Heta's Dreamworld

16.10.2007

14:00

From now on this page will be about all the things I want to say that are in some way related to music, no more boring playlists!

For more, visit my Last.fm page at http://www.last.fm/user/Lilphoenix91/.

The sections that have been updated are on the top. 

As some of you might know, I'm quite addicted to musicals.I obviously favour the dramatic ones with powerful organs, dark themes etc. (read: The Phantom of the Opera) but the main thing is always the symbiosis of the story, the music and the characters as well as the beautiful sets and costumes. The combination of good music and good story is quaranteed to send chills down my spine. And when there's romance, to top it all, I'm completely sold.

When I first heard and saw The Phantom of the Opera (in movies, I have yet to see it performed live in London...) I thought life couldn't get any better than that. Three weeks ago, however, it's place at the very top of my list of favourite musicals was challenged. At that time (around July the 14th), I came to know this musical called Elisabeth. ♥

It might have something to do with the most beautiful woman I've ever seen playing the most alluring and probably the most perfect male character in the world (aside from vampire aristocrats, of course) that I fell head over heels in love right away. The music is great, obviously. There's something similar with the PotO, rock opera-ish, I'd say. And better yet, the mysterious dark lord, the prince of shadows, the king of the underworld, wins in the end. Compared to the Phantom, Death (der Tod) stays desirable to the very end of the play, whereas the Phantom loses his appeal halfway through, when his mask is removed and his madness begins to show through. And the Phantom loses in the end, failing to separate the true lovers, but Death is the ultimate winner.

I've seen people over the internet complaining about the Japanese Takarazuka version of the musical, because they've made the role of Death much more significant than what it is in the original Viennese version. They've added a few scenes and songs just for him and even have him appear at places where he originally isn't supposed to appear. I kind of understand the feelings of these die-hard fans of the original version, I bet it would make me mad to see some people mess up a story that has been very dear and familiar to me. However, I do love the fact that the clever Japanese have made Death the lead role. These people know what the audience wants and it shows. (Mizu Natsuki fandom surfaces. ^^'') Death's seductiveness is a great way to raise the ticket sales, for sure. I mean, every movement of hand, every croocked smile, every sly glance towards the audience is the kind of fanservice that works for me (and for most of the female fans too, I'm sure).

Ahem, enough with Mizu fandom and back to the subject! The music is about perfect for me, just the right mix of classical music, opera, rock and Broadway. The characters are great and so is the plot, a harmonious combo of historical events, a bit of drama and fantasy. And finally, the perfect love story. I don't really care if the characters have to die in the end, because 'until death do us part' doesn't really mean anything. Love lasts forever, especially in this case, when Death himself is the other part of the lovely couple. For me, the ending is sad only if the lovers don't get each other, as in Gone with the Wind, for example. The worst thing is that one of the lovers stops loving or moves on, or that the other lover dies, leaving the other one to live on all alone. Alive or dead - who cares? As long as the lovers are together, they don't need anything else. ^^

I tell you, this story is perfection. The perfect male character (have I already mentioned that Death is the perfect character? Should I repeat myself a bit more?), a good deal of drama and the awesome combination of darkness and romance. Life really doesn't get any better than this. I'm only irritated by one thing - why didn't I think of this first? Perfect perfection is perfect. And I love it. Fin ♥

3.8.2009

I got to see D'espairsRay with Taitti! ^_____^ To put it shortly, it was amazing. Soooo great! I suppose I could spend my evening writing yet another review but it feels kind of useless since I've already written about it twice. I'll just give you a link to my blog post about the subject. Be warned though, it's quite a rant, as usual. ^^

On with the show!

3.8.2009

Almost all of us. ^__^

So I got these two CDs yesterday and I am so excited! Gackt's Diabolos and D'espairsRay's MIRROR are both just awesome! I guess both of them are Europe releases since they include really nice English translations to the songs... 

I guess I might give you some reviews of the CDs later...

 

Finally an update in this section too! 

