Misaruka - Juliet

Following Misaruka’s previous release, Epilogue-Merrow-, is the mini-album Juliet, originally released on January 30th. Here, the members altered their image by incorporating red into each member’s outfits as opposed to purple.

Juliet ties to an overlying theme of Shakespeare’s classic play, “Romeo and Juliet.” It’s hard to pinpoint where this theme applies exactly as the mood across the six tracks alternates between cheerful and dark without warning. The mini-album opens with a (very non-visual kei) horn ensemble and spoken words in -Prologue-, sounding as if it could support a film montage. This simply introduces the songs to come as well as the overlaying theme.

Though -Jailer of Justice- set a mysterious tone to the release, the following track bursts between bouts of tremendous despair. -L'oiseau blue- is bubbly and playful to the point where it sounds out of place as it’s surrounded by more intense tracks, such as -Jailer of Justice- and -My Dear Rose-.

My Dear Rose pierces the ear with lightning-fast guitar riffs in literally the first second. Dramatic, yes, but the track carries a power-metal tone while changing keys throughout. rui's voice matches well with the mood of My Dear Rose. Of course, rin and sawah's combined guitar solos are equally impressive.

-Juliet-, written by rui, is surprisingly a bright track, bursting into life right after the short 20 second intro. The lyrics reflect Romeo as he remembers meeting Juliet, and if adhering to the original text, presumably after he he had just learned of Juliet’s suicide. Given the grave context of the lyrics, the general cheeriness of the track is a little surpsing. It would be interesting to hear -Juliet- rehashed with the same force as -My Dear Rose- to fully convey Romeo’s grief.

The mini album ends on an adventurous note with -Kanon-, a melodramatic power ballad variation of Pachelbel’s arguably timeless classical piece, Canon in D. From this track, it will be interesting to see which theme(s) Misaruka might explore in future releases. Will there be more arrangements of classical pieces?

Overall, the mini-album is of good quality and shows best Misaruka’s collective musical capabilities. The overlying theme of “Romeo and Juliet” is strong, just as Misaruka seemingly intended. After listening to each track, the theme is likely set in reverse order where the tragedy is interspersed with bouts of happiness. -Juliet- and -Kanon-, could potentially be after Romeo and Juliet died for each other. Also, the order of the tracks is a slight weak point for -Juliet-, not allowing the listener to fully experience release from the mini-album as an entire piece. If reordered, the release would have a deeper impact if -Prologue- was a gapless track that led straight into My Dear Rose and then -Jailer of Justice-, with a gradual warming towards -L'oiseau blue-. -Juliet- and -Kanon- work well together, so it’s best to leave that as it is at the end.

Though limited to only 1000 copies, fans can order Juliet through the online Starwave Records shop or try a free download of the title track, -Juliet- via Misaruka ’s homepage.

Check out the PV for -Juliet-: