Kalafina 3rd Album「After Eden」

  • Thread starter Thread starter elcazador
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This album turned out to be much better than I expected, though I'm not sure if it's because of the low expectations I had after listening to the samples.

Eden is really bleh. While I enjoy the usual standard Kajiura, there is hardly any emotion in this song except for the elegant outro. sandpiper is creative and unique as I expected, making it one of my favorites on the album. The sad vocals and various traditional instruments create a very relaxing yet depressing mood. 九月 is a decent listen, the piano arrangements and vocals sound really nice. in your eyes is certainly creative and invigorating with its blend of bass, guitar, synths, conga drums, and sitar. The vocal arrangement on the other hand sounds lazy and just plain cheesy. An instrumental version would probably work better as background music.

destination unknown is one of those rare tracks that makes me wonder "whoa, how did the composer come up with this?". I really love the electric guitar during the second half of the verses. It switches easily from being warm yet dark to bright and uplifting while working in harmony with the soothing vocals. This track might not only be my favorite on the album, but my favorite Kalafina track overall. neverending sounds like an early demo for 光の旋律. While the vocals are beautiful, they end up sounding bland through the repetitive arrangement. ことのは is really relaxing and sounds like a leftover from Seventh Heaven.

While I love magnolia's synths and guitar, I can only get into the guitar solo and chorus with its entrancing vocals. The rest of the song just doesn't have any noticeable qualities to me. The same applies to 胸の行方, which has bland "generic pop" verses, but harmonic and uplifting choruses. The bridge is probably my favorite part where the mood and arrangement changes very quickly, but no part feels out of place. Finally, the full version of symphonia is really powerful, and feels more grand than I first remembered on HISTORIA's second soundtrack.

Overall, enjoyable but could be improved greatly. This album could have been amazing if Kajiura went out of her comfort zone and created more masterpieces like sandpiper and destination unknown.
 
Re:

Pontianak said:
I think they're very pretty and I really do like them, but I like other songs more, and I'm kind of really picky about which ballads I do actually like, since the structure makes it easy for them to sound similar.
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Very good point :ayashii:

Pontianak said:
Whenever I get tired, it's extremely difficult to stop myself from being extremely sarcastic, so... I was sort of mocking other people's criticisms of "snow falling" by making that entire opinion snide and sarcastic. In fact, the entire post after "Kotonoha" was highly sarcastic.

Sorry about that. :bow:
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Ah, now I understand. Sorry...you're so good at being sarcastic that sometimes it's very hard for me to tell if you're actually being sarcastic or not. Most of the time that's a good thing, but other times I get confused :spotlight:

Anyway, I think I'll avoid this topic until I get my album, lest my expectations be drastically lowered or erased altogether :bow:

EDIT

Acid, thank you so much for liking Destination Unknown...it gives me hope! :plz:
 
Re:

Pontianak said:
ことのは: It's like two minutes, why would anyone have suicidal inclinations after listening to it.
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Because it's boring to DEATH. To avoid further discussions, I note it in bold - this is my personal opinion, I don't insist that it's the only right one.
Pontianak said:
What a melodramatic thing to say. You know who would never have said that? Jesus Christ. And do you know why he would not have said that? Because he was a manly badass and had great testicular fortitude. You didn't see Jesus complaining when he was dragging that cross up to crucify himself on, did you? No.

Learn from Jesus Christ and grow a pair.
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I'm sorry, I don't accept imaginary people as my teachers.
Please, spare me your comments.
 
@ninetales
Snow falling hasn't changed a bit, and I love this stupid song since the first day I listened to the full version.
 
Sorry...you're so good at being sarcastic that sometimes it's very hard for me to tell if you're actually being sarcastic or not.
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I appreciate that you said this. It made me have nice feelings.

I'm sorry, I don't accept imaginary people as my teachers.
Please, spare me your comments.
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reaction shot:

8cef77767e197abec6610da54b65f0b0.jpg
 
lol pontianak's review was a lot of fun to read :XD:
I get bored easily of slow songs so most of this album is good for me; it feels like there were less super slow pieces than Red Moon. I like "In your eyes" outside of the chorus! It has a catchy tune. The chorus could take some getting used to though

The mune no yukue preview sounded awesome but i think in the full length the verses are too long before they get to the cool part!

so Kalafina = FJ with kaori switched for hikaru
 
Re:

Pontianak said:
ことのは: It's like two minutes, why would anyone have suicidal inclinations after listening to it. What a melodramatic thing to say. You know who would never have said that? Jesus Christ. And do you know why he would not have said that? Because he was a manly badass and had great testicular fortitude. You didn't see Jesus complaining when he was dragging that cross up to crucify himself on, did you? No.

