of songwriting is outstanding. Dice and Choose Me are two others that continue to impress me. I don't "hate" anything they've done. I like some more than others, but frankly it depends on what's going on in my life. It changes. Unseen World is a masterpiece, in my opinion, and I'm pretty sure they will write and record more masterpieces before they are done.
@@surfingasongwave I find the chorus of Blooming a bit too pop-punky, but I have that "problem" with a lot of their chorusses (and a lot of chorusses of other Japanese bands), so that doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the track. I agree that it's very well written and that MV fits the track perfectly. I do agree that it would be a banging opener. So, that would have had a better impression on me for sure. But yes, I agree that pissing off Saiki would be a good idea, except if we get an other great song out of it like "HATE?". I wouldn't want to be on her bad side though. I just realize that I probably did hear a lot of those songs before because I did buy their Line Cube Shibuya and Online Okyu-ji Blu-ray before buying their albums, but I didn't fully watch them and just put them on while working from home at that time. So I wasn't super focussed on most of their music before getting the CD's. I remember not liking some back-to-back slower songs on Line Cube Shibuya Blu-ray, that might have been Page and Mirage actually. I never heard the majority of Band-Maid songs before watching/listening to those Blu-rays. Also, to be clear I don't "hate" those tracks, I just really don't like them that much in their original form. The acoustic versions fitted really well in the concert though. I actually love the set they did for Christmas even though a lot of the songs are not among my favourites at all. The fact that I had some alcohol for Christmas and it was streamed from 3 - 5 am my time or so might have had something to do with that, but it was so soothing before going to bed. It's probably my favourite live set they have done even though I generally prefer their more uptempo tracks.
Hi, I'm wondering if you are going to react to Balance from Unleash EP? I remember you mentioning balance and I'll in context of pole done by both you and champ, though.
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No other band has so many old gems you can stumble on
+1 and re-stumble on ;-) The catalogue is that deep.
Of course, the lyrics is so upbeat and positive because it is by Miku, PO!🕊💕😉
One of those hidden gems that no one knows about or talks about. One of my favorite band maid songs.
この五人が出会った奇跡。Viscontiから声がかかり、短期間の経験で彼から学んだものをすべて吸収した奇跡。そしてその直後に録音したこの曲で、自分たちでその何倍ものクオリティを生み出してみせた奇跡。これはそういう曲だと思います。
You're right Wave. You need to fully listen to Conqueror. It's an absolutely brilliant album, sadly underrated. It contains so many wonders and some only judge it on the bangers (Rinne, blooming, glory). Thanks to you.
CONQUEROR doesn't get the love it needs sometimes. It was my favorite until the Unleash EP came out, not they are tied 😆 but yeah, CONQUEROR is the album where they began really experimenting and you can find elements of what you hear in everything they put out after it. It also has slower songs that can move you to your core. To this day, PAGE is the song I go to when I'm going through a rough time 💜
I do hope you'll give the entire album a go 😊
Rock on, Po! 🖤😎🤘🕊️
This song was on repeat for a long time when I first put the Conqueror cd in my car player.
Wore the grooves out. 😃
I’m so glad you reacted to this. Conqueror is my favorite Band Maid album, “Flying High” is my favorite song. The bass, drums, guitar work, and vocals are all epic and amazing. Most of the time, Kanami’s guitar solos are way too short and leave you wanting more. On “Flying High”, her solo is shredding, hot, very tasty and satisfying. Miku is wonderful and going ham on her vocals. Ironically, this incredible song seems to have quietly flown under the radar because, to my knowledge, they’ve never played it live. Anyway, a great review, you’re spot on.
They’ve played it live once. On 13 Feb 2020. The 1st night of their Line Cube Shibuya show, which did not get a live recording and release. We only got the 2nd night released as BlurRay/DVD
Excepting Line Cube Shibuya and the live streams, they never toured Conqueror - not in Europe or the States, at least. If they ever run out of material, they could tour Conqueror and Unseen World and their fans (meaning me, for sure) would love it. I know they've played some of the hits, I mean the deep cuts like this one and Azure, and Mirage, and Catharsis, etc.
(ahem) Shall we? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!! Come out!
@@surfingasongwave Well a few months after conqueror got released, boom lockdown everywhere. Even they weren't sure if they wanted to push the Line Cube Shibuya concerts. Glad that they did though.
@@surfingasongwave: Like I've said, for me, Conqueror is a masterpiece & my favorite album. It's sad that Conqueror got somewhat lost in the pandemic and subsequent shutdowns. It seems that the Maids are back and their plans for world domination are back on track !!!!!
