Tracks:
1. WORLD END
2. HEAVENLY STARS
3. PULSE
4. SNOW FLAKE ~Kioku no Koshitsu~ (Album Version)
5. ANTHEM
6. BRAND-NEW DAY
7. Akai Siren
8. Antares
9. MUSIC
11. Butterfly
12. Rakuen Tengoku
FLOW’s #5 was released on January 28th, 2009. It’s their 6th album and it debuted at #19 on the Oricon Weekly Charts.
Finally! An agressive song that isn’t annoying! HEAVENLY STARS is a pretty awesome song I will admit. The guitar riffs are amazing and they’re the best I’ve heard from FLOW so far. The vocals are a little gruff and aggressive, but that’s okay since the song is good.
We have an Album Version of SNOW FLAKE ~Kioku no Koshitsu~, the single prior to this album. The only change is it’s about a minute longer and features and extra chorus and elongated instrumental lines. I didn’t think this was the best A-side of the era, but it’s still a nice change of pace from the usual electric guitar-based songs.
Wooo for upbeat rock songs~ Which is exactly what ANTHEM is. I love the beginning of this song with the elongated ad-libbing. This track features kind of singing/rapping during the verses, which I thought was a cool edition to the song. This is probably my favourite song on the album because it’s a lot more light-hearted and has a really catchy and upbeat chorus.
BRAND-NEW DAY is another happy upbeat track, but is even more than the previous track. This song has a more prominent use of drums, that really make the song sound more cheery. I like the catchy English lyrics during the chorus, “Out of my way! Out of my life! Shiny brand-new day!
Well, the good streak had to end sometime. At first, Akai Siren sounded pretty awesome with it’s heavy guitar riffs, but the vocals leave something to be desired. It would be an amazing song if the vocals were touched up a lot.
I felt the same way with Antares, the beginning sounded really cool with its ethnic(?) chants, but then the song turns into a really boring rockish/reggae song. This time it was the opposite though. This song had nice vocals but a pretty boring arrangment.
I love strings of bad songs. Which we continue with MUSIC. This song is bad in both areas, meaning musically and vocally. The instrumental tries to hard to be… I dunno… “aggressive” and the vocals are too gruff and raspy. Luckily this song has its redeeming moment, which is during the chorus. But that’s not enough to save the rest of the song.
LUCKILY, the chain is broken with Butterfly. I really like that it calms things down a bit. I love the ethereal echoeyness of this whole song. The vocals sounds really nice as well. I wasn’t expecting so much guitar from a song like this, because it’s so ambient.
Rakuen Tengoku is the PERFECT way to end the album. I love the crazyness and fun in this song, and it’s evident that FLOW had a fun time making this song since there’s laughing during random parts of it. This song is probably one of the more unique ones since it features a loud brass section and happy upbeat guitar. This song is tied with ANTHEM for my favourite on the album!
I thought this album was a pretty good one. Though FLOW isn’t the most amazing band I’ve ever heard, they have really strong vocals and some pretty catchy riffs. I liked most of this album, but it kind of goes downhill after BRAND-NEW DAY, but gets better as it comes to Butterfly. I think FLOW could do a lot better with their more aggressive songs if they make their vocals not as gruff and weird. It’ll make the songs sound a lot stronger. Other than that, this was a pretty good album!
Overall Grade:
