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Title: Ivory Trees
Artist: La'cryma Christi
Specifics: 4:42 / 4.31 MB / J-rock
Opinion: The opening for Ivory Trees isn't what I'd call typical for a rock song. It's slow, almost calm, and the entrance of the guitar comes after several seconds, breaking in as slowly as the song starts. Then comes the main melody, still holding to the underlying tune, and the vocals. Ohh, the vocals. Taka is a guilty pleasure of mine. He's beautiful; so is his voice. Here, I love him because he doesn't drown out the guitars, nor do they drown him out. There's a fabulous balance between Taka's singing and Hiro's guitar. There's also a fabulous, albeit more brief than average, guitar solo. In an unusual twist, it continues for a little while underneath the vocals, then slips back into the main melody as if there never was a solo.
Title: Blue Sky Complex
Artist: hide
Specifics: 5:34 / 5.09 MB / J-rock
Opinion: From the beginning, I confess that I'm biased. In contrast to my usual tastes, I love hide and each time I hear one of his songs, I have a sense of peace after I've listened and banged my head and lip-synched to any English lyrics. In Blue Sky Complex, as with many of his other songs, the English lyrics are comprehensible, which is wonderful. People look down on Japanese artists for their poor use of English. Not so with hide. This song in particular showcases not his English as a primary target, but his Japanese. hide tends to be considered angry and loud, the latter of which yes, he is, but I find it calming, as I said. I love his vocals, even if they are "too loud" for some.
Title: Floods of Tears
Artist: L'arc~en~ciel
Specifics: 5:41 / 5.21 MB / J-rock
Opinion: Opening with a slow melody similar to that of a little music box, the song quickly breaks into vocals and the guitar, leaving the soft sound behind, but not becoming truly loud. In the past, I've heard complaints about Hyde's voice, and I don't agree with them for this song at all. His voice gives the song a sad quality that it might not have were it sung differently, and the vocals somehow fit the name appropriately. Then comes one of my favorite parts: the guitar solo. They seem obligatory. This one I like because it is not necessarily a typical guitar solo with excessive frills. Yes, there are some. Overall, it's tasteful and breaks off to allow Hyde back in nicely. Or maybe this is more bias talking.
Title: Hana Saku Inochi aru Kagiri
Artist: Raphael
Specifics: 5:25 / 4.96 MB / J-rock
Opinion: I have a huge obsession with the opening to this song. It's so distinctive to me that upon hearing it, I immediately perk up. It's a typical J-rock song opening, I suppose, but for American music, it's not typical at all. The guitar is underscored until the song itself starts. I like that. I like the vocals more, the way they contrast to the hard sound of the guitar in the background. The song, if sung, isn't slow; it has a different quality with only the lyrics. With only the guitar, it would also be different, and one would expect to hear an entirely different song. The guitar isn't the only noteable instrument. As in the opening, there are solos in the middle of the song using the keyboard, which then move into guitar. And, English-in-Japanese-music-haters, here you go: no English at all!
Title: Yuuwaku
Artist: GLAY
Specifics: 4:19 / 3.95 MB / J-rock
Opinion: Well, if it isn't another band I love so much that I'm biased in their favor. The song doesn't have much of an opening before the vocals start. They're the driving force, which I'm not sure is a good thing or not. Not because they're bad, but because I'm more a fan of balance, so it slightly bothers me that Teru is dominating rather than giving more screentime to the guitar (because nobody loves the bass the way I do, apparently). The solos are present. However, they're present at a lower volume than the vocals, and I had to get over it. I learned to focus on how much I adore Teru's voice and how fun it is to hear him croon, "Because I love you." There is English in this song - well-pronounced English - but the main melody is, to my pleasure, in Japanese.
