I just have to say, Metronome, Weather Report and Hachigatsu are spectacular songs. I was so blown away with Weather Report since I wasn't really expecting it to be that good from the preview they released a few months ago.

I also really like Koi no Gestalt Houkai and STANDARD.

If anything, Kagen no Tsuki and OVER DRIVE (I actually kind of like brand new wave even though it's a bit poppier) are the weaker tracks on the album in my opinion, which is saying a lot since they're pretty good songs.

Quite agree with you guys, there is a clear progression from pop to rock in this album, opening with the popiest track and ending with the rockiest one and that is working out well ^_^
@macdyne
I am very curious to know why or what part of Orange Juice did you make you think about The Strokes music? Really, I do.

Yuffie wrote:Quite agree with you guys, there is a clear progression from pop to rock in this album, opening with the popiest track and ending with the rockiest one and that is working out well ^_^
@macdyne
I am very curious to know why or what part of Orange Juice did you make you think about The Strokes music? Really, I do.

Nothing specific, it's the overall feel of the song. There are a few Strokes songs that have the same, rough-ish, jangly vibe. Under the Cover of Darkness for example.

@Macdyne
Huh okay, I am not feeling the same when I hear Orange Juice but that is why it is interesting; to share our different way of feelings about music

After listening couple of times, I take back my word. It's not less rock, I think it's got more edge, some songs really has sick guitar riffs and the instrumentals, like grunge style. I love them. Still very Scandal. I might just love this more than QAT.

reading all your thoughts about their new album makes me want to listen to the leaked songs. been trying to ignore this thread but i can't, lol. i ignored the previews too, lol.
i'll wait for it tomorrow when it arrives (hopefully it'll arrive again on the same day of its release) and drown myself to SCANDAL feels, lol.

congratulations to our girls!

I must clarify myself, when I said it feels more pop than QAT, it means that catchy-pop kind of melody. For example, Namida yo Hikare may be filled with lots of rock guitar riff and fast drumming but it has really this catchy pop tunes. The same with Orange Juice and Koi no Gestalt (but only the chorus).

baymon wrote:I must clarify myself, when I said it feels more pop than QAT, it means that catchy-pop kind of melody. For example, Namida yo Hikare may be filled with lots of rock guitar riff and fast drumming but it has really this catchy pop tunes. The same with Orange Juice and Koi no Gestalt (but only the chorus).

You're characterising Punk there (rock guitar riffs and fast drumming) or atleast for SCANDAL its pop punk... Namida yo Hikare has been labelled as a 8 beat punk number. Mind you, its not terribly bubbly to be pop

Perhaps the upbeat tune of alot of the songs, (in comparison to the subtleness of most of QAT's album songs) has lead people to believe that STANDARD is poppier sounding.

i decide to listen their leaked album version.

well , this is my top 5 tracks

1 . Weather Report
2. Awanai Tsumori mo,genki de ne
3. Namida yo Hikare
4. Metronome
5. Hachigatsu

Pretty much this album is a lot different than Baby Action where Tomo almost dominated every song, well it was also the time when Haru had those vocal struggles.... 

But in this album, Haru's vocals were suprisingly good... about 4 or 5 songs where her voice tears open my heart...

Try listening to the album with your eyes closed and you will experience it .love.

hanautasancho wrote:But in this album, Haru's vocals were suprisingly good... about 4 or 5 songs where her voice tears open my heart...

I agree with that, and also about your comments on Baby Action. I was a little disappointed at that time at how little Haruna was singing, but I wasn't aware yet then of her vocal issues. Also, it seemed like some of the songs on that album just weren't really written for her - they were written in a higher range.

The songs on Standard that she sings all seem comfortably in her range and she nails them - she sounds really strong singing in that range. I'm not a big fan of the vocal effects used on a few of the songs, but that's not her fault - her actual voice is amazing on this album, and I really like the fact that she is the dominant singer again.

Who wrote and produced "Namida yo Hikare"? I had the ending of that song stuck in my head all night and was trying to figure out who it sounded like, and I realized this morning that it sounds *just like* Ken Yokoyama. Even down to them speaking English at the end (all his songs are in English).

I'm really happy with the outcome of this album! I just hear it all, and really I'm more than satisfied <3 They had a great concern about placing various melodies from the most energetic as "Brand New Wave", even more sentimental and touching songs like "Weather Report" and "8-gatsu". I am very happy because as said above, Haruna seems to be more comfortable on vocals, and I felt her voice in a very sincere and cheerful.

For me, the best songs were: 

- Brand new wave
- 8-gatsu
- Metronome
- Namida yo Hikare

Over Drive already is one of my favorites songs, then...

So technically the album is out right? Will it be on the U.S. iTunes store today does anyone know? 
By the way I checked out like 2 songs off the album and I like them! I can't wait to hear the rest of them! 

Space_Ranger017 wrote:So technically the album is out right? Will it be on the U.S. iTunes store today does anyone know? 

Technically it's out, yes It's 4:30AM in Japan on October 2nd right now.

