D- Danzai no Gunner single review

[Augie1995 325]

All right, so I'm not really feeling the rest of the single too much right now to right a full review of every song but I'll give it a rating, why, and I'll review my favorite song from the single

So the single gets an 8/10 from me, it's a good single, solid, but nothing on there really sticks to me. For the title track I think what stands out more is the awesome PV. The song didn't have as sick of an intro as Dying Message but it was a good track. Luminous Flame had a ballad feel but suddenly changed to their usual pace, Asagi's voice stands out the most and I love his vocals a lot here. The last track, i got a Rin Toshite Shigure- JPOP XFILE feel to that intro haha xD Anyways, it sounds like your usual D-song. Not a bad thing here. The single wasn't anything special but it was solid enough to get a good rating from me.

The favorite: Solitude ～最後の手紙～

Wow, what a song. The moment it started I knew automatically what sort of style it was going to take. The "Solitude" part of the title is really spot on, the emotions and atmosphere to the song seems even more amplified when I'm walking in the morning by myself or just laying in bed listening to this song. Everything is really calm, but, like most others, it soon gains some volume. The chorus is a beautiful one, it's not one of my favorites but it's just one of those that really get to me. Guitar solo fits the song, it didn't have it's usual sound so I'm guessing Hide-Zou is the one playing the guitar solo. The last verse to the song sounds so different, almost like the song is trying to reach somwhere, and Asagi is sort of proclaiming to something and then we have this beautiful ending, Asagi's choir "Haaaaaaaaa" and this lovely violin and cello to finish it off. Masterpiece of a song for me 10/10

[sai 868]

Let me just start by saying that I really didn't like Dying Message, and (as I have already stated somewhere in the minichat I believe) if I had known beforehand that D was running out of ideas I would've kicked ASAGI in the nuts at the show in May. Huang Di wasn't that good either (the title track was, but the rest of the mini fell short) and it all seemed to have the same formula. But this is not the review thread for Dying message, it just shows that I entered this single with no expectations whatsoever.

Danzai no Gunner I'd like to dub as In the name of justice pt.2. I am not surprised, seeing as this is part of their "saga", but it doesn't excuse them for explicit lack of originality that they used to display so very often. Danzai no Gunner however is a typical D track all in match with the earlier mentioned formula, yet this isn't as boring as I expected it to be. The solo is lacking, but it has been for a while to be honest. For the rest I like the droning sound it has, the chorus (that I liked more than I liked it on the initial preview) that is very addicting and overall I like it a lot better than Dying Message already. I'd give it a 7.8/10, but I think this will grow on me.

Luminous Flame is something I haven't seen D do before, and I was pleasantly surprised with this. The sort of power metal influence this seems to have works well, though the drumming and chugging are a bit too much at certain points. I get the feeling it's trying to be too "metal", if you catch my drift. However, they seem to make it work, so I'm actually happy they're experimenting again. 7.5/10

The third track also contains some experimentation, but it feels kind of disorganized and messy. I can hear the ideas and what they were trying to do, but the way it was executed was below their level of mastering. However, I'm giving them extra credits just for the fact that they're not clinging to their typical "Generic A-side, br00tal B-side, ballad B-side + something in between concept" and actually try to make it work. 7/10

Solitude ～最後の手紙～ is a decent ballad, but I've seen them do better ones. However, compared to most other recent ballads, this is rather good. I think this one will even grow on me more. 7.5/10

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Maybe it's just me, but I thought this single and Dying Message overall proved to me that D still had it as a band. Before Dying Message released, the last thing I totally loved beginning to end was Genetic World. I thought 7th Rose was just bad (unpopular opinion, I know) and that Vampire Saga had awesome moments, but the whole album overall was mediocre. Then with Hunag Di... It was just totally unremarkable. I don't remember what a single song off there sounded like.

Whereas Dying Message (I know this isn't a review thread for that single, but hear me out) was a good song. Hai no Yuki was a decent song. Eve no Kaifu was a great song and God Bless You was a good song.

Here we have Danzai no Gunner which I will put on an even playing field with Dying Message. I thought they were both on the same level of talent and mass appeal. Versus Luminous Flame which I thought was a dumpster fire. It was very messy and I couldn't even finish the song, but even though Danzai no Gunner's low, to me, was lower than Dying Message's low (Hai no Yuki) the following song made up for it.

I found Solitude to be a fucking epic masterpiece. I mean really that song really stands out to me... Kind of in a similar way that ClearVeil's Secret Letter stands out to me because the subject matter is kind of the same and the epic-length feel to it is also the same, but of course D does it better because Asagi's voice is sexual. So, in short the highest high on this single is higher than the highest high on Dying Message... If you understand what I'm saying.

If I wasn't so sure that the next release was a best of album and then they'd be taking a break for a little bit, I would have to say that Dying Message and Danzai no Gunner are the signalling of a fuckign fantastic album of original content to come.... Too bad I know that isn't happening right now.

[Ito 2438]

Danzai no Gunner was just plain bad. Dying Message was forgettable, but I have a hard time finding anything redeeming about Danzai.

The title track starts off with a tacky intro and then everything goes massively down hill. Dear lord the chorus is just so sappy and bad. The synth in the BG of the chorus is so sugary that it is down right painful. I think I might give this a 3/10 if I were to rate it.

How are the cymbals hit in the start of Luminous flame so freaking dead sounding? They sound tinny and weak. Lucky we really don't deal with them in the rest of the song. I think perhaps I would enjoy this song more if we didn't have shitty happy go luck synth noises in the background. The violin really doesn't add anything to this song either...I have a hard time telling whether it is synth or if it just sounds bad. Overall they ruin anything good the song had going for it. 4/10

Koori no Hakajirushi isn't so much bad as it is just the standard D song. Their just isn't anything unique about this song, no catchy riff, no unique sound, nothing that makes me feel like they haven't done something very similar many times before. I will remember nothing about this song as soon and I done listening to it. That doesn't make it bad, it just doesn't make it good either. 5/10

Solitude ~saigo no tegami~ intro is really nice and has a lot of promise...not sure if that really holds past 30 seconds in to this song. I actually fairly like this song, it is a pretty decent ballad with a lot going on it, with some nice texture. The build up to the chorus and the chorus itself is pretty freaking weak though. I find it funny though that I find that easily the weakest part of this song is Asagi's vocal delivery. I feel like there are no longer any subtleties. Every note is loud and upfront, with vibrato poured on every note. There is no crooning, no gentleness, no variation. Maybe some of this is the mastering and not Asagi's deleivery, but I can go back to old D ballads and LOVE his voice to being downright annoyed by it here. 6/10

Overall 4/10

Pretty lousy single imo.