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Well, I finally received the album from my boyfriend who came back from Japan earlier this week. After cutting myself off from listening to the leaked files and pvs I'm now finally able to listen to it! Yay! I'm going to review it as I go along.
1. Mirror: 10/10
Wow, this song has a very interesting marching band beat before it totally jumps into some hard rock. Great opener to get your attention.
2. (don't) Leave me alone: 9/10
So she's making synths and rock in this song, hmm? It seems to work for the most part as it flows pretty well but I wish it had a stronger chorus/hook. The acapella bit at the end was a bit random. Pretty good but just a few minor things would have made it better.
3. talkin' 2 myself: 9/10
Ah, I remember buying the single for this. I loved the rocking guitars and verses/choruses. The pv for it was pretty good too, but it needed something a bit more. Though I think I overplayed it too much so I got kind of tired of hearing it. Some parts sound a bit messy in areas.
4. decision 9/10
The other song on the single, I don't know why they put the two of them right next to each other, I already heard them on the single this way, and a different sequence might have been better. Still, this is a good song but it has the almost exact same melody/arrangement. I love the vocal bridge though, that part is always awesome to me.
5. GUILTY: 10/10
From the previews this was my favorite song and it didn't disappoint. The beginning reminded me of Mirror and it probably would have flowed better had it been placed next to it with (don't) Leave me alone being the song to break up talkin' 2 myself and decision. Still I love this song. I like how her voice sounds over the background music before the guitars break in. Awesome song, I love it so much!
6. fated: 6.5/10
I don't know what to say about this song because I really don't care for it. Her voice sounds rather dry and lackluster without that much emotion in it (well to me anyway). It tries to build itself to a grand climax but it just doesn't go anywhere and leaves you going, "What? That's it?" The ballad to put it mildly is kind of boring, and I liked its upbeat counterpart much better.
7. Together When...: 10/10
At first when I heard this ballad I didn't like it that much but after watching many lives and going through repeated listens I grew to love it and now it's one of my most played songs as of recent. The arrangement is a refreshing change from the norm and I love the emotion she puts in it.
8. Marionette -prelude-: 9.5/10
Heh, another one of those creepy interludes. I like it, gives me slight chills. Reminds me of, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," where the person receives a portrait of himself and wishes he didn't grow other but the picture did. So, whenever he does terrible things over the years it shows up on the portrait but not him, which come back to haunt him as things get worse and worse for the character until finally he goes nuts and slashes the painting. He falls back and starts bleeding, having stabbed himself and dies, while the portrait goes back to looking young. Haha. Reminds me of that. Kind of weird, huh? Wish it didn't have that upbeat sort of end, kind of messes with my image. LoL.
9. Marionette: 9/10
The prelude flows very nicely into this song. It's sort of slow with epic sounding choruses. It's actually pretty good but I liked the prelude slightly better than the song.
10. The Judgement Day: 8/10
This songs has some weird creepy sort of beginning reminds me a bit of the Phantom of the Opera, but then it jumps into a fast, upbeat dance track that I wasn't expecting. Awesome! but I wished she did more than just go lalala and that it was slightly longer. Oh well. Still a good interlude.
11. glitter: 7/10
This song is so happy and sugary that when it comes on you're like, "What the heck?!" Sort of disrupts the thematic flow that she had going on but after a while you sort of getting into it. I don't really care for the intrusive engrish she throws in here and there. It has its sort of appeal though as you get caught up in the chorus, but its previous predecessors were much better.
12. MY ALL: 10/10
A nice pop song that isn't littered with overt rock influences. I actually rather like this song, I had it stuck in my head from the countdown performance, and the real thing is just as good. It's a good happy song to calm you down after the in your face sugary-ness of glitter but still keep it on a up note. Very good.
13. reBIRTH: 7/10
Another interlude. It's kind of dry and serves no real purpose really but it's decent. There's nothing that stands out about this track to distinguish it from its predecessors from other albums, so it kind of brings down the album just a bit.
14. untitled ~for her~: 10/10
Oh, what a wonderful way to end this album. It's soft and simple with Ayu's beautiful vocals singing with emotion and sincerity. The lyrics were touching as well. It's not over-dramatic or trying to be something it's not. It is what it is and I love it for it. It's not a wonder why I cried to this song when she sang this live because it's an honest reflection of her feelings and you can't help but channel her pain.
Overall, this album was great. Much better than Secret, which I didn't care for much after all. I wished the glitter/fated single was never made as it brought the album down a lot but the rest of the songs more than made up for it.
Final Score: 8.5 ~ 9/10
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