Beyond the Sea ~ The Style. Edition

Tracklisting
1. Ash Like Snow
2. goodbye and good luck
    ★Piano arrange version★
3. Ash Like Snow ★Original instrumental★

This is the brilliant green’s 17th single and it was released on February 6, 2008. The single reached #8 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 50,868 copies. The title track was used as the 2nd opening theme song for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

Ash Like Snow is a dark, powerful rock song with edgy riffs and a good pace. As a band, it’s one of the brilliant green’s most rock oriented songs, separate from the alternative mid-paced stuff that they normally do. However, it sounds so eerily similar to Heavy Starry Chain, Tomoko Kawase’s latest single as Tommy heavenly6. The composition and the overall melody really reminded me of Heavy Starry Chain, but this song seemed to have more aggressive lyrics. Because of this, I felt that it wasn’t very original.

Included on the single is a piano version of goodbye and good luck, the band’s 2nd single released back in 1997. This song, along with their debut single Bye Bye Mr. Mug, are in English and weren’t included on their debut album (but they will be on a complete single collection to be released later in the month). Back to this song, I REALLY liked it and the sad lyrics that Tomoko Kawase sings next to a lone piano. Kawase’s English is pretty good when she isn’t singing mindless lyrics like in her solo works. I haven’t heard the original single version, but now I really want to.

Overall Rating 

3½ stars

Tracklisting
1. Enemy
2. angel song -Eve no Kane- ★acoustic version★
    (angel song -イブの鐘- ★acoustic version★)
3. Enemy ★original instrumental★

This is the brilliant green’s 16th single and it was released on December 12, 2007. The single reached #21 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 5,804 copies.

the brilliant green has hit the bullseye with Enemy, a medium tempo “winter” themed track. Thanks to a dark, grungy, and melancholy sound, the song is certainly a major step up from their comeback single Stand by me. The music has a strong sense of character and expression as well. The chorus just grabbed me with its opening line The enemy lives inside myself, yeah I know and I loved the soothing, yet forceful vocals of lead singer Tomoko Kawase.

The B-side is an acoustic version of angel song -Eve no Kane-, the band’s 11th single released back in 2000. Like most acoustic versions, everything is toned down and the chorus does not feature a vocal track. Kawase’s vocals seemed to get drowned out by the furious guitars in the original so it was very nice to hear the song performed with a clear voice.

Overall Rating

4 stars

Tracklisting
1. Stand by me
2. Gloomy Sunday ~Hitoribocchi no Nichiyoubi~
    (Gloomy Sunday ～ひとりぼっちの日曜日～)
3. Stand by me (original instrumental)

This is the brilliant green’s 15th single and it was released on August 22, 2007. The single reached #10 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 28,985 copies. The title track was used as the ending theme song for the drama Tantei Gakuen Q. On a side note, this is the band’s 1st single in almost 5 years.

Stand by me is a good comeback single, but I kind of expected more from the brilliant green now that they’re back from their hiatus. The song is your standard BuriGuri track with its various band instruments and electric guitar solos, but it’s very high quality nonetheless. The vocals of Tomoko Kawase, the lead vocalist, are at their best too. In the end, I’m just glad they’re finally back and making music again.

Like the title implies, Gloomy Sunday ~Hitoribocchi no Nichiyoubi~, is a downer of a song. It’s laid back but features more prominant guitar riffs and more lower pitched vocals from Kawase. I didn’t enjoy this song more than the title track, and it definitely sounded like B-side material to me.

Overall Rating 

3½ stars