My Japanese CDs this far:

Malice Mizer - Merveilles

Gackt - Diabolos

D'espairsRay - MIRROR

Matenrou Opera - GILIA 

Versailles - Lyrical Sympathy

Versailles - NOBLE 

New! D'espairsRay - REDEEMER

I also have Gackt's The Greatest Filmography Blue & Red DVDs.

 

+ I have borrowed CDs from library. It doesn't mean that I don't want to actually own the CDs...

Gackt - Sixth Day Single Collection and Crescent

Dir en Grey -  Withering to death

D'espairsRay - [Coll:Set]

(Versailles - Lyrical Sympathy (This band, this CD... Pure L.O.V.E.!)) Bought it too!

Onmyo-za's some kind of 'the best of' collection.. Can't remember the name atm...

Hellsing soundtrack 

 

21.3.2008 

The songs that somehow connect to my own life: Nightwish - Beauty of the Beast. One of my all time favourite songs, by the way. There is this one part in the song where the lyrics are You told I had the eyes of a wolf/Search them and find the beauty of the beast. I noticed the connection to my life one day when I happened to remember that many years ago a woman told me that I had the eyes of a wolf. ^^

The song which gave me an amazing emotional experience: X Japan - Crucify My Love. I had this song in my comp for ages and I never bothered to really listen to it. Once I listened music on suffle and as the previous song ended and the next one started I heard this beautiful voice echoing through my quiet room. I checked which song it was and imediately googled the lyrics. I guess my romantic mood helped, but I fell in love with the song straight on. The lyrics are beautiful, the melody is so gracefull, and I had just read about Hde's (X Japan's late guitarist) memorial concert. I felt this strangest thing, thinking about the dead guitarist and listening to one of the most beautiful songs I had/have ever heard... The experience was enlightning and special, somehow rare. I relly recommend this song for every hopeless romantic over there. Give it a try - it's worth it!

The song which makes me cry: Christina Aguilera - Hurt. This is a song which always makes me cry, especially when I watch the video. I just saw it on TV and cried again. It's just so sad in some way... (I also almost started to cry while listening to the song called 'Zombie' by The Cranberries. That was because the song is about war and violence and I got a sad feeling suddenly...)

The song with a beautiful story/lyrics: Natasha Bedingfield - Soulmate. Awws, I love that song, it is so beautiful! I like Natasha Bedingfield's voice too. 

4.10.2008

Yay! A new section! So this is the place for me to tell you about the most beautifu/best music videos I have seen and what not. So here goes:

 

The best of Nightwish:

Over the Hills And Far Away. Absolutely the best video from Nightwish! Filmed in Suomenlinna, a castle in the Finnish archipel. Looks as great as it sounds.

Nemo. Yeah, basicaly because Tarja wears that gorgeous red dress. And because of the beautiful mountain background. Came out when my Nightwish fandom was rising.

Amaranth. Because it is based on Hugo Simberg's lovely painting, which has always been one of my favorite pieces of art.

 

Tarja Turunen:

Die Alive. Saw this like two minutes ago, and fell in love right away. Thank you Tarja, for not changing your style too much! This video is really beautiful, simple and a bit scary...

 

Gackt:

Vanilla. The very reason I started to listen to Gackt... Just so hot, I must say. Ah, the greatness... And Gacktness.. The song is lovely too. Thank you God for letting me see this video and find the Gackt-perfectness. Gackt is love.

Todokanai ai to shitteita no ni ozaekirezu ni aishitsuzuketa... Yes, the vampires are here! Really didn't think much of the song before I saw the video... The result? I am now completely in love with the song too.

Redemption. Final Fantasy -styled Gackt singing heavily? Me likes! The second or third song I heard from Gackt. With Mizerable which,  I might add, is a great song/video too! Go see Gackt and fall in love...

 

Malice Mizer:

Beast of Blood. The vampiric loveness! Red, black and white video with gorgeous Japanese men in it, gotta be a new definition of perfect. The first malice Mizer video I saw, one of the causes for my Japan-freakness.

Gekka no yasoukyoku. Ah the song! And the costumes! And Gackt! Yippee!

