WINNING LIVE 31 (First Impressions)
VOLTAGE - composed/arranged/lyrics by Takuya Kakehashi
One of my absolute favourite songs of recent, though i'm usually biased towards the j-rock adjacent songs in general. There's an absolutely crazy guitar solo going into the bridge that wasn't in the game-size??? Kakehashi is usually known for his high octane j-rock arranging so this is more or less his strong suit. the line-up that they selected for the studio recording is perfect too, you can hear each of their individual qualities really well (though I wish Special Week got a bit of the spotlight too lol)
Close My Eyes - composed/arranged/lyrics by Sho Hasebe
I've been looking forward to this one since they put it on the jukebox. love the bouncy pop/RnB production, and that hook is sooo catchy. there's some really cool resampling too - I don't usually expect this sound out of Hasebe-san usually. Any song with Yuuko Natsuyoshi is a perfect 10/10, I was on my KNEES at the last chorus man, they REALLY said "we HAVE to give chevachi her solo she's easily our best singer". The other two performed wonderfully though, they have a really good balance amongst the three of em.
希望よ永遠に - composed/arranged/lyrics by Takuto Kikuchi
After so long we finally got another ballad solo...
Starting it acapella is BOLD especially for such a relatively new seiyuu since there's no instrumental to hide behind, but Shimano delivers such an emotive performance that just works for her character. I adore the arrangement, it's got a golden age musical quality to it, starting with solo piano before going into a full orchestra as it develops. Takuto Kikuchi really lets his arranger chops shine here, I especially love the occasional 'pockets of air' where the drums cut out to make space for the rest of the orchestra, and the presence of a full choir adds so much warmth and regality to everything...
THE BRIDGE SECTION IS SO GOOD OH MY GOD, the shift in tone by the keychange into Fm, the way it briefly cuts into this waltz break with the violin solo before going back to the chorus... incredible. Genuinely one of the best solo songs we've had in a while in terms of its musicality, there are a lot of really good ballads in this series (so many of my favourite songs are those lol), but this one really stands out to me, what an amazing song... shoutouts to Victoire Pisa ✌️
Seeking The Pearl ～真珠を探して〜 - composed by Kenta Higashiohji, arranged by Ren Tsukagoshi, lyrics by mustie=DC
I did NOT expect Seeking The Pearl to be the next 'legacy' uma to get her character solo but I am here for it.
Earlier I said Pisa's felt like a 'golden age musical' song, but this song covers the next step; this is like a PERFECT 'golden age disney' song. I don't know if it was intentional or not (given it coincided with the BC scenario it's possible), but WL31 as a whole has a really big western musical influence in a lot of its songs and it's SO good. It really sounds like this song could've come from the Hercules soundtrack, the gospel influence is so prevalent here.
Just an all around incredible feel-good song - it's so damn catchy and amazingly arranged/produced. The added bluesy improv from all of the musicians really brings it to life. I'm a huge fan of that chorus man it's gonna be stuck in my head for days. Absolutely crazy album.
Overall album ranking: S tier, absolute god album. I thought WL30 was one of the best we've had in a long time, but they just did it again? Sasuga Cygames...
VOLTAGE: A+
Close My Eyes: A
希望よ永遠に: S
Seeking The Pearl ～真珠を探して〜: A