I was gonna wait, but I had a lot of free time today so I decided to do a track by track review.
1. EVERYBODY SAY YEAH (7.5/10)Like the first album, we start off with a mid-tempo track. Although it's fun and funky it doesn't really work as an opener, as I would've preferred something with a lot more power to kick things off. I wrote the same thing for Scandal Baby last year too, so I guess they didn't listen to me. Damn them and their rebellious ways.
2. 太陽と君が描くSTORY (8.5/10)A very good track. Second best of the singles, only beaten by the next track.
3. 瞬間センチメンタル (9/10)I have a thing for up-tempo rockers, so tracks like this usually click with me from the get-go. Best track on the album, along with Hi-Hi-Hi.
4. 放課後1H (7.5/10)Yikes, cuteness overload. What is this, did someone run the Hello Project Eggs through a distortion amp or something? I like it.
5. 涙のリグレット (7.5/10)The melody (chorus especially) is a bit too predictable and traditional for me to score it any higher. Still, a good song by all means.
6. Hi-Hi-Hi (9/10) 
Really fun track. A little energy and attitude goes such a long way. Going back and forth with this and Shunkan Sentimental for my fav song on the album, in the end I decided they're about equal. At just over 3 mins, it's exactly the right length to really deliver!
7. 少女M (3/10) 
With a name like that, I was really hoping for an awesome sequel track to top (or at least be on par with) one of their absolute best songs. Well girls, an
EPIC FUCKING FAIL if I ever heard one. Had they actually tried to make something of it, the song could've been decent. In it's current form the song doesn't really go anywhere at all, and sounds quite flat. At first I really wanted to score this a 0 out of pure disappointment, but I tried my best to be fair. That 3 is me being VERY generous.
8. GIRLism (6/10)After falling flat on it's face, the album gets back on it's feet with a decent track. Though, it is a bit of a filler track, and nothing really special. At least it's short.
9. プレイボーイPartⅡ (7/10)Nice track, and certainly better than the first Playboy song (although that wasn't hard to do). Good chorus.
10. Hello!Hello! (8/10)Pretty good track. I have to say, I really think these kind of simpler up-tempo tracks fit the girls the best.
11. 会いたい (7.5/10)After the first verse and chorus, I was a bit worried considering the song is 5 mins long. The mid-section, although short, was good and gave the song a little boost. Still not a great track, but decent enough.
12. さよならMy Friend (8/10)Closing the album, this track isn't quite as epic as it wants to be, but it's still very melodic and nice. Listening to this, I keep thinking of Mr.Children, since a lot of their songs are quite similar in style. A good track, and the girls end the album on a positive note.
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Overall, I'm a little disappointed. The album itself isn't bad, but I was really hoping they would deliver a stronger album than their debut. The first album had much stronger singles, so I was hoping the album tracks would be awesome this time around. Sadly, a lot of them were not. A very good first half, a dud and a half in the middle, and then it slowly picks up again. Disregarding the abomination in the middle, most of the album tracks have potential to grow on me, so the disappointment is more from the expectations I had beforehand.
Topic: [2010.08.11] 2nd Album "TEMPTATION BOX" (Read 37829 times)