Some thoughts on “BAN your HURT”, the first single from Manacle.
Release Date: December 15th 2021
Serial Number: MSSR-3025
Format: CD/Digital
Tracklist
1. BAN your HURT
2. Sōon Spreichkor
3. My Beginning
4. BAN your HURT (Instrumental)
5. Sōon Spreichkor (Instrumental)
6. My Beginning (Instrumental)
Buy: HMV (JP), Tower Records (JP), Disk Union (JP), Amazon (JP), CDJapan (EN)
Stream: Here
MANACLE have been making a pretty good go of things in the last year and half or so since their debut. Despite having to operate against the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic the group has managed to put on several one-man lives, released a very well received album in “LIBERATION” and the members have been popping up in various places outside of the group on occasion as well. I guess what I’m trying to say is that they’ve been pretty busy and if you want one of your favorite groups to stick around for a while then that’s what they need to be.
I never really doubted that MANACLE would be successful as a group, they’ve got plenty of talent both vocally and in the dance department and M-SMILE is probably one of the best management companies you could partner with from everything that I’ve seen. Still though, compared to some of the agency’s other talents the group is still very much in its infancy and there’s plenty of things left from the to test themselves with and I’m sure ultimately accomplish.
Well you can check releasing their first single off of any kind of list that you might be keeping now, with “BAN you HURT” dropping just around of 2021 and finally getting a digital release a few weeks back. The title is quite clever in its on the surface poor use of English but then you read it again and you realize that yes while it could potentially have meant “BURN your HEART”, in fact “BAN your HURT” is an equally strong and impactful message. How about those songs though? Well, I’ve taken a listen and shared some thoughts on those below if you’d like to continue reading.
Looking at the single as a whole we have a pretty mixed bag as far as genres and tone are concerned across its three tracks. I think that’s a good thing personally, though I suppose it does rather depend on what you’re looking for. The title track here is your headline grabbing, very powerful Rock song which MANACLE have shown time and again that they can more than comfortably produce their extensive vocal talents. “Sōon Spreichkor” then leans more towards the contemporary, with a Pop sound that’s quite popular in Japan these days being brought into the mix and one that’s not too dissimilar to what we’ve heard on one or two previous MANACLE tracks. So in that sense they’re not so much coloring outside the lines but just being a bit more creative with the application.
Then of course you probably have to have something a bit more along the lines of a Ballad just to check all of the boxes and that’s pretty much what “My Beginning” brings to the table. It has a pretty nice, Gothic feeling instrumental to it though so not your typical J-Pop Ballad by any means but it still has enough of the hallmarks to fit quite comfortably into that sphere. Perhaps not the most standout of the single’s three tracks if you compare them side by side but still a great piece of music in its own right.
As far as I’m concerned, “BAN your HURT” is another homerun from MANACLE and the group seems to be going from strength to strength. Their vocal abilities have never been in question but at least initially I did somewhat worry that they’d end up getting pigeonholed into a pretty narrow genre based on what many expected them to sound like starting out. I think they’ve shown that there’s plenty of room for their sound to grow and that they’re not afraid to go in many different, and at times unexpected, directions. Something that should hopefully serve them rather well both now and in the future.
So yeah, can I have some please? That’s how I’m feeling coming out of listening to this single and I think that’s where you want to be when it comes to music right? MANACLE are great, I love what they’re doing both musically and in the performance sense and I hope that I can get to see them live at some point in the not too distant future. Whether that be in Japan, the UK or somewhere else. They’re one of the best acts going right now and long may they continue to be.