 

Within Temptation:

Stand My Ground. This video is the reason for my WT fandom. The beautiful environment and the voice of Sharon... And the book with elven writing in it! The Celticness too. Pure love!

Memories. The beautiful castle. The historic feeling and the beautiful song... What more is there to say?

 

Versailles:

The Revenant Choir. What a beautiful video! I guess I will be loving this band sometime soon...

 

Apocalyptica:

I Don't Care. beautiful in slightly disturbing way. Dark, artistic and a bit violent. I like it a lot for some reason. (It never fails to amaze me how these people can play cello and mosh with their long hair at the same time.)

 

Rihanna:

Excuse me? What is someone like Rihanna doing in my video list? You are about to find out...

Disturbia: I didn't change the chanel right away when I realized whose video I was about to see, and I am happy about that. I guess I happened to be in a right kind of mood, so I actually liked this video after watching it for about two seconds or so. Definitely disturbed in an artistic way and dark enough for me to like it.

 

4.10.2008 

I hate this! Almost all of the CD reviews I have read have said that Tarja's new CD sucks and that Nightwish's new CD is the best in band's history. I just say NO WAY! In my opinion both CDs are good but seem to be lacking something... But they do have many noticeable similarities. Everyone can see that Tarja doesn't want to be completely different from Nightwish.

 

Nightwish: Dark Passion Play  A good album with lots of potential, but I think that Anette's voice is a bit too popish to fit Nightwish's music. I read somewhere that Tarja's voice was too dominant in Nightwish's songs, but I think Anette’s voice is much more dominant. For me it is much harder to concentrate in music when Anette sings than it is when Tarja sings. Tarja's voice just fits in much better.

I still love Nightwish's lyrics, Tuomas has done great job again. Nightwis's lyrics are more epic than Tarja's, so that is a plus. My favorite songs from the album are The Poet and the Pendulum, Bye Bye Beautiful (ironically), Master Passion Greed, Whoever Brings the Night and The Islander. And now you want to know why.

In The Poet and the Pendulum I can feel the good old Nightwish most strongly. It is a big, long song with an epic tale and deep feelings. There are also a lot of musically amazing and lovely moments, and it has so many different emotions in it. It has different parts so you won't get bored with it easily. Sometimes slow and fragile, sometimes very powerful and hard. The only part I don't quite like in this song is the last part (V. "Mother & Father") because I think in it you can hear the big difference in Tarja's and Anette's voices. If Anette improves in singing slow and sensitive parts, I won't have anything to complain about. I guess a bit of training and it will be fine.

Bye Bye Beautiful is a quite heavy song in which, in my opinion, Anette's voice is on its best. Marco's voice sounds also good in this one. The lyrics are angry and dedicated for the beautiful ex-singer, and Nightwish's two vocalists really are doing a great job with bringing in those emotions. The lyrics are also beautiful in a way, even if the chorus hurts me.

Master Passion Greed is probably the heaviest song in the history of Nightwish. The whole song is great, really something that helps when you are angry. The deep layered voices really hit me hard in this song, especially the background singers singing the words Master Passion Greed. This is also one of Marco's big moments. He really shows his talent in heavy singing in this song. The backing choir is the fine finishing touch that completes the song.

Whoever Brings the Night is a dark and a bit erotic song. Another great moment for Anette. This seems to be the song where her voice really fits the music. Not really like the old Nightwish, but a great masterpiece in this new style. Again the powerful choir with a bit different singing from Anette right after it and my soul is sold. Great guitars and big emotions. Really a song that raises your emotions.

The Islander is a great song and, in my opinion, the most glorious moment in Marco's singing history. It has a very Celtic feeling in it. It is a very emotional song where Marco really proves he can sing other kinds of things than just angry "typical heavy-metal". Anette’s voice in the background also puts more of the Celtic feeling to the song. Not really what I was waiting for from Nightwish's new album, but a positive surprise.

The time will show us where Nightwish is going from here and only then I'll decide if I'm still as big a fan of Nightwish. Until that I'll be a bit unsure...

