CD Review :: BREAKERZ - GO
CD
CD + DVD A ; DVD contents - music videos that were released last year & this year
CD + DVD B ; DVD contents - a GO making recording documentary & the live performance of GO which took place at Nippon Budokan this year on 22nd July
1) GO
2) Gekijou (Passion)
3) Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou (Moonlight Magic Prank) (GO Version) 4) CHANGE THE WORLD
5) CLIMBER×CLIMBER
6) Present
7) Zettai (Absolutely) ! I LOVE YOU
8) Smile 100%
9) Sabishigariya (A Person Who Is Scared Of Being Lonely)
10) BUNNY LOVE
11) LAST † PRAY
12) Hoshi no Tabibito (Star Wanderer)
13) Orange Iro no Sora (Sky)
14) Destruction
GO is BREAKERZ's 5th album & it was released last week on 21st Sept .
The guys's last album release was 2009's FIGHTERZ & in GO , 4 double A-side singles are included even though in the tracklist , 2 A-sides hEaVeN & REAL LOVE 2010 have been excluded .
Except for 1 track , all lyrics in GO are written by frontman/lead singer DAIGO .
Sharing the same title as the album , it's the 1st track in the tracklist ie. GO .
GO was selected to be used as the ending theme no. for JAPAN COUNTDOWN starting this month in Sept & right now , it has been used in the ads of Fight Card ! Vanguard , with DAIGO appearing in the ads himself .
Just like the guys's previous album opening tracks such as in BIG BANG !'s BIG BANG ! & also FIGHTERZ's NEXT LEVEL , GO (the song) was written & composed by DAIGO .
GO doesn't have that strong impact on 1st listen but still after a few more listens , I can say it's 1 of the most interesting if not sliently strong opening track of an album .
It's a bit difficult to describe GO but all I can say's that lyrically & musically , it's really fantastic .
Gekijou (Passion) is the 1st A-side of the guys's 8th single Gekijou / hEaVeN & this song was used as the ending theme song for TV Asahi's Onegai ! Ranking last July .
As mentioned before , the 2nd A-side hEaVeN is not included in GO but the music video for the song is included in the CD + DVD A pressing of the album .
Despite Gekijou being the oldest single that's included in the album , I never fail to get a good kick or 2 after hearing Gekijou multiple times . It's a mean gritty aggressive song & the fact that DAIGO wrote & composed it , the song itself speaks volume (pun intended) .
Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou (Moonlight Magic Prank) is the 1st A-side of the band's 10th single Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou / CLIMBER x CLIMBER & it was used as the ending theme for the anime Detective Conan .
In here , Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou has been given a GO version but the treatment given is only minor in the sense that it's only the opening that's a bit longer than the single take .
With that said , the GO version of Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou is still fantastic & I love the slightly longer introduction piece that guitarist AKIHIDE incorporated since he composed it .
Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou is 1 of BREAKERZ's most unique sounding singles they have released in recent times with it having a really strong Japanese meets Oriental flair which's awesome .
CHANGE THE WORLD is the 2nd album track & just like Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou , this's also composed by AKIHIDE , with lyrics written by DAIGO .
On 1st listen , I thought CHANGE THE WORLD sounds like from where FIGHTERZ's DEAR LIAR left behind since both songs are equally mean aggressive sounding .
But what prevents CHANGE THE WORLD from sounding like a typical standard rock fare is the way the song's being composed , something that AKIHIDE's really good at since sometimes , his compositions might miss the mark but luckily that did not happen here .
CLIMBER x CLIMBER is the 2nd A-side of their 10th single Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou / CLIMBER x CLIMBER . This was used in the ads of Fight Card ! Vanguard , with DAIGO appearing in the ads himself prior to being replaced with GO eventually .
Perhaps due to the sheer brillance of Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou , it can be forgiven that CLIMBER x CLIMBER is quite overshadowed a lot in the process but it shouldn't stop listeners from enjoying this rather back to basics fuss free no. , with the melody that's composed by guitarist SHINPEI .
Present is the 3rd album track & just like CLIMBER x CLIMBER , SHINPEI composed it & it's also the only album track that he composed in GO as well .
I thought Present is such a sweet under-stated mid tempo ballad , especially after following a string of rather fast paced no.s in GO , it's nice to slow things down a bit .
In general , I really like SHINPEI's compositions . He doesn't compose as often as the other 2 but most of the time , for SHINPEI , it's quality over quantity for him .
Zettai (Absolutely) ! I LOVE YOU is the 2nd A-side of the guys's 11th single LAST † PRAY / Zettai ! I LOVE YOU .
DAIGO has a knack for writing/composing a variety of songs that suit different moods & in here , Zettai ! I LOVE YOU belongs to the fun peppy cheery category .
Zettai ! I LOVE YOU definitely contrasts the rather dark sounding LAST † PRAY extremely well & the song was written/composed by DAIGO under the theme that human beings really need love in life .
Concidentally or not , the next 2 album tracks are also written & composed by DAIGO too .
Smile 100% follows almost in the same vein as Zettai ! I LOVE YOU but what makes Smile 100% a real class of its own is 2 things . Firstly , the vocals of all 3 members can be heard in the song .
Secondly , 25 of their fanclub members serve as background vocals in Smile 100% which their voices can be heard after each of the member sings a line in the song .
As a result , I feel Smile 100% is 1 of the guys's most recent uniquely crafted tunes to date & it's definitely awesome that all 3 of them get to sing in Smile 100% , after they did such a wonderful job with regards to Arigatou (Thank You) ~Beautiful day~ .
