Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - View Single Post - A ONE thoughts and reviews
View Single Post
  #11  
Old 4th April 2015, 09:07 PM
koumori's Avatar
koumori koumori is offline
RAINBOW Guardian

 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Finland
Posts: 8,500
a Bell: I like this. Ayu has always had two main sides to her - the elegant and delicate part, and then the kick-ass queen. This intro to the album leading into WARNING was like this album was meant to represent both of these parts - that's just the impression I recieved.
WARNING: Catchy, although a little repetitive by the end. I liked the echoed long notes during the chorus and her vocals sound strong.
NO FUTURE: I really liked this! Her vocals are nice and it builds up nicely to the more dramatic end. The song almost gets a little repetitive but the last two minutes makes up for it.
Anything for You: I really liked the preview, and the whole song is beautiful. I loved the key change near the end and Ayu's voice holds up well. Despite being 7+ minutes long, it doesn't feel that way. Given Ayu's ballads are very hit and miss with me, I'm pretty impressed.
Last minute: I liked Last minute the best out of the Zutto... single, but I've listened to it a lot since then and it sounds a bit tired in the midst of all the new songs. I'm also a bit iffy about the song placement from here onwards in the album... but it's still a solid song nonetheless.
Zutto...: It's a nice song, but that's about it. It drags slightly and I was looking forward to it ending.
Out of Control: I think I would have enjoyed this more if it hadn't been after Zutto.... The album at this point started to merge into a blurry tracklist after the great beginning of a Bell-WARNING-NO FUTURE-Anything for You and although Out of Control is nice, I feel it lacks a part that can make it stand out for itself amongst other medium ballads.
Story: Another medium ballad and it begins to just get a bit same-ish at this point. Nice chorus and Ayu's vocals are good but there's nothing particularly memorable about it right now.
The GIFT: I love the piano in this. Although I think I enjoyed this less because of the batch of songs before it, the intro and outro are still gorgeous and it is a nice little ballad.
The Show Must Go On: I love it! It really wakes up the album and Ayu genuinely sounds like she's having fun with this one. Can't wait to see it live.
Walk: It's a 'nice' song but with Story and Out of Control already filling the slots of 'nice medium ballads'... I feel The Show Must Go On should have closed the album, or perhaps been placed different to break up all the ballads. Walk is nice but it just feels like the album fell asleep half-way through, woke up near the end only to nap again.
Movin' On Without You: A last minute (no pun intended) addition to the album, I do like this cover but it felt out of place at the end here. I feel it could have done better near the middle of the album. Still an excellent cover song nonetheless

I'm looking forward to hearing the new version of Tell All, but in the meantime I'll give this album a 6.5/10. There's some really good songs here but unfortunately overall the tracklist fell flat for me in the middle. Still a good album and I think it'll grow on me a lot more over another few listens, but this is my first impression post.

Last edited by koumori; 4th April 2015 at 09:10 PM.
Reply With Quote