My rating for the album:

★★★★½ (****½ / *****)

 

Tarja Turunen: My Winter Storm  A good album too. I admit that it is a lot easier for me to fall in love with a singing voice than the music itself, maybe because it is a lot easier to recognize. I really don't know much about music, but I certainly know when I like it. DPP has the music that makes the chills run down my spine while in MWS Tarja's voice has the same effect. I think Tarja's songs are maybe a bit too similar to each other, and she could have used her voice more in different ways.

My favorite songs from this album are Lost Northern Star, My Little Phoenix, Boy and the Ghost and Poison.

Lost Northern Star is a beautiful but still powerful song. I think Tarja is perfectly at home singing it. Her voice isn't very surprising in it but it doesn't matter so much, as it is comforting to hear her familiar voice just the way I like it.

In My Little Phoenix the lyrics are very beautiful and remind me of Nightwish. It is another one of her songs where she clearly sings about being fired from Nightwish. Of course the lyrics touch me, as I have used "Lil Phoenix" as my nickname in the Net for so long. I really like these kinds of things when I find such "connections" from the songs I love. The same happened with Nightwish's Beauty of the Beast, but you can read about it somewhere above on this page. Another very beautiful and strong thing in the song is the first chorus. Just lovely and full of meaning.

Boy and the Ghost is an epic song with touching lyrics and very beautiful music. Tarja’s voice is always so full of emotion and this song isn't exception. This is maybe the most beautiful song in the album, at least for me. There is the awesome choir in the end and after the middle part of the song when Tarja sings the words Wake up, wake up/ there's an angel in the snow/ look up, look up/ it’s a frightened dead boy it really makes chills run down my spine. Sooo beautiful! (How many times have I already used that word???)

Poison is a cover of the awesome Alice Cooper song. I guess it isn't so hard to make good covers. Tarja hasn't made any radical changes to the song and sings it very well. When you have a song that already is good and you make a cover of it, it is maybe a bit hard to NOT to do a great job. I have noticed it in Nightwish's covers Over the Hills and Far Away and The Phantom of the Opera, which are still in my top ten of Nightwish's songs, even if they aren't originally theirs. (I'm actually a bit ashamed of this, as Nightwish has done so many good songs and wouldn't need covers to be popular...)

Tarja's album really needs to be listened a couple of times before it fully opens to the listener. It also needs a lot of concentrating, and I think that might be one of the reasons why the big masses don't like it. I consider it "art music" (and by art music I might mean a bit different music than most of the people) and it also is a bit experimenting. There is no doubt I'll still listen to Tarja, as I have grown up with her voice singing in my ears.

My rating for the album:

♥♥♥♥½ (****½ / *****)

 

24.11.2007 

As you all might already know, a Japanese gothic rock band Moi Dix Mois had a consert here in Finland, at Tavastia-klubi. I knew since the last August that I had to see them, and in the 11th of October 2007 my dream came true.

Me and my friend Taina arrived in Helsinki at 7pm and headed first to Kamppi, a shoping center, so I could get a bit of money before the concert. About ten minutes later we were standing in a queue in front os Tavastia. We stood in the line for about half an hour before we finally got in. We had to leave our hand bags to the rack, because cameras or any recording devices weren't allowed. So there we stood, in the back of the club, wearing our gothic lolita dresses and feeling more than excited about the whole thing.

Then, after a few too long minutes, the first song started and the band entered the stage. The crowd went wild, and the same mood stayed for the whole concert. I noticed after a while that I should have listened the songs more before the concert, but at some point I noticed it didn't matter so much, as I was completely pulled in to the same great feelings as the rest of the crowd. I raised my fists during Night Breed, chanted the letters d, i and x during Immortal Madness and sang along to the lyrics of deus ex machina. The evening was one of the best ones of this autumn and I even bought myself a tour t-shirt, even tough it was men's XL size.

You can read an article about another one of Moi Dix Mois's concerts here. Even if it's not about the concert I saw, it could as well be, because it describes the feelings very well.

16.10.2007