alice nine. is the band I always hear about but have never bothered with much. I last listened to them many months ago, I think their alpha album. All I remember now is the vocalists’ deep voice. Haha. However, after reading a good review of this single I decided to try it out. So here I am sampling alice nine. with their latest single Rainbows. This single was released on 2008.08.06 and came, like most singles do, in three different versions.

Rainbows is upbeat and fast but with a darker feel. It’s an energetic rock number with a dance-y feel to it. The instrumentation is pretty cool, especially the guitar part(s-the bass sounds kind of cool too) and the use of…was it a keyboard or some synth? Both way the overall composition of the song is really good, gives it a dark, almost sexy feel and it’s really upbeat and energetic. Shou sounds good too; he really belts it out, lending a certain power to the song (And once again I’m reminded of how deep the vocalists’ voice is- though I rather like how unique it is). It’s pretty catchy and rather cool.

The first B-side is ストロベリー ファズ which is another upbeat song which actually has more of a pop-rock feel to it, leaning towards the rock of course. It’s got decent instrumentation and good vocals too. Further it has a good feel too it and is good to listen to. There is something clearly more sorrowful about the song- it is in a way beautiful. I quite like the middle variation, as the song had begun to drag, and also the solo. Overall the song is quite nice, although it doesn’t live up to Rainbows in a way. Somehow although there is emotion and feeling presented in the song, it fails to be powerful enough to really move or go beyond ‘just nice’.

Lastly 胡蝶蘭 is the track only available on regular edition. It’s a laid back song with a gentler feel to it- like a ballad. The song is quite relaxing, with good instrumentation and wonderful, emotional vocals. I like the rhythms of it and I think its very pretty- with a certain feeling about it that makes it appealing. It does sound like it’s aiming for a certain power, and I don’t think it achieves that really even if it doesn’t fail to be a good song. It’s more relaxing kind of hypnotic feel to it than powerful and in your face type ballad. That still doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s a great song to listen to. It’s a very beautiful song, and as I said it’s so laid-back and relaxing to listen to with some very beautiful and sincere vocals.

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)
Favourite Track: Rainbows, 胡蝶蘭

This was quite good. Rainbows is a really cool song and 胡蝶蘭 is a nice laid back ballad like song. Strawberry Fuzz I think is the weaker track made for putting on in the background and nothing more. I also think that the look, the promo pictures for the single are really cool. It’s quite creative how they incorporated the rainbows in there and it looks awesome. No doubt that no matter what I think of their music, alice nine. all look really good just about always. Back to the single and it was quite nice with a couple of strong tracks, and overall the composition and vocals were clearly very good. I rate is low as I don’t feel that’s it’s something I will put on repeat or listen to obsessively.. so thus it’s not something I would recommend. I don’t think I’m hooked on this band yet, though I’m beginning to like them.