Perhaps you already saw our recent discussion of RAZOR’s 12th single “SAMURAIソードMAN” (Samurai Sword Man), (and if you haven’t, you can find it here, so you know what we’re referencing), and at the very end of that review I mentioned that the single that followed, “エアレンデル” (Earendel), was also on our to-do list. So you can probably guess what we’re going to be doing today. In the second installment of our “Broken Society”-series, we’re doing a deep dive into RAZOR’s 13th single “エアレンデル” (Earendel).
Since the band was already briefly introduced in the previous part (and nothing has changed in their lineup), I am going to skip the introduction and jump directly into the release itself instead.
The single exists out of the title song “エアレンデル” (Earendel), “limit” and “Broken Society”. (Does the title of the third track look familiar, maybe? 😉)
There’s also a music video for the title song, and much like the previous single all of these materials are divided over two types. Type A containing the first two tracks and a download code for the music video, and Type B containing all three songs and a download code for the music video’s offshot.
Just like our previous review, we’ll be looking at all three songs and the MV, but I will not discuss the offshot this time either – I still don’t think it’s necessary to talk about this part of the release, as it’s not important for the story of the single as a whole.
As you might have noticed from the previous installment, I was a big fan of the “SAMURAIソードMAN” (Samurai Sword Man) single in it’s entirety, and when I first saw the music video for the title song of this single, I wasn’t as eager to jump into it as I was with their previous work. A big reason for this is me not being the biggest fan of ballad tracks. This doesn’t mean I dislike them all by default, but these type of songs have a history of not captivating me as much as the more energetic tracks out there. And RAZOR is no exception to this, so I was quite thrilled when I learned that the other two songs on this single were more of the familiar, raw, RAZOR-style that caught my attention before.
So, let’s not waste any more time and let’s dive into the single!
In my heart, I carry a light that will never go out
Let’s start with the title song, “エアレンデル” (Earendel). From the introduction you already know that this song is a ballad, and like pretty much all ballads out there “エアレンデル” (Earendel) is a love song. But for RAZOR specifically, 猟牙 (Ryoga)’s words have a different style and tone than their usual works. With exception of “See you here again” the song is sung entirely in Japanese, giving 猟牙 (Ryoga) more than enough room to express the poetic lyrics. Something he does with great expertise, making use of his voice in an entirely different way than you usually see him do. With my knowledge of the group as well as mainly 猟牙 (Ryoga)’s previous works, it’s extremely difficult for me to find the words to describe this song to you here, since it seems like it’s the complete opposite of what I know of the band – especially in the lyrics. Regardless, it’s an emotional love song in which the storyteller speaks to the love interest that is no longer in their presence, apologizing for hurting them in a trivial argument and never forgetting them. “For example, even if the time comes when this life ends. I will never forget, forever.”
With the previous review I said that the MV wasn’t able to convey the lyrics to a non-Japanese listener very well, but with “エアレンデル” (Earendel) it’s probably a lot harder to express the story visually. Yet, RAZOR managed to express the emotion in this visual format extremely well. Much better than you’d expect, since it’s a very visually attractive video overall.
The band is shown in what resembles a Victorian home in a movie setting, showing an attic, library, basement and different rooms of the house. The band is mainly seen together in the library, surrounded by books and beautiful chandeliers, but the members are shown throughout the different rooms for their solo shots, adding to the overall vibe the visuals already put down by sitting around in certain positions to express the emotion audible in 猟牙 (Ryoga)’s voice. A personal highlight for me is bassist IZA being shown surrounded by books, looking through the book in his hands with the stylish big glasses to match, and guitarist 衍龍 (Kouryu) sitting in the basement in the most artistic way possible for a setting like this. Both really break up the overall style of the video without being overruling or out of place. They add to the experience rather than taking away from it.
The combination of the music video with the song itself is a very interesting experience for RAZOR, and the combination manages to convey the emotion of the song as a whole surprisingly well, even to non-Japanese speaking listeners. (Or should I say “viewers” in this context?) It’s a different experience than you might expect from the band, but they have shown their ability to steer away from their regular style and concept extremely well with this music video.
