Kalafina's 17th single "Ring your Bell"

I'm gonna echo everyone else and say that this version is a massive step up.
 
Wasn't it confirmed to be only a TV size track on the actual single rather than a full length song? I really hope it isn't, though, it's gorgeous.
 
Seasonreaper said:
Wasn't it confirmed to be only a TV size track on the actual single rather than a full length song? I really hope it isn't, though, it's gorgeous.
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Track lengths have already been confirmed. That's the full version.

Though I guess it's possible there's a longer version. They could include it in the second soundtrack.
 
Bah, looking at people's comments make me have quite a big expectation towards ryb in the silence. it's really bland imho. the only step up is at least Wakana sounds decent and more relaxed in this version. other than that, no I don't feel anything towards this song. I feel like hearing 'dolce' all over again.
 
ritardando said:
Bah, looking at people's comments make me have quite a big expectation towards ryb in the silence. it's really bland imho. the only step up is at least Wakana sounds decent and more relaxed in this version. other than that, no I don't feel anything towards this song. I feel like hearing 'dolce' all over again.
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I actually thought it was closer to Prelude from the best of Red album. It's not their best by a long shot but it's better than the disaster that is RyB.
 
yes yes it does sound more like prelude (I forgot that song even exists lol)
 
Like every overture of Kalafina's, it's beautiful. Very, very beautiful. Not their best (that still belongs to the overture, after all), but it's still one of their better tracks given the string of disappointments since 2014.

But like every overture, I only wish it was longer.
 
In the silence sounds better, yes, and I quite like it, yes, but still I can't feel anything when I hear it. It's like dolce or Yume no Daichi, I forgot the melodies soon after listening to them.
Maybe it works better as an overture than as a full song.
 
Everything is a disaster nowadays, right?

And no, Kajiura already said that she only made this short arrangement for in the silence. Nothing more. Maybe.. one day we'll get an overture version for lives that features in the silence in front. Kajiura does like overly long intros to build atmosphere for Kalafina. Not that I'm complaining. It's one of the things I like at their lives.

It reminds me of KnK actually. With a different filter. I like it.
 
For someone like me, in the silence is a sure score.
I like to rip out vocals only for previous songs and this doesn't even require me to play around.

Alright with the track length ... the only thing is now I'm going to be sad whenever I hear it. (Having vivid imagination doesn't help.)
Still , I'm pretty stoked for having pre-ordered all versions.
 
I think at this point I'd stick to album songs and B-sides to look forward to from Kalafina discography. I know there's the excuse of 'what the director/anime staff wanted' for tie-ins songs but tbfh I think Kajiura doesn't even try anymore to add any depth to her tie-in songs. Even her B-side songs nowadays are 'nothing special' or 'old songs recycled version xxx' (I'm pointing at Tsuioku, which is nice but then we get in every nothing and both songs are basically serenato in their cores imo). I surely hope for something like lapis, utsukushisa, Hanataba, and lirica which have simple melodies but are unique in their own way.

That, and I personally both Wakana and Hikaru have lost the 'ground' on which their singing technique based on. Hikaru has almost lost her ability to use her higher pitch voice (as can be clearly heard in ryb and fotw - which is really really sloppy). I know she now sings more in lower pitch but dammit her voice now sounds as if she doesn't train how to produce higher-pitched sound anymore. She mastered one, but then she lost one. At this point I already gave up on Wakana producing voice that is pleasant to my ears. I'm really sad because I can accept how she sounds in Consolation album new songs but then heavenly blue, believe, and ring your bell come and her voice basically ruins all the enjoyment I could have from the songs. I can't even listen to ring your bell without cringing almost every time.
 
Album songs and b-sides have always been the part to look forward to. With the exception of a few tracks (Hikari no Senritsu, Kimi no Gin no Niwa, Sprinter) their a-sides have always been notably weaker than the rest of their discography. This isn't anything new and honestly has been a thing since their debut. Maybe the quality of recent a-sides has gone down in comparison but the pattern has never changed.
 
ritardando said:
I know there's the excuse of 'what the director/anime staff wanted' for tie-ins songs but tbfh I think Kajiura doesn't even try anymore to add any depth to her tie-in songs. Even her B-side songs nowadays are 'nothing special' or 'old songs recycled version xxx' (I'm pointing at Tsuioku, which is nice but then we get in every nothing and both songs are basically serenato in their cores imo). I surely hope for something like lapis, utsukushisa, Hanataba, and lirica which have simple melodies but are unique in their own way.
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I think I agree on this more or less. No matter what the directors ask for the song each time to be, that doesnt change the fact that alot of favourite songs Yuki Kajiura had produced pre-Kalafina were tie-ins, and its not connected only to Bee-train: Anna ni isshou datta no ni, Yasashii Yoake, Indio, Tasogare no Umi, dream scape, kaze on machi e, houseki, gundam songs (shinkai no kodoku, fields of hope, Life goes on etc, ) FJY songs: Akatsuki no Kuruma, Honooh no Tobira, nowhere, Kouya Ruten etc, Kaori Hikita songs like Egao no Wake, and Michiyuki. All these were with (various) director guidelines too, so why they turned this good ? Its Kajiura. I dont know what sort of trouble she has and she cant come up with everlasting catchy melodies for pop songs anymore, but this certainly makes me sad :(

RYB & in the silence, isnt that bad, it fits the context, but its not unique, like each of the songs above was. It reminds of 1-2 songs from the past, just like many songs made in the last 3 years (FJ included).
 
