Sandaime J Soul Brothers from Exile Tribe ¡ª ¡°The JSB Legacy¡± (Rhythm Zone)

Sandaime J Soul Brothers find themselves in an exciting position with the release of ¡°The JSB Legacy.¡± Last year, they challenged a boy-band landscape dominated by Johnny & Associates acts ¡ª doing well in a full on battle with Arashi. Now Sandaime wants to prove it¡¯s not a passing fad.

Hype helped the group win its second Japan Record Award in December, and hype carried it into the release of ¡°Legacy,¡± which sold more than 476,000 copies in its first week. That makes it the best-selling album of the year so far.

¡°Legacy¡± doesn¡¯t stray too far from what has made Sandaime popular. Opening track ¡°Feel So Alive¡± is an EDM banger that features dancer Elly rapping a verse. This foray into more urban-influenced electronic music is a nice nod to the group¡¯s past, back when they were less pop and more R&B, but still keeps them firmly in the present. Hip-hop rears its head again later on ¡°J.S.B. Dream.¡±

The EDM-heavy portion of ¡°Legacy¡± is peak Sandaime. It revels in a certain brand of dated gaudiness ¡ª from the synth-heavy choral substitute in ¡°Summer Madness¡± to the horns on ¡°Share The Love¡± to the brostep beats of ¡°Break Of Dawn.¡±

A section of new songs ¡ª ¡°Dream Girl,¡± ¡°Over & Over¡± and ¡°Beautiful Life¡± ¡ª comes in after previously released single ¡°Unfair World.¡± But this trio of upbeat tracks feels as if it was just squeezed in between a pair of ballads to ensure a chunk of the album wasn¡¯t overly mellow. On their own, none of the songs stand out as being particularly noteworthy.

While it¡¯s great to see Sandaime presenting a challenge to the J-pop status quo, ¡°Legacy¡± is still a bit predictable ¡ª contemporary party music with some mellow moments. There¡¯s no monster hit, like ¡°R.Y.U.S.E.I.,¡± either, which makes me wonder if the guys are an authentic agent of change in the J-pop boy-band world.