Conqueror | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | December 4, 2019 | |||
Recorded | 2018–2019 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 55:27 | |||
Language | Japanese, English | |||
Label | Revolver (Japan), JPU Records (International) | |||
Band-Maid chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Conqueror | ||||
Alternative cover | ||||
Music videos | ||||
"Glory" on YouTube | ||||
"Endless Story" on YouTube | ||||
"Bubble" on YouTube | ||||
"The Dragon Cries" on YouTube | ||||
"Blooming" on YouTube | ||||
"Reincarnation" on YouTube |
Conqueror is the sixth studio album by the Japanese all-female rock band Band-Maid. It was released digitally on December 4, 2019, with physical formats released one week later. [2] It debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart [3] and debuted at number one on the Oricon weekly Rock Album ranking. [4] The album was preceded by the singles "Glory" and "Bubble", both released in January 2019. [5] The international version from JPU Records includes English lyric translations and Romaji lyric transliterations. [6]
" Glory" was used as the second ending theme for the second season of the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. [5] " Bubble" was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama series Perfect Crime. [5] The song "Blooming" was used in the Netflix action thriller film Kate. [7]
Production for the album started around August 2018. [8] The album includes a lot of mid-tempo songs, because they felt that their fans were exhausted from their live shows and that they needed to rest. [9] The working title was Future Conqueror. [10]
The drums for "Page" are a mix of live and electronic sounds. [11] [12] Lead guitarist Kanami Tōno wrote it with the image of a song that would be played at weddings. [13] The lyrics are about cosmetics. [12] [13] "Glory" was inspired by the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS and describes a world where AI and humans coexist. [14] Rhythm guitarist/vocalist Miku Kobato stated that the English lyrics in the song were made intentionally easy to sing, as they found that many kids watched the show. [14]
"Endless Story" was the first song written for the album. [12] It was written with the image of being played in stadiums. [12] "At the Drop of a Hat" was written the day the Reiwa era was announced. The original title was "Reiwa". [13] The drums are a mix of live and electronic sounds [11] [12] Tōno wrote the music for "Azure" after she learned of the passing of manga artist Momoko Sakura. [15]
"Dilemma" was the last song written for the album, as they felt they needed one more intense song. [16] The B-side "Screaming" was originally going to be included on the album, but they opted to record a new song instead. [16] It was written and recorded two weeks prior to the release of the album. [16]
"Bubble" was inspired by the manga Perfect Crime. [14] Kobato wrote the lyrics to be "good enough so that those who read the original would appreciate it". [17] They were originally going to use one of their unreleased songs for the show, but Tōno "realized that the demo I just happened to be working on at the time was a better fit for the drama." [18]
During the recording of the album, Band-Maid was contacted by producer Tony Visconti, who had learned about the band from songwriter Tom Kenney. [19] Visconti invited band members Saiki Atsumi and Kobato to travel to a studio in New York City, where he produced the vocal tracks for the song "The Dragon Cries". [20] Tōno sent Visconti a demo of the song's musical backing, expecting him to want to rework it, but he declared that it needed no alterations. [10] [11]
"Flying High" was mixed to sound similar to "The Dragon Cries". [21] All of the members wrote a part of the chorus of "Blooming". Bassist Misa wrote the intro. [21] [11] [22] "Rinne" was originally going to be included on their previous album, World Domination, but they decided it was not quite right. [22] They stated it initially sounded closer to "Blooming", that it was not as dark and that the BPM was 190. [22]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
TuttoRock | 7.5/10 [1] |
