Category Archives: Music

AMV of the Day: Highschool of the Dead Game

Posted on by Arleigh

I came across this particular AMV (anime music video) while trying to find something else. There really hasn’t been many good AMV’s done with 2010’s hit anime series, Highschool of the Dead, which I find very peculiar. Maybe it’s the extreme ecchi nature paired with zombies which makes some people uncomfortable. I, for one, is not one of those people so I was really surprised when someone made a great AMV from this anime. The latest AMV of the Day is simply titled: “Highschool of the Dead Game”.

The title may be simple, but the video itself ended up looking quite complex in it’s execution. From the mind of AMV creator linnepin007, the video takes the many awesome scenes and sequences from Highschool of the Dead and made it to look like a sizzle reel for an upcoming roleplaying game. The game looks to make each character in the series as a playable one in the game right down to individual stats, character classes and even personal anthems and rally cries.

I know that for some the amount of fan-service in this series ruins it for them and how the series should’ve stuck to just the horror, but this AMV’s creator has realized one thing which has attracted legions of anime fans to this series: it’s fun. This is what this AMV has done to further help sell the series. It highlighted the fun aspect of the anime to ludicrous levels. It helps that the creator used an audio clip from Shaun of the Dead in the very start of the video.

The AMV did well enough that it garnered two awards at this year’s AnimeCon: Editor’s Choice and Audience Choice Awards.

Anime: Highschool of the Dead (Gakuen Mokushiroku)

Song: “Dead”  by My Chemical Romance

Creator: linnepin007

AMV of the Day: Kobato – Ring a Bell

Posted on by Arleigh

Been awhile since I was able to find and post a new AMV (anime music video) which means the pickings have been slim. But as I was writing up the post commemorating the site’s 1000th post milestone I was listening to some J-Pop as background music and one particular song came on. It was BONNIE PINK’s “Ring a Bell” which was used as the opening song for the very fun and beautiful JRPG Tales of Vesperia. As soon as I finished writing up the milestone post I searched YouTube for AMV’s which used this song and after finding a couple AMV’s which used it I settled on the best one I was able to find.

The latest AMV is from YouTube user XValkyrieAngelX and it was titled Kobato – Ring a Bell. I knew of the song, but the anime used was one I’ve heard about but never had the opportunity to watch: Kobato.

First off, the editing work by XValkyrieAngelX was very good. She didn’t make the video too cluttered and confusing with massive amounts of quick edits and cuts. Her use of particular video effects was timed well with the song that they weren’t distracting. One thing she was also able to do was keep the AMV relatively spoiler-free. The anime itself has been called one of the many romance-comedy that continues to be quite popular in Japan and pretty much with most anime fans so the video shows of the romance side of the anime but not enough to ruin the whole story.

The song “Ring a Bell” is one of those catchy J-Pop ballads which just sticks to one’s mind and won’t let go. Using this song really matches up well with the visuals used from Kobato. One of the best compliments I could ever give an AMV creator is that they were able to convince me to watch an anime I’ve only remotely heard of just based on watching them use it in one of their videos. Kobato – Ring a Bell is one such AMV and as soon as I finished watching it I went over to Amazon and, lo and behold, the DVD was up for pre-ordering and I went ahead and pre-ordered it.

XValkyrieAngelX has more AMV’s uploaded in her YouTube account and this one has given me reason to watch the rest of her work.

Song: “Ring a Bell” – BONNIE PINK

Anime: Kobato

Creator: XValkyrieAngelX

From the deepest pits of hair…

Posted on by necromoonyeti

A dark cloud looms over our publishing department. The earth trembles, and the lights grow dim. Arleigh is away, perhaps contemplating what to do for our 1000th post landmark here at Shattered Lens. I scurry to the fridge, concerned as usual with my stomach rather than the task at hand, but as I open the door the pent-up horrors of a thousand cheesy grindhouse films and corpse paint-encrusted metal bands manifest within.


