hurts - ACAPELLA to Zenritsusen

Released in the middle of their career, ACAPELLA to Zenritsusen was hurts' fifth maxi-single, featuring two tracks and put in stores during the middle of 2007.

ACAPELLA to Zenritsusen starts with a darker, drifting guitar line that remains fairly steady right into Hina's vocals. He is almost hushed as he starts to sing, changing his voice up from sarcastic to gruff and whiny tones, giving the song a little flair. The chorus assists the song to stand on its own, but after the first chorus, the sound drops to nothing but the vocals and the Maki's bass through the stanza. There is no high point to the song, and the same mundane beat remains consistent throughout the song. As a result, ACAPELLA to Zenritsusen is sadly outshone by its B-side.

The B-side track, shanbara is what makes this single worth listening to and flings us into a wild melody, featuring an extremely rough guitar and drum line. Hina plays up the vocals and more than makes up for his sloppy job in the first song; he really belts out the vocals and appears to actually be having fun with it this time. The song's melody is much more appealing than its predecessor, with many high points and interesting add-ins from all the instruments as well as a racing chorus that is full of energy before it drops abruptly with hina squeaking, "Are you okay?" After such a crazy song, it is no wonder he's asking such a question! This song is one that will be sure to be a crowd pleaser played live and really closes the single out with a bang.

ACAPELLA to Zenritsusen really exposes hina's vocals and how far he truly has to go still before his voice really blossoms. He doesn't particularly stick out from the crowd and his voice breaks more often than one would like, but due to this he nails raspy vocals, whiny lines and deep growls beautifully. Where his voice is inexperienced, it flourishes in other aspects and suits hurts' sound perfectly. While this isn't a single to beat down the door to buy, it can be appreciated by indies audiences as a band that holds promise and is slowly working their way up, one maxi at a time.