I don't think anyone can know 100% if it'll be out on iTunes tomorrow (unless they work for Apple or Sony), but I assume it will be there shortly in any case, as they seem to be supporting them pretty well on iTunes in the US these days.

Space_Ranger017 wrote:So technically the album is out right? Will it be on the U.S. iTunes store today does anyone know? 
By the way I checked out like 2 songs off the album and I like them! I can't wait to hear the rest of them! 

It'll most likely be added to iTunes since they've added all their other albums, although probably not until the U.S gets to October 2nd ourselves. As much as I wish iTunes would put out albums when the country they're from gets to the release date, we have to wait a bit more. xD

SCANDAL new album "STANDARD" available on October 2nd!!
※October 4th on iTunes

Sony will prolly release STANDARD on iTunes everywhere but Hungary in the following countries (they released QAT in the following countries):

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zeland, Peru, Spain, Sweden and the USA

Guys... We have to face the fact that SCANDAL is a rock band which often dialogues with pop. "S.L. Magic" has some pop vibes, don't you think? And for me it doesn't sounds awful. I mean, pop isn't that terrible... Creative things can be done with that "pop" tag. For me, their most pop album is "BABY ACTION", which I personally don't like that much, but there are so many creative things that I love on it... For a band which is tagged as a rock band, bringing pop elements to their sound makes the difference. The pop becomes the new element for us, rock lovers, and that's so good. Pop can offer a lot of tools to bring some creativeness to music sometimes. Pop isn't only what we see on mass media. This kind of pop is poorly developed and makes us jump to generalized conclusions about it, most of them are pejoratives, which isn't true... It's just how I feel, don't hate me, give "pop" a chance, haha'

Well, after some listenings, I'm still saying this is their most creative album, but now I can't say that it'll replace Qat in my personal ranking, haha' I mean, Qat has some deep and dark feelings that I can't ignore, and I love this. "STANDARD" is more shiny, artistic, smart, classy... But it REALLY doesn't mean that "STANDARD" is worse than Qat. It's just different. I think my top songs are: "Brand new wave", "Hachigatsu", "Uchiagehanabi" and "STANDARD" (my weird music taste, I'm loving "Brand new wave" and "STANDARD" at the same level, haha).

Some of their best songs are poppy..

Tokyo Skyscraper
Taiyou to Kimi ga Egaku Story
Shining Sun
Kimi to Yoru to Namida
Haruka
Hello!Hello!

sillentdx wrote:SCANDAL new album "STANDARD" available on October 2nd!!
※October 4th on iTunes

Sony will prolly release STANDARD everywhere but Hungary in the following countries (they released QAT in the following countries):

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zeland, Peru, Spain, Sweden and the USA

what?! didnt know about this .wtf. 
but if so, i dont know where .omg.

hapihapi wrote:

sillentdx wrote:SCANDAL new album "STANDARD" available on October 2nd!!
※October 4th on iTunes

Sony will prolly release STANDARD everywhere but Hungary in the following countries (they released QAT in the following countries):

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zeland, Peru, Spain, Sweden and the USA

what?! didnt know about this .wtf. 
but if so, i dont know where .omg.

http://www.amazon.it/Queens-are-Trumps-Kirifudawa-Queen/dp/B00B5GP7WE/ref=tmm_msc_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1380664406&sr=8-4

I'm guessing that's what they mean by releasing for those countries. I don't see QAT anywhere else but for digital download on iTunes and Amazon (have to import for physical copy)

Awesome! Only a 2 day wait! That better then if I ordered the physical copy haha Thanks for the answers everybody! 

To me, QAT gives this strong "rock" image mostly because of the title track, which is awesome, and the visuals. Aside from that, it has Rock'n Roll, maybe Koe, and then it's mostly pop, or pop-rock. I'm not saying QAT is bad, because it is not, but STANDARD has much more rock to it than any SCANDAL album.

Even the "ballad", if we can call it a ballad, Hachigatsu, has a strong guitar sound all over it. But overall it's a well balanced album, with songs so different from each other that you can get something new everytime the CD changes its tracks.

My favorite song is still Kagen no Tsuki, but aside from that, I would say Brand New Wave, Metronome and STANDARD are other songs that really stand out.

Well, I say I'm nowhere near as a huge SCANDAL fan as most members here are, but there's not a single track I don't like in this album. To me, the only way to make the album even more perfect would be to add 24jikan to it.

Well, this is a nice surprise.  There's not a single song in this album I didn't like, let alone find a song to be mediocre.  That said, I feel that Brand new wave, STANDARD, and Weather Report stood out to me the most.  And yeah, I'm sad that 24 Jikan isn't on it.

Still, what a great album!  Overall I like it more than QAT, although the latter had some really, really good songs.  But it was mixed with some meh-sounding ones.

I'm so cut.... have to wait another 2 days just to buy it off iTunes. .wtf.They always used to put it on sale the day the physical copies went on sale. This is blasphemy!

I can't stop listening to Metronome..
But the album is very good as a whole. The previews didn't really do anything. Haha. Some songs sound sonically different from the previews.