There goes another year. Even though I never did have an idea of what this place really ought to be about, over the years I feel like I've strayed from its intended purpose. The start is always nice and simple, but the journey in the arbitrary utopia is a long and strange one.
So in an effort to return to the roots, let me talk about music for a bit. Amazingly enough it's almost been more than half a year since the last time I did something like this.
Guitarists On Demand, a group of young and aspiring guitarists who seem to have gathered together under the leadership of the ever proactive Godspeed, released their debut album G.O.D. (Guitarists On Demand) a few months ago. The concept behind the group appears to be bringing a new generation of guitar heroes to the scene, as they explore new forms of electric guitar music. Certainly waste no time in talking up the project, don't they? Having listened to the record extensively and played along to the tracks however, I have to say that while the album is quite good, it doesn't really live up to its hype.
Out of the seven guitarists, I think only Yamato can claim to have explored some sort of new guitar music with his blend of haunting electronica, heavy riffs and blistering leads in "Chili Under". Then again it's not as if many musicians hadn't already experimented with mixing guitars in genres that were typically predominated by other instruments. Aquarius' "Clock Up", which serves as the album's opener, is very progressive and gives a fairly clear indication of what's to come. The oddly titled "饒舌多弁なシナスタジア" by 三代ギター魂 follows up quite nicely with hard-hitting riffs and some piano for good measure. So far so conventional, which may be why Setsat decides to play a little unsafe with his violin-driven "Zeus", a seemingly improvised piece that takes a while to build up from its unsettling intro. Violins are a bit underemployed in rock and metal music I guess, but there are bands like the jdkBand that feature the violin rather prominently. After three technically and structurally complex tracks, ボーグ lightens up the mood with the uplifting "Afterglow", which happens to be my favourite. Despite its verse-chorus-bridge composition being blatantly against the very idea behind the album, the track is melodically strong enough to stay engaging with each listen. For some strange reason, ぎぶそん takes a back seat and shares the spotlight with the piano and strings in "見果てぬ夢の探求者", a pretty average pop song. There are only two songs on the album, so it is weird to put a very standard pop song right before Yamato's experimental "Chili Under", which is arguably the most unique among the seven tracks. Then comes "Frontier", the other song with Godspeed on the guitar and TERRA of MintJam on the vocals. Godspeed has really developed a penchant for string arrangements over the years, and it shows in "Frontier" which almost sounds like a movie soundtrack.
All in all, the album is enjoyable and though it probably did not fulfill its creators' intentions, it is a promising start. Godspeed and the rest of G.O.D. have certainly got solid technical chops and talents for composing. Perhaps it is precisely because they are so good at what they do, that they struggled to take an imaginative leap into uncharted territory. Originality really is a rare thing these days, and unfortunately improvements in technical proficiency tend to limit a musician's creativity (or any profession really) with the established norms of melody and harmony. The concept behind Guitarists On Demand may have sounded good on paper, but its execution ultimately proved to be too challenging. Perhaps even the gifted guitarists themselves felt that, despite their brilliant skills, thinking outside the box is much easier said than done.
So in an effort to return to the roots, let me talk about music for a bit. Amazingly enough it's almost been more than half a year since the last time I did something like this.
Guitarists On Demand, a group of young and aspiring guitarists who seem to have gathered together under the leadership of the ever proactive Godspeed, released their debut album G.O.D. (Guitarists On Demand) a few months ago. The concept behind the group appears to be bringing a new generation of guitar heroes to the scene, as they explore new forms of electric guitar music. Certainly waste no time in talking up the project, don't they? Having listened to the record extensively and played along to the tracks however, I have to say that while the album is quite good, it doesn't really live up to its hype.
Out of the seven guitarists, I think only Yamato can claim to have explored some sort of new guitar music with his blend of haunting electronica, heavy riffs and blistering leads in "Chili Under". Then again it's not as if many musicians hadn't already experimented with mixing guitars in genres that were typically predominated by other instruments. Aquarius' "Clock Up", which serves as the album's opener, is very progressive and gives a fairly clear indication of what's to come. The oddly titled "饒舌多弁なシナスタジア" by 三代ギター魂 follows up quite nicely with hard-hitting riffs and some piano for good measure. So far so conventional, which may be why Setsat decides to play a little unsafe with his violin-driven "Zeus", a seemingly improvised piece that takes a while to build up from its unsettling intro. Violins are a bit underemployed in rock and metal music I guess, but there are bands like the jdkBand that feature the violin rather prominently. After three technically and structurally complex tracks, ボーグ lightens up the mood with the uplifting "Afterglow", which happens to be my favourite. Despite its verse-chorus-bridge composition being blatantly against the very idea behind the album, the track is melodically strong enough to stay engaging with each listen. For some strange reason, ぎぶそん takes a back seat and shares the spotlight with the piano and strings in "見果てぬ夢の探求者", a pretty average pop song. There are only two songs on the album, so it is weird to put a very standard pop song right before Yamato's experimental "Chili Under", which is arguably the most unique among the seven tracks. Then comes "Frontier", the other song with Godspeed on the guitar and TERRA of MintJam on the vocals. Godspeed has really developed a penchant for string arrangements over the years, and it shows in "Frontier" which almost sounds like a movie soundtrack.
All in all, the album is enjoyable and though it probably did not fulfill its creators' intentions, it is a promising start. Godspeed and the rest of G.O.D. have certainly got solid technical chops and talents for composing. Perhaps it is precisely because they are so good at what they do, that they struggled to take an imaginative leap into uncharted territory. Originality really is a rare thing these days, and unfortunately improvements in technical proficiency tend to limit a musician's creativity (or any profession really) with the established norms of melody and harmony. The concept behind Guitarists On Demand may have sounded good on paper, but its execution ultimately proved to be too challenging. Perhaps even the gifted guitarists themselves felt that, despite their brilliant skills, thinking outside the box is much easier said than done.
Vermilion -Bind of Blood- turned out somewhat better than expected. The atmosphere was quite nice, as was the setting. The plot was kind of predictable, which was a shame because it felt like the writer wanted to keep the readers on the edge of their seats. At least at the start anyway. I guess I didn't exactly go in expecting something exciting so no real disappointments for me there. But it probably wasn't the brightest idea to make the main character seem so special from the very beginning. I mean, there were only so many characters in the game, it wasn't difficult to connect the dots very quickly with side characters dropping hints here and there. That aside, the cast were pretty decent. The protagonist Toshirou was agreeable enough and the supporting characters like Morgan and Lucy were fun to have around. The heroines were alright I guess. I liked Nina's design the most, though she was kind of useless. Sheryl was likable and makes a typical yet still somewhat entertaining duo with Toshirou. Ariya was pretty cute (smug cute), though I found it hard to look at her without being reminded of Xellos from Slayers. The only heroine I didn't care much for was Anne, who always looked oh so out-of-place with her pink hair and sweater. I did however cheer for her in a couple of scenes. The girl's got some guts, I will give her that.
The reference was almost too obscure for me. The frequent use of text bubble was an excellent touch and presented a refreshing break from the usual text window. I remember reading some other visual novels and being annoyed by the presence of text bubbles, but Vermilion -Bind of Blood- seemed to have handled them in a way that added to the overall experience. I wonder why. The jazzy soundtrack and the smooth art were both great, especially the latter which I thought was definitely better and a little more unique than Mahiru's later effort Zero Infinity -Devil of Maxwell-. Or the upcoming Electro Arms -Realize Digital Dimension-, for that matter.
Sun on the ceiling. Do not destroy.
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