MAXIMUM THE HORMONE — Greatest the Hits 2011-2011 (review)

MAXIMUM THE HORMONE — Greatest the Hits 2011-2011 album cover

Single · 2011 · Alternative Metal

5/5 · 2012-04-07
Time Signature

Ode to the bluetiful people...

Genre: Maximum the Metal

At the present moment, the most recent release by Japanese nu metallers Maximum the Hormone, "Greatest the Hits 2011-2011" is a three-track single. The band is known for their complete disregard of genre restrictions, a disregard that serves as the foundations of Maximum the Hormone's very own brand of nu metal. Thus, the album takes the listener on a journey through a landscape of heavy grooves, hardcore punk aggression, alternative metal funkiness, metallic brutality and then some.

The opening track "鬱くしき人々のうた" (officially translated by the band into "Ode to the Bluetiful People") is apparently a song about depression, which is interesting, because it starts out an uplifting happy hardcore tune, but quickly morphs into an aggressive groovy crossover/thrash affair, featuring vocal styles ranging from growls and screams over male and female rap to male and female clean vocals. After a couple of the different riffs of this more uplifting and aggressive series of riffs, a very melodic bridge kicks in which combines very soft female background vocals and ballady music with aggressive rapping. It might seem strange that a song about feeling blue combines uplifting and aggressive aesthetics, but - hey - what cures the blues better than some uplifting melodies and empowering aggressive grooves?

"Maximum the Hormone" starts out heavy and groovy, but takes on a more atmospheric character when the verse kicks in, which has the form of multi-harmonic chanting (which really utilizes the fact that all four members of the band can sing). After changing back and forth between this more atmospheric verse and more aggressive sections, things get brilliantly funked up for a while, building towards a burst of aggressive hardcore punk. And then the tempo drops again, as the band go back into the groovy opening. The entire sequence is repeated, but - true to the Maximum the Hormone ethos - with a number of variations.

The third track "My Girl" is an uplifting hard rocker which features a funky verse complete with raggamuffin style toasting and an extremely melodic almost poppy chorus as well as a more groovy and aggressive passage. Again, the band make use of their full range of vocal styles, including clean female and male vocals, rap, growls, and screams. Showing that they are the masters of making genre transgression seem like the most natural thing, Maximum the Hormone even include an pop/AOR-style section towards the end without it seeming forced at all.

Like the "Tsume Tsume Tsume" single from 2008, this single only contains three tracks but has enough variation in this three tracks to keep things interesting all the way through. The music ranges from being aggressive over uplifting to being almost introspective, and - not just for nu metal but for metal in general - it strikes me as being quite innovative. The songs are kind of complex because they feature a lot of different riffs, but the song structures - like the chorus melodies - are actually considerably simple and accessible.