3 MuryokuP — Resonance

Hello there! While Ignition is busy with college, I on the other hand have a job now. Work work work. But that isn't going to stop us! If you haven't already, go ahead and check out our previous post — it was a huge release that had 57 albums in it, translated and tagged for your convenience. Get them while they're still hot!

It turns out that one of my favourite albums was in there, so why not give it a little review? Bringing to you MuryokuP's third album, Resonance. Here we go!

Powerless MuryokuP

Not exactly a new name on Miku;Zen, MuryokuP has appeared before when I made a post on his first album, Your Pianist. It's a fantastic album, and MuryokuP has steadily kept up the pace, having released his second album, Unfinished Eden, and now he's up to his third with Resonance.

Being a fan of Vocarock, it is no surprise that I eventually came across and got hooked onto MuryokuP's music. His flavour of Vocarock is of a melodical style, mixing in strings and very elaborate stretches of piano arrangement. I would say he's somewhat a lighter version of Yuyoyuppe, minus the screamo's, though recently MuryokuP's sound is shifting towards more electro-techno.

Some of MuryokuP's hit songs include Flightless Bird, Brella and Sacred Secret.

A little trivia: MuryokuP's directly translates into PowerlessP. (:

Crossfade

Tracklist

#	Track title
01.	NEXT STAGE
02.	Kaleidoscopic
03.	Pelagic Fish
04.	Frozen World
05.	A Tree Without Branch
06.	Lazward
07.	Still,
08.	Kyrie

Alternatively, you may view the tracklist on VocaDB.

A resonating album

MuryokuP's style has definitely been kept in tact — the gracious amount of piano with the melodious rock has held on. But instead of stealing the whole spotlight, those sounds are now sharing the spotlight together with some electronic, techno goodness — at least, that's how I feel when I listen to this album.

Heck, there's even a little bit of dubstep present in this album! As little as it may be, MuryokuP's dubstepping is pretty delicious. Wonder would we see more dubstepping from him in the future?

MuryokuP's signature sound might be slowly evolving, but whatever direction it is heading — it sure looks pretty good to me.

On with the embeds!

01. NEXT STAGE

Breaking tradition from his previous two albums, Resonance does not start with an intro track of any sort. Instead, it quickly jumps into the beat — pretty catchy electronic beats, if I may add. NEXT STAGE is out to grab your attention and give you a head start on head bobbing throughout the rest of the album.

While this song gives you a taste of MuryokuP's electronic sounds, he is keen to remind you that he's still onto the whole vocarock business. And what better way to do that than with an electric guitar solo starting from 2:20?

02. Kaleidoscopic

Here our beloved producer takes a little step back into his comfort zone. Kaleidoscopic is a more typical MuryokuP style of piano-rock-string mashup that some people might find a love-hate relationship with. I'm fine with it, though this doesn't really help Kaleidoscopic stand out from the rest of the album.

03. Pelagic Fish

Pelagic Fish starts out a little mellow, allowing some atmospheric build up, before the song finally breaks into a piano start. I seem to fancy the piano intro — it's what makes me remember this song. Then again, I've always been a sucker for piano.

While a decent track, MuryokuP's not rocking it out hard. Not yet.

04. Frozen World

This is my personal favourite track out of the whole album. It's an instrumental track, and somehow I've always come to love MuryokuP's instrumental music. It's not like Luka's voice ruins the song, it's just that there is a certain magic to his instrumentals that make them a pleasure to listen to. Aurora, Maria, Ancient Heartbeat, and now this.

The intro sets up a chillish ambience suited to the track title. Its deep, bass booms help with the build up as the song progresses into a pretty decent techno verse. Eventually, lots of Muryoku-piano goodness comes into play, then suddenly — BAM! DUBSTEP! I was so stoked when I heard it on the crossfade. 15 seconds worth of dubstep. It certainly feels like a tease, because 15 seconds later, the track drops back into its chilled ambience, letting you digest whatever it is you just heard, and more importantly, it leaves you wanting more.

It makes such a deep first impression on me that it just had to end up being my favourite track. It also makes me biased against the rest of the album. And to think we're only halfway through the album!

05. A Tree Without Branch

After throwing out some surprise buttsex dubstep, the latter-half of the album transitions into some delicious Vocarock. A Tree Without Branch shows us that MuryokuP's still got some of that heart-pounding rock in him. Don't let the little down-tempo moment in the middle of the song fool you; it's just there to give a bigger contrast to the lovely electric guitar solo at 2:05, and let me tell you — that solo is sweet. I would get diabetes out of that solo if it weren't for Frozen World's epic dubstep moment.

06. Lazward

Another instrumental track! I already mentioned how I love MuryokuP's instrumentals, so go ahead and give this song a listen already.

One thing I've definitely noticed is that MuryokuP really likes to use the "breathing" sound effect. It happens a lot; while he uses it in his other songs as well, these sound effects are usually the most apparent and obvious in the instrumentals. I'm not only talking about Lazward, I'm also talking about Frozen World and his previous instrumentals. I hope he doesn't overuse them though.

07. Still,

Not content with the Vocarock throughout the rest of the album, Still, brings about high energy, fast-paced heavy Vocarock with prominent electronic sounds appearing during certain portions of the track. The song leaves little room for a breather, as it only takes mere seconds for the song to go into full blast. Being the second last track of the album, Still, is most definitely the final climax of the album. And a gratifying one it is.

08. Kyrie

With Kyrie, the album comes to a fitting end. With the previous track being explosive, Kyrie is sort of like the cool down after the final push. Choir-like vocals grace the instrumentals a little over the halfway mark, and a soft piano verse brings about a quiet finale to the album.

I have little doubts that MuryokuP has outdone himself with this album. Being only 8 tracks long, it is not as large as his previous albums — but sometimes, less is more, and the outstanding quality of the songs in this album help make up for its slightly smaller numbers.

Definitely, definitely get this album if you love MuryokuP. If you don't, get it anyway. It is great!

Thankfully, there's a Miku;Zen release for this album. Get it here! If it's down, then you can head over to Taggleburr instead. (:

Hope you enjoyed this, and I'll see you next post!