Necrocomiccon – Hot Dog Cart Hunger

What could this be? What have we unleashed upon the world? Many a foul fiend has Through the Shattered Lens bravely reviewed before, but none so vile as this. I tremble in fear at what lies before me… the most vulgar, base, soulless abomination to have ever plagued humanity… The 1980s.


Necrocomiccon – Careless Whisper

Congratulations, fellow authors, on reaching our 1000 post milestone, and thank you to all the readers for sticking it out. Maybe Arleigh will have something more interesting in store for you tonight, but in the meantime I couldn’t resist. Necrocomiccon are a new band from “probably Norway” who write black and melodic death metal parodies of 1980s pop songs. You can check out their album for free on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Necrocomiccon.


Necrocomiccon – (I Just) Died in Your Arms

Song of the Day: 4th of July (by Soundgarden)

Posted on by Arleigh

It is now just minutes since the 4th of July finally arrives in the US once more (at least on the West Coast since the East Coast has been celebrating the 4th of July for 3 hours now). What better way to celebrate the arrival of another 4th of July than to pick the song of the same name for today’s latest “Song of the Day”.

Soundgarden’s Superunknown album from 1994 may be part of the grunge scene which sprouted during the early 1990’s but this album has more metal about it than the grunge espoused by the disciples of Cobain. The song I picked for today I consider the best in the album which contains other classics. “4th of July” is such a heavy song that so many casual fans of the album fail to miss the heavy influence of early Black Sabbath in the song. They also fail to realize just how un-grunge it is with its dark lyrics (not emo mind you, but dark in a palpable sense). “4th of July” becomes an accidental introduction for newbie metal fans to the world of doom metal.

This song is the very definition of heavy and doom. From the heaviness in the guitar riffs to the subdued, but evocative way Cornell sings the dark lyrics (lyrics I always thought of someone just experiencing and living through the aftermath of a nuclear war). But in the end this song really shows it’s Black Sabbath and doom metal pedigree from the sludge-like sound coming out of the bass guitar chords.

“4th of July” once heard cannot be unheard. It’s a song that grabs one by the throat, doesn’t let go until the final doom-laden lyric and note has finally faded into the air.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

4th of July

Shower in the dark day
Clean sparks driving down
Cool in the waterway
Where the baptized drown
Naked in the cold sun
Breathing life like fire
Thought I was the only one
But that was just a lie

Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July

Pale in the flare light
The scared light cracks & disappears
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares
The fire is spreading
And no one wants to speak about it
Down in the hole
Jesus tries to crack a smile
Beneath another shovel load

And I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July

Now I’m in control
Now I’m in the fall out
Once asleep but now I stand
And I still remember
Your sweet everything
Light a Roman candle
And hold it in your hand

Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July

Song of the Day: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (performed by Gil Scott Heron)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I have to admit that watching and reviewing all of those Planet of the Apes films got me into a revolutionary state of mind.  Taking that into consideration, here is today’s song of the day — The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by the late Gil Scott Heron.

Song of the Day: Into the West (by Howard Shore feat. Annie Lennox)

Posted on by Arleigh

This latest “Song of the Day” marks the final and third entry in the weekend-long theme of picking song and music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. What better choice to cap of this themed weekend than picking the final song to close out Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic: “Into the West”.

It’s this song as composed and arranged by the trilogy’s master composer, Howard Shore, featuring the vocal talents of singer Annie Lennox. Her work on this song was at times quite gentle and subdued with some strong vocals once the chorus arrives and repeats a second time. Some have complained that someone with more classical training would’ve been better suited to tackle this song, but I rather enjoyed Lennox’s powerful rendition of the chorus in the song.

“Into the West” is a song that’s both one of hope and a bittersweet lament as it speaks of the leaving of the Elf race on their Grey Ships to sail into the west towards Valinor. Some of the lyrics in the song even comes from sections of the final chapter of The Return of the King novel.

