this review is really late, but i just really wanted to write something for it and was too lazy to do so until now, but still better late than never.
① 虹の雪
i was really excited when this single was announced because a) it was going to be alice nine's first ballad single, and it was entirely composed by shou. so naturally, there was a lot of hype surrounding it, perhaps too much. it started off really sweet and beautiful, the piano in the intro, and then guitars; it was heading in a good direction. shou's low voice in the verses was just beautiful, and the soft, simplistic instrumentals in the background complemented it quite nicely. the bridge was also very nicely done, where instrumentals started kicking in a little more, and i was really getting into it. but then the chorus came. i don't even know how to describe it, it was just such an awkward chorus to listen to. it started off okay, but some of the notes that shou chose to end phrasings left me confused. it just did not work well together at all. guitar solo was alright, but it was way overdone with effects, especially for this supposed ballad. i think what bothered me the most, however, was how strained shou's vocals sounded throughout the entire song (especially at the end), save for the first verse. overall, this song left me quite disappointed, especially considering how excited i got for it.
RATING: 5/10
② NEMESIS
as soon as this song began, i immediately forgot about the disappointment of the previous track. the intro instrumental's got this cool feeling to it, and when the rest of the music and shou's vocals kicked in, it instantly pulled me into it. i especially loved the parts during the verses; such as when shou sang the first line, you could hear this cool thing the guitar did in the background (i'm no expert, so i don't know the technical term for it). even the gutiar solo was kickass; the effects were more suited for a song like this, but not for a ballad like niji no yuki, okay? and at this point, i realized how entirely awesome the drums were. great melody, great pace, and excellent guitars, got me bobbing my head to the beat of this song.
RATING: 7/10
③ 闇ニ散ル桜 (another version)
let me just start off by saying i never really like remakes. i always like the originals better, which was the case for the last two remakes they did. the heavy head-banging guitar parts just left me in disappointment. there was no excitement, no variation in them at all. it just kept repeating the same notes over and over again and got very irritating. shou's vocals also sounded way too... soft and distant? did not suit the feeling of this song, especially in the chorus. i expected them to be rough, hard, strong, but they ended up being the exact opposite. the original was a song that could really pump you up, but this one just did not do the same. i also wasn't really fond of the shrill alien-like guitar effects in the background during the verses. they had this in the original too, but it wasn't nearly as annoying and prominent there. anyway, i actually liked the part at the end where the song basically ended, and shou sang that last, low line; i thought the guitars sounded really good there. and then came this loud distortion that just left me shaking my head. like why, why would you do that, you could have ended it right there, nicely, but now there's this annoying distortion that goes on for at least 30 seconds before it finally starts to fade out, totally unnecessary. i have to skip this ending every time i listen to it. i sort of kept expecting the song to go in the direction i'm familiar to, but of course it wouldn't since it's a remake, and what's the point of that if it sounds exactly the same, right? i don't know, i guess i'm just really picky when it comes to remakes, especially of songs i loved so much the first time around.
RATING: 3/10
clearly, alice nine is my favorite band, but this single was so much disappointment that it hurt. i was expecting so much from it, but i guess that was the problem. even NEMESIS, no matter how awesome it is, could not change my opinion of this overall single. alice nine, you could do much better.
OVERALL RATING: 4.5/10
