Track Listing
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CIRCLE
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Saishuu Tsuukoku COUNTDOWN
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Ren’ai DRIVER ~Foo-san no Uta~
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LAST KISS
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UNTIL THE LAST DAY (CD only)
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YOU ARE THE REASON
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MIND FOREST
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Mousou GIRL
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THE END OF THE DAY
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Mata, Koko de Aimashou
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ALL MY LOVE
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NOT ALONE “Kimi wa Hitori ja Nai”
1. CIRCLE
I love that YFCz already pulls out the guns for the first track on the album. Of course it seems that the song is mostly sung in English and I’m surprised there’s a lot more of Jon than GACKT present in the song which hasn’t happened yet since they debuted together. I’m loving hearing both of the guys together since they melodically sound great together. The song is pretty edgy and furious like “THE END OF THE DAY” but a little more loose in execution. It’s a great song to kick things off!
2. Saishuu Tsuukoku COUNTDOWN
Continuing the edgy sound of everything about the band, Saishuu Tsuukoku COUNTDOWN is pretty relentless and I felt this song was odd for them. Since it primarily Japanese, it was interesting to hear Jon singing in the language. I didn’t really like the auto-tune thrown on the vocals in the chorus since it’s adding salt to the wound. It does feel like it can grown on me since it’s catchy and the rap-like verses stood out a lot…but I have to get used to this x.x
3. Ren’ai DRIVER ~Foo-san no Uta~
Damn they are just on a relentless roll huh? I have to say though that the percussion of this song gave me a headache as well with the odd chords that open Ren’ai DRIVER. It isn’t as catchy as “Saishuu Tsuukoku COUNTDOWN” but a least it doesn’t have auto-tune to really make meh. Instead there’s a screamo area from who I think is Jon. Nothing too special here.
4. LAST KISS
I was hoping for a break from the heavy song but not quite yet. LAST KISS is another energetic song but all I really get from this is that LAST KISS is a hot mess and not in a good way either. It just sounds all over the place and the ideas clashing with one another makes me just wanna take my headphones off and just point my finger at it angrily for letting me listen to this mess. I just can’t with this one!
5. UNTIL THE LAST DAY
I found it strange to see that GACKT’s solo track, UNTIL THE LAST DAY made the CD only cut for the album. Now going to look at the tracklist, it seems it has mostly English which I assume means that he rerecorded the song to have more emphasis with English lyrics and more Jon. It’s funny that this has a lot stronger of a melody than the songs that came before this. It’s still pretty powerful of a song and I do consider this over other tracks by a large amount.
6. YOU ARE THE REASON
At least “UNTIL THE LAST DAY” made sense to come before YOU ARE THE REASON but at the same time could have been after “Ren’ai DRIVER” honestly. Since it was the secondary B-side of the band’s second single…I wasn’t too thrilled by seeing it here. I still think the band sticks out a LOT more than either GACKT or Jon. Just not that memorable to be honest.
7. MIND FOREST
The lone B-side and sort of pseudo-self-cover of GACKT’s songs, MIND FOREST is still pretty damn good today. Like I used to really not like the original version at all but this new take plus the addition of Jon made it so much better. I mean the flutes are still there and the band is just sounding a lot more controlled than before which is good. One of the bests from the album.
8. Mousou GIRL
Whoa, a lot of sound impacting my ears all at once it seems. Bringing back the auto-tune once again it seems to actually work a little better here since the song also utilized some synths and such alongside the guitars and such. Once the chorus comes in though they start to slur the lyrics and it begins to become hard to follow…though I can’t explain the censored bleep in the second set of verses. If I space out the messy arrangement, there’s a catchy song in there very deep inside but it’s difficult with all this noise!
9. THE END OF THE DAY
Sad to say that the best song the album really had to offer was their debut A-side in THE END OF THE DAY. I love the controlled atmosphere and hearing GACKT and Jon sing seperately and together…they had perfect chemistry in the song and just really stood out to me. It’s just powerful in all the right places and I loved how it turned out unlike their stuff after it.
10. Mata, Koko de Aimashou
Mata, Koko de Aimashou tricked me to believe it was going to be a slower song because of the strings that have their own intro to the song. The song becomes a bit more like pop/rock when compared to the other songs on this album. I do think the drummer is still being a bit too much in the song for some reason but I kind of like the happier side to YFCz. I think if they toned Shinya (the drummer) a giant notch, this song would’ve been better…and to think it was a promotional song too >.<
11. ALL MY LOVE
Yeah, the second and primary A-side, ALL MY LOVE struck the wrong chord within me. As the album’s rock ballad, ALL MY LOVE is so gritty and just wrong in many ways for me. It’s just very dramatic of a song from GACKT and Jon and their overly expressive vocals surprised me a lot. I just couldn’t take seriously and it was really my least favorite A-side.
12. NOT ALONE “Kimi wa Hitori ja Nai”
NOT ALONE closes the album out but not as a ballad which is odd considering that “ALL MY LOVE” precedes it and all that. Actually it’s kind of refreshing almost as the album’s final song. I mean there’s strings and less mess from the band. I once again though loathe the auto-tune being used in this song especially in a setting like this >.< Leave that for “Koakuma Heaven” and “GHOST”. Minus that, the song is still enjoyable and stands out than most of the album itself lol.
Tracks Recommended
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THE END OF THE DAY
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UNTIL THE LAST DAY
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NOT ALONE “Kimi wa Hitori ja Nai”
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Mousou GIRL
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Saishuu Tsuukoku COUNTDOWN
Song of Avoidance
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LAST KISS
I wish I was more positive with this album, I really do! YFCzI just doesn’t cut it for me. I had high expectations since THE END OF THE DAY was an amazing single but ALL MY LOVE/YOU ARE THE REASON were kind of disappointing. As a whole it was just a mess and while there were songs that did stand out for me…altogether it felt like a mess more than a meeting in heaven. Yikes…btw, the album tracklist has extra things going on like [.jp], [.eu], and [.com] which only means English mostly, Japanese mostly, or equal amount. It’s a pretty stupid thing to do to be honest and that’s why I left that off because it’s so redundant and lame.
