Jupiter - Blessing of the Future

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Blessing of the Future

 

So this song is a perfect example of why I am a fan of HIZAKI. From his solo project days that featured a number of terrible VK vocalist to the trainwreck that was SULFURIC ACID, the songs he writes and all his guitar wankery is exactly what I want out of music. I always felt like HIZAKI was cursed with terrible vocalist that just don't do his songs any justice but I think ZIN did a fantastic job and I quite liked his performance. So I am definitely excited and looking forward to more from Jupiter and I have high hopes for ZIN.

 

ARIA

 

ARIA is quite nice and a good change of pace from the title track but unfortunately just doesn't live up to it at all. Usually about halfway I hit the back button to replay  Blessing of the Future because it just doesn't hold my attention. It's not a bad song but I am like an ADD kid and if it's not making my brain think and do things and get excited I move onto the next best thing and in this case just go back and listen to Blessing of the Future again and again and again and again and again and again.....

 

 

SHOUT YOUR DESIRE

 

The English in this song is pretty awkward and ZIN's attempts are pretty mangled and bad. I hope they don't think it's a good idea to do full English songs like Love Will be Born Again but they're probably going to do it anyway on a future release ack! Aside from that, I can deal with a few lines of really bad Engrish here and there, I am assuming ZIN's wraspy smoker voice is intentional to make the song seem "hard" since this seems to be the "heavy" and "hard" song of the release but it's not really any of that at all. The chorus is pretty poppy and sorta kills any attempts from the verse portion to build the song up into something heavy. I don't know if that was what they were going for but either way, ain't workin. Otherwise the song is good but definitely a reason why it was slotted as a B-side because it just doesn't compare to the title track. I do dig the guitar solo and I am assuming that is Teru rocking it most of the time since he composed this song. Damn dude, first time a Teru song that I didn't absolutely love because normally his stuff in Versailles was always my favourite.

 

Overall - 3/5

 

Blessing of the Future is a great song but the B-sides are a B-side for a reason and why I give it a 3 out of 5 rating. They're honestly pretty forgettable, not terrible and are listenable but don't live up to the title track at all. 

 

Basically my overall thoughts on the release is that it's a great first single and definitely gets me pumped up for the album next month. They seem to be stepping away from the whole vampire aristocrat thing but still are a very Visual band but with a slightly more "mature" style if y'know what I mean. Curious if any future releases will have them sporting gowns with feather boas and lace and sparkles and roses and so forth. I wouldn't be surprise if they do have a vampire release here and there. Perhaps they'll be like D and you never know what you'll get with each release. One release it's pirates and the next it's forest fairies. 

 

 

[Augie1995 325]

I have to agree that Blessing of the future is a good song, and luckily, it's the only that really hits me as a Versailles type song. While the repeated HIZAKI guitar melody is kind of growing tiring on me, it's still a very nice one and the way it flows from the guitar solo is very epic so I can get over that.

 

Aria had a very good atmosphere to it, and it's a song where I can hear ZIN prominently and I am really starting to admire his voice now, definitely falling in love with it faster than I did with KAMIJO's. The guitar work is very nice and the guitar solo is very cool. Listening to that solo under the moonlit sky at 3 in the morning is truly something else.

 

Shout Your Desire is a more fast-paced song than the rest and I really love it. ZIN's voice stands out to be more than the instrumentations in this song for some reason, it has something to do with the first 30 seconds that ZIN starts singing, there's a lot of variations and at the 0:42 mark, the distortion on his voice and the way he sings just hits the right feelings for me for some reason. The dual guitar solo really is something amazing and something that I didn't think I would hear from these two when I heard Versailles was disbanding. Luckily this song and the title track have brought that back for me.

