Kalafina – sprinter / ARIA

sprinter / ARIA was Kalafinas’s 2nd single. It was released July 30, 2008, sold 13,833 copies in it’s first week, 17,646 overall and reached #10 on the charts. ARIA was used as the theme song for the fourth chapter of “Kara no Kyoukai”.

Tracklist

1. sprinter

2. ARIA

3. oblivious -Instrumental-

I just love the way Kajiura Yuki starts off her songs. sprinter starts with the first verse right away, which tend to be short throughout the song, which is all the better to me as we get the chorus more that way. The chorus is an absolute masterpiece. The girl’s vocals are EXCELLENT and the instrumentals are a mixture of rock sound with fantastically played orchestra instruments. The chorus is nice and long, taking up most of the song, making the entire track an absolute pleasure to listen to.

ARIA, on the other hand, is the more artificial instrument inspired song. It starts mysterious and simple, which is what differentiates it from the first track.  The girls give off great background vocals during the voices and even more so during the chorus. That’s when some orchestra instruments kick in and feature the next verse with more sounds than the first. There’s a great little section a bit after the three minute mark which is followed by a chorus. The song is quite nice, but doesn’t pack the same punch that sprinter did.

Once again, another EXCELLENT release from Kalafina. I preferred sprinter over ARIA due to it’s more rock, faster sound but it really depends on personal taste as both tracks are of the up most highest quality. If you enjoyed their first single, than this one will more than please you.

♠Single Rating♠

Kalafina – oblivious

oblivious was Kalafinas’s 1st single. It was released January 23, 2008, sold 17,127 copies in it’s first week, 38,276 overall and reached #8 on the charts. All three tracks are theme songs for the theater features of “Kara no Kyoukai -the Garden of sinners-”.

Tracklist

1. oblivious

2. Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku

3. Kizuato

oblivious starts off with some amazing vocal performances, all in different styles. It’s one of the best intros for a song that I’ve heard in a very long time and definitely gets my spine tingling. I can’t stress how good these girls sing and how well Yuki makes music. The song didn’t really have a high point, which is both good and bad in that it sounded great throughout it’s 4 minute length, but the chorus wasn’t really too special.

Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku starts with some soft vocals, which maintain throughout the song. It doesn’t compare to oblivious as this track is more of a ballad, but in a Kajiura Yuki kind of way. More instruments kick in once the second verse begins. You really can’t deny the girl’s amazing voices during this song. A nice track, but probably my least favorite from the single mostly due to personal taste.

The last track, Kizuato, can consider itself between the last two tracks in terms of style. It has both beautiful instruments that would be found in a ballad, but with faster paced, more intense vocals. The instrumental is probably the best part of the song, even though the vocals were once again beautiful, they weren’t particularly catchy. It isn’t until the last minute that the song gets truly good.

oblivious featured some of Kajiura Yuki’s best work, featuring some AMAZING vocalist with a catchy soundtrack. Some of the tracks could have had a tad bit better arrangement, with Kizuato being the strongest case(than again, who am I to judge Yuki’s work?). Either way, if your a fan of some impressive vocals and spine tingling instruments, oblivious is for you.

♠Single Rating♠