:: Reviews :: Rants ::

Hyde is a popular japanese singer from the well known band, L'Arc~en~Ciel. This is his most recent solo album titled Faith. The album itself is very interesting, and has connections with the Christian religion, although Hyde admits he's not a religious person. He said while writing the song lyrics had a great deal of research, and he enjoyed learning about the Christian religion. This album differs quite a bit than the Roentegen album, as it's a lot more harder musically speaking.

This song is very straight forward lyrically. It's about a man's devotion to Jesus Christ. The song briefly speaks of his child, fading, perhaps dying from some disease. The song Hyde singing about how he believes Jesus's words of truth, and he would not abandon Jesus, as he would go as far to have God take his own life, rather than the innocent.

Musically, the song starts out very hard, with lots of drums and guitars. The song is dramatic for a good portion of the song, but around 2:30, the guitars back off a bit, and the drummer plays on the high hat lightly, with brisk piano arpeggios. The guitars build up again, and the piano can be heard in the background with chords and some pretty fills to end the song up, sweetly, for the lack of a better term.

From what I can tell, this song is still about devoting yourself to God, and to live your life to your fullest, assuming that you live by the 10 Commandments so that you can be in the prescence of God. Hyde uses several lyrics to convey this, "To save you from the dark, I want it higher to get into his light."

The title Countdown, is made with the connection, of Judgment Day, when He will judge everyone, and determine who will go to heaven. Therefore, Countdown refers, to the "final call". To make the cut, Hyde expresses that good morals need to be practiced in order to go to heaven.

The song is very catchy, and was probably one of the most popular songs off the album next to Season's Call. It's hard all the way though, and the majority of it is spoken in English. The music video for it has some really awesome effects, and if you haven't seen it, check it out on Youtube or something.

This is a really good song as far as musical style. It's very hard, strong chords, catchy chorus. I couldn't figure out the lyrics for the longest time, as this song doesn't seem to fit the match of anything Christian related. However, there are a few subtle hints that the lyrics are being directed toward the devil, as he speaks of temptation. Although I am not entirely sure, I have a pretty good feeling that this is what the song focus around.

I think these lyrics can have a double meaning as far as Christian religion goes. I'm leaning more towards that the bond between soul mates and their trust in God. However, I am not entirely sure, because the lyrics can also seem to fit (somewhat) with being connected with the God, and truth.

The song is mellow, which is different for a change of place, but the chords used throughout the song make it sound incredibly sorrowful.

The music video to this song is out in the middle of the desert, I believe it was taken in California, as Hyde thought it'd be best, since he did the recording for this album in America. The desert environment I believe symbolizes nature and being one with God. The lyrics talk about consistent pains, and it almost seems suicidal or depressed. However, the lyrics jump back to the thought of God always being with him, and that makes life bearable.

This song is simply beautiful. The beginning guitar chords are major, giving the song a hopeful sort of sound to it. And Hyde does an excellent job of vocals throughout the song. It's definitely one of those pick-me-up songs. One of my favorites.

This song always seems to remind me of some 80s ballad. I have no idea why... but anyways, going on. This song is very straight forward again, but the lyrics are spoken through Jesus Christ, explaining how he died on the cross for his people. In the lyrics, he explains, "I will climb that hill in time - for truth, and I will bear that cross upon my back, I entrust my will to you - meaning of love, to one who understands, I'm satisfied." The song further continues this idea of walking in Jesus Christ's footsteps, by loving one another and treat everyone as equals. I really like how Hyde wrote the end to this song, "My will lives on, carried down through time, my will lives on, carried down through time, my will lives on, I see a future that is full of calm." One of his best, and meaningful lyrics, and that convey so much emotion and beauty.

This song is pretty easy to follow lyrically. Basically it's talking about the views of creation, science, and specifically, cloning. It questions, science is the new religion, and brings on a type of religious war. It goes further, explaining that technology breaks the rules of Christianity and so forth. The lyrics go on by questioning where a soul comes from, but if you look into the lyrics, a lot of irony is used through out the song.

This is another one of my favorite songs. It's another hard song, and musically speaking, very powerful.

This isn't one of my favorite songs, probably one of the lesser, mostly because it's so depressing. The song is very sad, but it was definitely intended to be that way. The title, "This Perfect Moment" seems quite ironic to me, as it's talking about the moment of death. However, it can also be conveyed as an acceptance of death. But in any case, the song is very true to its words and can make me cry in a single listening.

This is a pretty catchy song, I love the beginning with the brisk acoustic guitar chords, and Hyde's beginning vocals. I almost want to think of this song as some sort of hippie song, as the lyrics focus on peace, not war, etc. Basically the lyrics say it all, "Now we're walking, we're running, our mission is the same, we reach our destination and realize the dream."

I can't exactly analyze all of the lyrics correct as more than half of them are in Japanese. But from the English lyrics, the message seems to be that it's pathetic how humans kill for our own selfishness. This song is somewhat similar to the last one, but has a tendency to focus more on redemption.