REVIEW: vistlip - 'CHRONUS'

Sorry! This was supposed to be up here sometime ago!

Written Review:

vistlip! Many of you might already be very familiar with this band in the VK scene through their years of activity. To be honest, they have been rather successful and their musical abilities are definitely outstanding. The seemingly endless breath of Tomo always makes their songs that amazing. Coupled with all the instrumentals, it was perfection.

It was not long ago that they had released their album 'CHRONUS', and I can say, to all of you, that this is the perfect thing to buy from the releases of July. There are a total of 16 tracks in this album. 3 instrumentals and 13 songs.

Here's the track list if you have yet to check it out:

CD

1. First Dimension (Instrumental)

2. Telescope Cylinder

3. WEB

4. Recipe

5. Dr. Teddy

6. Prey Shadow

7. Second Dimension (Instrumental)

8. Shinkaigyo no Yume wa Shosen

9. Aquamarine

10. Nearly Equal

11. Reset Circle

12. B

13. Making of Day 1.

14. Chimera

15. Arrythmia

16. Third Dimension (Instrumental)

DVD

1. Prey Shadow MV

2. Making of Prey Shadow MV

You may purchase this album here too.

This album seems to classify songs in a manner so that the audience can enjoy by labeling the opening, transition and ending each with a 'dimension' which are actually instrumentals. Of course, it then starts off with the first dimension. This instrumental sets one off gently, to bring us into the melody and yet it seems to have maintained some sort of mystery behind it. Halfway through the song, some sort of "epicness" begins to set in and this actually made me even more interested in listening much deeper into this album. The first time I listened to it, I didn't exactly pay attention to the ending of the song but after my second time, I realized something; near the end there was this mechanical sound effect, it really felt like a hastened ticking of an antique clock to me. I believe this will be further explained in the later few songs...

Still in the slow and gentle mood, vistlip brings us into a very emotional song. As you should have noticed, their tracks have rather interesting names like for now, Telescope Cylinder. With regards to a telescope, there is a definite chance of reference to astronomy in the song, but surprise! What did I just say earlier? An antique clock ticking sound? That just seems to appear as the first 2 words of the song; however, I will not go so in-depth into the lyrics of the song this time. In general, there are many interesting references in the track itself and you guys should really figure them out on your own! I will provide the links to the lyrics at the end. My main focus as to this song might just be last part, which mentions about a pocket watch. Yet another time measuring tool. Oh man, they are so good at matching with their album name! I have to say, many of these references actually come into play during the 'Prey Shadow' MV! 

Right now, I'm feeling kinda low after Telescope Cylinder. Maybe what I need would be a upbeat song to lift my mood? Well that's what they actually did with WEB! However, there just seem to be some sort of direct conflict between the instrumentals and the lyrics of this song. The instrumentals no doubt gives people a upbeat feel but the lyrics are actually still quite sad. Or maybe this could have just been their plan all along...

I will not go through Recipe as it's a old song but I could really feel that they put in a lot of effort in this album as I can say for sure that Recipe and WEB was a great combo. Let's move on then. Wait what?! Dr.Teddy? Don't mind me but I find this a really cute title. But vistlip, Recipe still kept me in the upbeat mood and now you are bringing me down low again with this...or is it? This song is clearly a trap! It starts off soft but there happens to be a sudden rise in mood with a heavy level of "epicness" again which is definitely similar to that of First Dimension. This song in my opinion, has a hidden meaning behind it. I mean I don't think Tomo would write a song for a plush toy! What do you guys think about what this Teddy could refer to?

And now at last for the main song of this album - 'Prey Shadow'! Lets start off talking about Chronus shall we? Actually Chronus means Time in Greek and apart from that, it is usually depicted as a wise old man who is also the 'Father of Time'. Who do I actually see as the main character in the MV? You figure! Like I said, there are many many references from their past works which could also be in relation to their time together as vistlip! Look closely at the MV and you will realized many things and that was proven with the past songs included in this album. Telescope appeared. Pocket watch appeared. Television? That's from B. Masks? That's from Shinkaigyo no Yume wa Shosen. Scorpion? That's from Chimera. Apart from these, I am speculating a reference to 'GLOSTER' too due to the Violin that appeared. Also, there were many mics used by Tomo at one part of the MV and I'm rather guessing that those are the mics used in their past MVs. What do you think about my speculations? Anyway, what I love so much about this song is the great camera angles they made and this song just simply gives me the feeling like - I must sing along. Do you feel the same way as I do?

We are finally at the Second Dimension! This starts off as if I'm playing some games like Final Fantasy and then it just gets funky all of a sudden. Well, being a 1 minute song, I really can't think of much to describe but it's really lovely.

Similarly, I will not go through 'Shinkaigyo no Yume wa Shosen' but I highly recommend everyone to listen to this song if you have not been following vistlip for the past year or so! The beautiful phrase of 'the deep sea fish in the well knows nothing of the great ocean' has always been on my mind since I saw it. Just talking about beauty and what do we have here now? Aquamarine! This gem is really beautiful. And to be honest, this is my 2nd favorite song from this album! The lyrics seems to portray several similarities to 'Shinkaigyo' as they are both about aquatic lifeforms and structures. Both songs talked about the lack of oxygen, so what I can see is that they clearly match it so well...

Track No. 10 is rather interesting. If you have been following vistlip closely as of late, you should have realized that this 'Nearly Equal' song has the same instrumentals as the single 'Artist' which was released together with 'Shinkaigyo' last year. It's also used as the ending theme for the anime - Yugioh! Zexal. Just what went through their heads to actually reproduce this song with different lyrics and naming it 'Nearly Equal' which literally is true. They probably wanted to be innovative though they weren't the first in this (earthmind had it and probably some others too) but still it was rather interesting to have a different 'Artist'. I had a good laugh when they wanted to use stuff like 'diet coke' and 'LASIK' as references in the song!

The 2nd to last of the interesting titles I find in this album was Reset Circle. They clearly wanted the idea of a reset button to be there, but that would be too awkward as a title. Besides that, the funky elements from 'Second' seems to have appeared. If you asked me to describe this song, I would say, "It's a funk rock yet with some Prey Shadow elements in it." Probably something that rarely comes off from vistlip. 

Skipping B, we come to the making of Day 1. There you go, the final title I find intriguing. Why is it named the making of Day 1? I would see it as a couple to B. Listen to both and you will understand what I mean. I suppose these could be inspired during the first day of making of this album. I believe so as the concept of making couple tracks seem to have been a trend in here. So for B, they just had to this. 

Just remember Mr. Scorpion and forget Chimera. Arrythmia? It actually means irregular heartbeat. So why this name? Well since it obviously isn't a science song, I can only link the heart with love issues. I simply like their idea of using Arrythmia in the context of love. Generally most arrythmia isn't dangerous, but there's no doubt that it can cause cardiac arrest anytime, which may lead to death. All these facts are input into the song which makes it simply amazing.

We have to put an end to this. So after listening to 15 tracks on this album, you might just be taken apart so here is some serenity for you. The soothing tune that plays through. It's like saying: You may now go to sleep. Goodbye and sweet dreams. 

Credits: hiphopvomit

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