Kyohso “silent sun” (Review)

Tracklist:

 Track by track analysis:

1-Roots of Life

With a slightly psychedelic intro, courtesy of the synths and powerful instrumental piece, we have the perfect stage laid out for Morikubo to show off his amazing vocal skills. We must say that the rock genre suits him 100%. Although the instrumental may appear to be too simple for some of your, we must say that even though that might be right we cannot forget the fact that all the elements that are needed in a good rock track are there. The powerful and heavy but not exaggerated drums, the melodic yet heavy performance by the guitar as well as the bass that throughout the track goes on  in”solo mode” doing his thing. The synths on the other side could be a total miss if badly executed, but we must give it to the band because they’ve managed to mix the heavy and powerful instrumental with the distorted synths creating a rarely heard “sound”, one that makes them unique, in that sense. 5/5

2- x-maniac

A little different from the previous track, x-maniac is more keen on the heavy instrumental with numerous opportunities to be melodic, while keeping the use of synths at bay. In this track the focus appears to be the piano, guitar and Morikubo’s vocal performance, however we must admit that the rest of the instrumental is also on point and is well incorporated into the rest of the instrumental piece. The piano that is noticeable on the chorus makes up for a rather interesting instrumental thus making it so addicting. The solo has just the right amount of emotion delivered to us through the guitar, slow bass and drums’ performance. Despite the fact that this track is quite different from the previous one, we must admit that it is equally good and unique, something that this band is overflowing with. 5/5

3- deep dive

deep dive is the first new track in this mini-album, and it kicks off with the guitar performance that quite resembles a country song, but just as quickly begins to resemble a rock song, especially when the rest of the instruments make their way into the song. The pre-chorus is a little overcrowded, however the chorus is what we expect from a quality rock band. We must say that the rest of the track almost makes the band’s previous releases appear to be a lie. The drums are a little to exaggerated and the remaining instrumental piece was a little too jumbled up. If the intention was to make this track appear to have come out from a western movie then they’ve accomplished their mission, the only part of this track worth listening to is the chorus. 3.5/5

4- precog piano ver.

Although this track has already been released, this time around we have precog in a piano version. With it we have more emotion packed in the instrumental, and in fact Morikubo’s voice real has more impact this way, since there isn’t any other instrument aside from the piano, the focus is completely directed to his vocal performance. In this track one really gets to see just how well Morikubo knows how to sing and melt everyone in this ballad. We must say that even though the original version was already pretty amazing, this piano version is by far more beautiful, instrumental wise. 5/5

5- silent sun

silent sun is the last track in this mini-album. Once again the synths presence is very prominent, this time around in a bad meaning, leaving us to thing that the synths were a bad choice in this track. The bass and the synth are so mixed that it makes it difficult to listen to the track at all, since they’re so distracting. However, and once again, the chorus is really good and we find ourselves wishing that the rest of the instrumental piece was just as good. The guitar is particularly on point in the chorus, as well as the bass not forgetting the drums of course. We believe that the problem is that the synths make this track with a lot of potential into a not so good song. Nevertheless, if you’re into tracks with synths and the rest of the instrumental all jumbled up, then this is definitely your “cup of tea”, if not you might not like it that much. 4/5

Final rating: 

Although this mini-album has numerous good tracks such as x-maniac and precog piano ver., the two new song have quite a lot of problems. They either sounded like a western movie music or the synths were exaggerated which made the track difficult to listen to, like the case for deep dive and silent sun. Both tracks have quite a lot of potential but something went arry. On the bright side their chorus were actually really good which only leave us to imagine what went through the band’s head while creating the track. If in future releases the band remains true to the same “sound” they’ve produced in tracks like Roots of life or precog or x-maniac will be more than glad to listen to them.

Needless to say that if they continue to exaggerate their instrumentals, then we’re in it for a long ride since they’ll most likely be producing music that strays from their already established “sound”. All in all, one thing is for sure, Morikubo’s vocal performance was always on point, be it in the ballad or in the heavier tracks. He never fails on the fans, partially because the rock genre is his element but also because heis just that good. Still we look just as much to see what will be the band’s new project and how it’ll sound like.