Review | Impish Crow “GROW”

DIG-ROCK Duel Fes

Impish Crow went for a mature and dirtier take on their rock sound with GROW. And the results were pretty cool.

DUEL FES is a series that counts with the participation of the franchise’s bands – Impish Crow and RUBIA Leopard – in 4 consecutive releases.

Impish Crow is an indie rock band fronted by TSUGUMI (CV: Yuma Uchida) with guitarist TOKI (CV: Takuya Eguchi), bassist MITSURU (CV: Wataru Hatano) and drummer HIBARI (CV: Shinnosuke Tachibana).


DIG-ROCK -DUEL FES- Vol.1 Type IC
Title: DIG-ROCK ―DUEL FES― Vol.1 Type:IC
Label: TEAM Entertainment Inc.
Release date: 24/06/2020
Genre: Grunge / Rock

Tracklist:

1 - ファースト・ミーティング
2 - セカンド・インプレッション
3 - 百点の価値
4 - いつも楽しくってサイコーだろ?
5 - GROW (Impish Crow song)
6 - BLAST・ライブMC
7 - いつか、ぜったい
8 - チアーズ

Track analysis:

1 – GROW

Impish Crow brought their best to the table for their 1st entry in the DUEL FES series. After going for a unique performance in their previous single, Be Ambitious!!, the band went for yet another unique performance, showcasing their take on punk and rock sound to date.

GROW brings memorable bass line work alongside pretty dark guitar riffs and splashy drums. The verses are tight, with the groovy instrumental setting a pretty cool tone for this track, however, not creating any breathing space for the listener, all while Yuma Uchida goes for a fancy performance.

What stands out the most in this track is, undoubtedly, the instrumental. I couldn’t help but attribute this sound to RUBIA Leopard and, if there was no singing whatsoever, I’d fall on that in an instant.

With that being said, Impish Crow put their powerpop sound on the side and, much like the title suggests, matured their rock sound, exploring darker sonorities and delivering dirtier vocal performances, which ended up fitting pretty well with the band.

On the vocal end, Yuma Uchida brings a lot of vibrato – more so than usual – into his performance, something that is also a novelty, especially if you take into account how his performance in Be Ambitious!! was more focused on unleashing energy and sounding youthful.

This contrast was surprising yet, once again, fitting for the song that we have in hands right here.

All in all, this new take on Impish Crow sound shows that the band has everything it takes to shift between rock subgenres and, at the same time, deliver natural performances that still have their “essence” at the core.

Solid performance by Uchida that really went the extra mile to deliver a gritty performance that added the finishing touches to this cool rock track.


DIG-ROCK ―DUEL FES― Vol.1 Type:IC is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.


Vanessa Silva
Vanessa Silvahttps://www.handthatfeedshq.com
The Hand That Feeds HQ founder, content creator, and music reviewer. Basically, the only person managing everything at The Hand That Feeds HQ. Stumbling upon Mamoru Miyano's "Orpheus" in 2011 was the start of this journey. If music is thought-provoking or deep, you may find her writing almost essays (not limited to, but it happens a lot with Soma Saito's music). She's the producer and host of the male seiyuu-centric podcast, SEIYUU LOUNGE (see Spotify link in this profile).

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REVIEW OVERVIEW

GROW

SUMMARY

Impish Crow did as the title says: GROW. This single certainly has a more mature vibe than previous entries in their repertoire. Bringing to the table dirtier guitar riffs while creating a grittier sound was something that I was not expecting from this powerpop outfit, yet, it sounded like a natural transition in their sound and will certainly be very welcome should the band continue to explore it. For those fans of Impish Crow's trademark powerpop/punk-rock sound, don't worry. The band still has their essence at their core, exploring this new sound with their excitement and laidback attitude. Worth noting that Yuma Uchida keeps on adding new things to his performances, this time around emulating - in a way - Makoto Furukawa's all out vibrato for this track. Amazing effort by Impish Crow and certainly a fresh new item on their repertoire that you'll want to check out.

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Impish Crow did as the title says: GROW. This single certainly has a more mature vibe than previous entries in their repertoire. Bringing to the table dirtier guitar riffs while creating a grittier sound was something that I was not expecting from this powerpop outfit, yet, it sounded like a natural transition in their sound and will certainly be very welcome should the band continue to explore it. For those fans of Impish Crow's trademark powerpop/punk-rock sound, don't worry. The band still has their essence at their core, exploring this new sound with their excitement and laidback attitude. Worth noting that Yuma Uchida keeps on adding new things to his performances, this time around emulating - in a way - Makoto Furukawa's all out vibrato for this track. Amazing effort by Impish Crow and certainly a fresh new item on their repertoire that you'll want to check out. Review | Impish Crow "GROW"