CD
2 CDs
2nd CD tracklist - acoustic songs . Disc is named Acoustic Sessions
1) Samurai Heart (Some Like It Hot !!) ; 4th single
2) RAGE OF DUST ; 19th single
3) Be with ; 20th single
4) Supersonic ; track #8 in 3rd album MILLION
5) Stand by me ; track #12 in 4th album 4
Tracklist for all 3 versions
1) THE WORLD IS MINE
2) RAGE OF DUST
3) MIDNIGHT
4) Scramble
5) Kimi ga Ita Natsu
6) THIS IS HOW WE ROCK
7) BRING IT ON ~Battle of Rap~
8) Don't Look Back
9) Brand New Days
10) C!RCUS
11) Goldship
12) Be with
The group's last studio album release was 2015's 4 . KINGDOM was released in 3 versions , CD , 2 CDs (2nd disc has 5 acoustic songs) & CD + DVD .
4 singles , 1 special single & 2 B-sides are included in the new album .
Kicking things off in KINGDOM is THE WORLD IS MINE which was a special single that only can be purchased at JUST LIKE THIS 2017 outdoor concert .
THE WORLD IS MINE was used as the theme song for JUST LIKE THIS 2017 . A video containing digest footages from JUST LIKE THIS 2017 was made for the song & it's included in the DVD of KINGDOM .
In addition , THE WORLD IS MINE was also chosen to be used as the opening theme song for TBS's CDTV for this & next month .
I'm so relieved SPYAIR included THE WORLD IS MINE in KINGDOM as prior to that , I've heard the edited version of the song which I really like & I feel it's a great choice to make it as the album's opening track .
The next 2 songs are singles before KINGDOM was released .
RAGE OF DUST was released as SPYAIR's 19th single & it was used as the opening theme no. for the 2nd season of the Mobile Suit Gundam : Iron-Blooded Orphans anime . The song was described as a positive & powerful message song that portrays the theme of 'battle' .
MIDNIGHT is SPYAIR's 21st single & it was used to promote Fuji TV's Utsubokazura no Yume drama . It was the most single release prior to KINGDOM .
Album track Scramble was chosen to be used as the theme song to promote the upcoming new Gintama Ranbu PlayStation4 / PlayStation Vita that will be released in Jan 2018 .
Past single songs of SPYAIR that were used to promote the Gintama anime franchise included 4th single Samurai Heart (Some Like It Hot!!) {ending theme} , 10th single Sakura Mitsutsuki (opening theme) & 12th single Genjou Destruction (theme song for Gintama : The Movie : The Final Chapter : Be Forever Yorozuya) .
After a considerable number of upbeat songs , things slow down considerably in the form of the mid tempo Kimi ga Ita Natsu & this's the 2nd longest track in KINGDOM after Be with .
THIS IS HOW WE ROCK was released as SPYAIR's 18th single & it was used as the theme song for last year's JUST LIKE THIS 2016 outdoor concert .
BRING IT ON ~Battle of Rap~ was originally included as a B-side track in SPYAIR's 20th single Be with & this song features a rap battle between vocalist IKE & guitarist UZ .
Don't Look Back & Brand New Days are 2 new album tracks back to back . Don't Look Back is aggressive sounding just like RAGE OF DUST while Brand New Days goes into synth usage overdrive which makes this song a class of its own .
C!RCUS was originally included as the B-side track of SPYAIR's 19th single RAGE OF DUST . This was used as the theme song to promote SPYAIR's 2nd Arena tour , SPYAIR ARENA TOUR 2016-2017 『Mafuyu no Dai Circus 』 .
When I 1st reviewed RAGE OF DUST , I really like C!RCUS so I'm pleased to see it made the cut in KINGDOM as it's still such a fun song to listen to .
Goldship is the last album track & this's a bit on the weaker side as it took me a while to remember how the song sounds like but aside from that , Goldship is an uplifting track .
Concluding KINGDOM is the ballad Be with which was released as SPYAIR's 20th single .
Overall I really enjoy listening to SPYAIR's latest album KINGDOM . 1 thing I notice about their past album releases is that the album tracks tend to be on par if not sound more superior than the single songs which's not an easy thing to do especially since they don't have a habit of including interlude in their albums .
I find it interesting that in KINGDOM there're 2 songs which were used in both last year & this year's JUST LIKE THIS outdoor concerts . Not sure if it's coincidental though .
Also , I like the acoustic songs that're included in the 2nd disc of KINGDOM . Out of the 5 songs given the acoustic treatment , I feel the acoustic take of Be with is the weakest as it doesn't elevate the original take of the song that much .
But the acoustic versions of the other 4 songs were good . Samurai Heart (Some Like It Hot !!) done acoustic was a nice surprise while the acoustic take of RAGE OF DUST more or less managed to retain the same attitude as the original .
Also hearing the acoustic take of Supersonic was interesting as I didn't expect that as I thought maybe Winding Road might get an acoustic treatment and lastly , acoustic take of Stand by me was good & it has become a favourite song of SPYAIR to perform during their recent concerts/tours during the encore segment .
End of the day , it's great to see how much SPYAIR has progressed since their early humble indie days . Fans have speculated that the round circle below the M word on the KINGDOM covers is Tokyo Dome & I don't see why SPYAIR is unable to perform in a future Dome tour where they already did so well for their 2 Arena tours .