Released on June 20 2007 Returner～闇の終焉～ was the theme for Fuurin Kazen in which Gackt had a large role, and this would also (rather surprisingly) be his first single to reach the #1 spot on the Oricon charts.
The first track, and the only original song on the single, is the beautiful Returner～闇の終焉～(Returner~The Dark’s Demise~). It’s quite a blatant rip off of many of his older works, in particular Mind Forest comes to mind but it has an entirely different feeling. This song is epic. Starting with some synth the song builds up quickly becoming louder before it hits you with the high flutes and the heavy rock instrumentation… it’s stunning and dramatic and the flutes lend a rather traditional feel to it. You can picture the PV, with the soldiers riding to war/battling and stuff. After the opening the song does tone down for the verses, and as always Gackt’s vocals are rich and emotional- just beautiful really. The song moves between different dynamics changing subtlety in other ways too as it goes along. The pre-chorus is great with the voice alteration and then BAM the chorus hits. It’s the most epic, dramatic and emotional bit of the song (and the song does basically consist of a verse or two and then the chorus repeated often…although you don’t notice it which is pretty awesome in itself). The way Gackt’s voice moves from low to high is effortless and haunting. This is a beautiful song. It is supposed to be about the longing of a wife waiting for her husband to return home from war, and Gackt captures those feelings perfect- in a dramatic, dynamic song packed with emotion. a) It has good dynamics, moving between loud and quiet often for great effect. b) The instrumentation is beautiful c) the arrangement is good, and there are some very interesting effects- especially the vocals distortions- and damn d) Gackt has such a gorgeous voice.
Alas, the rest of the single is just live versions of older songs- CUBE and Birdcage- and then an instrumental version of RYnS. But even if it’s just one song it’s such a good song. And of course you got to love Gackt for performing it in full costume with a full army (hahaha. Only him~). That was unrelated wasn’t it? Yes, so basically it’s a good song. It features a lot of elements Gackt had used before, but they are manipulated to sound quite refreshing. I really love this song.
Overall rating: 198289/5 (Awesomeness)
Favourite Track: RETURNER (but that was obvious yes?)
Despite one solitary track this is a great single, and it was nice to hear this side of Gackt again after all the ballading he was doing. Giving the “Awesomeness” rating again (how long has it been?) feels good, and completely appropriate.
gackt is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!! i love him =^-^=