dream – Process September 25, 2009

Track Listing

1. Prologue
2. Yourself
3. “Puzzle”
4. solve
5. New Days
6. destine
7. Precious Heart
8. Our Time
9. “NeverMore”
10. SUBPAIN
11. Answer
12. Negai
13. Get Over
14. Don’t forget memory
15. STAY ~now I’m here~ brilliant version

1. Prologue

Opening up the album is a minute-long opening track.  Already it sounds so fresh when compared to their last album, “Dear…”.  There’s still a sense of eurobeat in it, but it’s rather light and luckily not in the way.

2. Yourself

After that introduction, we start the vocal tracks with the last single of the era.  It does connect the opening because it has a mix of strings and eurobeat that seems to rival GND’s music.  I like the piano-forward of the whole tune and while Kana, Yu, and Mai don’t sound really good together, they did carry the song better than most of the slower tracks of their two eras so far.

2. “Puzzle”

Then we get back into their eurobeat sound fully with “Puzzle”.  I have to say it’s one of their more energetic tracks off the album and I actually started to miss this side of the girls.  The girls are stuck yelling in the song, but it seems they sound somewhat better this way and more emotional here.  I really enjoyed this song…and with the whole harpischord thing going on, that was a nice fit.

3. solve

We get into the track that started the era up and solve continues to sound rather boring.  I mean there’s things to like from solve, but it just seems to fly by.  There’s the whole eurobeat sound going and then there’s parts where it goes into a ballad and that was a bit wacky.  So, it’s not really a great song.

4. New Days

A first for dream, we get solo songs from all three members!  First is from Kana Tachibana or the leader of the now Dream.  New Days is rather pop-like and mixed in with the eurobeat it sounds rather refreshing.  Sadly, her vocals aren’t exactly the best of the three, but it sounds alright.  I do wish she tried a little harder to sing right.  The random rapper guy is a little meh as well. 

5. destine

I’m rather surprised at how beautiful destine starts up.  Then it totally goes into fail once they implement eurobeat in the song and seemed to drag the song down.  The piano melody comes in from time to time, but other than that, destine is rather bland for them.

6. Precious Heart

Next up on the solo list is Yu Hasabe’s track.  Compared to Kana’s song, Yu’s is a lot stronger and her vocals are also sounding a whole lot better.  The song is also rather a first because it’s a piano-ballad with some pop/rock thrown in.  Actually, it reminds me of a day after tomorrow tune, but since it’s rather nice sounding on this album, I can’t burn on it too much. 

8. Our Time

Released as the trio’s summer single, Our Time still doesn’t leave much of an impression on me even though the arrangement is highly addictive.  I think on the album this tune stands out because it’s not the typical eurobeat sound that destroyed their last album, basically.  Ok, it’s alright, but still isn’t as good as songs like “NIGHT OF FIRE”.

9. “NeverMore”

Acting as Mai Matsumuro’s solo track, “NeverMore” is even more simpler than the other two girls tracks.  It sounds rather like a wintry song before the hard guitar comes on.  Right when that happened, I was like…another dat-like track?  I do think she’s alright as a solo vocalist, but she’s no Yu. 

10. SUBPAIN

Is it bad that I thought the opening for SUBPAIN was amazing up until that messy guitar solo?  Anyways, SUBPAIN is of course a eurobeat track and while that might not be a good thing, it’s another strong song that screams epic and some of the parts remind me of “w・h・y” from their last album.  Especially the bridge.  It’s not a bad song really.

11. Answer

We have another good song within Answer.  The girls altogether sounds so much stronger in this track and having an edgier electric guitar sound, the girls really scored nicely with this song.  There’s even some sitar thrown in their for some strange reason.  I think it’s one of the best tracks they’ve done this entire era LOL.

12. Negai

What’s up with dream having these nice openings?  Negai is rather a ballad with piano and some light synthwork going on.  This is also the first time I’ve heard the girls get into some pretty high notes.  Most of the time they hit but it’s rather strained.  I just like the whole feeling of the tune and is prolly another winner for me.

13. Get Over

While it can be said that I called Get Over one of their better tracks of the era, it kind of still is.  Besides the screaming going on, they managed to sound alright through it and the music is a bit slow, Get Over didn’t bore me to death. 

14. Don’t forget memory

Why is the album’s best songs near the end of the album?  Don’t forget memory is nothing short of amazing and that’s because of the whole guitar and synth melody that stood out for me.  The girls even sound rather nice to each other and that’s a plus.  It might stick out to be one of mayn songs that sound similar, but I really liked this track off the album.

15. STAY ~now I’m here~ brilliant version

Ahhhhh, a new version of STAY huh?  The new version seems to be a lot more simpler and better than the original.  I’m not exactly sure if it was resung for the album, but I love the fact that it’s the first tune to include acoustic guitar for them.  I think they scored pretty nicely for this ending track of the album.

Tracks Recommdended

• Don’t forget memory
• Answer
• “Puzzle”
• STAY ~now I’m here~ brilliant version
• Negai

I’ll admit that Process was a way better album than “Dear…”, but it’s a small step above.  Process is the last studio album from dream which is sad because now things will start to get confusing.  The tracks here were more varied in sounds, but some of the eurobeat songs are starting to not be as catchy as their previous songs were.  Meh, at least some of the songs stood out well.