After the horror fairy-tale, escort, the first single from the Visual Kei band Lamiya (ラミヤ), the quartet went a step further in creating modern fairy-tales with the mini-album Marionette Overture. 5 diverse tracks to discover what Lamiya really stands for.
Tracklist:
1. OVERTURE
2. Puppet
3. Masquerade
4. ノクターンと踊る蝙蝠傘 (Nocturne and dancing umbrella)
5. End of story･･･
In my music video review from a few months ago, where I took my time to listen and watch the track Puppet that you can find on Marionette Overture, there was mention of a metamorphosis of the Visual kei band. This was not only in terms of the image regarding the look of the band members, but it was also immediately audible in terms of music. There was a big feeling that the young band is still looking for a fixed direction, but the concept of the band was soon very clear. The Visual Kei band makes modern fairy-tales in the form of songs and that can be a slightly different story with each release that Lamiya wants to tell. This time, with Marionette Overture, you will be welcomed for the first time in the fairy-tale theatre. You are invited to grab the hand of singer Siyu and step through the door of the theatre and you will be surrounded by the immersive music of Lamiya.
When you have the mini-album in your hand, the first thing that stands out is the art of the cover and booklet. The illustrations are connected with the songs on the mini-album, the open curtains from a theatre for OVERTURE, a puppet, books, and the band Lamiya itself on the credits page. The beautiful illustrations, by ena, thus supports the theme of the mini-album.
The architect behind the music composition and lyrics is the guitarist of Lamiya, n, who easily grasps the feeling of the modern fairy-tale and uses the strong points of singer Siyu, making justice to the sound of guttural sound in all the tracks. The lyrics contain some English sentences here and there, but it remains to the first two tracks not to challenge the singer too much. There are some grunts on the mini-album, but the clean vocals of Siyu are the most common, which also fits best with a fairy-tale theatre.
The mini-album starts off with a heavy guitar sound and a grunt in OVERTURE, but that gets a lot more gentle when Siyu starts singing. And that is actually the theme of Marionette Overture: The guitar can be loud and is very present, but when the singer starts to sing he knows how to give a twist so that the music just gets a little softer. End of Story･･･ is a bit different; it is a song that starts calmly and ends with an orchestra, creating the feeling that something big comes to a conclusion: namely with an oyasumi (sleep well).
The music on Marionette Overture still contains a dark tone, but the voice of the red-haired Siyu makes it all amiable. Where the storyline in the music video of Puppet was missing, it is found on the mini-album.
Rating: 80/100