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Seasonreaper said:
Album songs and b-sides have always been the part to look forward to. With the exception of a few tracks (Hikari no Senritsu, Kimi no Gin no Niwa, Sprinter) their a-sides have always been notably weaker than the rest of their discography. This isn't anything new and honestly has been a thing since their debut. Maybe the quality of recent a-sides has gone down in comparison but the pattern has never changed.
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I have to disagree because I actually enjoy almost all Kalafina A-sides until Kimi no Gin no Niwa, some even better than their B-sides with to the beginning as the only exception because I dislike both songs on that single. At least their A-sides used to be enjoyable. Now they have 3 consecutive bad A-sides.
 
Kajiura has stopped experimenting with her A-sides. Believe brought it back some to an extent, but recycling TTB's melodies let me down a bit.

Maybe it's due to Kalafina's popularity. Way back when, Kalafina used to be a playground for Kajiura, with many of their songs showing a lot of experimentation with different sounds and were honestly a whole lot more ambitious than their recent songs. I gave up hope it Kalafina after After Eden (no pun intended) but Consolation pulled me back in and the ride's been bumpy since. I love Consolation for having the (arguably) best album-only tracks of all Kalafina albums so far. Singles like KnGnN have helped me restore more faith in Kajiura's compositions, but then heavenly blue comes along and all faith goes out the window.

I feel like Kajiura's "playing it safe". When Kalafina wasn't nearly as popular as they are now, she composed whatever the heck she could. Now she's just sticking to a formula which I don't think is even a working formula in the first place, maybe so as to not alienate current fans and try to get new ones by sticking to a somewhat mainstream sound. Maybe the only way Kajiura can ever experiment like she used to is with B-sides and album only songs, where their songs are actually "different". One could argue that being different for the sake of being different is bad, but personally, when Kalafina debuted, they were a breath of fresh air for the anime music industry. At their current state, they're just another anison artist. They no longer stand out like they used to.

I'm just waiting for the B-side and see how that goes. In the silence is beautiful, but nothing new. Ring your bell is nice, but that's it. Is Kalafina still listenable? Of course, more than a lot of anison artists. But their songs don't excite me anymore. I enjoy them, but I don't get excited for them.

But I'll definitely be eating these words once their new album drops. I can only hope it reaches the bar that Consolation has set.
Tl;dr - Kalafina used to be good. Now not as good, because Kajiura is either lazy or trying to play it safe. I miss their songs where Kajiura used to experiment with different sounds.
 
I think RYB in the silence is beautiful and enjoyable, it fits to Christmas. In lives it would be a good overture to RYB.

B-sides sound much more like Kalafina songs (dark mood)... I like RYB but I miss something darker for A-side like Magia... I've had enough hopefull, boring, neuter songs like Mirai, Misterioso, believe... - they aren't wrong but it isn't part of Kalafina, which I loved few years ago.
 
I also agree that Kajiura in general has been producing the same type of A-sides for a while now IMO. The last FJ A-side I enjoyed was Stone Cold. I really liked believe though, but it disappointed me that Heavenly Blue was so bad. It's the first Kala A-side that I've listened to only once and then never went back because I feel like it offers nothing new. It's the same for all artists who grow to become established, afterwards they keep making safe music to keep the fans around, compromising their artistic integrity in the process (I think Sony might have a lot to do with that as well, they probably don't want anything risky as an A-side, which is stupid considering Kala blew up with Magia which is a rather original song).

I like Ring your bell, then again, I prefer Kalafina's bright songs to their dark ones in general, so maybe I'm in a minority because of that. Kimi no Gin no Niwa is still my favorite A-side, and I'm hoping that more songs like it will come in the future. I think Kajiura definitely recycles music all the time, but I personally like it. I don't feel like in every nothing is another rendition of serenato, but I feel that Sandpiper and Tsuioku are, and I love it because I liked the first song so I think it's nice to have more music in that vein.

I'm looking forward to the new album as well, I must be the only person who really liked After Eden, but I can admit that Consolation was better quality wise, I want more of that and more interesting melodies than the formulaic A-sides we seem to have gotten in the past year.
 
I don't really get people complaining here... EVERY Kalafina song sound a lot like another Kalafina song. That's the good part.
Heavenly blue is more similar to Consolation than anything else to me, I don't see the resemblance to Believe.
Ring your bell might also remind me of others which I don't remember right now.
But seriously, each song sounds like another one if you listen to them one after another. In each song you can find 10+ seconds of another song. And Kalafina songs are anyway pretty much some: kajiurago, strong Hikaru/all 3 intro or calm Wakana/Keiko into or strong Keiko intro and so on...
I am happy if I get more songs like old ones I liked.
 
^ Right, but its always better when a song does not remind you of older ones, for example the first few Kalafina singles were totally unique: oblivious, kimi ga hikari, kizuato, sprinter, aria, lacrimosa, gloria, storia, lirica did not remind on an other song at all (except oblivious which has few notes from Live goes on). Why cant this happen again ? Why the structure of the songs has to be always similar ? eg. They could use guitar, flute, e-guitar or fast piano instead of bloody strings for a change ( i talk for the whole song, not just the bridge), see how fresh kimi no gin sounded, because it has accordion.
 
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