Space reserved for practical reasons.
This may very well be yet another year plagued by various delays, but at least some things are coming through. After the Try to be Brave/Weed Spirit and Little Monster EPs, I wasn't too sure what to expect out of Back-alley Spiders. In the end though it seems that not much has changed, a2c still plays really well and TERRA still can't really sing. On the other hand, Kindred Spirits Guitar Arrange Version is fairly intriguing in terms of how much restraint Godspeed and the others are showing throughout the album.
Running just a little over half an hour, Back-alley Spiders is perhaps one of the most thematically consistent albums MintJam have done to date. It's no surprise as the record is meant to be a picaresque concept album with artistic and visual input from illustrator Asato Fumine, who has collaborated with the band a number of times before. a2c impresses, as always, with his excellent fretwork and TERRA does a decent job on his vocal and emotional delivery. The album possesses a hint of wildness that is not typically heard on MintJam's records. It is, however, a very controlled wildness, in ways that make it not much different from a tiger who's been kept in a zoo for a long time. Of course, the album still comes with a keen bite that will hopefully make you want to stay instead of running away.
With schemes and betrayals as its central themes, Back-alley Spiders sets the album in motion with the heavy instrumental opener "Heaven or Hell". The brass section adds a nice richness to the intro track and the eponymous Back-alley Spiders, which was first featured on a Voltage of Imagination album four years ago. Despite the name, "Vengeance" is a lot less menacing than I thought it would be, though a2c does briefly step on his seldom used Weeping Demon and tear it apart with a blazing guitar solo. Things take an interesting turn as the album breaks into "Fragment", a somewhat oddly placed ballad that ends with a melody reminiscent of the title track's chorus. Whatever nostalgic feeling that is supposed to convey doesn't last very long, as the 5-minute instrumental Arachnoid crawls its way past walls of mechanical bass kicks, down-tuned guitars, and sporadic synthesizer leads, before jumping at you with a repetitive but memorable refrain. TERRA comes back with "DOUBT", another previously released song, and heads into the not-so-wild "Riot". Similar to how "Heaven or Hell" flows into "Back-alley Spiders", the short instrumental "Frozen Trigger" slows down the pace and sets up the melodic backdrop for the last song "Stray", which packs some tasty rhythm harmonies and concludes the album rather abruptly like a story coming to an unexpected finish.
Sitting firmly and comfortably on the polar opposite end of Back-alley Spiders is the latest offering from G5 Project, Kindred Spirits Guitar Arrange Version, or What Happens When Everyone Tries to Play Like Godspeed. It's essentially an instrumental cover album of several songs off Maiko Horisawa's Kindred Spirits, which is more or less a cover album itself. According to Godspeed's comments in the liner notes, he was introduced to Maiko's songs through Koyo Sonae, who had previously worked with Godspeed on the soundtrack-like Journey, as well as serving as the executive producer on Maiko's latest album, amongst many other things. Apparently Godspeed was deeply touched by Maiko's singing and saw it as the greatest hurdle in his guitarist life to "sing" the same songs on the guitar. So here we are, a G5 album produced by the Grammy-nominated Steve Dorff and directed by Godspeed, where over-driven guitars meet Hollywood orchestra.
I'm almost instantly reminded of Theatre of Strings, which I find somewhat amusing since players like Tak Matsumoto and Michiya Haruhata are big influences on a2c and the others. The approach on Kindred Spirits Guitar Arrange Version is different however, as the guitars fill in the role of a vocalist who is quite content with a linear but strong performance rather than doing anything flashy. Short and sweet, the album is stylistically cohesive and musically charming. Considering his love for the string orchestra, Godspeed must have felt really at home here as he opens the album with "I Will Be There With You" and confidently walks his way through "Kindred Spirits". The warmness of the first two pieces continues on as Takajii soothes the soul with "I Just Fall In Love Again", before 大和 takes the audience on a sombre walk in the forest of mourning with 君をのせて. Somehow ニケ gets one of the best tracks on the album, "Dream Big" has delightful melodies that even a person like me feels like dreaming about something for once. After appearing uncharacteristically early on G5 2013, a2c is back to his usual spot as he rakes and bends through "Amazing Grace". I'm not sure if we were really saving the best for last here and the track might have benefited from being a little longer, but at least I don't feel like a part of me is missing after finishing the album each time.
淫乱ピンク is too overpowered for me, and you're just about acquire some more convolutions.