I can't stop head bobbing after listen to this song everytime.
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums.
This is a great way to wake up/recover from a great show in Philly, thanks Wave! 😊
I'm shocked there are still Band-Maid songs you haven't heard! Conqueror is a great album! I remember when I first found Band-Maid. I immediately downloaded every song on Spotify! Now when I am doing anything I play their whole catalogue on random. I found some real gems that way when I was new to them. I have never skipped a track they are so good!
For real, people who skip tracks are just delaying or avoiding the time when it "clicks" for them. (Not talking about playlists specifically for driving, working out, etc.)
@@stevehall5128 My Band Maid Playlist starts from Maid in Japan and goes through to Unleash! Including where I ripped the audio from all of the concert videos and separated all the tracks into their individual songs. Looking at my phone I have over 270 band maid songs on it, once the live edits are added in.
@@greylocke100 Now that is dedication!
@@Davey-Boyd I am also getting the fancams with the best sound and ripping the audio from them as well to add to my playlist. I want to be able to listen to ALL the songs, ALL of the time :)
Half a dozen stops in the first minute or so - yup Wave's listening to Band Maid, further confirmed by his broad smile and the occassion look of awe 🤣 What a fcken band, thanks Wave and Viva the Maids peace and love Po 👍🎼🥁🎸🎤🍻
Love the endless vocal hooks from that little bird…
Upvote for your avatar!
SAY!
I'm proud to have been part of the crowd that surprised Miku with those towels. I will treasure mine.
@@flip.flap. Dallas was awesome, I yelled “Hentai”, then got a thumbs up when I said it was a Miku word!
Yeah I feel the songs they wrote for the Conqueror album helped them experiment with several concepts they're using quite a bit now. I will be there in Boston.
The first time I heard this band the drummer had my attention wright off the bat❤❤
Yep! This one starts my playlist, it will always be special to me. Starting my 12 hour drive to Boston on Friday for the Saturday show, then driving to Chicago for that one. Hoping to see you! (...Shall we?!? - Yes Miku, yes we shall!...)
Hey Wave we met in Seattle, see you in Boston Buddy! Great Reaction this is one of my top 5 favorite Band-Maid Songs. Crazy that no one seems to react to it.🤘
I think we are witnessing Wave have an on camera "EarGasm!" It's okay, I love this one too! 🤘😛🍻🕊
Will see you in Boston…..thanks for this reaction….one of the band’s top notch songs…Thanks - Peace & Respect from 🇨🇦
For an album that many don't like so much, it contains quite some (*cough, all of them) jewels, right? 🤣🤘🏻
Great job, Wave. Another song full of Band-Maid greatness.
Conqueror is a fantastic album. flying high is my favorite too....MISA's Bass is so brutal good,like the rest of the band...🤩
Thanks Charles and Wave! Great song! "Seize The Moment"!
Flying high is my most favorite song off conqueror. Akanes drums? 🔥 🔥🔥 Kanamis guitar? 🔥🔥🔥 Mikus harmony and melodies with Saiki? 🔥🔥🔥Misa's bass? 🔥🔥🔥 (Tbh Misa's bass line in this song is one of my most favorite bass lines from band maid) and the overall meaning of the song is very positive, uplifting, and makes you feel like a "conquerer" lol (hence the name flying high) this song just makes you feel good
I'm all but certain you've reacted to this before, flying high is for sure one of my favs from CONQUEROR. That bass groove 😗👌Miku's vocals are also on point.
🔥🤘One of my favorites! 🤘🔥
Would LOVE to see this LIVE!
Great points, Wave. Take the foundations of Conqueror, put them through a prism of anxiety and uncertainty and let them mature during isolation. Serve with a few drops of bitterness. There you have Unseen World.
There has been a general idea of Conqueror as a soft album because it has more mid-tempo songs than the rest, however I think that many of the surprising things present in Unseen World start with this album. In fact it has more in common than with World Domination. War cries, conversations between the two voices, progressive but at the same time metal riffs and an extremely original use of the rhythm section, to give an example. Thank you!, excellent work as always.
I am not taking away from your comment as it's somewhat subjective. But I can't hear a lot of Conqueror in Unseen World myself, I agree that World Domination doesn't sound like Unseen World either as it is way more hard rock based.
