FictionJunction ~ elemental - unboxing

I just got home about 20 minutes ago.  Another long day at work but I learnt a lot of new stuff and except for being quite tired... it wasn't a bad day at all.  This does mean that I will have to try and blast through this.  If I get through this reasonably fast, I may post another one or two posts about something else.  For now... let's get going. :)

This arrived in the mail yesterday and I've already ripped flacs and placed them on my Creative Zen player and listened to the new songs about two to three times through.

First up... the unboxing photos, then just a teeny tiny bit about my thoughts about the new album.

  

The above are photos of the slipcase with the shrink wrap on and off.  The paper uses to print the slipcase has a matte finishing which I quite like.

 

The jewel case slips out from the top or bottom of the slipcase which is a little unusual.  Most CD slipcases are designed for jewel cases to slip and out from the side.

    

The rest of the packaging is pretty standard stuff.  It's a standard jewel case with a insert booklet of lyrics. What is interesting is that there are NO photos of any of the current main vocalists in FictionJunction.  The only photos in the booklet are of Kajiura Yuki who's pretty low key as usual.  Mostly mid-shots and she doesn't look at the camera at all.  Fans of the FJ vocalists maybe a little disappointed with it but I'm okay with it since I'm a big Kajiura Yuki fan and there are way more photos of the FJ vocalists then there are of Kajiura Yuki.

This is a pretty decent release because it comes packed with 13 songs.  Although there are only 4 songs on this album that can be called new, still if you don't own any of their previously released singles, then this isn't a bad release to get.  I own a ton of their more recent releases but I actually don't own any of the FictionJunction Yuuka releases, so I guess I'm getting more than 4 new songs? :P  I wish that Gatherway was one of the songs on this album though because I really can't justify buying Harvest for just one song.

Anyway, so far I have to say that 凱歌 (Gaika / Victory Song) is my early favourite of the 4 new songs and is extremely likely to remain in top position in the future as well.  I really like the guitars and the mostly flat melody. Unfortunately for Keiko fans like me, none of the new songs feature Keiko in a big way.  She gets very few lines where the mix favours her.  Even though the booklet states that Keiko sings vocal in "storm", along side Wakana, but the mix still favours Wakana and Keiko gets no solo lines in that song.  That said, although she's mostly in support in the four new songs, I still love her support work.  When I first fell in love with Keiko's voice, it was really in songs where she's mostly in support anyway.  She really does combine very well with both Wakana and Kaori.  I especially LOVE Keiko in Gaika.

Anyway, my 2nd favourite is Kaori who's the main vocal on "elemental" and "storytelling".  :)

I'm quite happy with my purchase and I like all the new in varying degrees.  Nice mix of classical, world music, rock and lots and lots of that lovely harmony and layering that is sooooo Kajiura Yuki.  Keiko's lovely rendition of "nohara" is also on this album and I have a soft spot for "Stone Cold" after hearing it live at my first Kajiura Yuki live in Japan.  Oddly, the song I like the least on this album is Yuuka's "hitomi no chikara".  Don't get me wrong, I like Yuuka and love a lot of her songs with Kajiura Yuki.  But that song is really not my kind of song... I find it boring and I usually skip it when it comes up on rotation. :P

Alrighty... my usual line... if you like Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and the music... please do buy the album.  Who knows when FJ will release another one... the previous release was in 2010. :)

FictionJunction ~ elemental album

Looks like I won't be getting to one of my planned posts on Kalafina... maybe tomorrow night.

I'll write one more short post after this and then it's to bed!! :)

cheers