Asriel – GARNET no Hamon ni Somaru Sora August 18, 2009

Track Listing

1. Al meila
2. Alice
3. HARM
4. Eclipse ~Gesshoku no Yuugi~
5. Setsuna Yumemiru Shoujo
6. Yoiyami no Homura ni Yakarete…
7. Al meila (acoustic Ver.)

1. Al meila

We begin Asriel’s 2nd mini-album with Al meila.  From their first mini, this comes off as a pretty nice opening and there’s a bit of a difference from the two.  KOKOMI might still not have the strongest voice but this with the fact that strings and piano are nice flowing along, makes it a worthwhile listen for sure.  The drums are the only thing that really bothered me because it’s just loud, but whatever.

2. Alice

Our “Silencia”, Alice has a stronger synth influence and KOKOMI is singing a lot more stronger than she did before and I love the fact the song is upbeat and shows us KOKOMI’s vocal ability in a pretty sweet well.  Well, she might be overdoing her vibrato and hitting odd notes, but she did a pretty good job otherwise. 

3. HARM

I would’ve though that HARM was going to be the hardcore rock track, but we got a pretty calm track.  It does seem they mixed the strings and piano from “Al meila” and threw in some synths to make up for the lack of flow.  There’s this odd percussion sound in the verses and it annoyed me to no end.  I guess it’s alright.

4. Eclipse ~Gesshoku no Yuugi~

I’m starting to like Kuromi’s synth based tracks instead of the others right now, it adds so much life into it.  Once again we find ourselves with a ballad of all things and even though there’s synth, the song doesn’t really stick out until the chorus.  I’m not liking the fact that all of the tracks have been a ballad so far.

5. Setsuna Yumemiru Shoujo

Another strong influence of synth.  Luckily, it’s not a ballad so I can really enjoy this track fully.  The whole time there’s synth plying around and the upbeat nature of the song helped out.  It might not be vocally the strongest track from this mini-album, but being so up-tempo kind of makes it stand out in a way. 

6. Yoiyami no Homura ni Yakarete…

Interesting that they stuck another upbeat song to finish the album.  I quite like this track and KOKOMI is supported by BKGD vocalists and that’s a nice touch to the song.  Then again the flute interlude in the middle was also quite super.  I think it’s my favorite track off of this mini-album.

7. Al meila (acoustic Ver.)

As much as the original track was already acoustic enough, Al meila got another version and the track sounds more mystical as the result of this change.  KOKOMI at the beginning though is so strange, but when she does come in with her regular voice she sounds way better.  Honestly, it feels a lot more together and that annoying drum isn’t in it so that automatically means it’s an easier listen. 

 

 

Asriel’s 2nd mini-album is actually a whole lot better than their debut.  KOKOMI’s vocals have gotten a whole lot better and even though this was plagued by a lot of ballads, the production seemed more solid too.  I still don’t know if they’re more to my liking, but I can see they are trying to get better.

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