Learn from Jesus Christ and grow a pair.
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why would you bash someone else for their opinion? if they think it's a great song to commit suicide after listening to it, so be it. it's their opinion. not yours, theirs. and bringing "jesus christ" into it? LOL okay.

i'm not trying to come off as a jerk. you might think it's a great song. i think it's a wonderful song. someone else might think it's an awful song. that's great. we all are free to think whatever we wish to. no need to bash each other over it and tell people to "grow a pair".


anyways, i couldn't help it. downloaded it. and i seriously skipped most of the songs hahaha. i'm super in love with magnolia~ :dote:
 
Finally can hear the songs. This is my impression of the songs:

1. Eden : Everlasting song got crossed with voyagers,and additional extra flute. Weird overlaying vocals. Weird composition. Disappointing.
Oh, Keiko got a final line :D

2. sandpiper : serenato got crossed with lotus. Kajiura must be inspired to make this song when seeing again the girls singing serenato and Wakana sings solo in lotus in YK live vol. 7. Nice song,actually.

3. Magia : Still love the song. Keiko's bridge still and will always fly me to heaven.

4. Kugatsu : Gloria,Kagayaku Sora and Natsu no Ringo got crossed this time. Nice song, but forgettable.

5. in your eyes : Nice song, kinda like love come down with jungle-rythm inside it. Love Wakana's chorus instead of Hikaru. Keiko got a line too this time. Keiko's line is awesomely sexy. AWW. Hate Hikaru's stanzas because she sings it too open-ly.

6. destination unknown : Great song, Kinda like Magia, but this one is harder. Keiko's part still blow me away. If Keiko could sing the stanzas,why does it have to be opened with Hikaru's voice?

7. neverending : The intro is the intro of forest. The stanzas is Hikari no Senritsu. Forest got crossed with Hikari no Senritsu this time. Hikaru sounded different this time. Listening to the lyrics and it's somewhat actually "forest" got translated to Japanese,actually.

Track 1 to 7 is opened with Hikaru's voice. Got tired of her voice at this point.

8. Kotonoha : Finally, a song that didn't begin with Hikaru's voice. Lovestruck. Mysterious,Elegant,although it's somewhat intermezzo got crossed with Haru wa Kogane and a bit of utsukushisa feeling inside. Love this one much more than intermezzo. Just cut Hikaru's part.

9. Magnolia : LOVESTRUCK 'TIL DEATH! Keiko begins the song beautifully mysterious. Beh, Hikaru comes again. Love the chorus. Wakana is always love. fantasia got crossed with Kyrie,for me.

10. Kagayaku Sora : still love the song. lovely ballad. although basically it's everytime you kissed me.

11. Mune no Yukue : Finally a song that has a lot of Keiko. until Hikaru comes again. Nice and refreshing song. Not so Tarzan / Lion King-ish,actually. Mood maker of song of the album,along with in your eyes.

12. snow falling : love this song since the first day it released.Love Hikaru in this one. Onpu no nai ritarudando--------

13. symphonia : just like snow falling. Love this song and it won't change.


Overall :
Hikaru really owns this album. Track 1-7 is opened with her voice. Not that I hate her voice,my username comes from her line in snow falling. But to listen her for 7 tracks straight is boring. Especially the songs is not really new songs.

Good Thing is Kajiura mind to give Keiko some lines on the songs. Unlike in seventh heaven and red moon where Keiko only be constant harmonizer in some songs and don't even get solo line, this time Keiko got lots of solo line. In Eden (final line), Magia (bridge), in your eyes (middle), destination unknown (middle), neverending (middle), Magnolia (beginning,middle,ending), even Kajiuran in Kagayaku Sora,3 lines in snow falling plus the shinjite mitakunaru,and in symphonia she got the opening part and in the middle.

Wakana is poorly left behind this time. She only got chorus (reff) in most of songs, and got less in stanzas. But Still,Wakana is LOVE. LOVE.

