Minori Chihara - Kyoukai no Kanata

Kyoukai no Kanata OP

Kyoukai no Kanata IN

Tracklist:

1. Kyoukai no Kanata

2. NO LINE

3. Kyoukai no Kanata (Instrumental)

4. NO LINE (Instrumental)

1. Kyoukai no Kanata

Minori's calm, serene voice opens to an acoustic piano background, soon gaining a strong drum tempo and unraveling into a cheerful, laid-back arrangement. Including a violin in the chorus as well, which is actually the most active element of the instrumentation, it becomes usual anison with an added guitar solo near the end of the track. Unfortunately, except for the intro and outro, Minori's vocals are constantly under filters and with background, surprisingly varying in colour between soaring and powerful to cute and nasal, as they are not really the main representative point of the whole track. After quite an uncreative middle eight section with a very simple bridge, the final chorus is accomplished only by repeating the intro melody once again, with a prolonged ending annoyingly present, like in her previous single.

Rating: 7

2. NO LINE

A powerful pace suddenly appears, struggling to subdue the guitars and Minori under techno filters, until it explodes into the main melody. With barely anything else present, forceful, sometimes distorted guitars and drums are dominant, although the verse is calmer in terms of raw power, while the chorus is intensive, catchy and quite Faylan-like. Sadly, the second verse and chorus, with its many inappropriate  and uninspired variations feel unfit, and even the vocals seem worse and untrained after hearing the short version so many times. Opening the middle eight are alternating, distorted chords with Minori's vocals filtered up to obscurity, although, the only high point of it is another great guitar solo, until the song finishes off with yet another completely uncalled for elongation.

Rating: 6

A few mistakes here and there are allowed, but Minori's team lately seems to be continually (and intentionally?) making them, with either the songs getting too strained or too dull, constant excessive snippets in the songs at their end, and, overall making bad composure decisions and ruining a good song, as we can see in NO LINE. 

My overall rating is: 6 ½

Will I return for an another listen: Maybe.

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Aya Hirano - Promise

Kita Kitsune Monogatari Ashita e IN

Tracklist:

1. Promise

2. Takaramono

3. Up To Date

4. Promise -Instrumental-

5. Takaramono -Instrumental-

1. Promise

A silent piano opens the first track, lonely in its chord progressions until it's joined by the standard instrumentation of the acoustic guitar and violins. Although its framework is somewhat generic ambiental melodies and a simple melodic structure, Aya has succeeded in taming her deep and wild voice into a slower tempo, as it is linked with background vocals, especially in the chorus. Nothing notably eventful happens until, unexpectedly, the middle eight section starts with a too dramatic transition for a soft ballad like this one, but afterwards breaks down into a vocal-only cadence which gains tempo and concludes the song.

Rating: 6 ½

2. Takaramono

Commencing the next song is a quirky, lullaby-like synth and an acoustic guitar, which, contrary to the expectations of another ballad, pick up and gain a mid-tempo dance rhythm. This intro is unusually stretched out, as it slowly builds up to the place where Aya's vocals finally join in with the melody, as if this was an instrumental version halfway, and quite suddenly enter the chorus after only a few lines, without a tie to the previous melody. Accordingly, her voice is being filtered and backed-up all the time to give a dreamy feel to the track, even though it already had a laid-back character. Promise and Takaramono are very similar, but Takaramono takes the win for that slight dash of originality not present in the A-side.

Rating: 7

3. Up To Date

Wrapping up the single with a third song, a fast, impending intro sets off and turns into a cheerful, rocky guitar chord swap. After two more J-pop oriented songs, it's welcome to hear her main style again with this kind of an uplifting rock track, which carries the anison atmosphere with it. Even though the background vocals are over-layered so much they sound almost like a male voice, Aya lets her full strength loose, as she climbs to bigger heights and hits multiple vibrato in the duration of the song. It's not one of her best yet, but Up To Date does carry a pleasant sound of her past.

Rating: 7

Ever since her label shift, Aya hasn't gotten a single anime tie-in, which reflects in how her songs are mostly turning out lately; recycled and cliche (Hoshikuzu Garandou is excluded from this, fortunately), with an occasional return to her old style.

My overall rating is: 7.

Will I return for an another listen: No.

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Kalafina - Alleluia

Kara no Kyoukai: Mirai Fukuin IN

Tracklist:

1. Alleluia

2. dolce

Live recordings not to be reviewed:

3. fairytale ~2012. Christmas LIVE ver.~

4. Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku  ~2012. Christmas LIVE ver.~

1. Alleluia

The new single from Kalafina starts off in a serene sound, with slow violins joining in and wielding their usual chord progressions. As the instrumentation grows stronger, Keiko's powerful vocals in contrast with a higher-pitched arrangement lead on, until subdued guitars unravel into a chorus with a single touching "Alleluia" sung by all three vocals. Though Hikaru and Wakana serve mostly as the backing to Keiko's voice and in the interludes, their impact is still present in the track, which employs optimistic and uplifting anison-ballad instrumentals rather than the expected sadder, neoclassical tone. I was hoping for an emotional roller coaster after Consolation heightened my expectations, but another ballad in their opus does just fine as well.

Rating: 8

2. dolce

An eerie, mysterious sound opens, with only several thin synths and occasional bells to support it, before uplifting choral sequences ensue in a harmony completely separate from the instrumental background. Although having a familiar feel, like a mix of Madoka Magica soundtrack elements (specifically, Credens Justitiam, even having the similar track length) and Hikari Furu, the chorus becomes quite more dramatic and serious than the cheerful verses, providing more excitement in a melodic sense than Alleluia. Complexity may be Yuki Kajiura's middle name, but sometimes the most simple things are the best attention-keepers.

Rating: 10

By now we're all used to Kalafina being impeccable all the time, so, summed up, the only minor flaw that exists is that perhaps Alleluia could of been a little more inventive. My overall rating is: 9.

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Yuuka Nanri - Mother land

Valrave the Liberator IN

Tracklist:

1. Mother land

1. Mother land

Opening with a very calm, serene ambiental sound, as if the track was a relaxing meditation piece, Yuuka's voice joins in to form a few oriental-styled cadences with her collected voice as louder drums and violins overlap after a time for more of a classic anison arrangement. Even though she is working on an another anime, the whole track, and especially the touching chorus feels very much like something Chiaki Ishikawa would compose, bringing a melancholic overtone although the chorus consisted of intersecting tones Yuuka is singing in a choral way displays major chord progressions. As the middle eight section returns to the same melody and silence found at the beginning, bells and a waltzing tempo appear, making a dramatic transition to the final chorus.

Rating: 8

Mother land was perhaps designed to be only a follow-up to her main single previously released, but it has plenty of independent listening worth, even more so than BLOODY HOLIC. My overall rating is: 8.

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