Lovebites is the latest big hot name in the all-girl metal (or jo-metal if you prefer) craze. They're yet another Destrose offshoot (thanks to Miho) that is aiming to wow the world with their brand of ripping power metal. Fortunately for them, Lovebites has had big label support (courtesy of Victor) since the very beginning and has been marketed very hard. Hell, it worked on me at least, and I went ahead and shelled out the money for this particular EP last year. So are they really the saviors of jo-metal or just another gimmick? The truth is somewhere in the middle.
The EP is just 4 short tracks: 3 in English and the last one in Japanese. Unlike many of their peers, all 4 tracks are undeniably about as metal as it gets. There's more than ample amounts of double bass, riffs, guitar solos, and all the ingredients that go into any good metal song. But unfortunately, that's about where it ends for me. Lovebites checks all the right boxes, but they fail to execute correctly. Now don't misunderstand, the girls can play, and Asami certainly can sing well here. The compositions here are all solid and nothing to be ashamed of. But that's all. Nothing here I would consider to be particularly great. Just mostly in that fuzzy, "well it's alright I guess" area.
That being said, it's not all hopeless. There's some flashes of potential on this EP. Don't Bite The Dust starts off with a decent catchy lead riff and a nice transition, but that's about it. The verse kinda just chugs along with fairly generic riffs. The chorus is a little better thanks to Asami carrying it a little more, but the backing is still a little bland. I do appreciate the various guitar leads and some nice drum work sprinkled in here though. That saves the song from being totally dull. The guitar solo is merely alright. It borrows way too much from the previously used guitar leads and really doesn't deviate enough nor last long enough for it to really be a highlight. It's just kinda there.
The next song, The Apocalypse, is easily the most original and strongest one here. This is mainly thanks to the stronger thrash leanings. The opening riff is honestly really darn good, and the chorus is by far the catchiest one here. Asami also has some pretty good wails at times. The verse riff is one I've heard a million times before, but the prechorus is pretty nifty. If Lovebites developed this kind of direction more, they'd stand out a lot more to me. The big failing of this song is the bridge section which is awkwardly shoved in there. It doesn't really resolve properly and just abruptly jumps back into the chorus. But overall, I guess you could say this song is genuinely good.
Unfortunately, those previous two songs are easily the brightest points for me. The next two sink deep into the middling zone. Scream for Me is an alright tune, but this is when the songs begin to become too obviously formulaic. There is a very strong feeling of "been there, done that" that starts to manifest and permeate itself. The songs instead start to feel like a blender of mediocre riffs, leads and some drum fills. If you take a particular riff or lead in isolation, you'd think to yourself, "hey that's not bad." But you can't just shove them together and expect a good result. Any good song will have a nice flow. However, Lovebites's songs generally don't. They feel a lot like bits and pieces just stuck together.
Bravehearted deserves a special mention of being the only track in here that's sung in Japanese instead of English. To be honest, I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that this exists since it proves that Asami is a much, much better vocalist in Japanese. Honestly, I would consider Asami to be the main strength of the band since vocally she's pretty much on point here. But like 99% of Japanese vocalists, she has some pretty awkward Engrish. In genres where you have to actually sing (i.e. power metal), this can be a pretty big negative at times. In the case of Lovebites, I wouldn't say it subtracts a ton of points, but the fact that Bravehearted exists with smooth, flawless Japanese is a little frustrating. I know bands geared heavily towards western audiences always suffer this fate, but I wish one of them would buck the trend.
For a band just starting in the underground, a release like this would actually be fairly encouraging. Plenty of bands start off with some warts before polishing themselves up and moving up in the world. But for a band with as much hype and marketing craze like Lovebites, I would have expected more from a first offering than this. In spite of this EP falling flat for me, I was, at the time, still optimistic that they could improve in the future and distinguish themselves further. Unfortunately, my hopes didn't come true. As the MVs and trailers rolled in for the full-length, I felt the band was merely treading water, and the samples for the subsequent EP only cemented that feeling for me. Thus, I never bothered with the next full-length or EP, and I totally dropped them from my consideration after that point.
It's honestly a shame. I wanted to like Lovebites. The chops were all there, but the pieces never really fit together. They have a lot of craze and hype, but I'm just left not really getting it. Honestly if you really enjoy this particular style of power metal, there's a pretty good chance you'll think I'm crazy and dig the hell out of Lovebites. For me though, they are nowhere close to some of the greats of Japanese power metal like Galneryus, Concerto Moon, or Versailles. Yet at the same time, they aren't nearly as bad as some of those atrocious Rhapsody clones out there. Lovebites is just kind of in the middle. They don't have any major failings, but they lack that intangible, special something that would truly make them something great. I just find myself scratching my head and saying, "well it's alright I guess."
Rating: 60/100