 

My thoughts are the opposite as to Arithmetica above me, I feel the title track was the weakest to me. It wasn't bad, just that, out of the 3 songs, it wasn't my top favorite. I do agree that I am now even more excited for the album and have little to no interest in KAMIJO's release now. The reason this single gets 4.5 is because of the title track making me think Versailles and for the cover art looking like a damn near replica of Versailles's DESTINY -the lovers-

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

While listening to the single to write this review, I wrote down three words that jump out at me just based, just from listening to the music. I tried to not think about the context, any expectations, hype, nor previous accomplishments surrounding the music because they would only deter rather than accompany. The results were as follows: celebratory, majestic, and epic. Throughout many points of this song, I get a jubilous vibe from the main guitar melody--a triumphant return is the mental picture I had painted. There's something very 'congratulatory' about this piece, and I'm at a loss as to what it could be. It could be the theme of the song is just very celebratory, since I am assuming it deals with receiving a blessing going off the title alone, in general because it is a Hizaki power metal composition, or it could have a more pointed message--"we lost him." Hizaki has been composing A-sides for Versailles since their 2nd album and they all have the same sort of feel as "Blessing of the Future," but this particular example seems a lot more liberated. The melody seems less forced, the flow seems more natural, and it appears that there has been time dedicated to this song to give it the life that I felt "Philia," and to some extent "Rose," was missing.

 

Maybe the celebration lies within a rejuvenation. The music video for BOTF suggests this since the main story, hidden amidst glamor shots, side views of highly embroidered guitars, and rococo furniture, follows an elderly lady whom eventually becomes reborn as a younger version of herself. To draw clearer parallels, this song is not an example of much change of style--in fact,it very well could be dismissed as "Versailles with another vocalist"--but rather it is a similar style jump started to be exciting and...not new, but nostalgic. The woman in the video becomes 'reborn,' er, rather, de-aged(?): she didn't undergo metempsychosis, but rather she was recreated as herself in a new(er) state. I think this is the point of "Blessing of the Future" and why it sounds celebratory: it is the recreation of an old style in a new(er) representation without the burden of being decrepit and tired weighing it down. Conversely, the shedding of something old to be reborn into a more graceful version of oneself could also be and underlying theme elsewhere, in case there are other people seeing the shade in this single as well. Let's say the album art is a good place to start.

 

This spark is what prompted my other two descriptors: "majestic" and "epic." I'm assuming that if you've listened to this single, you've heard how Hizaki writes songs. That same sort of flashy writing is found here as well: sweeping arpeggios, flourished turns, and slight breaks in speed every so often to recollect and recompose itself as a remind that they are, in fact, still civil and poised metal musicians. "Epic" in this sense comes from the driving chorus, dueling guitar solo, and echoing vocals found in many other examples of power metal--"epic" in the sense of The Odyssey, The Iliad,  or tales of King Arthur, not "epic" like 2009 vomited all over my keyboard. Tales of knights and horses and vampire bdsm princes can still run through my head just as they had in the old band. The bombastic and highfalutin elements of passion that make power metal what it is are all found here.

 

As I listen to this song more, I find that it grows on me. Originally Zin didn't do a whole lot for me, but he's evolved from 'grating' to 'he has potential.' I still feel his voice is very similar to that of Akira from Mirage's, and his vibratto could use more control. The kid has some big shoes to fill, but I think he'll grow into them. I did notice a few Versailles-ism here and there, such as the mild parts in between the chorus and bridges and some of the guitar flourishes, but that is to be expected (and welcomed). There is also one small part in the song where the guitar and bass die down and it is just Zin and some orchestral support (around 4:40) that sounded very Symphony-X inspired (specifically "Masquerade") to me, so I'm glad that the influences are being expanded upon.

 

Overall, "Blessing of the Future," to me, did not change my life in the same way Versailles did, and it would be highly unfair of me to expect that it would. But the more I think about it, the more I kind of view this band like an old franchise. Take Pokemon, for example. That's been around for long enough that the original fandom now has kids who are old enough to enjoy it on their own. Do the parents love everything new that comes out and stay up late with their friends speculating what the 6th gen starters will evolve into? Probably not (much), but they still appreciate the mystery and excitement that might give their children as the show had once given them. In vkei standards, Versailles are fairly old, especially since they helped usher in a new standard for the visual-kei scene that demanded more technical skill and international availability and exposure. For me, that live changing experience isn't going to come again from these guys (whom are 3/5s of that original group), but for new fans to the scene they might find that excitement and passion here as I once did.

