Ａ - Tales for the Abyss

[Prophet 168]

Yo, since nobody throw their thought to review this, I have the urge to start it out.

First of all, this album is simply amazing, a flawless masterpiece. Without a doubt the best album of 2012 so far! (In my opinion)

Ok let's go track by track:

(Sorry if my review is suck btw)

01. Night of the Knights - (8/10)

An upbeat track is a good choice for the opening, this song has an awesome intro, I really love the Church-Choir backing vocals in every part of the song. And the chorus is totally catchy and uplifting. The guitar and Piano lines really amaze me here.

02. Nude - (09/10)

The intro blew me right away, starts with face-paced gracious violin tune followed by progressive guitar lines the song already win my heart. The chorus is ridiculously catchy. The changing pace in the midst of the song is totally epic. Simply eargasm.

03. Haiiro no Tenshi (08/10)

Half-ballad track after 2 upbeat ones. Again, the backing vocals fit in the verse pretty well here. Nimo voice is really good, Rookie's violin lines kick my ass again. I enjoy the song very much.

04. Rhapsody in Black - (09/10)

Rookie is the musician from outer space, his violin lines blew me again and again. All the instrument blends perfectly here. The guitar solo part as well as the chorus are just so good to be true, they are composed really well.

05. Loveless - (07/10)

Started with choir-like voice followed by progressive lines, Toshi is trying to steal the limelight with his powerful bass line through the verse. The chorus is a bit generic yet quite decent. I wonder who is this Chouji dude who filled the guitar lines of A, His guitar skill is just adorable.

06. Abyss (Piano Version) - (7.5/10)

I seriously dont have the slightest idea about the original version of this song, but this ballad version is soooooo damn catchy! Beautiful Piano through the whole song. Lovely ballad overally.

07. Black Butterfly - (9.5/10)

Is it just me, or I dont think this song has not much difference than the previous version. Still my most favorite track tho. Sublime Epic song, no need anything else to say.

08 Yoake no Anthem - (10/10)

This song made me speechless with my mouth opened wide. It is just beautiful. Intro, Verse, Bridge, Chorus, everything about it drove me crazy. I really love the middle 8 part btw, really cheerful and catchy. Rookie is the MVP here, he deserves a medal.

09. Shangri-la (10/10)

Ok, when I listened to the PV preview before, I wasnt that impressed by the music, I focused on the video itself. But then, upon hearing the full song, this song is MASTERPIECE! That extraordinary instrumental blended perfectly with Rookie's violin scratch, that part where the pace got faster and faster, aaaaaaaargh, it's perfect! The opera voice doesnt really bother me, I think it suits the song well. >.<

10. Reel of Fortune - (8.5/10)

WOW! This instrumental composition is yet another thing which is almost made me cry in joy. I don't know how to put it into words. It just made me speechless again and again. Really beautiful track.

11. Nu World - (7.5/10)

A gothic opening which turned followed by cheerful chorus, Overally decent, yet pretty much enjoyable.

12. ShipFRIEND of Mine - (8.5/10)

A half ballad slow paced song after those rain of epic tracks, the climax part of the album. Perfect choice of closing track.

13. Bonus Track - (07/10)

Even a short bonus instrumental track is still enjoyable, too short tho.

Finish!

I am sorry if my glossary is a bit lame, but I can't hold this urge to write the review of this Masterpiece album. Overall (9.5/10)

So, do you guys have the same thought as mine?

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

I wrote a more detailed version on my Tumblr (I tend to write reviews on almost everything there, and then forget about here). I did mean to submit a post for this website though.

For me, the album was generally really amazing. From beginning to end there weren't many songs that disappointed me, but the biggest disappointments were that Shangri-la seemed to be Grafton Calling-esque and the operatic vocals were cheesey and just all around bad. Also the fact that the bonus track was there... It just seemed superfluous and ridiculous.

The positives for me, though, were Night of the Knights, Nude, Haiiro no Tenshi, Yoake no Anthem, Nu World, and Ship -Friend of Mine-. These I have placed all on somewhere between an 8.5 and a 9.9 on the scale of awesomeness. Favorites of this crowd would have to be Nude, Haiiro no Tenshi and Yoake no Anthem.