As I already mentioned in the intro, the other two songs aren’t in this ballad style, so we’re now literally jumping into “limit”. This second track really picks up the pace, and also returns to a much more familiar style lyrics wise. The majority of the song is sung in Japanese, with exception of “My thoughts disappearing” and “I want to break free”, which already give a very, very small hint of the theme for rest of the song and it’s lyrics.
While there still is some form of love in these lyrics, it’s far less saccharine than it was in the title song. The familiar rebellion that RAZOR has shown in their works is very apparent in “limit”, showing that a limit has been reached with an almost movie-style introduction, before the first verse picks up the pace with RAZOR’s familiar heavier core that not only highlights IZA’s bass and NIKKY’s drums, but also 剣 (Tsurugi) and 衍龍 (Kouryu)’s guitars without turning into a cacophony of sound. The vocals are also layered in a way that adds to the “limit” the lyrics describe without ever making use of that word. The powerful, yet melodic outro of the song also serves as a great connection to the start of the final track.
The last song of the single is “Broken Society”, and I’d be lying if I claimed I wasn’t excited to discuss this song with you. Since there is a reoccurring theme to RAZOR’s works, and it’s implemented in different ways in different songs, but in “Broken Society” it’s almost as raw as it can get.
In the conclusion of “SAMURAIソードMAN” (Samurai Sword Man) I said that the overarching theme of the single seems to be “human nature”, and that isn’t just for that single. “Broken Society” is the most direct expression RAZOR has given of this theme so far, despite the lyrics being a lot shorter and direct than the previous two songs. The poetic style has been thrown out the window (probably literally too, given the verbal aggression described in these words) and traded in for brutal honesty laced with sarcasm, the exact opposite of the title song. “Long live humanity, the human principle.”
It’s not just the lyrics that have changed their style, it’s the instrumentals too. Not only does vocalist 猟牙 (Ryoga) get the space to make use of his different voices, adding extra emotion to different parts of the lyrics, but the instruments also follow his lead with their heavier core style. Rather than highlighting one instrument, each instrument has it’s more prominent moment throughout the song, making this song feel like a small society of it’s own, the society of RAZOR to be exact.
Conclusion
How the title song “エアレンデル” (Earendel) was paired with “limit” and “Broken Society” is a mystery to me, given the extreme contrast between the title song and the two other tracks. Not just in music, but also very much in lyrics. Where the title song was very saccharine, the two other songs were far more recognizable as RAZOR’s overarching style and theme. Would it have been better to release “エアレンデル” (Earendel) as a digital one-song-single and pair “limit” and “Broken Society” with a different third track? Perhaps, but that was not the decision that was made. The idea of only getting the A type of the single, where you’d only have the title song and “limit”, sounds like a miss for me, because these two songs couldn’t be further apart from one another if they tried. The B type, where “Broken Society” is also included, does complete the single a lot more.
Regardless, “エアレンデル” (Earendel) as a whole shows the diversity of the group, showing that they are more than capable to move away from their usual direct and not-so-subtle style and trade it for something far more sweet and dreamy. Even though the execution of it seemed more complete with the music video to me than it seemed with just the song itself. The MV gave another layer to the lyrics that the song by itself wasn’t able to achieve for me, but this might not be the case for you, of course!
Am I looking forward to more of the saccharine ballads of RAZOR in the future? Absolutely not, but again, that is me personally. Despite the style not being for me, I do have to praise all members for a wonderful execution of the style, since it will definitely draw different eyes and ears to their work than they normally would. And who knows, some of those eyes and ears might stay because they liked what they found…
This release is available for streaming via Spotify, but if you’d rather have a physical copy of (one of) the CDs then we’ve got you covered too. We’ve listed all of the information you need below:
 DAKTMZR-1007 // ¥2,000 |  DAKTMZR-1008 // ¥2,000 |
02. limit 01. エアレンデル MV (download code) | 02. limit 03. Broken Society 01. エアレンデル MV (offshot download code) |
2023.10.10 Shop: CDJapan | Amazon | 2023.10.10 Shop: CDJapan | Amazon |
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雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years she is still the main person who does interviews the interviews and live photos that you see on Arlequin, but also a large chunk of the reviews and behind-the-scenes work and communication goes through her.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.