I have honestly not heard a lot of metal riffs from Band-Maid personally, the only riff I can think of of the top of my head is that one part in Beauty and the beast. Most of what they have produced (to my ears) has been either punk based or has hard rock based riffs (usually a mix of both). The only thing they lend from metal regularly imo is Akane's drums, especially on Unseen World and later. You can hear she practices drums to metal tracks (she said so in one of her mails to the fanclub), especially her double-bass drumming.
I do agree that the dual-vocals have probably started on Conqueror though as did the more progressive writing, so in that sense I agree. Maybe it's just the production that makes it sound so different to me. But Conqueror still has quite a few hard rock songs, Unseen World has almost none of those, most of it sounds punk based to me.
I think Screaming is the closest to Unseen World and later they have done before including the use of Kanami's harmonizer. To me that was Kanami trying out something different (as a b-side of a single) and it stuck. Screaming could have been released on Unseen World or the single and EP after that and it would have fit in perfectly with most of the other tracks.
I've always thought of Flying High as kind of experimental for them. They had recently finished working with Visconte on Dragon Cries and learned a lot from him about the western way of doing things musically. You gotta know Miku was relentlessly picking his brain while her and Saiki were in NY. The pigeon isn't going to let an opportunity like that pass her by. I think this was their way of trying it out from scratch. Worked pretty goddamn well, I thought.
I will see you soon my friend. Ryan has been trying to convince me to go to NJ and CHI as well :)
First track on Conqueror: Page. First track on Unseen World: Warning! You just never know what you're going to get, with these ladies.
Everyone really dismissed Conqueror. Everyone loved World Domination and Unseen World but Conqueror is their most polished and diverse work and it was just unfortunate that the mastering is so poor that it hides all the musicality of the album. Conqueror is my fave Bandmaid album and I am in the minority :D
No, mate, you're not alone. Conqueror is great.
The Ladies need to take the original files and sit down and re-master them. And then re-release the album with maybe 2 or 3 new tracks as call it the Re-Conqueror. Then make videos for Flying High, At the drop of the hat, PAGE, Liberal, Azure, and Dilemma. Basically videos for the ENTIRE album. I know I would love it. Maybe just the Ladies had a mini concert where they just performed the entire album itself and released that as videos for Conqueror.
My second favorite song on the album after Blooming (which is my #1 B-M song). I never realized the similarity to Manners before, very cool! I really love all of Miku's additions in this song.
I'll see you again in Chicago!
"Flying High" has been my fav track from "Conqueror" almost from day 1... it reminded me a Lenny Kravitz-ish kind of groove... Besides "Blooming" and "Bubble" that had videos launched before I bought the album this was the one that hooked me on "Conqueror"... There was already "Glory" and "Rinne" but definitely my fav track on this album was "Flying High"... later on I got me another fav: "Azure" ... The album came out in late 2019 and short time after, they released that live BluRay in February and the pandemic started... I've watched all the live streamed Okyuji's that they did during the pandemic years and always been praying for them to play "Flying High" but they never did. I would love to see that one live. Speaking of "sexy playing"... "Awkward" from "Just Bring it" and it's Maiko version "Akasimahen" it's another song worth a little more spotlight from reactors/reviewers.
Anyway, "Flying High" would be a highlight for a "Stomper Tour For Maidiacs" along with "Chemical Reaction", "Order", "Thrill", "FREEZER", "LOOK AT ME", "Brand-New Road", "FATE" and even "Balance" and "I'll" would fit quite well in here and I'd throw "Hate?" as the ending song that they would play 3 or 7 times in a sort of a loop 😅
Conqueror was experimenting on their new sound. This song incorporated Miku's adlibs and screaming that were incorporated into their future albums.
I try to listen to this song every morning, it is a great "get the day started" motivator :).
Howdy Wave. In an interview Kanami said that this was her take on arranging a song in the style of The Dragon Cries. I think she pulled off magnificently. Cheers.
On of the best on that album ...The whole album is killer good .
Wave, I say this with the utmost sincerity. Get there at dawn and just hang out. It’s part of the experience and you won’t be disappointed. You will be tired but the adrenaline hit will carry through the show. DO IT! All hail the Dawn Patrol!
Man that sounds like a blast! Will you be at any more shows?
@@WavePotter not this tour but you can count on it next time. I'm 2 for 4 meeting the GG crew so it's my intention to complete the set...lol. 🙃
Great reaction and analysis Wave
Did you notice the similarities between "flying high" and "Bubble" last bass notes at the end of the songs?