Outright Geekery gave the album five out five stars, stating that it is Band-Maid's best album to date, and concluding that "This is an album with versatility, passion, and killer hit after killer hit." [23] JRock News also praised the album, noting growth in the band's lyrics, variety in the songwriting, and a duality between the harder and softer aspects of the band's sound. [24]
Publication | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|
Con Safos Magazine | Best Albums of 2019 | 25
[25]
|
Unijolt | Top 10 Albums of 2019 | 9
[26]
|
Wall of Sound | Simon Valentine's Top 5 Albums of 2019 | 4
[27]
|
YesAsia | Best Japanese Albums of 2019 | –
[28]
|
Conqueror debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart, [3] selling 11,195 copies in its first week. [29] The album debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, [30] selling 560 copies in its first week. [31]
All lyrics written by Miku Kobato, except track 11 by Tom Kenney; all music written and arranged by Band-Maid; all music produced by Band-Maid, except track 11 by Tony Visconti.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Page" | 4:17 |
2. | " Glory" | 3:39 |
3. | "Liberal" | 3:14 |
4. | "Endless Story" | 3:44 |
5. | "Mirage" | 3:57 |
6. | "At the Drop of a Hat" | 4:19 |
7. | "Wonderland" | 3:55 |
8. | "Azure" | 2:49 |
9. | "Dilemma" | 3:36 |
10. | " Bubble" | 3:46 |
11. | "The Dragon Cries" | 3:55 |
12. | "Flying High" | 3:42 |
13. | "Catharsis" (カタルシス) | 3:18 |
14. | "Blooming" | 3:49 |
15. | "Reincarnation" (Rinne, 輪廻) | 3:27 |
Total length: | 55:27 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Domination" (Instrumental video) | |
2. | "Dice" (Instrumental video) | |
3. | "Onset" (Instrumental video) |
Chart (2019) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japan Top Album Sales ( Billboard) [29] | 9 |
Japanese Albums ( Oricon) [3] | 9 |
Japanese Rock Albums ( Oricon) [33] | 1 |
UK Independent Albums ( OCC) [34] | 29 |
UK Independent Breakers Albums ( OCC) [35] | 4 |
UK Rock & Metal Albums ( OCC) [36] | 11 |
US Heatseekers Albums ( Billboard) [30] | 19 |
US Top Hard Rock Albums ( Billboard) [30] | 25 |
US World Albums ( Billboard) [30] | 11 |
Conqueror | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | December 4, 2019 | |||
Recorded | 2018–2019 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 55:27 | |||
Language | Japanese, English | |||
Label | Revolver (Japan), JPU Records (International) | |||
Band-Maid chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Conqueror | ||||
Alternative cover | ||||
Music videos | ||||
"Glory" on YouTube | ||||
"Endless Story" on YouTube | ||||
"Bubble" on YouTube | ||||
"The Dragon Cries" on YouTube | ||||
"Blooming" on YouTube | ||||
"Reincarnation" on YouTube |
Conqueror is the sixth studio album by the Japanese all-female rock band Band-Maid. It was released digitally on December 4, 2019, with physical formats released one week later. [2] It debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart [3] and debuted at number one on the Oricon weekly Rock Album ranking. [4] The album was preceded by the singles "Glory" and "Bubble", both released in January 2019. [5] The international version from JPU Records includes English lyric translations and Romaji lyric transliterations. [6]
" Glory" was used as the second ending theme for the second season of the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. [5] " Bubble" was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama series Perfect Crime. [5] The song "Blooming" was used in the Netflix action thriller film Kate. [7]
Production for the album started around August 2018. [8] The album includes a lot of mid-tempo songs, because they felt that their fans were exhausted from their live shows and that they needed to rest. [9] The working title was Future Conqueror. [10]
The drums for "Page" are a mix of live and electronic sounds. [11] [12] Lead guitarist Kanami Tōno wrote it with the image of a song that would be played at weddings. [13] The lyrics are about cosmetics. [12] [13] "Glory" was inspired by the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS and describes a world where AI and humans coexist. [14] Rhythm guitarist/vocalist Miku Kobato stated that the English lyrics in the song were made intentionally easy to sing, as they found that many kids watched the show. [14]
