{"id":89343,"date":"2024-11-12T13:23:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T13:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/?p=89343"},"modified":"2024-11-18T19:37:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T19:37:52","slug":"album-review-specialthanks-punk-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/2024\/11\/album-review-specialthanks-punk-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: SpecialThanks &#8211; PUNK RECORDS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>PUNK RECORDS<\/em> is SpecialThanks\u2019s 5th full-length album, released on 23rd October 2024. Being active since 2005, the band&#8217;s current line-up is made up of Misaki Anita (on vocals and guitar) and Takaaki Yoshida (on drums and chorus). Where it has been 4 years since their last album, they have released some E.P.s and singles in that time, the last 4 of which appear on the new album. But enough background, the wait is finally over so let us dive in.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em>Dawn\u2026<\/em> kicks off the album, a quick instrumental track to get the ears warmed up. Starting with some light strumming backed with a simple drum beat alongside some synth, it is effective in giving the sense of blasting off. Paying off with a strong punch of a punk riff, really sounding like the Western counterparts that have inspired them before. It then fizzles out as it fades into the first proper track <em>New Future<\/em>. This has a bit more of SpecialThanks\u2019s flavour of pop-punk that is missing from the introduction, a bouncy rhythm driven by the vocal. Leading into track 3, <em>Earth Defence Force<\/em> maintains the energy, a more raw and faster track. More on the punk side than pop, as the guitars maintain a more intense riff and the vocals have more of an edge to it. Although it felt like this track should have followed <em>Dawn\u2026<\/em> as the riff has a more similar energy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u5730\u7403\u9632\u885b\u8ecd \/ SpecialThanks \u3010Official MV\u3011\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5KlzAVKbWok?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><em>OH! LOVE! MABOROSHI!<\/em>, starts a chain of 3 of the singles already released, brings back more of the bouncy rhytmns, with the drums being more of the forefront of this track to bring a nice change. Directly after is <em>Romance<\/em>, a vocal-focused song that utilises a more offbeat rhythm to create a catchy hook. Feeling very reminiscent of classic 00s pop-punk, again nodding to their earlier influences. To end the chain of singles is <em>Hey! Sunny!<\/em> which sees SpecialThanks venture into more pop rock, delivering a more infectious catchy tune. The energy is toned down and the edges are more smoother to step away from the punk side of their sound. This feels the most like a single, giving plenty of singalong moments live for an audience to get behind.<\/p>\n<p>As if lured into a false sense of security, <em>30s PUNKS<\/em> then jumps up at you with intense punk rock. Fast and loud, with a spotlight on gang vocals, this is no doubt a song created to be played live as it would create a unity in the crowd in a different way to the track before. It&#8217;s short and sweet as it then slows back down with <em>kirei.<\/em> A more alternative track giving a melancholic vibe. Again shifting the focus onto Misaki&#8217;s vocals, they are uplifted by a supportive rhythm by the instruments, giving a kick in the bridge but otherwise maintaining the strong flow. SpecialThanks then do it again, surprising the listener with <em>96<\/em>, beginning with angsty vocals but again supported by the instrumental that has a stronger flow. A step up from <em>kirei<\/em> as the riffs and drumming have more complexity as it turns it up a notch. Having more moments of building up and down, can&#8217;t help feeling like it would have followed <em>30s PUNKS<\/em> better.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rgg-container\" data-rgg-id=\"10135\">    <div class=\"rgg-imagegrid captions-title captions-effect-none \" data-rgg-id=\"10135\">\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks2024-2.jpg\" data-rel=\"rgg\" rel=\"rgg\" title=\"Band photo of SpecialThanks with Takaaki Yoshida and Misaki Anita standing on a place with stone tiles, grass and trees. In the distance there are high buildings. While Takaaki is fully facing the camera, Misaki turned her back a little. Takaaki is wearing a tie-dye shirt and Misaki is wearing a white blouse and jeans.\n\n&copy; SpecialThanks \" class=\"rgg-simplelightbox size-full rgg-img\" data-src=\"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks2024-2.jpg\" data-ratio=\"1.4992503748126\" data-height=\"667\" data-width=\"1000\" aria-label=\"Band photo of SpecialThanks with Takaaki Yoshida and Misaki Anita standing on a place with stone tiles, grass and trees. In the distance there are high buildings. While Takaaki is fully facing the camera, Misaki turned her back a little. Takaaki is wearing a tie-dye shirt and Misaki is wearing a white blouse and jeans.\">\n                            <\/a>\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>After is the most experimental track on the album,<em> Ringling Go!