Shunichi Toki evolves his sound, betting more on rock and jazz music to create a fancy, mature single in “Glorious World”.
Title: Glorious World Release date: 25/01/2023 Label: PONY CANYON Genre: Rock/Citypop
Tracklist:
1 - Glorious World 2 - Highway Love 3 - Glorious World (Instrumental) 4 - Highway Love (Instrumental) 5 - Glorious World (TVEdit) - ANIME VERSION EXCLUSIVE
Track by track analysis:
1 – Glorious World
“Glorious World” kicks off with power and intensity, bringing a robust rock sound to the spotlight.
Low guitar riffs, a punchy bassline, and tight drums create a fun sound in the verses, ramping up the tension for the fast-paced chorus.
When you arrive at the chorus, the piano takes a more important role in the instrumental, adding a layer of hope and excitement to it. The bassline goes crazy as well, bringing deep, groovy melodies into the mix.
When it comes to the chorus, “Glorious World” expands upon the freeing vibe it shares in the verses, uncovering a wide soundscape for you.
As far as the vocals go, Shunichi Toki made sure you feel the excitement in your bones. His voice is quite energetic, his emotions are transparent throughout, inviting you to enjoy all the hope and excitement that goes on in the performance.
Solid track with strong anisong vibes going on.
2 – Highway Love
Wrapping up this single is “Highway Love”, song that brings to the spotlight a fancy rhodes piano-led sound, funky guitar riffs, and a punchy bassline.
The soundscape painted around you is one filled with neon lights, stylish and laidback.
“Highway Love” relishes in the fact that it has an elegant jazz-rock sound with delicate piano melodies and smooth atmospheric synths in the background. This is a soundscape that will catch you
The pre-bridge and the bridge are pure delights for jazz fans on both the instrumental and vocal ends. The guitars are emotional, the bassline is groovy and unpredictable – here, shifting from a simple bass to a contrabass – and the brass and strings hits add an additional layer of elegance to this performance. And those head voice vocals as Shunichi Toki goes high on his vocal range? A thing of beauty.
If there is a “best song” in this single, it is “Highway Love”.
Final considerations
Shunichi Toki continues to evolve his sound, betting more on rock and jazz music – now in equal measures – to create a fancy, mature single in “Glorious World”.
The title track is exactly what you’d expect from a song that is featured in an anime series. It is intense, powerful, and has good pacing, things that are more than enough as the core of a good anisong track that catches the attention of the listeners.
As good as the song is, I feel like it comes short in comparison to previously released songs and especially when in comparison with this single’s b-side track, “Highway Love”.
The song is too formulaic and there are no surprises in there. For those more experienced listening to anisong music, you will be predicting how the song will progress because it is really textbook from its composition even down to its arrangement.
Not to say it is a bad song – quite on the contrary – but it feels and sounds like any other anisong out there.
Still, you have an amazing performance delivered by Shunichi Toki, awesome guitar riffs, and a solo that had me begging for more. I’d love to hear more modern rock coming from Toki or even a return to the old-school rock sound he had in “True Gazer”.
Now, when it comes to highlighting the best song in this single, it is “Highway Love”.
This song feels like opening the doors to a casino. It is stylish, feels exclusive and its jazz sound is tasteful and has a good bounce – giving off citypop vibes – at the same time that the vocals are technically impressive.
In “Glorious World”, you will find a stylish and mature brand of jazz-rock music and elegant performances by an artist that continues to evolve his sound (and is only getting better with each release).
“Glorious World” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
“Glorious World” is available for streaming on Spotify.
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