[Infinity]
2003/03/01 (?)
01. Messiah
02. HYSTERIC HEART
03. 願い
04. EILEEN
05. あなた
06. No true
07. In Heaven
08. [Pure]
09. Dawn of Winter
10. To find a way
Okay, this one's a true hidden gem and a personal favorite of mine. The only full-length album of the short-lived ChronoSphere is an absolute delight full of great hooks and somewhat cheesy melodies, a lesser-known entry in the soft VK canon.
I'm so glad I got to pick up the all-around excellent omnibus (i.e. various artists) album "Yougenkyou -mirrors of new generation-" because if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have discovered this band, or just much much later. Richly arranged with acoustic guitar flourishes and classical strings, the otherwise typical uptempo VK track quickly found its way into my heart, urging me to find out more about this mysterious group I'd never heard of before. Over the years, I've managed to collect most of their small discography, of which the crowning achievement is definitely this album. Even holding it in my hands, it remains a bit of an enigma since I'm not even sure when it was exactly released! Liner notes say early 2004 but Japanese online sources unanimously state 2003, which might be closer to the truth as that is when ChronoSphere disbanded (and the members immediately formed a new group but that's another story).
The style of music presented here sometimes sounds so similar to some of L'Arc~en~Ciel's early-to-mid period, it might be a bit funny to some, but personally I could take hours more of that sort of vibe, so it's just perfect for me. Based on that comparison alone and what I wrote about their omnibus track you can probably tell that this isn't exactly brutal stuff, haha. In short, it's just well-crafted light sounding melodic VK with hints of mid-'90s nostalgia. The vocals are smooth and powerful, the guitars pack a punch when they want to, but mostly resort to a tasteful and not too showy rhythmic interplay of distorted and clean (sometimes acoustic) sounds, occasionally bursting into a soulful solo or two. The rhythm section doesn't do much to get themselves noticed but they get the job done. Their solid rock band sound is ornamented with some keyboards and strings here and there, which can slip into cheesy territory (hello, synth horns!) but most of the time they manage to not go overboard.
I guess this album won't be everyone's cup of tea (I know I would have avoided it in my younger years), but if you're looking for a good time to just relax to some finely-crafted quality soft VK tunes without overloading your senses, then you've found your best candidate. Fits well with this post-Christmas start of the year mood.
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