Kazuki Kato (加藤和樹) is a Japanese actor and singer known most notably for his role as Daisuke Kazama aka Kamen Rider Drake in Kamen Rider Kabuto and Keigo Atobe in The Prince of Tennis musicals. Rough Diamond is Kato Kazuki’s debut mini-album released on 2006-04-26.

The album opens with Warning, an upbeat and energetic soft rock number. Driving synth starts the song off before the blaring brass comes in and Kato Kazuki’s elated vocals as he half screams half sings “of yeah” (which is completely sexy btw). But the song has a very rough feel, lent mainly by the underlying rock instrumentation and Kato Kazuki’s deep vocals. It’s a really fast paced, catchy song with brilliant rock instrumentation and excellent use of brass and synth effects. The instrumental sections are really great and never become boring instead only add to the whole energy of the song. But mainly I really love Kato Kazuki’s vocals- he really completes this song putting in so much energy and emotion.  The song goes by in a flash, and overall it was a great ride. It is a really awesome song with great feeling and also pretty damn catchy. What an excellent way to open the album.

東京ダイヤモンド(Tokyo Diamond) follows the opening with an amazing guitar part before toning down to be a slightly more mellow rock number. Once again, the entire song has a great feel to it. Somehow, the song comes across as slightly sad but it never wallows, instead being a darker rock number that moves swiftly along whilst never becoming too fast paced or upbeat for what it’s trying to convey. The same style guitar part in the opening will come up again in the song and it’s a sound I really like (there’s also a great guitar solo). Further, Kazuki Kato’s vocals continue to be just beautiful, filled with so much emotion that just completes the song and only add to the sad, regretful feeling. I love the rhythms of the pre-chorus and chorus- and how the instrumentation accents the vocal lines. And although it does sound reminiscent of a music style from the past, it isn’t in an outdated way.  Overall, another amazing song with such a beautiful feeling.

After the slightly sad sounding Tokyo Diamond comes the upbeat 君とずっと(Kimi to Zutto) a very soft and romantic ballad. The rock instrumentation takes a step back to allow Kazuki Kato to lead the song with his beautiful vocals. OK, he sounds slightly nasal here but not the point of being overly irritating (it could be worse…). And he still presents a lot of emotion. Somehow the song lacks the same kind of interest than the previous two, but it’s still very pleasant. There’s nothing really bad about it, it just isn’t a stand out track.

And we continue with the happy feel for Higher Dream which is a fast paced rock number, almost like Warning but instead of brass we have uplifting strings. There’s a slight pop feel to this song, but it’s not cheesy.  Uplifting was a good word for this song, which is very upbeat and hopeful. Kato Kazuki has stopped sounding nasal and sings this happily and freely sounding quite beautiful. I like how the bridge presents something almost bittersweet with the synth effects and the guitar solo, as if there was/is something to overcome before achieving the dream.  A great song, catch and filled with happiness, yet still with an edge.

Just too more tracks to go- and the Minialbum has never felt truly boring. In fact, the first four tracks have gone by surprisingly quick. The second to last track now is Line which starts in the most over the top fashion with the pounding bass before introducing a high pitched guitar part reminiscent of Tokyo Diamond. Somehow this part of the song feels very exaggerated, like something from a bad horror movie?!  The pounding synth and exaggerated “duh duh” synth really ruins it whenever it comes in and makes it into something quite comical. Otherwise I really like it; Kato Kazuki’s deep and angry vocals and it has a nice rough feel with interesting rhythms. Also some great rock instrumentation again.  The song has a great feeling to it, if just not for those exaggerated bits.

Lastly a nice cheesy opening for 夢でいいから(Yume de iikara). I really hate the opening to this song, sounds like something I have heard before and something irritating about it. Once that bit is over the song really is great. Some annoying backing vocals, but Kato Kazuki sounds beautiful. This is like the bittersweet ending song and it’s lovely apart from that horrible instrumentation from the beginning which unfortunately appears a few more times.

Overall rating: 7/8 (Excellent, but a few weaker tracks that pull the rating down)
Favourite tracks: Warning, Tokyo Diamond, Higher Dream

The first time I listened to Kato Kazuki was his album “bad love” and somehow that didn’t affect me like this minialbum did. This is a really great minialbum despite having a few weaker tracks, or tracks which would have been just great without this bit or that bit.  Rough Diamond is definitely the best to listen to to try out Kazuki Kato’s music. To go back to Bad Love, I was surprised by the dark sound, and Kato Kazuki’s deep and sexy voice. This is prominent in this debut mini album too. I think Rough Diamond is an appropriate name; the music can be quite rough yet still ultimately beautiful. Or something like that. Although the tracks do carry a similar sound Kato Kazuki’s gorgeous voice really makes them, and also thankfully each carry a slightly different feel to keep things interesting.  Overall, I do recommend this. It’s probably technically not amazing but it still worth listening to.