 

Moving on:

 

"Aria" is a much airier song in comparison, as it should have been. What I liked most about this song is that it still has some nice riffage while retaining it's melody and not being 200000 beats per minute. If you enjoyed "Desert Apple," chances are you'll also enjoy this song. It is interesting how the guitar parts really aren't all to neoclassical, but there still orchestra parts smattered here and there. It is apparent that this was a first attempt by Hizaki in changing style to be anything but power metal. I really like the guitar solo in this song: it is very spacious with high pitched glissando popping in and out accompanied by a nice bass melody. Very very short in comparison to "Blessing of the Future," so if you're only here for the shredding I'd suggest skipping this song and the next. Overall, I found "Aria" to be pretty tranquil and a very pleasant listen. I feel like this will definitely grow in me over the upcoming months, but if you've been avoiding this band because you're afraid it is all technical wank, then I'd suggest starting here. "Desert Apple" + "Prince" + "Illusion," and you pretty much have "Aria."

 

"Shout Your Desire" is the song I feared the most. With that title, it could not possibly be anything other than a neovisual pop-punk song that any no name, but relatively popular here, band put out. Fortunately, it wasn't. Unfortunately, it was worse. Something about this song just makes me cringe. It sounds like the conglomeration of Deluhi, Taking Back Sunday, and NEW BREED to me: all three of which, when mixed together, cause great intestine discomfort. This song was composed by Teru and this was undoubtedly him trying to write something that wasn't speed metal nor metalcore. Unfortunately, this experiment failed miserably I am hoping that the future blesses us with more genre experimentation that is a bit more fruitful.

 

Now, this song isn't -that bad-, alright? It is listenable, but it is awfully generic and, to me, the kind of song that leaves me feeling uninspired, bored, and wishing I were doing something else that wasn't listening to this. I'm really not sure about a lot of things with this song: why are Zin's vocals so strained at certain points when he "shouts his desire?" Why is the guitar solo so unnecessary? If you've read my blog before, you may recall me griping about unneeded guitar solos and shredding for the sake of "because I can." I feel visual-kei is full of them because it is a marketing tool to flaunt band members and "talent" in an effort to further solidify false identities. As a result, a lot of songs have guitar solos that don't fit in musically because they had to have one. D is the worst culprit when it comes to this. Without much more digression, "Shout Your Desire" has one of those obligasolos (obligatory + solo). They could have gotten away with a variation on the main guitar riff, or just left the first airy section in.

 

"STOP!"

 

All in all, Blessing of the Future was a good single. I only disliked one of the songs on it, which is pretty typical for single releases. Thankfully the upcoming album doesn't have all of these songs on it as filler.

 

Since people here like rating things in numbers and stars, here is mine:

 

Blessing of the Future:

Aria:

Shout Your Desire:

 

4+4+1.5 = 9.5 / 3 = 3.1666666 stars out of 5.

[dannemannen 69]

All in all, I just feel that something is "missing".
I would give this single a 6/10. Disappointed.

[Augie1995 325]

^Good job expounding on that statement lol

[Guest mitsubana]

I feel like I'm honestly not the best at writing music reviews, but I will do my best...haha

 

Overall I enjoyed Jupiter's debut single. I found it to be entertaining and a good listen. "BOTF" is obviously a Versailles song, but I still really enjoyed the melody, stereotypical HIZAKI guitar solos, ZIN's singing, and the lyrics. I love the lyrics for this song! Hit home with me. "ARIA" and "SHOUT YOUR DESIRE" surprised me, because I wasn't expecting more "BOTF"-like songs. Nonetheless, the direction they went with the B-sides I like. I love ZIN's rough vocals in "SHOUT YOUR DESIRE"; fits with the song's melody, in my opinion. 

 

I would rate the single: 4/5

(I feel like there's always room for improvement/maturing as a band, and I feel like Jupiter's album will let us know the direction they wanna go musically and will hopefully have ZIN's singing matured more so)