GUILTY
01.01.08
ayumi hamasaki
01 Mirror
The album starts off with what I would say is ayu's best introductions in probably forever, or at least since
Catcher In The Light from
MY STORY. The old fashioned internet, dial-up, static tech noises are quite an interesting way to start off the album.
Mirror does an amazing job at doing exactly what it's supposed to do, give a feel of the album that lies ahead. Everything from the composition to the lyrics and ayumi's intriguing style of singing does just that.
02 (don't) Leave me alone
The first full song on the album,
(don't) Leave me alone, picks up right where
Mirror left off. The synth-like sounds accompanied by powerful guitars and drums makes you want to bob your head along with the catchy verses and chorus. At first I found myself wishing that
(don't) Leave me alone would've been the introduction and
Mirror could've been the first full track, because in truth, the song does get a little bit repetitive. But after analyzing the tracks again, repetition isn't always a bad thing. You'll find yourself sticking this track on repeat because you won't want it to end.
03 talkin' 2 myself
The songs just keep getting darker and darker as we progress... As soon as ayu's official site released the preview for this song way back in late August or early September I fell in love with it. In my opinion, ayumi's best songs are her rock songs. I just love it when she gets angry, and that's exactly what she does in
talkin' 2 myself. I think
talkin' 2 myself is definitely ayumi's best song of 2007. It's definitely one of the most catchy songs she's ever released as well. No matter where I am or what I'm doing I've gotta sing the chorus when I hear it, and it's constantly in my head.
genjitsu wa itsu datte~ But, not only is this song catchy, it's extremely powerful in the message it's lyrics convey too. Take charge of your future and don't let reality fool you.
04 decision
decision is definitely
GUILTY's peak of darkness, or at least the first one anyway. Just as with
talkin' 2 myself, I fell in love with the preview for this song when I heard it. For me, it was
alterna all over again (which is one of my most favorite ayu songs.) Coupling an elegant, sweet piano with the dark rock instruments and ayumi's deep, powerful voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The lyrics for
decision are some of ayu's best as well. But that shouldn't even need to be said, because everything she writes is near perfection. If your not going to listen to
GUILTY as a whole, at least pick up the
talkin' 2 myself single so you can hear it and
decision.
05 GUILTY
Oh, the title track. The song we've all been dying to hear. This is where the music starts to tone down a bit. Don't get me wrong though, we're still in the sort of dark, rock part of the album. However, we're getting close to a transition point. The song starts out slow. The first few seconds actually remind me of
Linkin' Park's What I've Done. There is very little background music in
GUILTY, compared to the first four tracks on the album. That doesn't take away from it at all though. The lyrics are some of vaguest and deep on the album and that's the exact feeling you'll get when you listen to
GUILTY. The feeling conveyed by the song is very at peace, but lost and static all at the same time. You can even get a sense of unsureness from ayu's voice as she's singing the chorus and the other verses as well.
06 fated
Yet another single track... Just like with
talkin' 2 myself and
decision when I heard the preview for
fated I was extremely excited to hear the full song. However, unlike
talkin' 2 myself and
decision I hated the song in full when I heard it.
fated is the first song on the album that is classified as more of a ballad than a rock song. The song isn't all that terrible. It just builds up and builds up so much over the verses for a climax that the chorus fails to deliver. This song isn't a total disappointment though, at least not when you listen to it with the rest of
GUILTY, for the climax that fated fails to deliver is delivered in the next track,
Together When... I've grown to like the song a lot more after listening to it between
GUILTY and
Together When...
07 Together When...
The first true ballad of the album,
Together When... The beginning of the song is very serene and comforting, the first few verses slowly build up for one of the most amazing choruses ayumi hamasaki has ever put together. This song was chosen as the final single from the album and was only released digitally, rather than physically like all of ayu's other singles. My favorite thing about
Together When... is definitely the lyrics. I know I've gone on and on about how good the lyrics to each song are, but
Together When... really takes the lyrical cake. The lyrics to each of the choruses are especially amazing.
Together When... is a wonderful, heart-felt, winter ballad. Classic of ayumi.
08 Marionette -prelude-
The first interlude on the album since the introduction,
Mirror,
Marionette -prelude- sets the stage for
Marionette.
Marionette -prelude- absolutely makes my skin crawl. It is definitely ayu's creepiest interlude since
WONDERLAND, of
MY STORY. It'll make you feel as if your being watched by thousands of tiny eyes, and as if your falling or suffocating. That makes it sound very bad though, however, it's quite an interesting experience. Just make sure your not sitting alone in your bedroom at 3 am trying to listen to it. That'd be a mistake.
