coldrain – “OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE” Album Review: Keep the Noise Human

Nearly twenty years into their career, coldrain have watched the music industry transform around them. Streaming changed how we listen, social media gave artists new ways to reach audiences, and now AI can write songs, imitate voices and create music in seconds. For five musicians whose work depends so heavily on real people playing, touring and performing together, it is hardly surprising that they have something to say about where all of this is taking us.

OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE, coldrain’s eighth studio album, isn’t simply an angry record about AI or technology, as that would have been far too easy and probably quite boring. The bigger question running through the songs is what happens to us when everything has to be quicker, easier, cleaner and more perfect, and whether, in constantly trying to improve and simplify our lives, we are slowly removing some of the things that make us human in the first place. Even the title gets straight to the point, showing that if we keep trying to optimise everything around us, we might eventually optimise the life out of it.

Four years have passed since Nonnegative, an album that found coldrain stretching themselves without losing the huge choruses and heaviness that have always been part of their sound. With OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE, they sound less focused on proving how much they can do and more focused on what they actually want to say. Across the record, coldrain keep coming back to the same worry: in our rush to make everything faster, easier and more perfect, what are we losing along the way?

That idea didn’t suddenly appear with this album, as last year’s five-track OPTIMIZE EP already pushed against the pressure to make everything perfect, especially as AI and technology become more involved in everyday life. Masato has spoken about reaching a point where he began questioning his own perfectionism and wondering what was actually gained by making everything neat and uncomplicated.

The first five tracks from that EP now form the opening half of OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE: “OPTIMIZE”, “CHASING SHADOWS”, “DIGITOLL”, “INCOMPLETE” and “FREE FALL”. Then “EX-HUMANITY” takes the record somewhere darker, followed by “REST OF ME”, “POISON”, “G.I.A.I.G”, “SING”, “PICTURE PERFECT HELL” and “SAVIOR”.

“OPTIMIZE” wastes little time establishing what this record is about; technology, control, perfection and the fear of losing yourself inside all of it are already there, but what I like is that coldrain aren’t arguing that human beings are somehow perfect and machines are not. Their point is almost the reverse – we are messy, we make bad decisions, we contradict ourselves, get angry, fall apart, love the wrong people and sometimes have absolutely no idea what we’re doing.

AI-generated music is no longer some futuristic idea that we can debate without it affecting us. It is already here, but heavy music has never been about perfection; just go to a rock or metal show and the things you remember aren’t necessarily the moments when everything sounded exactly like the record. You remember the scream that sounded completely wild, the guitar that was almost too loud, the drummer beating the absolute hell out of the kit and hundreds of strangers screaming the same chorus. I am sure you remember the human part, and guess what, AI will never take that away from us.

coldrain have spent most of their career understanding that. They came out of Nagoya in 2007 and grew alongside a Japanese loud-rock scene that never seemed bothered about keeping genres neatly separated. Metalcore, post-hardcore, emo, nu-metal, punk and huge melodic choruses could all end up in the same place. Bands such as them learned how to take those influences and make something that could travel outside Japan without stripping away who they are and by now, they don’t really need to prove where they belong.

“CHASING SHADOWS” fits perfectly into what coldrain are trying to say on this album. The lyrics begin with the idea of being told what to believe, not to ask questions and simply stay within the lines, before pushing in completely the opposite direction. It is about questioning what is put in front of you, thinking for yourself and refusing to accept that somebody else has already decided where your boundaries should be. With so much information, so many opinions and now AI-generated content everywhere around us, the song is more relevant than ever.

“INCOMPLETE” goes somewhere more personal; the lyrics ask a very simple but uncomfortable question: if we stop caring about ourselves and each other, who will? The song looks at people becoming disconnected, losing touch and reaching for more without really knowing what they are reaching for. Even the word incomplete works beautifully within the wider idea of the album – we are incomplete, we don’t have everything figured out, we make mistakes and we are constantly changing and perhaps there is nothing wrong with that.

“FREE FALL” is much more direct; it chooses human connection over control and would rather accept pain than feel nothing at all. There is defiance in the lyrics, but what I like most is just how human the song feels – love, pain, fragile hearts, damaged bodies, chaos and the need to feel close to another person are all placed against wires, control and a world that increasingly wants everything neat and predictable. Maybe that chaos is simply part of being human and coldrain are perfectly fine with that.

And then we get to “EX-HUMANITY”, which takes that fear much further. Musically, the song is energetic and full of life, while lyrically it is deliberately bleak, a contrast Masato himself has spoken about. The question underneath it is uncomfortable: what happens when we lose so many of the things that make us human that we barely recognise ourselves anymore? And this is where I think OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE becomes more fascinating than an album simply telling us that AI is bad, because AI isn’t really the only problem coldrain are talking about; we are. Technology doesn’t wake up one morning and decide that human creativity is inconvenient. People decide what they are willing to hand over to it because we choose convenience and the easier option. And sometimes that is brilliant – technology has made countless parts of life better – but the album keeps asking where that line is and whether we will even notice when we cross it.

“POISON” brings Bert McCracken into the mix, and if you grew up listening to 2000s emo and post-hardcore, this collaboration is perfect. Masato has spoken about McCracken as one of his influences, so hearing them together on a coldrain track is significant. The song turns to something we can all recognise, looking at what happens when wanting something too much begins to consume you. McCracken’s voice works beautifully here, with the same rawness that made The Used so easy to connect with, especially during the 2000s. It fits an album that has so much to say about being human and imperfect.

The other collaboration also makes perfect sense; “SAVIOR” brings in Kenta Koie of Crossfaith, whose band, much like coldrain, has spent years taking Japanese heavy music to audiences outside of Japan without changing the sound and identity that made them who they are. The two bands go back a long way, which makes Kenta’s appearance on the final track a great way to close the album.

Not everything on OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE needs decoding, and I don’t think every lyric needs to become an argument about AI either. That would actually do the record a disservice. “REST OF ME”, “G.I.A.I.G”, “SING” and “PICTURE PERFECT HELL” help broaden the second half, and the album works best when its central idea is simply part of the music rather than something that needs to be constantly explained. There are places where the message is very direct, maybe too direct, as Masato isn’t hiding much behind metaphor here, and occasionally I wanted the lyrics to leave me to make the connection myself rather than telling me exactly where to look. But then again, this is coldrain.

After eight albums, coldrain could easily settle into what they know works and simply keep making the same kind of record. There are certainly familiar moments on OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE – the massive choruses, Masato’s clean-to-harsh switches and the metallic riffs, but the band don’t sound bored by any of it. If anything, they sound pissed off and I like them that way.

OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE isn’t perfect, which, considering everything coldrain are saying here, might actually be the most appropriate compliment I can give it. Some ideas are hammered harder than they need to be and not every song hits with the same force, but the record has blood in it. It sounds like five musicians who still care enough about heavy music, and about the world outside it, to get angry.

We are being promised a future where almost everything can become faster, easier and more efficient, and maybe it can, but coldrain’s answer is twelve songs asking whether everything should.

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Written by Maggie Gogler

_{View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to film, music, and the arts, with a strong focus on the Asian entertainment industry. As we continue to grow, we aim to deepen our coverage of Asian music while remaining committed to exploring and celebrating creativity across the global arts landscape.}