"Endless Story" was the first song written for the album. [12] It was written with the image of being played in stadiums. [12] "At the Drop of a Hat" was written the day the Reiwa era was announced. The original title was "Reiwa". [13] The drums are a mix of live and electronic sounds [11] [12] Tōno wrote the music for "Azure" after she learned of the passing of manga artist Momoko Sakura. [15]
"Dilemma" was the last song written for the album, as they felt they needed one more intense song. [16] The B-side "Screaming" was originally going to be included on the album, but they opted to record a new song instead. [16] It was written and recorded two weeks prior to the release of the album. [16]
"Bubble" was inspired by the manga Perfect Crime. [14] Kobato wrote the lyrics to be "good enough so that those who read the original would appreciate it". [17] They were originally going to use one of their unreleased songs for the show, but Tōno "realized that the demo I just happened to be working on at the time was a better fit for the drama." [18]
During the recording of the album, Band-Maid was contacted by producer Tony Visconti, who had learned about the band from songwriter Tom Kenney. [19] Visconti invited band members Saiki Atsumi and Kobato to travel to a studio in New York City, where he produced the vocal tracks for the song "The Dragon Cries". [20] Tōno sent Visconti a demo of the song's musical backing, expecting him to want to rework it, but he declared that it needed no alterations. [10] [11]
"Flying High" was mixed to sound similar to "The Dragon Cries". [21] All of the members wrote a part of the chorus of "Blooming". Bassist Misa wrote the intro. [21] [11] [22] "Rinne" was originally going to be included on their previous album, World Domination, but they decided it was not quite right. [22] They stated it initially sounded closer to "Blooming", that it was not as dark and that the BPM was 190. [22]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
TuttoRock | 7.5/10 [1] |
Outright Geekery gave the album five out five stars, stating that it is Band-Maid's best album to date, and concluding that "This is an album with versatility, passion, and killer hit after killer hit." [23] JRock News also praised the album, noting growth in the band's lyrics, variety in the songwriting, and a duality between the harder and softer aspects of the band's sound. [24]
Publication | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|
Con Safos Magazine | Best Albums of 2019 | 25
[25]
|
Unijolt | Top 10 Albums of 2019 | 9
[26]
|
Wall of Sound | Simon Valentine's Top 5 Albums of 2019 | 4
[27]
|
YesAsia | Best Japanese Albums of 2019 | –
[28]
|
Conqueror debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart, [3] selling 11,195 copies in its first week. [29] The album debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, [30] selling 560 copies in its first week. [31]
All lyrics written by Miku Kobato, except track 11 by Tom Kenney; all music written and arranged by Band-Maid; all music produced by Band-Maid, except track 11 by Tony Visconti.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Page" | 4:17 |
2. | " Glory" | 3:39 |
3. | "Liberal" | 3:14 |
4. | "Endless Story" | 3:44 |
5. | "Mirage" | 3:57 |
6. | "At the Drop of a Hat" | 4:19 |
7. | "Wonderland" | 3:55 |
8. | "Azure" | 2:49 |
9. | "Dilemma" | 3:36 |
10. | " Bubble" | 3:46 |
11. | "The Dragon Cries" | 3:55 |
12. | "Flying High" | 3:42 |
13. | "Catharsis" (カタルシス) | 3:18 |
14. | "Blooming" | 3:49 |
15. | "Reincarnation" (Rinne, 輪廻) | 3:27 |
Total length: | 55:27 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Domination" (Instrumental video) | |
2. | "Dice" (Instrumental video) | |
3. | "Onset" (Instrumental video) |
Chart (2019) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japan Top Album Sales ( Billboard) [29] | 9 |
Japanese Albums ( Oricon) [3] | 9 |
Japanese Rock Albums ( Oricon) [33] | 1 |
UK Independent Albums ( OCC) [34] | 29 |
UK Independent Breakers Albums ( OCC) [35] | 4 |
UK Rock & Metal Albums ( OCC) [36] | 11 |
US Heatseekers Albums ( Billboard) [30] | 19 |
US Top Hard Rock Albums ( Billboard) [30] | 25 |
US World Albums ( Billboard) [30] | 11 |