When this song played at the end of The Return of the King it surely brought more than just a few people to tears as it helped marked the end of three years of fantasy filmmaking which became a cultural phenomenon from 2001 through 2003 as the world became enraptured by Peter Jackson’s fantasy trilogy. What better song to end this weekend theme than the very song which ended the trilogy of which this weekend was all about.

Into the West

Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journey’s end
Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across a distant shore
Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away

Safe in my arms
You’re only sleeping

What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home
And all will turn
To silver-glass
A light on the water
All souls pass

Hope fades
Until the world of night
Through shadows’ falling
Out of memory and time
Don’t say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again

And you’ll be here in my arms
Just sleeping

What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home
And all will turn
To silver-glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the West

Song of the Day: Theoden Rides Forth (by Howard Shore)

Posted on by Arleigh

For my chosen song from Howard Shore’s orchestral film score for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers I picked the tune which starts off my favorite scene in from that film. This will be the latest song for “Song of the Day”.

“Theoden Rides Forth” begins with the scene of Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas and what remains of the Rohan cavalry riding out for one last time out of the Keep at Helm’s Deep into the thick of the Uruk-Hai forces. The song takes the “Rohan theme” first heard in the early part of the film, but with a heroic flair that transitions to full brass blaring the theme to great effect. The song then segues into a brief appearance of the “Fellowship theme” as Gandalf, Eomer and the Rohirrim appear to save their king and companions. From there the song brings in the “Shadowfax theme” with child soprano Ben Del Maestro providing the solo chorus as the charge comes down the steep incline and into the ranks of Uruk-Hai waiting below. But the song doesn’t end there as it moves into the follow-up scene using the “Nature theme” to show Treebeard and the Ents make their final march to war against Isengard.

This track from the score finishes off the two parallel story lines of Helm’s Deep and Isengard. The transitions in the song from one story line to the other were flawless. The fact that Shore was able to incorporate and combine so many different themes not just from this film but from the previous one shows an artist who is definitely a master of his craft. There’s no denying why “Theoden Rides Forth” became the best tune from the The Two Towers film score and why so many fans of the film and the score wholeheartedly agree.

Song of the Day: The Breaking of the Fellowship (by Howard Shore)

Posted on by Arleigh

With my favorite scene from The Fellowship of the Ring chosen and posted it’s now time to pick my favorite piece of music from that film’s orchestral soundtrack. This was a soundtrack that I consider just one-third of a massive 12-hour symphony. The song I’ve chosen is actually a re-edited version of this film’s “Complete Recordings” release: “The Breaking of the Fellowship”.

Howard Shore’s work as composer for Peter Jackson’s monumental and epic (if there was ever a subject deserving of that overused word it would be Jackson’s fantasy trilogy) has been hailed by critics and fans alike as one of the best, if not the best, film score of the new millennium. Shore doesn’t go for the typical overly bombastic score that’s become the go-to style for epic films of any stripe. His work on this first third of the total Lord of the Rings score even manages to outdo John Williams’ own compositions for the other major fantasy series to come out the same year in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer Stone.

Where Williams’ had begun to partially cannibalize his own past film scores for his recent ones, Shore was able to look at what Jackson was creating and decided to base the entire score for The Fellowship of the Ring on three motifs which were airy, subtle with the loud and expressive brass section only appearing in one of these three. “The Breaking of the Fellowship” ends the film on a mixture of triumph and sadness as the track’s title describes. Shore takes the peaceful “hobbit theme” from the beginning of the film and combines it with the more rousing “Fellowship theme” then topped with as bonus with sections from the “Rivendell theme”. These three themes combine to highlight not just the breaking of the fellowship in the end of the film, but some sense of loss of innocence of the hobbits in the group as heard by a more somber and pensive rendition of the “hobbit theme”.

