:: Reviews :: Rants ::

Last Exile is an excellent anime made by the producers of Geneon. The music to this anime series should be highly recognized; it is performed by Dolce Triade, and is very noteworthy. Most of this music either has a military type style, or a folk song style.

This song has quite an interesting beginning that pulls the listener in. The vocalist, is to die for. Unlike many of the Japanese vocals with such strong vibrato, Okino keeps his voice very suave. His voice can be considered very entrancing in this song, as he smoothly sings from one word to the next. In the background, there are many random synthesizers thrown in, keeping a steady beat. Yet, all in all, the mixture of both the vocals and instruments, come together for a completely soothing song.

The flute and violin give a beautiful introduction to this piece with some light scales. This song is very laid back, and it fits the theme for a small village of Norkia. The violins have a bright theme, with several accented notes. There is also a few measures where an acoustic guitar places some riffs, and then continues the playful theme once again.

Another soft piece. The main feature here in the violins; playing some strung out notes, and the flutes playing a light melody afterwards. Occasionally, an acoustic guitar plays every few measures, and then with a break, the flutes take the rest of this piece. The flutes focus mainly on slurred notes, and stay with the main melody, mostly varying with dynamic contrast than rhythm variations. When listening to this song, you can often thing of something of soft scenery, such as meadows.

The flute in this song plays some wonderful parts. This song is a duet with two flutes, often doubling up on the same part. The violins also exchange the same melody with the flutes. Some light acoustic guitar chords can also be heard which gives the song some more variety. This song might be considered to be associated with a picnic or something of that sort.

The harp in this song is simply elegant. I find myself listening to this song over and over. The style of this song can be described as exquisite. A vocalist also sings in this song, as if in prayer, as the song implies. The lyrics are not in any distinct language, which really, I think contributes to the sophistication of this piece. The vocalist finishes singing for a moment, and a flute carries on the song by playing the melody. The climax in this song is with the harp playing a little more complex fingerings, and then the vocalist sforzandos a high note, and immediately drops then, singing a few more lines, and ending with a long fermata.

The beginning of this song is not the best. To me, it is a little too happy. The violin then plays in catchy slurs, keeping pace with the snare drum. The catchy rhythm and a strong half note slurs vary between measures. Then the cellos and violins begin to play the same distinct rhythm, and a flute goes into a smooth solo. The solo is played easily, yet was played somewhat carefully to keep the mood.

The acoustic guitar is playing in slow romantic Spanish style. It immediately pulls the audience in with careful choosing of strings. Then alto saxophone (I believe it's alto) comes in for a soft solo, adding to the romantic style. The solo changes from a slow and elegant, giving the audience time to appreciate the piece, but then suddenly plays some high notes, and holds them, immediately going into a different type of style. The style has changed to a fast paced Latin. The guitar is strumming some fast chords, and the saxophone is concentrating on various accents to keep the listener interested. There is a lot of chromatic scale type stuff here as well as various arpeggios, one of the best songs on this album I think.

This song is repetitive. It's got a repetitive drum part, with somewhat of a repetitive flute part, with a repetitive synthesizer part.

The same angelic voice again featured in Prayer for Love. She starts out with a capella, with slow notes, often holding out her notes for a half a measure or so. Other vocalists, to produce the harmonic church style sounds, join her. The result of the vocalists is a lot of chords falling one on top of the other, it really gives this piece an interesting sound. This introduction is just simply beautiful to listen to, and yet it gets better. There is a rest, and then a piano plays a light part, with a classical style and arpeggios in the left hand. Occasionally, the vocalist sings over the piano in short sections then come together for the chorus. This song has some wonderful ideas in it, and is beautifully composed.

I'm not too fond of the title, but let's go on. This song is quite childlike, and should be as it is the theme song for the little girl Alvis in Last Exile. This song has a lot of a curious theme to it, as if a child was accidentally getting into mischief out of its own curiosity. This kind of has the feeling of King of the Mountain Hall I think.

This is one of the more military style songs, which is often played during the Silvana and aerial scenes. The drums keep a steady beat, and the trumpets play in straight notes throughout the song. This song definitely has somewhat of a majestic elegance to it. In this song there are quiet a few parts where the snare drum is extremely important to the song. There are some varying measures where just the tympani play various rhythms, as the trumpets play eighth notes up and down quickly. The snare drum then plays a common military drum roll, and violins come in with a strong part towards the end, pulling this song into an dramatic ending.

The trumpets start out playing very prideful in the beginning. This song is more mysterious in certain aspects, as if the outcome of a battle were entirely unknown. This song has a very strict feeling to it, the entire orchestra is playing in a minor key, with the snare drum and tympani adding suspense to it.

The female vocalist sings a short intro to immediately bring this piece into yet another military song. The violins play in strict straight notes, played in 6/8 time. The French horns play a mysterious slew of half notes, slowly going up through the chromatic scale in dotted quarter notes, and immediately ending with a sforzando. It picks up again, still in 6/8, with the fast paced violins playing a quick scale, along with the trumpets, ending in another sforzando.

This song, is one of the more saddening pieces, as you can probably tell from the title. It has a light keyboard piece, slowly played in straight quarter notes. It has a sad melody, and is very simplistic. Many violins in this piece, their part is very simple as well. This is a typical ballad, not expected to be hard rhythmically, yet is composed for emotion.

Another song sung by Okino. I do not necessary like this song because it has cheesy synthesizers. Also, Okino's engrish is very bad, I had a horrible time trying to figure out what he was saying. This song has a hopeful melody, but it gets extremely irritating after a while. However, the best part of this song is the long break of a short baritone saxophone solo :D The solo is nothing complex, but definitely helps the song out with its receptiveness.

The theme song for the battleship Silvana. A lovely trumpet arpeggio brings this song in for a dramatic introduction. The brass section plays a slow theme, very strong. The trumpet continues to play elegantly and smoothly, holding each note out in confidence. It breaks for a short moment, and goes changes from a 4/4 time to 6/8, the brass section plays straight 8th notes, and the violins play sharp chords against them. The trumpets take charge for a bit, and play various rhythms, and go into a strong soli-section. A very well composed piece.

This song is pretty cool for it's 4/4 time over 6/8. It breaks into just 4/4 after a moment, with a luxurious violin solo, and then goes back into the double rhythm pattern. This song is pretty short, so I don't have too much to say about it.

This song starts out in a very mysterious style played by the violins. In the background chimes are heard to give the song somewhat of a moody feeling. It then goes into a battle song, with the violins playing a straightforward style. The trumpets play a minor melody, adding to the darkness of this piece.

This is the ending song for the anime series, sung by Hitomi. I think Hitomi’s vocals were adequately used here. Her voice is light, and can easily hit high notes, and she varies from the length she holds them. The background instrumentals all fit together, with a strumming of either a harp or a synthesized one, and it fits perfectly with her vocals.