^^Don't worry Emiko - I read it! Mine will be lengthy too. lol.
Ok, now that I've listened a couple of times:
This album is really like candy. Tastes great at first and is fun, but it'll get stale soon. And if you eat too much, you'll get sick.
I see a lot of people giving out 10s easily, but I rarely will rate a song a 10, because that is like you are saying the song is just as good as Surreal, Evolution, Boys & Girls etc. Only if a song really truly deserves such a high ranking will I give it.
I also agree with those that say this album is lacking an emotional connection. Most of the tracks are interchangeable with each other and don't have an emotional core, which is usually Ayu's main draw. I definitely notice a lack of "Ayu-ness" - any other artist could be doing these same tracks; they are not that unique. But at the same time, its nice that Ayu did something she doesn't normally do, even if what she's doing isn't really unique.
Bottom line, this album is fun but I don't picture it having any kind of lasting effect.
1. Bridge to the Sky - This track really had me at first. Very beautiful, but then it suddenly goes crazy at the end. Which makes zero sense since the track it is going into is very soothing. So while it is a nice stand alone track, as an interlude to the album it kinda fails. the rest of it is still strong though.
8/10
2. Next Level - Really love the music in this one. The vocal melody does seem to borrow a little too much from both Blue Bird and Beautiful Fighters though. It gets repetitive, but I like the calming feeling.
8.5/10
3. Discomunnication - umm ok. As a transitional track it really kind of fails. It doesn't match Next Level at all at the begining but then gets much better at the end. (basically the opposite problem of Bridge to the Sky). I like the funky guitar in the background of this one.
7/10
4. EnergizE - Strange opening.
Overall though, I like this song more than I thought I would. It has some great moments, especially the vocal bridge into the chorus. But then there are other parts that I don't really think fit.
8/10
5. Sparkle - Never got the big deal about this song. Just average for me at best.
7/10
6. rollin' - I like the kind of random opening. Has some interesting vocal melody moments but by this point in the album, I'm already feeling like everything is sounding the same.
6.5/10
7. Green - Very nice song, but totally doesn't fit on this album. I actually was going to give this song an 8 but then I realized that I have hardly listened to it at all since its release.
7.5/10
8. Load of the Shugyo - I was actually expecting it to be better, like 10.0 material. I agree with Emiko that at parts this sounds too messy.
7/10
9. identity - One of the best new album tracks. Like the kinda creepy opening. Could do without the Yeah yeah yeahs. Otherwise I quite like it.
8.5/10
10. Rule - This song is begining to get a bit stale, but I still like it a lot.
9/10
11. Love'n'Hate - Very interesting track. It starts great. I like it a lot, but it is missing a really strong pump your fists chorus. It keeps building, but it never really gets anywhere.
8/10
12. Pieces of Seven - Nice one that would be great as a stand alone track but once again as an interlude it fails. The first half is way better than the second and it totally doesn't transition into Days. If I were to rate it just as stand alone though, it would get
8/10
13. Days - Sweet and beautiful.
9/10
14. Curtain Call - Sounds better now that it is in high quality though her vibrato is often regrettable in it. Pretty, but doesn't hugely stand out either. I'd prefer if there was no choir and just Ayu slowly building her vocals alone in the song.
8.5/10
Overall,
7.0-8.0 Not too bad of a score. But I see this album getting really old, really fast and as I mentioned before, I don't like how processed her vocals sound. It's also the first Ayu album where I did not give any of the tracks a 10/10. Also the interludes were some of the worst actually on any Ayu album I think - very rarely do I give her interludes anything less than a 9 or 10.
This album is very short at only 52 minutes, even Guilty was actually 56. Duty was 52 as well, but that album was absolute genius from start to finish.