Can you do it? Nightmare can. This is another one of those rockin' visual kei bands I have a taste for from our friends in Japan. Now, I haven't heard a whole lot of Nightmare's material besides this track but I keep on returning to this PV (promotional video) nonetheless.
Visual kei - always looking like anime characters
First off, the song is pretty decent, despite being in pretty cookie-cutter form. Sure, it has some decent guitar playing skills and a cool rhythm but it really doesn't set itself apart from most other J-rock groups (the drummer has some promise though). I can see why I never really got into the band's other work due to this, but then why do I keep returning to this video? Honestly, it's for pure cinematic reasons. The footage they have here and the way they shot it is incredible. The lighting glints perfectly off the players' slick pseudo-trashy attire and gel-infused hair and the shot compositions are tight. This tight composition keeps each player within their own dedicated frame, fully capturing the energy and passion they are playing with. The wide crane shot makes sure to tie the group together, reminding us that they are a team, but it's the tighter shots of each player that sets this video apart. The guitarist lays down some slick guitar playing at the very end but it is the great shot and his framing that brings the virtuoso power out of the performance. This goes to show how much power the visual image can have in making band look incredibly awesome.
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