Then the other tracks: Loveless, Rhapsody in Black, and Black Butterfly are all kind of... Meh to me. I like Rhapsody in Black the best of the three, but none of them struck me like the following song:

Abyss -Piano Version-. Holy shit what a perfect song. This is the standout song to me. I'm obsessed. Beginning to end it's beautiful and his voice carries the melody perfectly. It's just stunning. I really can't wait to hear the rock version of the song. (For anyone interested I transcribed the lyrics and then translated it and put it on my tumblr and the lyrics section here!).

[Gizorz 24]

Just wanted to point out that Mucho did do the recording for tales for the abyss He just doesn't perform anymore http://i47.tinypic.com/34e58pz.jpg

[Augie1995 325]

I won't go too in depth but I did love the album as well. For some reason, I love Rookie's back vocals, but the Opera style singing he gives us during Shangri-la irks me a little bit so I just can't get into that song yet. The rest of the album is amazing like Prophet said. I miss the way Mucho Gracias's guitar solos sounded, the tone to them, but the new guy (support member still?) sounds great nonetheless, especially in Night of the Knights. Thoroughly enjoyed this album, 9/10

[Zeus 7997]

07. Black Butterfly - (9.5/10)

Is it just me, or I dont think this song has not much difference than the previous version. Still my most favorite track tho. Sublime Epic song, no need anything else to say.

Listen to the drums most specifically. On the single version they sounded like garbage cans. They're more refined on the album version.

+++REVIEW TIME+++

If these first six months of 2012 are indicative of how the rest of the year is going to pan out for visual kei, Tales of The Abyss may very well be the VK Record of the Year.

This album is amazingly good. From beginning to end, I couldn't find anything that I abhored. There were a few things here and there but they were minor annoyances. By far, the best tracks on Tales of the Abyss were the singles, but that's because A took them to another level on this album. They also have them placed such that each track feeds off the one before it.

I can see Black Butterfly being a crowd raiser, Night of the Knights and NUDE are just an amazing one-two punch to get this album started and Yoake no Anthem and Rhapsody in Black sound much improved from their original versions. Reel of Fortune reminds me of a little bit of the NoGoD tradition of having an instrumental interlude placed somewhere on the album and A makes it work. A makes mostly everything work somehow. Even the tracks with titles like NU WORLD and Ship "FRIEND OF MINE", titles which usually indicate songs that would make me cringe, are deftly done and when they dare to try to get aggressive (ex. LOVELESS) everything doesn't immediately fall to pieces.

As a matter of fact, the only tracks I didn't like are the (Bonus Track) and Shangri-la. The former is a superflous addition that doesn't add anything but doesn't take anything away. The latter is just goofy sounding but still an average track. It's about as filler as the songs on this album get.

As Prophet said in his review, Rookie Fiddler's violin is out of this world. The textures he adds to the songs - which simply can't be emulated with synths - gives A some access to what I call "world elements" and does a lot to make them unique. Plus, he's incredibly skilled and has more than cemented the belief in me that more VK bands can make use of permanent violinists in their repertoire. The most talented member in the band also shines with clean vocals that are actually quite decent. Sometimes he sounds goofy, but more often than not he sounds great.

Nimo's English is more than adequate enough to sing an entire album in English if he so chose. However, sticking with his mother tongue isn't a bad idea and it works here. He's also got the voice to make a ballad like Abyss work, where many other vocalists would have trouble keeping it afloat. His harsh vocals need some work but gladly they don't make many appearances on the album. A can do without those.

The support drummer deserves some props. Whether he replaced the old person or he improved as a musician, he plays his heart out and provides the best drum lines on any A release thus far. Some of the drum lines on their earlier releases were basic as they can get, but on songs where you can do the comparisons you can hear the extra spice where it was added. It really does make a difference!

Guitarists and bass doing the guitars and bass things. Props to Toshi for sticking with the bass and rocking that instrument.

On my numbering system, only two tracks rank anywhere under 7/10. Tales For The Abyss gets an 8.5/10. Very, very well done!

[Biopanda 2675]

Just going to quickly say that I thought this album was definitely the best I've heard all year and absolutely blew me away. Rookie continues to amaze me more and more and is definitely my favorite member of the band, though they're all really talented.

As an asides, the "bonus track" is the song that they play as they leave the stage after all of their lives so it is really only a fitting end cap to a stunning album.

[Candy Holic? 1]

What can I say? A is amazing! They never fail to amaze and this just puts the icing on the cake ☆彡