Of all the musical cues in The Fellowship of the Ring it’s the one which makes up “The Breaking of the Fellowship” that fully expresses the overall thematic and narrative themes of the film. It’s a song that tells the audience that the peaceful nature of the hobbits have now been tempered by their complete understanding of the exact nature of their fellowship’s quest. It also underscores how even in triumph the fellowship will encounter heartbreak and tragedy. These two themes will continue to be explore in the next two films and their respective score, but it’s in this first one that it truly shines.

AMV of the Day: Devil’s Game

Posted on by Arleigh

madokamagica

The latest “AMV of the Day” is another one which is based on the mahou shoujo series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It’s become one of my favorite anime series of late and with each repeat viewing just increases my love for it. This latest anime music video takes that “magical girl” anime series and combines it with a symphonic rock song to create an AMV titled, “Devil’s Game”.

“Devil’s Game” is not just my latest pick for “AMV of the Day” but also the latest from AMV creator-extraordinaire Chiikaboom whose anime music video creations have always become instant favorites of mine. This latest really highlights the darkness that permeates throughout the anime series. For a mahou shoujo series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica get pretty dark and the subgenre as a whole uses themes of darkness to balance out the cute magical girl art design.

Within Temptation’s “A Demon’s Fate” is quite an appropriate song to use for this video. The series is all about Magi (magically-enhanced teen girls) fighting evil Witches to save the innocent people and the world. The series also includes Kyubey whose extremely cute appearance hides a secret that the song’s lyrics and title really meshes well with.

Chiikaboom’s editing of the video was not as extensive as some past ones which really comes and goes in rapid-fire fashion. For this video the editing and scene transitions matches very well with the bass drum sections in the song that it’s not noticeable at first glance, but really shows after repeat viewings. And it’s well-made AMV’s like this using scenes from this series that really should help sell Puella Magi Madoka Magica to the uninitiated whose experience with anime is from Adult Swim showings on Cartoon Network.

“Devil’s Game” is the best Puella Magi Madoka Magica AMV I’ve seen, so far, hand’s down.

Anime: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Song:  “A Demon’s Fate” by Within Temptation

Creator: Chiikaboom

Songs of the Day: Game of Thrones Main Theme and Finale

Posted on by Arleigh

A Sunday night has arrived and that means the latest episode of HBO’s instant medieval fantasy hit series, Game of Thrones, adapted from the George R.R. Martin novel of the same name. This show has pretty much ruled my Sunday nights and for the past ten weeks I and a couple other writers for the site have done recaps and reviews of each episode. As great as the show has been the soundtrack to the show has been equally grand and epic in sound. Tonight’s season finale finally unleashes the finale music and, paired with the now recognizable “Main Title” music for the show, becomes the latest song to make “Song of the Day”.

I can’t pick the “Finale” by Ramin Djawadi without also including the “Main Title” music which the former is born from. Ramin Djawadi has taken the initial song, with its blending of medieval chamber sound with some Mediterrean stylings, and adds in an ominous and martial quality for the finale. It helps punctuate the season finale and how it ties up the loose ends of the premiere season’s prologue storylines and lays the foundation for what looks to be second season with the world of Game of Thrones fully at war with dangers not just from north of The Wall, but now a resurgent old royal line across the Narrow Sea.

The “Finale” doesn’t actually return to the “Main Title” motif until a third of the way through but certain notes and chords from that initial theme could be heard throughout until the finale reaches it’s final 30 seconds and the “Main Title” motif returns in a crescendo of brass, percussion and strings before finishing suddenly. It’s a testament to Ramin Djawadi that the score never dominates the show unless it’s in the intro title sequence and the end credits when the music won’t overcome the performances on the screen. Other composer might look at the opportunity to flex their musical muscle and just go full bore from beginning to end, but not this score.

It’s a good thing I bought the Game of Thrones soundtrack off of iTunes. It’s definitely joined the Conan the Barbarian and Lord of The Rings orchestral score as some of my favorites.