Great reaction! I never thought you hadn't listened to Conqueror yet. Sadly that album is underrated. I still think their agency should have made a music video for "Flying High." It's a masterpiece that reveals the musicianship of the five maids!
Well said!
I love Conqueror. So many great tracks, and so much variety. This track has stellar performances from all of them, especially Akane. Love to see how you enthusiastically respond to their overall awesomeness, and yes check out the rest of the album. It's a bit long, and meanders a bit in the middle, but it starts and ends SO good. Thanks, Wave!
I prefer Conqueror to Domination. Shows far more experimentation, not just instrumentation but especially vocally. This is the modern trend of Band-Maid.
Why is this song not played during the current US tour is mind boggling to me. Makes me sad that Conqueror seems to be the one that will fade over time.
To be fair, they have to choose 18 tracks out of 100+ tracks. If you check on one of the setlist websites (I don't dare mentioning the full name because youtube likes to eat my comments if I mention websites, but it's name is litterally setlist), you can see that they try to skew to newer tracks in general (which is normal) and then try to add a couple tracks from their older album.
This list is from their current tour. I am somewhat surprised that there are more tracks from Brand New Maid than from Conqueror actually, but they seem to have done alone and Freedom 9 times each, so that adds up quickly.
1 Unleash 40
2 WORLD DOMINATION 36
3 Unseen World 31
4 Others 19
5 Brand New MAID 18
6 CONQUEROR 14
7 Just Bring It 7
8 New Beginning 3
Conqueror has had:
endless Story (9)
glory (4)
Blooming (1)
Not sure why they didn't throw in flying high. My guess is that they either tried to gauge how popular tracks are + the difficulty and fun they have playing them (for the older tracks).
World Domination probably has their most known tracks (at least with the most views/reactions because of Domination and Play). I personally am not a big fan of Daydreaming, but it makes a lot of sense that they play it with how popular it is.
I also think the perfect set would be different for most Maidiacs, I like flying high but I wouldn't have even thought putting it in a 18 track setlist.
I would personally scrap Daydreaming in a heartbeat, while most people are probably thrilled that they played it as much as they have.
Just a few thoughts about A-chan's drum patterns. (Babble alert - you will probably fall asleep if you keep reading, and I don't promise not to be full of shit.) Once you're "in the pocket" enough, you can run the subdivisions in your head, and experiment with placing notes where they normally don't go - and it's amazing how putting notes in unusual places will "work" as long as they're accurately placed within the subdivisions. I bought the wifey some bongos (she was a percussionist in college), and I like to fool around with them playing Reggae. Reggae often places single notes in places you'd never hear them (like the 2nd sixteenth note of the 2nd beat of a measure or something) - and it's really cool sounding. So anyway, I think Akane smacks those drums in really unusual spots and it just makes everything just that much more interesting. Add that to an already creative composition - and well, you get Band-Maid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great reaction! Have Conqueror in car CD player along with World Domination ready for road-trip to Chicago. First time to see the Maid’s Okyu-ji, was fortunate to see Scandal in NYC & Boston in July - Band Maid songs seem to get more love with each listening. So many layers to enjoy, and something new always pops through. Thanks!
Akane is probably playing two-beat triplets (quarter-note triplets) in Hi-hat choke section.
My favorite from Conqueror!
I found quite funny when some fans claims that Conqueror is the weakest Band-Maid album, considering that it contains at least three of the best hard rock songs of the 21st century: Blooming, Rinne, and of course Flying High. And the rest is equally great!
This one in particular was love at first listen for me, it has all the elements that makes old school hard rock so good in my eyes, but at the same time it doesn't sound like any of those... that's the magic of B-M: they take something that you're familiar with and elevates it above the rest
There seem to be a few too many self-appointed "experts" who dismiss every new B-M record based on one listen to the first track released. And they look dumb every time when the other songs (or even that first song done live) are exactly what they're complaining about not getting. :D
wow how have you not binged all of their songs yet lol
MISA is the star of this one for me but Wave only gave her a glancing mention. Watch out in Boston Wave….the Barefoot Assassin might be coming for revenge! muahahaha
Wave is hypnotized by Akane.😵
This is the song I wanna watch at Okyuji most !
Conqueror is a great album, come on, it gave us Blooming and Rinne ! Flying High is a classic !
It reminds you of Chemical Reaction?
So that means Champ will probably hate it ;).
Still plenty of tracks of Conqueror that I am not a huge fan of, but I do enjoy this one for sure.
