paradise lost

Matenrou Opera’s first mini-album released on 2008.05.15. It contains the singles alkaloid showcase and sara.

The mini album opens with the stunning plastic cell. My first Matenrou Opera song, and one of my favourite’s still. It’s just so awesome in so many ways. Frantic piano starts the song over dark, ominous synths before the heavy guitar chords come in. The song is dark and ominous filled with a sense of urgency and desperation. The use of airy synth gives it a lot of atmosphere, as well as other effects like breathy noises and the piano part. Sono’s vocals are amazing, and he really completes the song with an amazing vocal performance- not only his voice emotional, but he constantly alters it. It’s pretty damn impressive. The song itself constantly shifts in mood, the instrumentation constantly changing with Sono’s voice- overall it makes it interesting and powerful. This is an absolutely awesome song.

Next up is alkaloid showcase, from the single of the same name. It’s another dark and atmospheric song with the heavy use of the synth and amazing guitar parts. I love the instrumentation. Sono continues to morph his vocals, proving just how versatile his voice is. This song is a lot rougher compared to Plastic cell, with more shouted parts and a grittier feeling to it. Still pretty amazing filled with emotion and power.

Breaking the trend of dark and heavy tracks, the third track Twilight Parade has a much different feeling to it: the opening instrumentation is really cool then the song really changed, becoming a lot grittier and darker. Yet the song has a lighter quality compared to the previous two. It’s still pretty dramatic with a more desperate feel over frantic/urgent. I love Sono’s vibrato in this. The guitar solo is awesome, like always, and the slight mood shift after that is pretty interesting. I really like just how much Matenrou Opera has going on their songs, it stops it becoming boring or from dragging on: makes it interesting to unpick the emotions in the song.

The next song, Sara is a gorgeous ballad of epic proportions, containing an extreme amount of emotion and power that one cannot help but be moved. Light, childish piano opens the song before the epic rock instrumentation comes in…and it sounds so sad. The song is filled with longing, yet at the same time the sense that someone is letting go even as they reflect on the past and it hurts them. Sono’s vocals are still stunning, and he adds so much emotion to the song. I love his wistful adlibbing. The instrumentation is so powerful, I love the strings and the piano that come in at times. You can really feel this song; I almost cried the first time I listened to it. In one word: beautiful. In two: beautiful and heart-wrenching. The song ends as it begun with that same simple childish piano part. It’s so bittersweet.

Lastly, the mini-album ends with 虚空からの手紙. It’s a bit of a wake up call after being lulled to silent melancholy by Sara. This song is pretty cool: although I feel the random accordion sounding thing really annoys me. Otherwise I really like the more upbeat feeling to it. However once again there is amazing instrumentation and gorgeous expressive vocals. I love how he warps his voice at one point. It’s really fascinating just listening to him sing. I can’t really say I like the instrumentation much- that damn accordion thing is off-putting.

Overall rating: 8/8 (Incredible)
Favourite Tracks: Plastic Cell, Sara

This is one hell of a mini-album, to put it bluntly. From dark and dramatic rock numbers, to the epic ballad that is Sara Matenrou Opera give some very powerful and epic songs here- filled with power and emotion. Matenrou Opera tend to remind me of Heidi., their music is powerful and absolutely amazing in so many ways. Yet both have that same flaw, there’s just SO MUCH power- it’s so full on sometimes it’s overwhelming and it ends up washing over you. Thus, I find sometimes I just blank halfway listening to these songs, growing rather tired and/or bored. However the music isn’t bad, you just have to be in the right mood to listen to it, as most of the tracks though on this album manage to stay pretty interesting through constant changes and the amazing vocals from Sono. Overall it’s pretty incredible, and I can’t help but really love this mini-album. There are some really great songs, and really…. Matenrou Opera are just so talented. I especially love Sono’s voice, which is so amazingly versatile- the vibrato and the way he reaches up to the higher notes… so incredible and it really makes these songs shine.