Review: Gackt - Flower

I've begun to notice after the release of Faraway that most of Gackt's music is composed in a Gackt-ish pattern. I'm not going to ruin the following review by spilling the secret formula to his success but I just had to say that. Now that it's out of my system I'm a firm believer in saving the best for last, and I believe Gackt is as well. Flower is the best single out of this month long spree he's had, even if it's still following the same mold as most of his other songs.

01. Flower
02. In Flames
03. Flower (Inst.)
04. In Flames (Inst.)

Call me crazy but the moment I saw this cover I knew that this was going to be a rock single through and through, and Gackt did not disappoint. Flower is not some ballad that we're all going to have Lost Angels flashbacks of, so you can sigh from relief. Much more than any other song he's released this month, I was impressed with the solo and more importantly the guitarwork going on in the background while the guitar goes wild. This is the Gackt that I want to hear: rock that's got attitude but isn't abrasive to listen to. For some odd reason, the starting chords sound like something straight out of a Brilliant Green song :\. The rest of the song moves into a more Gackt-sounding atmosphere but those chords just won't get out of my head. This song singlehandedly blows away all of his singles except for Jesus and Ghost, which I would place on equal footing with. It's a typical Gackt song, but after this month it's really all I ask for.

I was actually looking forward to In Flames more than the title track because I didn't know what he was going to do with it. This is an experimental side of Gackt that isn't going to send you running away in terror. The haunting mood the beginning sets is supported by the bass, which was fantastic in Flower but shines here even more. Most of the time I say I dislike songs that transition from soft verses to loud, poppy choruses badly, but this song has nice transitions from chorus to verse and back to chorus, which makes it all seamless. The solo in In Flames is just as good as the one in Flower, and then it's followed by Gackt duetting with himself backed by some piano. I really would have preferred if Gackt had taken the end of the solo and then gone even more hardcore and taken that verse up to the stratosphere instead of slowing down, then speeding up, and slowing down again. Nonetheless, the ending of the song is just as haunting as the way it started. I'm also sensing a bit of Lust for Blood at the end and I'm starting to wonder how the two would sound back to back ^.^

We have instrumentals. Nice, but Gackt's voice makes the tracks sound a lot better. Good for novelty, not worth space on your MP3 player unless you like a particular track. Same old, same old.

I was very pleased with this single. After just a few singles I found myself into this single more than anything else he's released so far. If I had to put the singles in any sort of meaningful order they would be this:

Flower > Koakuma Heaven = Lost Angels > Faraway

Just in case you needed my opinion on the entire release campaign. Flower gets a 9/10.