That album has a couple of fantastic tracks including a couple that are really high up my favourite list (Wonderland and Rinne), it's just that it also has a couple that are really low on that list for me personally since I am not a huge fan of slower, ballad-y songs in general and they have a couple on this album (not sure why I love Wonderland since it's somewhat of a ballad as well).
The whole album did grow on me though over time, I really couldn't stand most of it when I first heard it when I was starting out with Band-Maid. There are only a couple tracks left that I really don't like too much and the Acoustic Okyu-ji even helped with those. I certainly recommend giving the whole album a shot and see what you think.
But his dad will probably get into it.
I bought this album on vinyl for only 5 songs that are on it and this is one of them
Hope to see you in Boston, Wave!
Yup flying high is one of my favourite but unfair game still my top😂😝… not gonna lie.. listen to flying high just make me wanna dance…
Wave have you heard liberal from Conqueror? Its got a REALLY wierd drum bit i'd LOVE to see you react to & talk about - never heard anything quite like it.
I've enjoyed every bit of Conqueror. Never understood the animosity toward this album--this band cannot be put in a box. There are a couple other songs amongst their catalogue like "Flying High" where Akane seems to be doing the equivalent of tickling the ivories. A wonderful bubbly constant percussion. Hope to see you in Chicago.
MISA MISA MISA!!!!! My fav off of "Conqueror" "The Dragon Cries" Part 2 Japanese Style
👆👍
Conqueror is a fantastic album that some people like to dismiss...it has a lot of cool and great songs.
Truly an underrated album even though it is filled with great songs.
1. "Page"
2. "Glory"
3. "Liberals"
4. "Endless Stories"
5. "Mirage"
6. "At the Drop of a Hat"
7. "Wonderlands"
8. "Azure"
9. "Dilemma"
10."Bubbles"
11. "The Dragon Cries"
12."Flying High"
13."Catharsis"
14."Blooming"
15.”Reincarnation” (Rinne)
I'm pretty sure that a lot of musicians out there wish they had an album like this or at least have these songs on their album. But sadly they don't and won't be able to. Except BAND-MAID.
#bandmaid #takeovertheworld
We're all still waiting for the headline, "Popular RUclipsr Wave Potter was escorted out of the latest Band-Maid concert after he forced his way onstage mid performance and started screaming 'PAUSE!' over and over again." 🤣
lol!
Its a fkin masterpiece is what it is 🤘🤘
I'll be in Boston!
Time to let Champ know this album has a Chemical Reaction.
I'll b at Tuesday in Chicago
What a solo!!
Hey, I'll be at the Boston show. Maybe I'll see ya there. Make sure you don't get stuck behind the massive support pillars in the middle of the venue. The architecture in Boston is . . . not conducive to viewing live events. Just ask anyone who has had to sit directly behind a pole at Fenway Park during a game. 😞
Hi, Mr.Wave. A frank question. After actually going to the show, did it change the way you think or feel about Band Maid?
Kanami shredding on this track!
1:55 IKR
I keep hearing Phil Ehart in Akane's drumming. All those broken, syncopated beats and stutter-stepping patterns landing in unexpected places in the measure. Very Kansas-like. Very prog.
No bad songs. It's not fan-boy hype. Kanami - Akane - MISA are so freakin' creative, it never gets old or repetitive.
I'll be interested if you think they are much tighter in Boston and Chicago than they were in Seattle. They have been playing a *lot* of shows; 14 shows over 24 days and Chicago will be the 6th show in 8 days. Miku commented they get stronger after an overseas tour, but that's a pretty grueling run. When you love your job and the people you work with, maybe it isn't so bad. I hope they get some champagne on their flight home.
This quite totally different with many song i heard so far... from BM... very much like... beside the drums & guitars also Misa... what she doing on bass also great... Is Misa Oftenly more using with or without picks...? hhe...
Send ours regards to Alan even to Eric maybe... if you meet there wave, because I heard Eric has coming back... hhe...
What blows my mind is that a lot of fans list Conqueror as their least favorite album or as Band Maid’s weakest album.🤯 That’s just pure rubbish, this album is brilliant and sounds terrific. Far superior to the first releases.💪🏻🤘🏻
I preferred everything over Conqueror for a long time with the exception of Maid In Japan.
I would now probably place it over the first 3, but I still prefer every full album from Just Bring It and later over this one, although the gap certainly tightened, it might kick Just Bring It of it's 3rd spot over time. And there are a couple of tracks on Conqueror that I absolutely love.
