Another AWAKE Review!
This was meant to be an analysis from someone semi-musically inclined, but I’m afraid it turned into a fangirl ramble. XD Anyway, here it is, my review of the new album...
New World - Normally I’m not that fond of Yukkie-composed songs, like trick or get out from the shell. They all have that trance-like quality that made me hate Acid Android. New World is a good track though, both lyrically and musically. The drumming is solid, as are the guitar and bass parts. It opens up the album nicely, even if it isn’t my favorite song.
LOST HEAVEN - I didn’t like this song at first at all, but it’s grown on me. A Hyde track. Then again, they’re all Hyde tracks on this CD. :P His English pronunciation is so good! I like the opening with the guitar and keyboard part, but the chorus bothers me a little. It’s not the English lyrics, they’re fine, it just feels like kind of repetitive and poppy to me.
Jyojyoushi - SO INCREDIBLY PRETTY! Ken wins again with this song. The music and Hyde’s voice just float along taking you with them. I’ve always been a fan of their ballads (Hitomi no Juunin is my favorite song on SMILE). The guitar part is wailing in a very Ken-like manner, and the bass line is nice, even though it’s subtle. Everything blends and no one is overpowering anyone else. My only qualm is that the English bit is structurally weird.
TRUST - Tetsu said that he wanted to write a song that didn’t sound poppy or genki, since he seems to think that everyone else thinks all his songs are like that. Because writing a song in a minor chord automatically removes the genki. XD His and Ken’s English pronunciation isn’t so good though, I had no idea the chorus was “Come into the light” until I read the lyrics. They sound like little Hyde echoes. -_- I like the contrast between the bridge and the verses, how it goes from heavy to light sounding. Tetsu’s songs always seem to downplay his own ability as a bassist.
Killing Me - I can listen to this song over and over again. It’s basic L’arc pop/rock. Everyone is balanced; no wailing guitar or too loud backup vocals. As Tavestry put it, none of “Ken’s wakka wakka porn guitar.” XD Tetsu’s backup is nice, and for some reason find his little “ah broken time”’s amusing.
AS ONE - HI MY NAME IS HYDE AND I <3 THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON. This is by far the heaviest song on the album, and also the only one completely in English. Great pronunciation, once again. I could understand almost everything. The lyrics and music are very Hyde-esque. All morbid and heavy. I do like it a lot though.
My Dear - Lovely and very sad. I wish I could understand the Japanese better, I’m totally interested in the lyrics for this. It’s like a beefed up version of a Roentgen song, which it was originally written for. The arrangement is more complex than it would of been as a solo song. It reminds of Gackt, but it’s because of the title. Hyde’s voice is beautiful...and I think this is my favorite slow song on the album.
EXISTENCE - The talking woman SCARES ME! Creepy. This song seems very rowdy to me, and bad ass. In an interview with Ken it was called ”the song that makes you want to do stupid, noisy things all night.” Which is a perfect description, I think. The guitar is intense and Hyde sounds pissed off. :D
Jiyuu e no Shoutai - It’s another Tetsu song, and I can tell. Very pop/rock, it’s typical Laruku fare. Yukkie’s drumming is awesome, once again. I like the beat and the melody. Everything is balanced nicely. I had wondered if this song was going to be on AWAKE, since it came out quite a while ago. I thought it might be just a single that was left as a single, but here it is.
Ophelia - I’m sorry, but this song makes me twitch. It’s like a terrible mashing of LORELEY and Secret Letters. From the Spanish guitar to the jazzy piano to the godforsaken saxophone part. It’s so lounge-song-like I can see why it was scrapped from Roentgen. Maybe it should have stayed scrapped? It might have worked as a Hyde song, but as a L’arc song it makes me cringe. Not that it’s a bad song by any means, it just doesn’t sit well with me. At least he pronounced the name Ophelia correctly.
Hoshizora - Without a translation, I can’t really tell, but it sounds like it’s about war..? “Nobody knows, nobody cares/I have lost everything to bombs” sounds like war to me. Kind of mournful in tone, the drum and guitar parts are subdued. I can barely hear the bass part at all. Maybe Hyde is turning into a political activist?
twinkle, twinkle - It sounds nothing like Lover Boy! Instead it’s 80's! It’s catchy and bouncy. It sounds like it could have been on Heavenly. There’s some tense issues with the English portions, but I’m assuming Ken didn’t have help with it (unlike Hyde). Lover Boy was the only track with English on SMILE that didn’t have Lynn Hobday credited for translation. The guitar riffs at the beginning remind me of something else, but I can’t remember what. Overall, it’s a nice song to finish the album with.
Overall, I really like this album. It’s going up there next to HEART and REAL as my favorite L’arc CDs. Hyde definitely dominates it stylistically, no matter what the other three say. Ken had some influence too, but I can’t really feel Tetsu and Yukkie’s creative presence that much. Musically they all sound wonderful, they’re a very talented group! :D Although I don’t think Hyde’s vocal range was pushed as much on this CD. The album has more of a polished and uniform feel to it than SMILE did, like they really have their act back together after their solo breaks. SMILE didn’t flow well to me, it seemed like they weren’t comfortable with each other creatively after they’d been apart. It had some great tracks, but as a whole it’s not balanced.
