NEXT LEVEL

Inspired by Ayumis new album I uploaded all of her albums back to my iPod and kept listening to her all evening.
I said I'd be back with a review of the new album, so here it comes.

. : a review by Iaoin : .

The album starts very well with Bridge To The Sky... It's ethereal, bouncy dance music that sets the mood right for the rest of the album. It's a very good introduction, maybe too short though? I like the sounds on this track and I feel they could've made it longer - but that's just the greedy me.

NEXT LEVEL starts of with a piano riff that then evolves into an electric pop song. The long intro is really nice, but when the song finally kicks in, it's pure pop bliss ! This reminds me of Natalie Imbruglias White Lilies Island for some reason, I guess it's the halcyonic soft beat is really nice. Over all the track is very delicate and really refined... I've always liked Ayumis songs cause they just seem so complete with all the right sounds at the right places.
NEXT LEVEL has more instrumental tracks than the albums before... And they're not just interludes for the following tracks.

disco-munication is the first one of them... And it's really nice retro electro track.

EnergizE is the weakest track on the album... and this is because Ayu sings English too much on it. Always when she sings English the song sounds so unlike her... It's an okay track and not really skippable.

Sparkle, is the gem of the album, it's a real party stomper ! It sounds really western, but then it has that Ayu twist to it. It's my favourite from the entire album. The bridges are just great and the tempo-changes complimented with the electric voices and sounds are just fabulous! Love it.

rollin' starts with typical Ayu xylophone intro, then fades out before an urban electric stomping kicks in changing the mood entirely. Ayus vocals are really vocoded and they kinda blend with the music. As the title suggests, the song just keeps rolling, rolling, rolling until the end.. Great party track!

GREEN along with Days was the first track released from the album. It's a great track, it's really eastern with it's sounds and very anthem-like. I can see why it was picked as the first single. It's really Ayu-like. Most of the stuff on this album is in contrast with last years GUILTY, but this track has something similar to that album. I like it.

Load Of The SHUGYO is the second instrumental track. It has a Prodigy meets asia feel to it. It's a really great rock anthem!
The title of the track, to me, sounds like something really twisted xD And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Gives that extra charecter to the song.

identity starts of with melancholic electric guitar and then explodes as the kick your ass song of the album. Attitude is what this song is made of.

Rule was released alongside Sparkle, and I think it's a great track, but for me it was a bit over-shadowed by Sparkle. I always compare the two and this one's just not as good. It's a good rock track, but nothing Ayu hasn't done before.

LOVE'n'HATE reminds me of Alterna... It has really urban vocoded string sounds and it kinda just goes on. It's an average track.

Pieces of SEVEN is the third instrumental track on the album. And it's the best of them all. The track is sort of divided into two parts, the intro, ethreal slow electric trance introduction, leading to blow-your-mind hardcore dance track. I love it.
There's something oddly familiar with this song, but I can't quite grasp what that is.

I wasn't a fan of Days at first... But after seeing the video and hearing it a couple of times I really fell for it.
It's a great ballad. The orchestral version is a bit better than the album version, but I love it all the way despite that.
Curtain Call, the last song on the album, seems a bit like a pointless track. It's a great closure on the album, but Days could've done it - and would've done it better. It's an Ayu-ballad from start to finish, but it just isn't as good as Days.

I think NEXT LEVEL is a really great album, and sort of return to form. It might me my second fave Ayu album... it comes close, but can't beat miss(understood).