But I just discovered Band-Maid and basically only knew Unseen World. When I first put on Conqueror (from a bunch of new Band-Maid CD's I bought) I immediately was very disappointed because of Page. Page is still a track I really don't like that much and it left such a bad taste in my mouth (just the first few seconds) that I immediately wrote off the album. At the drop of a hat and the way everything sounded productionwise didn't help with it either. I would say I somewhat hated both Page and At the drop of a hat the first time I heard them. As far as one of the more debated tracks of the album goes, The Dragon Cries, I never disliked the track/music I don't like the production on it. But I think it's ok even though I think the chorus is very whiny.
The only tracks I really liked off of this album back then were probably Rinne, bubble, glory and blooming. And I am not as big of a fan of blooming as most people are (I still like it though). Wonderland has become one of my favourite tracks though and the Acoustic Okyu-ji helped me appreciate some of the slower songs a bit more (page, at the drop of a hat and endless story), but I still don't gravitate towards those tracks and would still place them low on my list for Band-Maid tracks.
The album grew on me over time though and I at least enjoy most of the tracks and appreciate what they were going for. I don't think it's a bad album and I understand what people love about it, some of the songs on there just really aren't my thing. The poppy opening of Page especially is what made me run away from more popular music to metal about 20 years ago. I might have had a different feeling on the album if it didn't start with Page actually, first impressions can make a big difference the same goes for expectations. It actually made me listen to the album less, which is why I am still not super familiar with a bunch of tracks on it (I can't place the name of the track with the song, I do recognize all of them when I listen to the album).
Edit:
I am actually curious to know if people who love Conqueror were fans of Band-Maid before it came out or discovered them through music off of Conqueror.
Unseen World is my favourite album by them (closely followed by World Domination) and I discovered them just after Unseen World came out through a buch of tracks off of Unseen World and World Domination (Domination Live, Play Live, ...). I am curious if this might be something that colors people's views on specific albums.
@@MaartenT In my opinion, Page is misplaced. It should close the album and leave you humming. Blooming should have been first. The opening four bars are like a curtain rising on a stage. It's uptempo and dramatic, and very well constructed. They could have moved Endless Story for pacing, maybe right after The Dragon Cries to balance the pessimism. On all their albums they tend to group similar songs together; maybe they could split them up for pacing. But Saiki chooses and I don't want her mad at me.
I knew of Band-Maid before Conqueror. It was the first album they released after I heard of them though, and not long after. Blooming was one of the songs that really *really* impressed me, just the quality of songwriting is outstanding. Dice and Choose Me are two others that continue to impress me. I don't "hate" anything they've done. I like some more than others, but frankly it depends on what's going on in my life. It changes. Unseen World is a masterpiece, in my opinion, and I'm pretty sure they will write and record more masterpieces before they are done.
@@surfingasongwave
I find the chorus of Blooming a bit too pop-punky, but I have that "problem" with a lot of their chorusses (and a lot of chorusses of other Japanese bands), so that doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the track. I agree that it's very well written and that MV fits the track perfectly. I do agree that it would be a banging opener. So, that would have had a better impression on me for sure.
But yes, I agree that pissing off Saiki would be a good idea, except if we get an other great song out of it like "HATE?". I wouldn't want to be on her bad side though.
I just realize that I probably did hear a lot of those songs before because I did buy their Line Cube Shibuya and Online Okyu-ji Blu-ray before buying their albums, but I didn't fully watch them and just put them on while working from home at that time. So I wasn't super focussed on most of their music before getting the CD's. I remember not liking some back-to-back slower songs on Line Cube Shibuya Blu-ray, that might have been Page and Mirage actually. I never heard the majority of Band-Maid songs before watching/listening to those Blu-rays.
Also, to be clear I don't "hate" those tracks, I just really don't like them that much in their original form. The acoustic versions fitted really well in the concert though. I actually love the set they did for Christmas even though a lot of the songs are not among my favourites at all. The fact that I had some alcohol for Christmas and it was streamed from 3 - 5 am my time or so might have had something to do with that, but it was so soothing before going to bed. It's probably my favourite live set they have done even though I generally prefer their more uptempo tracks.
Hi, I'm wondering if you are going to react to Balance from Unleash EP? I remember you mentioning balance and I'll in context of pole done by both you and champ, though.
hahaha!..are you listening Champ?....sounds like "Chemical Reaction"...hehehe!..Just joshin!.
Saiki,sound great in song
Like I said before. The older stuff is better .