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COMMENTS
I think X Japan is a a great band with genious music. I wish they could have had a better shot hear in america, even though they did'nt get as far as they hoped, a large cult fan following is rising as we speak.
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The piano solo. LOW POINTS: None.
This has got to be the shortest single-song album I've ever seen. It's under half an hour. It seems to be progressive symphonic metal, with a concept that's all about life, as the title may suggest. It quite fast in many places, speeding along with sometimes an almost thrash speed. Both the emotion and the melodies are quite strong as the song moves along in, with vocals from a guy with a Japanese accent (seeing as the bad is from Japan, as their name suggests) whose name I'm not going to try to type out, as well as some female narration in there as well. Some intense music comes through, even though for the most part you may end up thinking that it sounds just a little bit too much like your typical power/prog metal with some great symphonic touches added in...
...until about fifteen minutes into the song everything fades away and a seven or so minute piano solo begins. It starts with a nice melody repeated over and over, and then flows into more complex piano playing, then the melody seems to slowly drift away as notes seemed to be just randomly slammed down on the piano for a few minutes, and finally the piano melody returns. Now, I'm not going to lie to you, the first time I heard this I hated it. But slowly listen after listen I began to understand it better. In fact, I'd go so far to say it's my favorite part of the whole song/album. It's not about typical piano playing, it's a piece about struggle, as the melody seems to struggle to stay alive through all of the slamming and banging. And the dissonance tries to regain its hold, but cannot succeed, as the melody moves forward into a dramatic symphonic ending to the who piano solo.
Everything works extremely well, and while the entire song is quite good, for me it's the piano solo that pushes Art Of Life up to a near-classic level. It's good to see a band try something new here and there, and that's what X-Japan does with this album. It's recommended to fans of epic, power, prog, and symphonic metal. Is there anyone like that actually out there? Or is everyone too busy listening to their Korn albums? Whatever. If you want a real metal album (by a bunch of guys who look uglier than Poison) either fork over your thirty dollars and purchase this album, or head over to Audiogalaxy and download it. Whichever way you choose, get this album as soon as possible.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Forever Love, Crucify My Love, Dahlia, Tears, Longing, Drain, Wriggle. LOW POINTS: None.
X-Japan’s final release is a strong example of the band’s songwriting skills, in some places an even more developed and mature sound than the breathtaking Art Of Life. As a whole, though, it is only a slightly lesser work, an impressive follow-up to what was one of the best albums of 1995. Essentially Dahlia is the previous album extended to about fifty-four minutes and split up into ten different tracks, rather than a single track. It's more accessible, no extremely artsy acquired taste piano solo stuck into the middle of anything; it's simply a bunch of symphonic art-metal tracks, some of the best I’ve heard. The songs consist mostly of thrash-speed rockers and slower piano ballads, but the album never seems monotonous, and the variety of moods achieved, along with lead man Yoshiki's beautiful melodic vision, makes Dahlia a sure winner.
The title track is probably the strongest of the rockers here, an incredible melodic statement, the energy never leaving for a moment, the Queensryche-esque guitar crashing away, distorted vocals on the verses adding to the strength of the track. The following “Scars” does a great job of continuing the burst of energy, while “Rusty Nail” does an excellent job of adding in symphonic touches (which the band tends to save for their ballads) to the band's rocking style. “Wriggle” is a quick melodic instrumental lead-in to the intense rocker of “Drain,” where some truly dramatic and energetic rocking can be found, particularly on the song's chorus, which is bound to get stuck in your head for hours.
The symphonic ballads tend to be even more memorable (and numerous), with vocalist Toshi delivering some of the most sincere and moving vocal work I’ve heard from any metal band. Many of them are of epic length, particularly the closing “Forever Love,” a truly climactic way to finish the album, from the slow piano beginning of the song through the final cries of the song's title toward the end. Excellent song. I'd venture to say that it's the best thing I've yet heard from X-Japan, and one of the most beautiful musical works I've heard from anyone. I believe that it may even be used in one of the upcoming Final Fantasy games, which would certainly be something interesting to see. Elsewhere, the music of the seven-plus minute “Longing” strongly reflects its title in a sorrowful and moving way. “Crucify My Love,” on the other hand, isn't particularly epic I length either, under five minutes, but has a beautiful sorrow to it, extremely effective, and unforgettable.
Overall, there isn't a weak track here, and while some may easily dismiss it as overly pretentious or overblown, I see Dahlia as one of the most passionate metal releases of the mid-90s. It still remains unfortunately obscure, and sure that has plenty to do with the fact that this is a Japanese album, but take the time to get it in some form or another. I have certainly heard very few albums like this one, and it's an excellent example of the band’s own unique style. And some of the lines work quite well in Japanese rather than English (there is a fairly even mix of the two languages throughout the album). It's truly a shame that this had to be the band's last album, but it’s a fantastic swan song, nonetheless, making it thoroughly recommendable to anyone interested in X-Japan.
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