Rentrer en Soi rank pretty high on the heaviness ladder of J-rock/visual kei, but still remain within the realm of commercial accessibility (as evidenced by The Bottom of Chaos' pretty good sales). In Western terms, the band classifies as a crossover between a nu-metal act and goth rockers in the vein of Evanescence. Rentrer en Soi have got some powerful start/stop riffs, but these are always kept on the melodic side, and the vast spaces between the heavy guitar assaults are filled with brooding, theatrically dark hooks and vocal melodies, which, in the end, outweigh the nu-metal parts a little. The comparison with Evanescence is reinforced by the fact that the singer's range is no smaller than that of Amy Lee, although Satsuki lacks her charisma, sounding like a typical J-rock bass crooner (admittedly, though, generic J-rock singing is still pretty good). For a band that dwells firmly within an established style, the main evaluation point is quality of songwriting, and Rentrer en Soi pass the test with confidence, if not with flying colors. There are no stand-out singles, and a couple of detours into lighter jazzy territory fail as they usually do in this kind of music, but on the majority of the tracks the band sticks to their strengths and kicks out some solid pieces of heavy alt/goth rock Their angst is not terribly oppressive, but it works in their favor, raising the songs' mass appeal, and in the end, while there is nothing really new on The Bottom of Chaos, neither by Japanese, nor by Western standards, Rentrer en Soi definitely do their thing well.
© Alexey Eremenko /TiVo