BiS - Brand-new idol Society 2 Review

The long-awaited return of Pour Lui's misfit idol unit is finally upon us! A mere two years after the disbandment of BiS at Yokohama Arena, the group has returned (albeit with an all-new lineup) to give this thing another go. The biggest question burning in the minds of longtime fans has been "will this new iteration of BiS live up to the BiS legacy?"

​I hate to break it to you, but no. At least, not yet. Save your hate messages until the end, please.

BiS has always been about breaking the rules, smashing the mold with spiked bats. Really pushing the boundaries of what "idol" meant. On their major label debut ​IDOL is DEAD, Pour Lui and friends turned the idol world on its head, never to be the same again. What many people seem to forget is that they had an album before that, the oft-ignored Brand-new idol Society. For everything that the group's later work would be, that debut was about as flat as indie idols get. Sure, there were some gems; it wasn't a TERRIBLE album! Still though, it wasn't the groundbreaking foray into experimental pop that the group would be exploring later on.

This is what Brand-new idol Society 2 feels like, nearly six years down the line. Not a step forward, but backward.

Please note: this video is blocked in the US!

Opening with classic tracks such as Give me your love Zenbu and My Ixxx, this album is nothing but a rehash of old victories. The updated instrumentals and new vocal lineup does little to revitalize songs that were already great to begin with. They're not BAD by any stretch of the imagination. They're just lazy.

We get nerve and primal. before finally reaching the first new song on the album, the group's debut reunion single BiSBiS. This is a good song! It's got all the hallmarks of a solid Kenta Matsukuma track, without sounding too derivative. It's actually a beautiful song, improved heavily by the addition of new vocals (the original version featured only Pour Lui).

Once again, blocked in the US!

Following BiSBiS, we get another new song in the form of Human after all. Another pretty solid track, and the only one on this album which has that BiS "weirdness" to it. It's actually a pretty standout song, and the hook is great. The only other new songs on the album are Happy Birthday, Not Special, and CHANGE the WORLD. They're all varying degrees of decent, with Not Special being a pretty apt title if we're being honest. I don't mind Happy Birthday, but I'm not in love with it either. The chorus is nice. The same goes for CHANGE the WORLD.

Listen; if every song on this album had been new, if this was truly the DEBUT album of a new group called BiS, this thing would be massive. Some of the classics on here are incredible songs, and there ARE new songs that are great in their own right, but as an album it's just not cohesive. Brand-new idol Society 2 is like a best-of compilation with a handful of B-sides thrown into the mix. Pretty strong B-sides, but B-sides nonetheless. There are a total of thirteen songs on this album, five of which are new. FIVE! 

Don't get me wrong, I'll be anxiously awaiting the new BiS record. If my own irresponsible rumors are true, BiS are doing the whole mediocre thing on purpose. This is a REAL reboot, somebody is gonna quit soon, and there'll be a whole new era of controversy and over-the-top antics. We can only dream. Until then, the album we're left with is a subpar shadow of what we know BiS can be.

​-Justin

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