Dancemania EX × Trance Paradise

Disko Warp presents Anime Love Hardcore 2
Artist: Initial P
Release Date: 4/10/12 ? 4/24/12
Price: $9.90

Two years after the release of Anime Love Hardcore, Initial P finally gets off his lazy ass and brings us a sequel full of more hard-stomping happy hardcore covers of anime themes. Although Disko Warp have recently been experimenting with eurobeat and hyper techno, make no bones about it: this is a hardcore album made for hardcore fans.

Samples are available at the Disko Warp website as well as SoundCloud.

Thanks to the successful Kickstarter, you can order a physical copy of the album from Big Cartel. The album will also be available digitally as an iTunes exclusive. Sorry, non-US fans, both the CD and digital version won’t be available internationally due to licensing restrictions.

Full review and samples after the jump.

The album begins with “Lonely in Gorgeous” featuring the talented Diana Garnett on vocals. It sticks pretty closely to the original, if the original were 175 BPM. “Red Fraction” takes more liberties, replacing the rock sound of the original with a new synth melody. Ani-Rock! knock it out of the park with their passionate vocals, and I’m strangely happy that they still mispronounce “Christ.” I can’t help but miss the pianos, though. Everything’s better with piano.

“Aozora no Namida” was released last year as a preview track and features prominent voice actress, Cristina Vee. She can come off a bit screamy at times, particularly on this and a few times on “Discotheque”. She’s much better on “Still Doll,” which requires fewer high notes. Speaking of which, “Still Doll” does a really good job at approximating the violins of the original. As for “Discoqtheque,” it sounds far too subdued for my taste. At times it’s literally just bass and vocals, but it deserves a much fuller sound. Then again, I’m probably just spoiled by the incredible Akiba Koubou version.

At times, “Renai Circulation” suffers the same fate as “Discotheque” in that it tends to sound empty during the verses. It improves whenever the synth melody comes in, though, and there’s actually a bit of hyper techno influence about 2 minutes in. Toki’s cutesy vocals are really fun, too.

Not much to say on “Just Communication.” I thought the original was a bore so I can’t really get into this version, either. Thankfully, the album quickly picks up with my favorite 3 tracks. In addition to the aforementioned “Still Doll,” there’s also an awesome new interpretation of “Doraemon no Rumba.” It’s a truly inspired choice considering he could’ve went with arguably more famous “Doraemon no Uta.” The fast-paced lyrics work quite well with the hardcore sound, resulting in what may be my favorite song of the album. At least, it would be were it not for “Ready Steady Go.” Ani-Rock! once again do a great job with the vocals, and there are so many fun flourishes in the song that keep it enjoyable throughout, including some great hyper techno sections.

“Yuzurenai Negai,” a perennial favorite of mine, ends the album with a nice synthline and a fun breakdown. Diana’s vocals are oddly shaky at times, however, which is a bummer since this would’ve been a great showcase for her voice.

Special mention should be made of the awesome cover art by chevi, who, if memory serves me right, also illustrated the covers for Pony Canyon’s Happy*Core Speed releases a few years back. I also just noticed that the cover on the physical release is slightly different than the one above, taken from the teaser site. o_O

01. [3:51] Lonely in Gorgeous (from Paradise Kiss) / feat. Diana Garnett
02. [4:07] Red Fraction (from Black Lagoon) / feat. Ani-Rock!
03. [4:03] Aozora no Namida (from Blood+) / feat. Cristina Vee
04. [3:16] Renai Circulation (from Bakemonogatari) / feat. Toki
05. [4:28] Just Communication (from Gundam Wing) / feat. Diana Garnett
06. [4:57] Still Doll (from Vampire Knight) / feat. Cristina Vee
07. [3:50] Doraemon no Rumba (from Doraemon) / feat. Reni Mimura
08. [3:46] Ready Steady Go! (from Fullmetal Alchemist) / feat. Ani-Rock!
09. [3:12] Discotheque (from Rosario + Vampire) / feat. Cristina Vee
10. [4:11] Yuzurenai Negai (from Magic Knight Rayearth) / feat. Diana Garnett