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As soon as the final song ends on the new Aldious greatest hits album EVOKE!! 2010-2020, you want to hit the “RE:fire” button on your device and listen to the entire album again. The reason for this is simple: new singer R!N has just delivered one of the all-time great vocal performances. She has fully emerged from the shadows of Rami and Re:NO and established herself as one of the best rock singers in Japan.
The songs on EVOKE!! are more varied than those on the first EVOKE compilation. Nevertheless, with the exception of the closing ballad “fragile,” the songs are “metal,” meaning hard-edged, fast-paced and exciting. R!N sings with confidence, power and nuance throughout EVOKE!!. She proves that she is a multi-dimensional singer able to convey a variety of emotions. From the tenderness she brings to “STEP” to the aggression she brings to “Luft,” R!N makes interpretative choices that are different from her predecessors.
Wait a minute. R!N dares to sing “Luft,” the most-loved Rami song? Yes, she does. R!N does not shy away from her predecessors’ most iconic songs. R!N is brave enough to tackle, not only “Luft,” but “White Crow,” the song that introduced Re:NO to the world and that thus holds a special place in the hearts of Aldious fans. R!N forges her own ground, singing both songs with heart-stopping conviction.
The obvious headline track is the Rami-era “deep cut” (obscure track) “Confusion,” which was released only on the 2011 Mermaid single and the DVD Determination Tour 2011 – Live at Shibuya O-East. Unless you own either of those two releases, this will be a new listening experience, because the Re:NO era Aldious never performed the song in concert. Like many early Aldious songs, “Confusion” is as sharp-edged as a razor. R!N sings “Confusion” with a ferocity that is almost scary. One hopes that this song will be featured in future live concerts.
An underrated part of Re:NO’s contribution to Aldious was her lyrics. She wrote with a poetic profundity that was far more interesting, if more elliptical, than most rock music lyrics. “Reincarnation” begins with some of the most disturbing lyrics (sung in English) in music:
I was murdered by you my beloved
Only my soul wanders this mundane world.
I search for a body of my own tonight, …and for you.
One hopes that the “murder” is a metaphor for the painful end of a love affair. Regardless, the song is disquieting. R!N sings “Reincarnation” in a way that makes clear the anger and accusation of a jilted (or deceased) lover. The final lyrics, again sung in English, are as disturbing as the opening:
No matter if you kill me. I’ll always forgive you.
Even if you killed me. I’ll never change my love for you.
No matter if you kill me. I’ll always forgive you.
Even if you killed me. I’ll never change my love for you.
Re:NO sang those words with an ethereal and ghostly tone. R!N chooses to sing them in a more defiant and threatening manner. R!N is a “shinigami” who is going to haunt the person who hurt her. Be afraid. It is a great example of how R!N has chosen to make the songs on EVOKE!! truly her own.
Throughout EVOKE!!, R!N forces the listener to consider what the narrator of the songs is trying to convey. And it doesn’t matter if you understand a single word of Japanese. You can tell from the tone of her voice and the subtle changes In her timbre that R!N (or the narrator) is feeling something – confusion, desire, anger. That is the sign of a truly great singer.
In addition, EVOKE!! holds together as a coherent album. The songs on EVOKE!! follow each other in a logical, rational manner, in large part because of R!N. Even though the songs are well-known classics, the album seems new because of R!N’s exhilarating reinterpretations.
What R!N – and the world – needs now is new music for Aldious, even if it means asking Re:NO to write the new songs. From a purely vocal standpoint, there is no longer any reason to compare R!N to Re:NO or to Rami. R!N has a classic rock voice. She has the critical discernment to know how to emphasize a song’s contradictory emotions. She has the power to express her own emotions. R!N is unique.
Click “日本語” at the top of the page for the Japanese language version of this article.
日本語訳を読むにはページトップの「日本語」のところをクリックして下さい。
| Song | Time | Time | Album | Original | Year | Music | Lyrics | |
| Original | R!N | Singer |
| 1 | Luft | 5:42 | 5:38 | Deep Exceed | Rami | 2010 | Yoshi | Rami |
| 2 | Re:fire | 3:46 | 3:45 | Radiant A | Re:NO | 2015 | Re:NO, ShinYMG | Re:NO |
| 3 | Believe Myself | 5:12 | 5:11 | Radiant A | Re:NO | 2015 | Toki | Re:NO |
| 4 | Reincarnation | 5:09 | 5:10 | Unlimited Diffusion | Re:NO | 2017 | Toki | Re:NO |
| 5 | 愛しい男 | 4:28 | 4:29 | We Are | Re:NO | 2017 | Toki | Re:NO |
| 6 | Confusion | 3:13 | 3:15 | Mermaid | Rami | 2011 | Yoshi | Rami |
| 7 | White Crow | 4:31 | 4:32 | White Crow | Re:NO | 2012 | Yoshi | Re:NO |
| 8 | STEP | 4:06 | 4:05 | Radiant A | Re:NO | 2015 | Re:NO, ShinYMG | Re:NO |
| 9 | fragile | 5:07 | 5:06 | Unlimited Diffusion | Re:NO | 2017 | Re:NO, ShinYMG | Re:NO |
Anonymous says: Tbh the second self-cover album in a row is a really bad idea. Introducing the new singer with rerecordings of old songs doesn’t let the singer do her own thing, she will be damned to be compared with Re:NO, who had a damn unique voice impossible to copy, and Rami, whose timbre is really really nice. For me personally it also sounds like had lack of new material and decided to make easy money… I just dunno, 2 self-cover albums in a row sounds a bit disrespectful towards fans and previous singers. Looking forward to the new material though…
Raijin Rock says: I agree with every single one of the points you make, including the one regarding the disrespectful undertones of this strategy. And I was disappointed that the band simply re-used the original instrumental tracks, rather than come up with new arrangements. Obviously, I think R!N’s performance on the second album is spectacular, but that could have been better demonstrated with a live album or DVD. I do hope that Yoshi and Toki (and perhaps R!N herself) are able to come up with exciting new material. If not, well, they won’t be the first band, or the last, to have the creative well run dry. Re:NO was responsible for composing almost all of the lyrics and around half of the music during her tenure with the band. So she will be missed for more than her “damn unique voice.”
Alex says: Despite missing Re:NO, the 2 albums did remind me why Aldious is my favorite Japanese female metal band: their guitar riffs. There are a lot of other similar bands I enjoy, but they all put too much emphasis on shredding and lead guitar in my opinion.
Can’t wait to hear new songs from them but creativity is the most elusive quality. And I read that R!n also has her solo career going at the same time. Still, I’ve gotten to appreciate the high notes which were not Re:NO’s specialty, and R!N’s voice also seems to me to pierce more through the instrumentation.
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