Sabishigariya (A Person Who Is Scared Of Being Lonely) is the next song & for this , wow , I can't help but feel a rather big sense of nostalgia when I 1st heard Sabishigariya .
This song really reminds me a lot of the guys's older works , especially with regards to BIG BANG !'s Koko Kara Dashite (Let Me Get Out Of Here) & some of the songs found in their self titled debut album .
It has been quite a while since I heard such a song that DAIGO sung in a much lower vocal range than the norm too .
BUNNY LOVE is the 1st A-side of the group's 9th single BUNNY LOVE / REAL LOVE 2010 . The song was used in the ads for Rekochoku .
The 2nd A-side REAL LOVE 2010 is excluded in GO which's kind of expected , especially since the original take of the song was already found in their very 1st album .
Despite this , the music video for REAL LOVE 2010 is included in the CD + DVD A of GO , with it having an alternate plot that's different from the single take .
I had quite a fair bit of issue when BUNNY LOVE was released last Nov , as at that time , I felt it was not memorable on 1st listen with it being 1 of their weaker sounding A-sides at that time of release .
However naturally as time goes by , BUNNY LOVE stood the test of time & just like REAL LOVE (2010) , the lyrical content of BUNNY LOVE is pretty raunchy & can be considered as 1 of the group's most adult like no.s being offered in their discography .
LAST † PRAY is the 1st A-side of the guys's 11th single LAST † PRAY / Zettai ! I LOVE YOU & this song was used as the opening theme for TBS's CDTV this year in July .
This's also the last A-side single that's found in GO .
Just like BUNNY LOVE , LAST † PRAY was written by DAIGO & composed by AKIHIDE but to say that there's a difference between how both songs sound like , it's an understatement .
While BUNNY LOVE is a sexy sounding jazz inspired track , for LAST † PRAY , it takes on a more darker & gothic feeling .
BREAKERZ never had such a song in their discography before & perhaps it's no surprises that LAST † PRAY , alongside with Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahou , are 2 of the band's most unique sounding songs they released recently & hats off to AKIHIDE for having a knack in composing both tunes respectively .
And speaking of AKIHIDE , the next song Hoshi no Tabibito (Star Wanderer) is something that he wrote & composed .
Hoshi no Tabibito is also the only song in GO that DAIGO did not provided the lyrics for too .
In a radio show broadcast , AKIHIDE explained that the inspiration that came when he wrote & composed Hoshi no Tabibito was that this song was inspired by March 11th earthquake/tsunami .
It's a bit freaky to say this but I couldn't help but had strong vibes of DAIGO☆STARDUST when I 1st heard Hoshi no Tabibito , especially since AKIHIDE did composed a few tracks in DAIGO☆STARDUST's 2nd/final album HELLO CRAZY GENTLEMAN as well .
I really don't know if that's a good or bad thing but I must admit Hoshi no Tabibito is very AKIHIDE . It's no Orion or Snow Rose but the closest I can describe Hoshi no Tabibito is that it's a more dreamier & peppier version of CRASH & BUILD's Hoshi ni Negai wo (Wish On A Star) .
Orange Iro no Sora (Sky) is the 2nd last track & I feel this's 1 of my fave album tracks in GO , simply because it's such an earnest sounding no. .
I love the preview of Orange Iro no Sora & I wasn't surprised that I was going to like the full version as it basically sounds like from where FIGHTERZ's Bokura (Us) left , except in this case unlike Bokura that DAIGO wrote & composed it , in here , Orange Iro no Sora is written by DAIGO while the melody's composed by AKIHIDE .
Then again , this combination usually works & it's evident when comes to Orange Iro no Sora & also in the CD sleeves , AKIHIDE is being credited as the 1 who plays the harmonica in the song too .
Destruction is the final track in GO & for this , it's written & composed by DAIGO .
I must admit , Destruction is the song that I was most unwilling to hear in full , especially since from the preview I have heard prior to the release of GO , it really does remind me of Ao no Mirai's DESTROY CRASHER , for it being rather random sounding .
However my opinion on Destruction kind of change when I heard the full song . Something about the melody in Destruction screams out being rather cool , even though I was a bit shocked at the end of the song , with DAIGO giving such a high pitched screech , something that was not present in any of their songs before .
DAIGO had to record Destruction twice , so much so that after the 2nd take , his throat suffered but I suppose the ending result speaks for itself , with the amount of energy & gusto he put into Destruction .
BREAKERZ will be celebrating their 5th anniversary next July & in the impending months before this happened , they finally released their new album GO after a 2 years wait .
During the time transition from FIGHTHERZ to GO , the guys have displayed a significant growth & maturity in their music . Also , as each release of theirs goes by , they have become much more stronger , musically .
I never fail to say this on my blog but they're the only artiste that I never fail to promote a great deal . Even though I listen/support other artistes , BREAKERZ is the only band I take a lot of pride & joy in promoting on a regular basis .
With regards to GO , I don't think it's fair to compare it against FIGHTERZ (which to me that's still a superb great sounding album) . Instead , I feel that GO borrowed quite a lot of elements from their older works & it's these traits that they incorporated in their new album , which gives a mixture of both the old & new sides of the group .
Just like FIGHTERZ , GO is a really enjoyable album to listen to from the start to the end & BREAKERZ has definitely come a long way from their early days & the fans have spoken also in that GO is now officially their best charting album to date in the Oricon album chart .
With the release of GO , BREAKERZ has cemented their position as 1 of the most handworking if not talented JRock groups in recent times .
Definitely a shoo in for album of the year & being a long time fan of the guys , I couldn't be anymore happier for them than anything else .