09 Marionette
As I mentioned earlier,
decision wasn't the only '
peak of darkness' on the album. We've reached the second one with
Marionette. Perhaps
Marionette is the climax of the whole album. It blends exceptionally with
Marionette -prelude- and it's an extremely powerful and emotional song. It's a rather different turn for ayumi though, as the lyrics are full of references to death and giving up hope. Although her music has always had a dark side, she's never made references to things as dark as death or losing all hope before.
Marionette has amazing arrangement, acoustic orchestra meets violent rock sounds. What could be better?
Marionette is definitely the highlight of the album, gaining more attention than the title track,
GUILTY on more than one occasion. If your only going to choose one song off the album to listen to, be it
Marionette.
10 The Judgment Day
The Judgment Day is the second interlude on the album. I know what your thinking... Another interlude already? Yes, another interlude already. Come on, you know it was necessary.
Marionette is in a league of its own. Anyway, back on subject,
The Judgment Day. It begins as a quick paced rock track, reminiscent of a lot of the
tasuku interludes and
Not yet from
Secret. Around midway though it explodes into a full blown disco/trance track. The pipe organ along with ayumi's sweet voice accompanied by hymns in the background is definitely not something to miss out on, even if it is only an interlude. Now for the
glittery portion of the album...
11 glitter
glitter, glitter, glitter. I was really praying that this track would not be included on the album at first. I mean, come on! It doesn't fit with
fated,
talkin' 2 myself, or
decision at all! Although I didn't hate this song as much as
fated, I still disliked it quite a bit. But it's catchy and I mean it's ayumi, so of course it's cute, and it grew on me. I was sure
glitter was going to just absolutely kill the flow of
GUILTY. However, I was proved wrong once listening to the album in full. In fact, just as with
fated, listening to glitter with
GUILTY as a whole, the song really really grew on me and I've stopped skipping over it. It's a happy, bubbly, summery, pop song. Definitely a first on this album, so far. It'll be sure to perk you up after
Marionette's doom and gloom. Whatever you do, just don't skip this track. It's key in the flow of the album!
12 MY ALL
The beginning of
MY ALL makes me reminiscent of the
MY STORY Arena Tour.
MY ALL is the type of song that fits in well with
HONEY and
Replace from
MY STORY or even something as epic as
Boys & Girls or
girlish. It's a very upbeat song about reminiscing on the past, similar to
fairyland. It sounds like a mixture of
Beautiful Day and
Humming 7/4. If
glitter didn't plant a wide smile right on your face, then
MY ALL definitely will. You'll be swaying and bobbing back and forth as you listen to the chorus which you'll be eager to learn the words so you can sing along.
MY ALL is going to make an amazing live performance, as will many of the other tracks on the album.
13 reBiRTH
The final interlude,
reBiRTH begins very mystically. It feels like you've heard it before, maybe because it sounds quite similar to
LABYRINTH from 2006's
Secret! Regardless,
reBiRTH is still a nice, calming interlude. Oddly enough, it's also quite similar to
Utada Hikaru's Eclipse (Interlude). It does a great job of relaxing you and toning down the hype that glitter and
MY ALL left lingering the air. For the ending of the album is approaching.
14 untitled ~for her~
The final track of the album,
untitled ~for her~, sounds a little bit like
a song is born meets
Memorial address meets
Secret. But, in actuality, it really is unique to itself. The lyrics seem to be written to whoever '
she' is, most likely one of ayumi's childhood friends? Anyway,
untitled ~for her~ is certainly a proper closing to the album. Near the beginning of
GUILTY you'll feel angry and lost and near the middle it feels as if though you've found a flicker of hope but then it was wrongfully snuffed out and you've hit rock bottom. Then you've gotta pick yourself back up though and you move on as a better, stronger person.
untitled ~for her~ closes the album on just that type of note. It's definitely going to become a fan favorite, just as all the other ending tracks before it.
Overview:
At first glance,
GUILTY is nothing but another typical
ayumi hamasaki album with nothing new to offer. But it's really much more than that. The first few listens I felt like all of the songs were solid, but something was missing. It felt like there were songs cut right out of the middle of the album that made it incomplete, but after listening to the album a consecutive number of times you'll uncover the story it's trying to tell you. Then you can fully appreciate this gem.
GUILTY is one of
ayumi's deepest and most heartfelt albums since
Duty or
I am... Definitely a must buy for all her fans.
review by amorphose
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That's my review.