AWAKE is lovely, so everyone should go buy it!
New World - Normally I’m not that fond of Yukkie-composed songs, like trick or get out from the shell. They all have that trance-like quality that made me hate Acid Android. New World is a good track though, both lyrically and musically. The drumming is solid, as are the guitar and bass parts. It opens up the album nicely, even if it isn’t my favorite song.
LOST HEAVEN - I didn’t like this song at first at all, but it’s grown on me. A Hyde track. Then again, they’re all Hyde tracks on this CD. :P His English pronunciation is so good! I like the opening with the guitar and keyboard part, but the chorus bothers me a little. It’s not the English lyrics, they’re fine, it just feels like kind of repetitive and poppy to me.
Jyojyoushi - SO INCREDIBLY PRETTY! Ken wins again with this song. The music and Hyde’s voice just float along taking you with them. I’ve always been a fan of their ballads (Hitomi no Juunin is my favorite song on SMILE). The guitar part is wailing in a very Ken-like manner, and the bass line is nice, even though it’s subtle. Everything blends and no one is overpowering anyone else. My only qualm is that the English bit is structurally weird.
TRUST - Tetsu said that he wanted to write a song that didn’t sound poppy or genki, since he seems to think that everyone else thinks all his songs are like that. Because writing a song in a minor chord automatically removes the genki. XD His and Ken’s English pronunciation isn’t so good though, I had no idea the chorus was “Come into the light” until I read the lyrics. They sound like little Hyde echoes. -_- I like the contrast between the bridge and the verses, how it goes from heavy to light sounding. Tetsu’s songs always seem to downplay his own ability as a bassist.
Killing Me - I can listen to this song over and over again. It’s basic L’arc pop/rock. Everyone is balanced; no wailing guitar or too loud backup vocals. As Tavestry put it, none of “Ken’s wakka wakka porn guitar.” XD Tetsu’s backup is nice, and for some reason find his little “ah broken time”’s amusing.
AS ONE - HI MY NAME IS HYDE AND I <3 THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON. This is by far the heaviest song on the album, and also the only one completely in English. Great pronunciation, once again. I could understand almost everything. The lyrics and music are very Hyde-esque. All morbid and heavy. I do like it a lot though.
My Dear - Lovely and very sad. I wish I could understand the Japanese better, I’m totally interested in the lyrics for this. It’s like a beefed up version of a Roentgen song, which it was originally written for. The arrangement is more complex than it would of been as a solo song. It reminds of Gackt, but it’s because of the title. Hyde’s voice is beautiful...and I think this is my favorite slow song on the album.
EXISTENCE - The talking woman SCARES ME! Creepy. This song seems very rowdy to me, and bad ass. In an interview with Ken it was called ”the song that makes you want to do stupid, noisy things all night.” Which is a perfect description, I think. The guitar is intense and Hyde sounds pissed off. :D
Jiyuu e no Shoutai - It’s another Tetsu song, and I can tell. Very pop/rock, it’s typical Laruku fare. Yukkie’s drumming is awesome, once again. I like the beat and the melody. Everything is balanced nicely. I had wondered if this song was going to be on AWAKE, since it came out quite a while ago. I thought it might be just a single that was left as a single, but here it is.
Ophelia - I’m sorry, but this song makes me twitch. It’s like a terrible mashing of LORELEY and Secret Letters. From the Spanish guitar to the jazzy piano to the godforsaken saxophone part. It’s so lounge-song-like I can see why it was scrapped from Roentgen. Maybe it should have stayed scrapped? It might have worked as a Hyde song, but as a L’arc song it makes me cringe. Not that it’s a bad song by any means, it just doesn’t sit well with me. At least he pronounced the name Ophelia correctly.
Hoshizora - Without a translation, I can’t really tell, but it sounds like it’s about war..? “Nobody knows, nobody cares/I have lost everything to bombs” sounds like war to me. Kind of mournful in tone, the drum and guitar parts are subdued. I can barely hear the bass part at all. Maybe Hyde is turning into a political activist?
twinkle, twinkle - It sounds nothing like Lover Boy! Instead it’s 80's! It’s catchy and bouncy. It sounds like it could have been on Heavenly. There’s some tense issues with the English portions, but I’m assuming Ken didn’t have help with it (unlike Hyde). Lover Boy was the only track with English on SMILE that didn’t have Lynn Hobday credited for translation. The guitar riffs at the beginning remind me of something else, but I can’t remember what. Overall, it’s a nice song to finish the album with.
Overall, I really like this album. It’s going up there next to HEART and REAL as my favorite L’arc CDs. Hyde definitely dominates it stylistically, no matter what the other three say. Ken had some influence too, but I can’t really feel Tetsu and Yukkie’s creative presence that much. Musically they all sound wonderful, they’re a very talented group! :D Although I don’t think Hyde’s vocal range was pushed as much on this CD. The album has more of a polished and uniform feel to it than SMILE did, like they really have their act back together after their solo breaks. SMILE didn’t flow well to me, it seemed like they weren’t comfortable with each other creatively after they’d been apart. It had some great tracks, but as a whole it’s not balanced.
AWAKE is lovely, so everyone should go buy it!