<\/em>, having a bit more of a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll feel. SpecialThanks even dropped a more typical ska riff at one point, whilst also featuring the catchiest vocal hook over just the drums. There is overall a more silly tone with the odd bit of poor flute pulled off well with the vocals, being more immature whilst maintaining the fun. This personally makes it the stand-out track for me as it really showcases SpecialThanks pushing their sound. <em>POWERFUL POWE<\/em>R is then a more solid high-energy pop-punk hit. Fast and fun bridge that builds back into the fun energetic chorus, as if to balance out being experimental, SpecialThanks just reel off a staple of their sound which they only solidify with<em> Little Wonder<\/em> that leans more into the pop rock nature of their sound. <em>Don&#8217;t You See<\/em> wraps up the album, with a faster short track ending on a more raw punky note. Would say it feels like an abrupt end, not really a finale, however, that could be just the sound of wanting more.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-89345\" src=\"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks-PUNK-RECORDS-cover.jpg\" alt=\"Album cover for &quot;PUNK RECORDS&quot; by SpecialThanks. The cover has a purple background and band name and album title. It also consists of drawings of a green-haired girl that holds a guitar and flies in space surrounded by people in space wear, a dog, aliens, a boombox, UFOs, flowers, a big red apple, planets, stars, the sun and planet Earth. Also the words &quot;HELLO DOUMO&quot; are added next to the boombox. All together contributes to a playful and musical atmosphere.\" width=\"425\" height=\"422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks-PUNK-RECORDS-cover.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks-PUNK-RECORDS-cover-800x794.jpg 800w, https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks-PUNK-RECORDS-cover-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks-PUNK-RECORDS-cover-75x75.jpg 75w, https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/SpecialThanks-PUNK-RECORDS-cover-750x745.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>PUNK RECORDS tracklist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Dawn&#8230;<br \/>\n2. New future<br \/>\n3. \u5730\u7403\u9632\u885b\u8ecd (Earth Defence Force)<br \/>\n4. OH! LOVE! \u5e7b! (OH! LOVE! MABOROSHI!)<br \/>\n5. Romance<br \/>\n6. Hey! Sunny!<br \/>\n7. 30s PUNKS<br \/>\n8. kirei<br \/>\n9. 96 (Album version)<br \/>\n10. Ringling Go!<br \/>\n11. POWERFUL POWER<br \/>\n12. \u30ea\u30c8\u30eb\u30ef\u30f3\u30c0\u30fc (Little Wonder)<br \/>\n13. Don&#8217;t you see<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Noone can really can&#8217;t accuse SpecialThanks of making every song feel the same. Every track has a strong identity and shows how they have pushed their spin on Western pop-punk in various different directions. It does feel like a few songs should have been swapped round on the track list as at times it doesn&#8217;t flow and can be abrupt. It might be what they intended but it doesn&#8217;t sit right when some tracks feel more connected yet aren&#8217;t next to each other. However that is a minor criticism, the mixing ensures the consistency in the sound to compensate for the different energies. Each instrument and the vocals have a solid space within the incredible sound. It is tight and effective, as the instrumentals showcase a range of skills and Misaki\u2019s vocals are as strong as ever. There isn&#8217;t an overuse of effects, putting the performance at the forefront to feel almost live. Teasing the listener into what a gig will be like.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, <em>PUNK RECORDS<\/em> by SpecialThanks is a solid album, the only potential weakness is it has a feel of a collection of songs rather than being an album. Yet, it allows for the band to showcase their diverse sound and experiment with every aspect of pop-punk. Having a strong raw live feel, it draws a listener in with the bouncy rhythms and catchy vocal hooks, then other tracks have a harder and faster punk feel to keep the energy going. It&#8217;s weird to think it is about 30 minutes in length because in a good way it just feels so much shorter as it is packed with hit after hit.<\/p>\n<p>If you already loved SpecialThanks this album is definitely for you. It has a more Western pop-punk feel than it does J-Rock, yet brings some elements in to make it stand apart. Overall, an incredible release!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PUNK RECORDS is SpecialThanks\u2019s 5th full-length album, released on 23rd October 2024. Being active since 2005, the band&#8217;s current line-up is made up of Misaki Anita (on vocals and guitar) and Takaaki Yoshida (on drums and chorus). Where it has been 4 years since their last album, they have released some E.P.s and singles in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":89369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"71754","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-715"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3073],"tags":[6505,5955,5781,5801,8872],"class_list":["post-89343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-reviews","tag-pop-punk","tag-pop-rock","tag-punk-en","tag-punk-rock-en","tag-specialthanks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89343"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89361,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89343\/revisions\/89361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}