Vocaloid Sanmai

It's been ages since I've purchased a physical CD, so I felt young and nostalgic picking this up. The CD booklet has photos of the band members alongside the song lyrics, and everything looks crisp and vibrant. As for the CD, it's excellent! Being that this is a cover album, Vocaloid fans will find a lot to love here with the mixture of outstanding tracks. If you like Wagakki Band and are a fan of physical media, I definitely recommend picking this up!

What drew me to Wagakki was the mix of traditional and modern instruments and vocals. I purchased this CD because it was their first album; so, I can't compare it to their more recent work. I can't pick a favorite track because there are at least three that every time I hear, I think to myself, "I like that one the best" until I listen to one of the other contenders again. I haven't taken this CD out of my car since I received it. I like it that much.

I first heard of them from the Paris Japan Expo 2014 performance. After purchasing the album, and later the live DVD performance, I was blown away by the amazing talent of this group. Not only is the music, and the vocals of Yuko Suzuhana, simply amazing, the stunning visuals and excitement of the entire band on the DVD live show leaves you awe struck. The depth of the vocals from lead guitarist Machiya and Yuko, on Episode 0 will leave you breathless. Nothing like this has come along in many many years. The level of talent clearly shows these amazing musicians have spent a lifetime perfecting their craft. Can't wait for this band to come to the US on tour.

I like this album quite a bit. It's all covers, but the band is great.

I first heard Senbonzakura at AX 2014 which prompted me to find this album. The band is amazing I love the meshing of traditional Japanese instruments and Rock. The songs may be covers of vocaloid, but Yuko Suzuhana does an amazing job as lead, she's honestly amazing and carry's so much of the energy that is needed to keep up with a vocaloid song, her voice is very charismatic and trained to sing in a more traditional Japanese style. In all the only thing I wish is that this had been available on Amazon music. And maybe not the price that you normally pay on imports.

Good quality recording

UPDATE for review below. I found this band's music on Amazon Prime Music this year (i'm slow, it was probably available last year or earlier). The quality of the sound from Amazon Music was equal or better than their official youtube videos. So I conclude that purchasing CDs is sometimes a gamble, especially if not produced in the US. I didn't think of returning until the return period had passed - oh well.5 STARS for the music of this group. 3 STARS for the producers of this "album". Other reviews described the sound as "muddy" for some tracks. I really like the group's music, but the quality of sound is really disappointing. I hope the group can switch to some other producer and have their second album sound better. The comparisons I reference are: 1) Baby Metal, first album; 2) Eric Clapton LIVE Crossroads concert 2010. One is a studio recording with heavy emphasis on bass and drums. The other is a live concert in a Chicago Stadium. In both reference cases, each instrument, regardless of QUANTITY of instruments, can be heard clearly in every song. In the case of the album "Vocalo Zanmai", bass and drums became foreground distortion drowning out all the other instruments in a few of the songs. As a first album I could probably understand the group being over-ridden by the producer for getting their music out and sacrificing artistic desires, because most producers are $$$ oriented and the group may not have the CLOUT to force the producers to record clean music. BUT, Baby Metal first album was extremely clean sounding. What is going on in Japan ?

Epic Band. They are a rising star and one of the few bands from Japan that has been breaking into the US market. Eight piece band combining traditional Japanese music and instruments with rock/metal.