Most of the songs are Kajiura's old songs got a bit re-arranged. She must be inspired to creates the song while listening to the girls singing in their (Kalafina) live concerts, and in YK lives, seeing that sandpiper is lotus, neverending is forest, and Kagayaku sora is everytime you kissed me.

My ranking for the songs :

1. Magnolia,Mune no Yukue,symphonia
2. in your eyes,Kotonoha,snow falling
3. destination unknown,neverending,Magia
4. sandpiper,Kagayaku Sora
5. Kugatsu,Eden

Eden is my least favourite in this album. Well, since I'm not really a big fans of red moon from red moon, so this is the second Kalafina's album titular track that didn't get my attention.
 
My thoughts about the new songs:

Eden: Madoka is jesus image song, NEXT!

sandpiper: blargh

kugatsu: kinda like it, might grow on me

in your eyes: LOL, potential live cancer

destination unknown: don't think it's the FJYUUKA one (at least the music). I like it (despite of the annoying SFX)

neverending: quite surprising, it's very storia-ish, i like it, especially hikaru at the very start :nosebleed: i don't think we have ever heard that way of singing from her, it almost sounds like a complete different person (at least for me)

kotonoha: blargh

magnolia: love come down remix, like it :)

mune no yukue: so tsubasa chronicle, NEXT!

acid said:
Overall, enjoyable but could be improved greatly. This album could have been amazing if Kajiura went out of her comfort zone
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THIS
 
Kawaii Girl Japan featuring Kalafina episode III

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0deBXHdQFo[/youtube]

W: I brush my tooth before stage
K: I do stretching before stage
H: I do nothing in Particular before stage


:ohoho:


anyway, im still waiting for the FLAC of after eden :rain:
 
acid wrote:
Overall, enjoyable but could be improved greatly. This album could have been amazing if Kajiura went out of her comfort zone
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^ THIS AS WELL...

I did not like the album at all. I did not feel it, did not like it. I'm a little bit disappointed. The only song that really touched me was Sandpiper, but that's it.
 
Eden: A joyful song to start with. Has a nice feeling around it.
sandpiper: You can hate it, you can love it, but you can also forget it exists... But you can also says it's Serenato's cousin.
Magia: Still, the best song ever to me. Nothing else to say.
Kugatsu: Nice. That's all. Nice. Nothing really special.
in your eyes: Oh my God! in your eeeeeee~yes...!
destination unknown: Above average, as pretty much the majority of After Eden's songs.
neverending: A cute song.
Kotonoha: It looks like a merge between intermezzo and Haru wa Kogane no Yume no Naka... adore would be a better choice.
magnolia: Magia's little sister? I love it!
Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa: It's a classic, so when know it enough already. But I can't get tired of THAT KAJIURAGO BRIDGE!!
Mune no Yukue: You can search in any dictionary you want. There are NO words to describe this song. NO WORDS. It would be a heresy to do so. Only Kajiura can achieve such level.
snow falling: I disliked it when it came out in February, but I have to admit I grow fond of it. Has a sad, but beautiful atmosphere.
symphonia: It always had a place in my heart, since when I heard it once as the BGM in RHH2. The new guitar solo could be a little longer. At least this new version isn't a "screwed" one.

---///---

The lack of Keiko is kinda disturbing. At least Hikaru is improving fast.

After Eden... 4 out of 5 stars. Better than Seventh Heaven, but... Well, I don't think Red Moon would be surpassed that easily.
 
My feelings for this album can be summed up like this: I love them, but I wouldn't put any of them on repeat.
 
^LOL.

Sandpiper does remind me a bit of Serenato, which I love so much. No wonder I like this song.
 
^ "sandpiper" is what "serenato" would be, if "serenato" were in the habit of wandering the Great Plains in the 1800s. And if there were Time Travelling Souix Indians that stole the Medieval stretching machine and kidnapped poor "serenato" so they could test out the torture methods of the machine.

Forever changed, "serenato" became "sandpiper" and vowed to roam the plains for all of time, exacting its bitter revenge upon every single Time Travelling Souix, so they may know pain as "sandpiper" had. To this day, the atmospheric percussion rhythm of the "sandpiper"'s neverending torment can still be heard, echoing across the dusty acres of land and haunted the descendants of its persecutors with the lonely cries of each note...

:knife:

After Eden's songs are like musical one-night stands. I wouldn't enter a committed relationship with any of them, because while I like them, I just don't feel like we connect. I'm not feeling a spark with any of the songs. Emotionally.
 
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