Seiko Oomori - TOKYO BLACK HOLE Album Review

The wonderfully weird pop singer Seiko Oomori is back at it again with her latest full-length album "TOKYO BLACK HOLE". A follow-up to her 2014 album "Sennou", "TOKYO BLACK HOLE" has been in the works for some time. With the single "Sacchan no Sexy Curry" being featured on the anime "Food Wars" (and now finding a home right here on this album), Seiko Oomori has been getting a lot more attention as of late. Attention she most certainly deserves.

Magic Mirror MV

"TOKYO BLACK HOLE" starts out with the song of the same name, a ballad which I reviewed recently when it was released as a single. I said at the time it would have made a good album closer, but it works just fine as an opener as well. The next song is another single, one I never had the opportunity to review. "Magic Mirror" was released as a double A-side single with "Sacchan no Sexy Curry", and has been one of my favorite Seiko Oomori songs since. It's so sweetly nauseating. Something about this song really gets to me. And the chorus... The melody is just perfect. I've already been in love with this song for a year, that's not about to change now. Seiko Oomori's voice is so powerful and varied, and the string section is gorgeous as well.

This album is actually loaded with singles. Track 3 is "生kill the time 4 you、、❤", which is an awesome fast/slow/fast pop folk song. It's pretty much classic Seiko Oomori.
Track 5 is the amazing "Aishiteru.com", and track 8 is that song's companion single "Gekiteki JOY! Before After". "Sacchan no Sexy Curry" is track 7, if you were wondering when that would come up again. I love all of these songs, and have have talked about the "Aishiteru.com" single before if you'd like to know more.

生kill the time 4 you、、❤ MV

Moving away from the singles, there are some incredible deep cuts here too. There's the super cutesy "SHINPIN", and the lengthy but beautiful "超新世代カステラスタンダードMAGICマジKISS ". "■ックミー、■ックミー" is a mixed bag of crazy styles, from rap-influenced vocals backed by electronics, to SUPER heavy electric guitar, to some of Seiko Oomori's signature bubblegum pop. "ドラマチック私生活" is a simple pop rock song which devolves into an awesomely unstructured mess near the end, which I love.

Even though I love the majority of the album up to this point, I think the last three songs are my favorites (apart from the singles anyway). Track 11, "無修正ロマンティック ～延長戦～", is a beautiful ballad featuring a duet with somebody whose name I can't find anywhere. His voice is a perfect contrast to Oomori's though. Their voices are just perfect together.

"給食当番制反対" is an adorably innocent soft pop song. It's got gentle acoustic guitar and piano in perfect harmony. Seiko's voice is super dreamy, especially in the chorus. I think it's one of the most beautiful choruses on the album actually. Finally, we get the MASSIVE closing track "Shoujo Manga Shounen Manga". It's about six minutes worth of pure perfection. It actually bears a lot of resemblance to The Beatles circa-Sgt. Pepper (I'm not a Beatles fan but I love this combination of horns, strings, and Seiko Oomori's soft acoustics and vocal prowess). The song EXPLODES about halfway through. It's so loud! It's so powerful! This song is the PERFECT closer, forget what I said about the title track. Oomori's voice starts to waver amongst the huge and semi-chaotic horn section, and the whole things ends with a whisper-silent acoustic bit. I can't put into words how much I love this song, it's just perfect.

Gekiteki JOY! Before After MV

Seiko Oomori is, in a word, incredible. She's one of the most talented musicians in pop music today. I feel extremely lucky to have heard this album and I just can't wait to see what's next for her career. Seiko, if you're reading this, a United States tour would be perfect right now. We love you here.

-Justin

Official Links

Website: http://oomoriseiko.info/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/oomoriseiko
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oomoriseiko
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/oomoriseiko