#036

Original: 不思議の国のアリス // Alice in Wonderland (Touhou 05)
Title: Le Cirque du Sept Coleurs
Circle & Arranger: Unlucky Morpheus
Lyrics & Vocals: the GOAT, Fuki (aka Fuyuki Tenge)
Album: Saireco Jealousy (re-mastered rerelease of Jealousy)
Release Date: C91, 05/06/2018 (and 30/08/2009 for the original)
Image Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/53838222

Buy the (physical) album here:
N/A (goddamnit)

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This is the other one.
And, well, if all the "if X is available, strongly consider uploading x!" thingy is in effect, there is absolutely NO circle where that's almost as much of an obligation as possible, it's Unlucky Morpheus.
They are to vocal metal Touhou metal what Demetori is to instrumental Touhou metal. What Tutti Sound, CarrotWine and Melodic Taste are to orchestral and symphonic Touhou arranges. In case you haven't noticed from my previous uploads and the tags, I am a very categorical person, sometimes to the point of hindering myself cause of mental inflexibility. But what I know is that Unlucky Morpheus are in the "they're the GOATs" category. They are also very, VERY strongly responsible for getting me into this fandom in the first place. The first time I heard their stuff, I felt my inner eye open and I was at peace. Okay, maybe not that much, but when I realised this was a remix of a track from a video game series I was IMMEDIATELY hooked.
So it pains me to no end that they seem to have stopped doing arrangement work. But for what we have of them in our fan-music sphere we should be grateful.

Let's get into it. This is the Saireco Jealousy's version of Le Cirque de Sept Couleurs, that CD being their updated re-release of Jealousy. Which means between this and Jealousy's initial release lie 9 years.
And if you notice one thing it's that Fuki's voice has reached levels of perfection I haven't heard in symphonic metal since Tarja Turunen, Floor Jansen, Sharon den Adel or Amy Lee. She just doesn't miss.
Until Su-Metal inevitably takes over, I daresay that Fuki is maybe the best female metal vocalist in Japan, period. This is not me fanboying UM, her stuff on Lightbringer and DOLL$BOXX is also great, as are all her collabs with other noticeable metal acts such as Galneryus or as a solo artist. Speaking of Su-Metal by the way, I'll see BABYMETAL and motherducking SABATON on Sunday! In case you don't know, I'm Austrian and I'll go to the latter's show in Vienna with my dad. You have NO Idea how hyped I am.
Now, if only Unlucky Morpheus toured internationally sigh
Though they did headline the first Japanese-Musicans-only metal festival in London (yeah weird, I know).

Anyhow. This arrangement is just absolutely insane. Yukimura (aka Shiren) and Jinya bring the shreds (that guitar duo... holy shit) Ogawa drives a hard bass and Fumiya just DESTROYS his drumset. Though what really stands out to me is Jill's violin, it just accompanies Fuki's voice so insanely well. There's something very haunting about the delivery of the lyrics that clashes HARD with the intense power metal and instead of banging heads it's a triumph. Like, I put this on and I got goosebumps straight away. There's so many layers to it that you can appreciate. The flow, the virtuousy instruments, the perfect balance of vocal and instrumental work, Fuki's voice, how well Alice in Wonderland is adapted, and, and I looked them up because why the hell not, the lyrics are also great, the translation I found here https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lyrics:_Le_... shows really good songwriting, too.

ION I should really have checked the Touhouwiki for lyrics earlier rofl.

So yeah. Where does this leave us. I just love this band. Like, they are unironically one my favourite bands and I'm stoked that I can share their music with you even if it's the Nth upload on YouTube. Seeing them live once is on my live's bucket list.

Enjoy it,

Minulf

PS:
The next character is brand-spanking new which poses an issue. On vgmdb.net, there are 12 albums that feature an arrangement of her theme. So chances are I'll use some character from my personal ranking at 50 or higher as a stopgap...We'll see. Also, I'll tune back the tagging again, cause if everything's amazing nothing is :P