Running just a little over half an hour, Back-alley Spiders is perhaps one of the most thematically consistent albums MintJam have done to date. It's no surprise as the record is meant to be a picaresque concept album with artistic and visual input from illustrator Asato Fumine, who has collaborated with the band a number of times before. a2c impresses, as always, with his excellent fretwork and TERRA does a decent job on his vocal and emotional delivery. The album possesses a hint of wildness that is not typically heard on MintJam's records. It is, however, a very controlled wildness, in ways that make it not much different from a tiger who's been kept in a zoo for a long time. Of course, the album still comes with a keen bite that will hopefully make you want to stay instead of running away.
With schemes and betrayals as its central themes, Back-alley Spiders sets the album in motion with the heavy instrumental opener "Heaven or Hell". The brass section adds a nice richness to the intro track and the eponymous Back-alley Spiders, which was first featured on a Voltage of Imagination album four years ago. Despite the name, "Vengeance" is a lot less menacing than I thought it would be, though a2c does briefly step on his seldom used Weeping Demon and tear it apart with a blazing guitar solo. Things take an interesting turn as the album breaks into "Fragment", a somewhat oddly placed ballad that ends with a melody reminiscent of the title track's chorus. Whatever nostalgic feeling that is supposed to convey doesn't last very long, as the 5-minute instrumental Arachnoid crawls its way past walls of mechanical bass kicks, down-tuned guitars, and sporadic synthesizer leads, before jumping at you with a repetitive but memorable refrain. TERRA comes back with "DOUBT", another previously released song, and heads into the not-so-wild "Riot". Similar to how "Heaven or Hell" flows into "Back-alley Spiders", the short instrumental "Frozen Trigger" slows down the pace and sets up the melodic backdrop for the last song "Stray", which packs some tasty rhythm harmonies and concludes the album rather abruptly like a story coming to an unexpected finish.
Sitting firmly and comfortably on the polar opposite end of Back-alley Spiders is the latest offering from G5 Project, Kindred Spirits Guitar Arrange Version, or What Happens When Everyone Tries to Play Like Godspeed. It's essentially an instrumental cover album of several songs off Maiko Horisawa's Kindred Spirits, which is more or less a cover album itself. According to Godspeed's comments in the liner notes, he was introduced to Maiko's songs through Koyo Sonae, who had previously worked with Godspeed on the soundtrack-like Journey, as well as serving as the executive producer on Maiko's latest album, amongst many other things. Apparently Godspeed was deeply touched by Maiko's singing and saw it as the greatest hurdle in his guitarist life to "sing" the same songs on the guitar. So here we are, a G5 album produced by the Grammy-nominated Steve Dorff and directed by Godspeed, where over-driven guitars meet Hollywood orchestra.
I'm almost instantly reminded of Theatre of Strings, which I find somewhat amusing since players like Tak Matsumoto and Michiya Haruhata are big influences on a2c and the others. The approach on Kindred Spirits Guitar Arrange Version is different however, as the guitars fill in the role of a vocalist who is quite content with a linear but strong performance rather than doing anything flashy. Short and sweet, the album is stylistically cohesive and musically charming. Considering his love for the string orchestra, Godspeed must have felt really at home here as he opens the album with "I Will Be There With You" and confidently walks his way through "Kindred Spirits". The warmness of the first two pieces continues on as Takajii soothes the soul with "I Just Fall In Love Again", before 大和 takes the audience on a sombre walk in the forest of mourning with 君をのせて. Somehow ニケ gets one of the best tracks on the album, "Dream Big" has delightful melodies that even a person like me feels like dreaming about something for once. After appearing uncharacteristically early on G5 2013, a2c is back to his usual spot as he rakes and bends through "Amazing Grace". I'm not sure if we were really saving the best for last here and the track might have benefited from being a little longer, but at least I don't feel like a part of me is missing after finishing the album each time.
Hey, i am totally new to this type of gaming. If i understand correctly, you play this on a portable console?
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the work you put into your post, i am mostly here for the reviews on the mange related things but i see entertain able things in these "games".
DeleteIf you are talking about Lemuria of Phosphorescent (http://lm.ujj.co.jp/), it's a F2P browser game. You could play it on smartphones or tablets but you'd be very limited in terms of what you can do in the game as it requires Adobe Flash. There is an app version (http://lfm.ujj.co.jp/) that was released earlier this year. I haven't played that one but I think the game play is quite different.
DeleteAnyway it's a nice little strategy RPG with lots of characters and customizations, but I don't think it's something that you could enjoy fully unless you spent some money on it. In other words, the game does have a bit of pay-to-win elements in it.
Hope that helps.
It does thanks alot!
Delete