I like the album much more than I thought I would. I'm a Yuki fan who has been yearning for an album full of mezames, stone colds, the worlds, and Parallel Hearts for about 20 years now, and I must finally accept the fact that that album will never come around even though she's come close (Fiction, consolation, live #9). To me, Parade feels composed to serve the Yuki Kajiura Lives, rather than the Lives conforming to the songs as they used to. I say this because of the persistent amount of ballads that feel purposefully designed to allow each singer to comfortably shine, rather than an album full of Kotonohoka Yawaraki or Sokyu no Fanfair types, in which the composition is more the driving factor. The problem with this choice, to me, is that even though many of these vocalists' voices are very pretty and unique, none of them are powerful enough to really dazzle. I have a feeling that they'll pack more of a punch in the Lives, which is what further makes me feel this album was designed to serve the Lives. These songs like Mou Kiminokoto wo Mitakunai, Kai, Sekai no Hate, or even Parade would be magical with vocalists closer to Hanae Tomaru, Eri Itoh, or Yuri Kasahara (or even Yuriko Kaida on front vocals for a change). However, I will say, the core 4 FictionJunction girls' voices have never sounded more powerful to me (the addition of Joelle helped and the other girls seem to be entering their vocal maturity right now, at least to my untrained ears), so I think they successfully carry songs like Beginning and Parade, but there's still something lacking that prevents the songs from achieving greatness.
Besides this, I really enjoy the composition of most of the songs. The instrumentation on songs like Parade and Sekai no Hate is really delicious. In fact I wish there were more instrument breaks as a whole. By the end of these songs my ear gets a little worn out by the constant vocals. I miss the violin / electric guitar / flute / accordian solo breaks that used to grace most of Yuki's old vocal songs, and "refresh" the sound of the vocals to your ears when they resume. Also as an English speaker, I was really hoping for more Kajiurago / English choruses. I'm surprised there are so few on this album, but the ones we do get like in Parade and Kotonohoka Yawaraki are very enjoyable.
Parade to me is probably the strongest song, and has many of the elements I wished were more present in the other songs on the album (and the previous two FJ albums to be honest), such as a pretty melody, great harmonies, delicious instrumentation, and addictive English / Kajiurago choruses. My only complaint is that the song would have really benefitted from having Yuriko or Keiko on lead vocals for a few verses. I'm tired of the same formula; it really needs to be switched up. Yuriko did amazing on lead for songs like himitsu and here we stand in the morning dew.
There is no song that I dislike on the album, but there is also no song that I super love either. But I'm grateful for it.
