CD Review :: L'Arc~en~Ciel - BUTTERFLY
Cover for both CD only & 2CDs + DVD
1) CHASE
2) X X X
3) Bye Bye
4) GOOD LUCK MY WAY –BUTTERFLY Ver.-
5) BLESS
6) shade of season
7) DRINK IT DOWN
8) wild flower
9) SHINE
10) NEXUS 4
11) Mirai Sekai (Future World)
BUTTERFLY is L'Arc~en~Ciel's 11th major label album & this was released a few days ago on 8th Feb .
The group's last album release was 2007's KISS & in their latest album offering , 6 singles are included in BUTTERFLY , inclusive of a double A-side single .
CHASE is the group's 39th single & it was used as the theme song for the movie Wild 7 .
The most recent release included before BUTTERFLY , perhaps it's no surprises that CHASE is slotted in as the 1st song in the tracklist .
X X X is L'Arc~en~Ciel's 38th single & this was the 2nd single release of 2011 in celebrating their 20th anniversary .
Pronounced as Kiss Kiss Kiss , X X X is still something that I enjoy & it's 1 of the more recent unique tracks I've ever come across from the group . It's hard to describe X X X but think of it as a mix mash of a slow meet fast paced rock song coupled with fanciful gorgeous orchestra beats .
Bye Bye is the 1st album track & this song was actually 1st performed 5 years ago at the 15th L'Anniversary live .
Since I never heard the live take of Bye Bye , all I can say's that Bye Bye is a very enduring beautiful track & I suppose what captivated me in liking Bye Bye instantly has to be the melody .
Immediately when Bye Bye starts , there's this really memorising orchestra sound that's combined with trumpet & drum beats , the final result that gives rise to this really solid track .
GOOD LUCK MY WAY is the group's 37th single & promo wise , it was used as the ending theme song for the Fullmetal Alchemist movie Hagane no Renkinjutsushi : Milos no Sei-Naru Hoshi & as the commercial song for Rekochoku .
In here , the song has been renamed as GOOD LUCK MY WAY –BUTTERFLY Ver.- specially for the album tracklist .
This's yet another solid single that I like & something about GOOD LUCK MY WAY is very cheery sounding . Mixing no nonsense guitar riffs & subtle touches of orchestra , the result gives GOOD LUCK MY WAY .
BLESS is L'Arc~en~Ciel's 36th single & this was used as the theme song for the NHK broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver .
The only single release that they put out 2 years ago , BLESS is a heartwarming ballad & it definitely embodies the spirit of the Winter Olympics very well . Even though BLESS has been released for quite a while , I still never fail to get captivated with this song .
shade of season is the 2nd album track & this's quite a moody sounding track which's drastically different from the 1st few songs of BUTTERFLY's tracklist .
In here , shade of season presents a rather sombre mood & I couldn't help but wonder that this song would be something pretty suitable to be used in a blood thirsty video game .
DRINK IT DOWN is L'Arc~en~Ciel's 34th single & this was used as the theme song for the PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360 game DEVIL MAY CRY 4 .
The oldest single included in BUTTERFLY , DRINK IT DOWN was 1 of the 1st few songs I heard of L'Arc~en~Ciel before I eventually became a fan of the band .
With a video game that's titled DEVIL MAY CRY 4 , to say that DRINK IT DOWN is a downright bad ass sounding track is an understatement .
Even though this has been released close to 4 years ago , I still tend to get the chills & shivers from hearing DRINK IT DOWN & definitely it's not something to listen at night & that goes for seeing the video of the song too .
wild flower is the 2nd last album track & this's quite a dreamy sounding track . It tend to tread on the boring side as in the beginning , I wasn't impressed with this song .
But after a while , wild flower actually grown on me a fair bit but I wouldn't consider this as my fave album track but it's still something worth checking out for .
The last 2 songs are concidentally the only double A-side single included in BUTTERFLY except in this case , both double A-sides have been interswitched with each other .
NEXUS 4 / SHINE is L'Arc~en~Ciel's 35th single & this's the final single included in BUTTERFLY .
In BUTTERFLY's tracklist , SHINE follows suit 1st followed by NEXUS 4 .
SHINE was used as the opening theme for the anime Seirei no Moribito & I credit the music video of this song as the 1 that turned me into a fan of the guys as before that , I was merely a casual listener of L'Arc~en~Ciel .
But after hearing/seeing the SHINE video , I was really blown away by just how beautiful everything's , from the visual & hearing aspects of SHINE . Despite the fact that it has been a good 4 years since NEXUS 4 / SHINE was released , this's still intact in my memory .
On the other hand , NEXUS 4 was used in the ads of SUBARU Legacy .
I still remembered NEXUS 4 was actually the 1st L'Arc~en~Ciel song I've heard but at that time , I wasn't really impressed with the song so much . Even up to now , I still find NEXUS 4 a-ok sounding , especially since there're many other L'Arc~en~Ciel singles that I prefer/like over NEXUS 4 .
The final track in BUTTERFLY is also the last album track which's titled Mirai Sekai (Future World) .
To say that Mirai Sekai is a dreamy winter sounding track is an understatement & that's exactly what I felt when I 1st heard Mirai Sekai . I couldn't help but compare Mirai Sekai with Hurry X'mas since they're almost similiar sounding though .
But with that said , I think they couldn't have picked a better song to conclude BUTTERFLY with Mirai Sekai which I feel it's great .
After close to 20 years in the music business , L'Arc~en~Ciel can be still considered as 1 of the most affluent rock bands to ever grace the jrock scene as they've inspired countless musicians with their sound & with the release of their new album BUTTERFLY , it comes at a time when they've plans to celebrate 20 years of being in the business in 2012 .
Album wise , I suppose for L'Arc~en~Ciel fans , they might find BUTTERFLY pretty much of a rip off since 6 singles are included in this album & comparing the number of new material available in BUTTERFLY against KISS , it's not helping matters either .
The release gap between KISS & BUTTERFLY is also very long as well . KISS was 1 of the 1st few Japanese albums I've heard & it's still an album that I enjoyed til date .
But for BUTTERFLY , while I do like most of the singles that're included , I couldn't help but felt a bit disappointed that the number of new songs here is very little & as a result , for the album tracks to stack up against the singles , it's tough holding the fort .
With that said , I still feel that BUTTERFLY is an enjoyable album coming from L'Arc~en~Ciel & the only drawback I felt this album has was the lack of new material that had potential to get overshadowed by the singles but thankfully that's not the case .
Hopefully I wouldn't have to wait for another 4 more years for the group to release their next album but until then , here's another 20 more years of living legacy that will befall on L'Arc~en~Ciel !
