31st album, and, I don’t think this is common, like, very, uncommon…? Who’s coralmines for instance? Honestly, I don’t know. It’s not like we see this person every day or something. That does not mean this person here can’t make good music. Let’s see what THE DARKNESS AND LIGHT LP has to offer!
P.S. This may be the first English Vocaloid album I’m reviewing… Or not, there are Japanese songs as well, but I could say it’s the first album I have reviewed that contains English songs.
Album: THE DARKNESS AND LIGHT LP
Genre: Electronica
Link: https://coral422.bandcamp.com/album/the-darkness-and-light-lp
Tracks: 15 Tracks
Song Highlight: Vivere (Track 7) and LANIAKEA (Track 8)
What I like
I think you can see I’m not a very huge fan of this album as the “What I don’t like section” is terribly long, but! That does not mean the entire album is horrible! Vivere (Track 7) is quite a relaxing track which makes me feel comfortable (Though I know this melody is somewhat, very familiar, I think you can tell me, I don’t know the name, I just know the melody…) and if you ask me, I think this song would be perfect as a video game soundtrack. Trust me, this song will work wonders if you used it when two characters are watching a starlit sky. Yes, I can feel it, it’s wonderful…
The best part is, it chains with the next song, LANIAKEA (Track 8). Caught me by surprise, I thought they were in one single track! There isn’t any singing in the beginning until 1:51 when you can finally hear Miku songs. Yes, for some reason I can understand one or two words, thankfully. Of course, not extremely clear, but hell, it’s better than the tracks earlier. This song executes a trance feeling without feeling too slow. It goes well with Vivere (Track 7) perfectly, a perfect transition. Hats off, I’m impressed. This song makes you feel like you’re in a DJ dance party held outdoors under the night sky. Told you it went well with Vivere (Track 7)!
What I don’t like
As usual, I’m not surprised it’s happened, but we all know Vocaloids are definitely not the best when speaking English. I’m not saying they can’t, I’m simply saying they’re not the best, especially Miku. Yes, she can sound better if tuned properly, else she doesn’t sound astounding and there’s a high chance you can’t understand a single thing she sings anyway. Don’t believe me? Try listening to Specter (Track 6). Yeah… I hope I have learned Engrish because I can only understand the chorus…
Santa Maria (Track 3) is, quite bad if you ask me. If you give it a listen, you’d believe me. It’s cluttered, messy and, badly arranged I should say. It would probably sound better without Miku’s voice. I have a better chance putting two bad songs together to make one good song, I think… The guitar is fine, but when Miku sings, it, urgh… It shows that Miku just can’t 100% follow western styled music ya know? I will say almost the same thing for Not your Juggertones (Track 4).
The only Japanese tracks were コトバノチカラ [Kotobanochikara based on Google Translate] (Track 10), ステレオHIFI [Stereo HIFI based on Google Translate] (Track 12), 散らかった言葉 [Messy Words based on Google Translate] (VIP mix) (Track 14) and miss you (Track 15) and were they great? Not really… They’re just okay, a little too loud, a little messy and it feels, bad? It’s not exciting, or feeling inducing, or anything really. They were dull and just noisy. They sound a little generic too, well, talking about miss you (Track 15) here. I am going to blabber the same junk as usual, slow and boring.
Conclusion
I’d safely say this album is very experimental, only get it if you really have a unique kind of taste.
Should you buy this album? : Perhaps not… (30%)
Will Deathspark buy this album? : A huge no (5%)
This album isn’t really good, only 2 good tracks out of 15, I have better albums to shoot for.
2/5, this isn’t really a good one… Probably my first 2/5, hopefully not the last either.
well, this album is free
That’s true, but you still gotta make, a purchase? @@ Yeah, just slap in 0$ there and you’ll get it. So, yeah… Perhaps it could be a free tidbit if you do wanna try this album out.
Personally, I loved this album, I think that more than “experimental” I will call it “indie”. The lyrics are really good, a deep meaning and a good job on the vocabulary. In don’t like Miku english a lot personally, but the use he gave him here is a thing I never heard before. Judging for the song you liked more, I can assume we have pretty different tastes, so please don’t get offended :C Just saying that maybe is for people that like music with a “dark” and deep theme, if dark is a good term to use (sorry, english is not my mother language.) It touches sensitive topics, lyrics was one of the thing that I most loved from this album. And is not all electronic music, it has rock in most of the songs like Specter, Not your Juggertones, and a touch of Pop maybe.
Just sharing my opinion, for me it was a 9/10 (because I didn’t liked LANAIKEA and Vivere very much) so we can say it depends of the kind of music you like.
And the “it’s free” fact doesn’t make it a bad album. Coralmines have said that he likes to share his music so more people can reach it, you choose to pay or not (I would if I had a way to T_T) so yeah, it gives you an oportunity to try it, but nos because is horrible and doesn’t deserve a purchase.
I’m not angry, I just think that this review leaves the album really underestimated, and for me, and I can say that people that like the same music as me or similar, it is a really good album. Yeah, is not all happy and cute, but is pretty close, emotional and maybe a little heavy if you were in touch of some of the lyrics subjects.
Is just an opposite point of view, I’m not seeking to make an offense or nothing, just sharing my thoughts of what I call a really good album, hard to find.
what I know about this album is it’s has very variate genre. and this can be two-edge sword. for some this is good thing because they can hear very colorful album. for some this can be bad because they see this album has no personality.
well, this is matter of perspective.
Yup, which is why I clearly stated it would require a certain taste to enjoy this. I do not have this, certain taste so I couldn’t enjoy it. Remember, my album reviews are always based on what I think, not what you think.
I understand, like I said in my conclusion, perhaps I do not have your kind of taste ^^; But at least it’s good news that this album does have fans!
(Here you can find the lyrics, just click in each song and search the tab “Lyrics (English))
http://vocadb.net/Al/12604
Good info, thanks a lot! Though, I won’t be checking them out unless I’m a huge sucker towards the songs.
No problem! It was really hard for me to find the lyrics so I thought it will be cool to post them n.n
Thanks for doing a huge favor for everyone here at mikudb 🙂 Thank you once again!
I love when miku songs!