Fire◎Flower - Halyosy

Here I go reviewing another extremely popular song. "VOCALOID Legend" is a title proudly bestowed on those videos that receive upwards of 1,000,000 views on Nico Nico Douga (Japan's YouTube equivalent). Fire Flower is one of those songs.

Handy YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myEsj-qf73A

Link to the fantastic art: http://static.zerochan.net/Fire.Flower.full.787617.jpg

First off, I must give props to Halyosy. I seriously respect this man for his talent. Not only has he produced very nice sounding music, but that's not even his primary contribution to the world of arts. He is what you might call a cover artist, singing the vocals for other people's songs.

Take a listen. His voice is damn sexy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcSWPYKMc9o

So is his singing on par with his composition skills?

Um...well, you can't really compare the two...but...

Alright. My opinion on this song: straight up, its okay.

What I'm trying to say here is that I like it, but its forgettable. The song has got solid Len tuning, a nice albeit generic story built into the lyrics, and some sick guitar action...but nothing here is too fresh or different. Not like you have to be unique to create good music. Its a fine contribution to the Vocaloid genre, but I can't say I jumped on the hype train surrounding this song.

The first time I heard this song, I admit I didn't care much for it. However, the more I listened, the more I realized what a well produced piece this was. The thing is, is that every time I come back to it, I have to discover the charm all over again. Nothing about it sticks in your head for very long which is a shame because quite a few of Halyosy's song covers are VERY catchy.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the song occurs at 3:05 in the video I posted. That guitar solo just jumps out at me whenever I listen to it.

Normally I would give a more in depth review but this song is just so...meh...that I've already run out of material.

Well, I could talk about Len's voice. The quality seems a bit inconsistent throughout but the times where his voice sounds fairly realistic and crisp are plentiful. When he yells out "Like a Fire Flower..." is the best moment in the song. The tuning never dips down into dirt quality, but ONCE AGAIN, LIKE THE REST OF THE SONG, it's very uninteresting. Overall, the times where his voice sounds fuzzy and kind of off are infrequent and not a big deal.

-

The Rating

6/10

Fire Flower is a popular song. I don't see why. The voice and lyrics have power behind them, but the music doesn't do a good enough job backing them up. The guitar is awesome and the tuning is alright, but otherwise there isn't anything to note.

There isn't anything bad that just jumps out at me, but there's nothing really good that stands out either.

-

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

Bad∞End∞Night - Hitoshizuku-P and Yama

This is an interesting one. Upon hearing the song for the first time, the aspect that really popped out at me was how many voices were present. In fact, there are EIGHT, once again, EIGHT Vocaloids singing this song! Very few songs have more than two or three, and eight is just straight up...um...odd.

Hatsune Miku, both of the Kagamine twins, Luka, Gumi, Gakupo, KAITO, and MEIKO  are here and all of them have a distinct role in the story of Bad∞End∞Night. Eight (well technically seven since Rin and Len come from the same voice bank) different programs are hard to manage at once, and it could potentially lead to some garbled products.

So did it? Did Hitoshizuku-P pull it off?

She did. It's damn good.

Handy YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQih8wmIn_M

Link to the fantastic art: http://static.zerochan.net/Night.%E2%88%9E.Series.full.922503.jpg

Okay, lets forget for a second that there are actually singers in this song. Just listen to the instrumentals. It's definitely not a pop beat we're hearing here. As you might have guessed from just reading the title of the song, Bad∞End∞Night tells a relatively creepy story.

There's a whole world of Vocaloid horror out there, and I'll be reviewing a few of those in the near future, but I digress. Bad∞End∞Night is one of those songs that conveys a very light and enjoyable feeling of fear. The music is upbeat when appropriate and it feels like its building up to some kind of climax...which it is. During the chorus, I felt like I was in a middle of a very classy ball and when the different verses hit, it was as if I stepped out of the party and into some dark room of the house I wasn't supposed to be in.

This is a good thing, since the story is pretty much just that.

Now lets address the EIGHT Vocaloids. EIGHT! SERIOUSLY! YOU THINK THAT'S ENOUGH? Vocaloids are very expensive. Even off Japan Amazon, the newest ones with the works price in at about $200. To buy EIGHT is ridiculous...but then Hitoshizuku-P had popular hits before Bad∞End∞Night, so that might explain her huge collection.

However, with that out of the way, I could scrounge up some money and buy EIGHT Vocaloids myself if I wanted to. Of course, I don't because I would suck with them. It takes a certain person to operate with that many voices. Its not like a human choir where each member is capable of learning and adapting to different situations. You have to tell each Vocaloid exactly what to do and when which I assume took a hella long time.

I've heard WAY MORE than my fair share of bad songs with just Miku where it sounded like the producer forced her to sing at gunpoint. How Hitoshizuku achieved such crisp tuning is truly a stroke of brilliance.

I'm not going to go into the story. That's something you have to experience for yourself. If I had to sum up the plot behind Bad∞End∞Night in one word, it would have to be...intriguing. It's definitely not a tear-jerker or a jump-scare horror, or a story that will make you sick to your stomach.

To be honest looking at the song as a whole, it gives me the weirdest "secret agent" vibe which I find very enjoyable.

-

The Rating

8/10

Come on. EIGHT Vocaloids and it actually works very well? Instant 5. Add some classy instrumentals and a compelling story and I gotta bump it up to an 8...

BUT WAIT!

Bad∞End∞Night has two sequels! How they hold up?

All of them in one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRfPe9zVlOo

Crazy∞Night is the next song and its tone is still light and upbeat, but the pace is much more frantic and desperate.

It all leads to Twilight∞Night. Twilight∞Night is crazy. It took the desperation in Crazy∞Night and multiplied it. I thought I had reached the climax at the end of Bad∞End∞Night, but I was wrong.

Twilight∞Night starts off with a very creepy and somber sounding lamentation of a girl wondering how she's going to get home. Then the music fades out and I'm wondering "What happened to the classy jazzed up feel of the other songs?" Suddenly all that and more explodes into reality and everything works.

That video link I posted is probably the best way to get a full scope of the build among all three songs.

Crazy∞Night gets a 8/10 alone

and

Twilight∞Night gets a 9/10 alone

However, as a group, if I count them all as an 11 minute song, I gotta give it a 10/10. It's the perfect example of show don't tell through music. The voices (ALL FREAKIN EIGHT OF THEM) help to bring out the mood, but overshadowing that is the music which, I feel, tells the best story.

Oh yeah, and all three have kick-ass music videos, but this review has gone on long enough.

-

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!