Do As Infinity - EIGHT

As I've promised in my previous post, here's Do As Infinity's second album since they re-band-ed (is there such a word?) and their 8th, speak of coincidence, studio album since they debuted - EIGHT! Hmmmm... I wonder if they named this album EIGHT because it's also the infinite symbol just viewed in a different angle.

Anyway, before getting this single, I couldn't resist one of the damn good songs, "1/100", and I bought the single but good thing I bought that single because it took forever for this album to be released and actually reach me so at least I get to enjoy that marvelous song!

This album features 12 tracks, including one of Inuyasha's theme songs - 君がいない未来, a song that I've been trying to learn how to sing but I refuse to download the pirated version to learn it. And no, I don't know anything about Inuyasha and anime so stop associating people who listen to Japanese music to people who watch anime - different!!

Back to the album. Other than the song above, which title translates to "Future without you", other songs include "Everything will be all right" and of course my favorite "1/100" from the "infinity 2" single. Too lazy to go search for the infinity symbol so shall just type the word out.

Enough of the words - now the photos!!

The Taiwan press of the album with the region 3 DVD! This album was originally released in Japan on the January 19, 2011. Gosh - that was LONG AGO! Well, you can't really blame me because I can't find this album anywhere in Singapore and I wanted to get it from YesAsia but because at that moment, there were no other releases so if I just ordered this, I will not enjoy free shipping so I had to wait. But it's worth it! Love the clean feel of this album - the usage of black and white - easy to read.

This overseas version of the album comes with a big obi that extends all the way to the back. If you look closely, you'll see Chinese characters printed beside some of the titles. In fact, some of the Japanese titles are replaced by Chinese characters on this obi. The reason is because this album is intended for people who can't read Japanese so it doesn't make sense to put the Japanese words there. BUT! If they listen to the songs, it wouldn't make sense for them to be bothered too since chances are, they are going to call the songs in the native Japanese language anyway!

The front of the album without the obi this time. The circles at the back reminds me of the Olympic symbol, don't you think? But I strongly believe that this album has nothing to do with the Olympic though. Maybe it's just aesthetically pleasing.

The back of the album without the big obi. Good thing the text on the actual album are in Japanese so that they don't hurt my eyes. One of the disadvantages of getting the overseas press... But it's definitely better than the China press ones - they are totally hideous because they add so many extra stickers which are not removable. I hope I don't have to do a photo shoot of one though because China press stuff gets up my nerves (even though the audio quality is the same, it's still not nice looking!!)

I think they went for the simplicity this time round and did away with fancy photo shoots. When you open up the album, you see this pink circle looking back at you. Cute, in my opinion. The guitarist, Ryo Otawari, welcomes you into this album on the left - the lyric booklet oblique (also known as slash / ) cover art.

The purple DVD with 3 music videos as well as a short documentary which I have yet to have time to watch. I wonder when I will actually have time to glue my eyes to the television for the whole day to just clear all my unwatched DVDs. Think it would take me the entire day, especially when ayumi's DVD arrives but that's a problem for another day.

The lyric booklet opened up, revealing a whole photo. Sometimes I wonder why bands like F.I.R. and Do As Infinity like to photograph their band members by positioning them far away from each another. Well, I think one logical explanation, in my own twisted photographic theory, is so that the viewer will spend more time looking at each individual band member as opposed to when you bunch them all up, you look at them collectively and not individually. What do you think?

This is a lyric booklet alright - if I didn't remember wrongly, this was like the only photo I found in the entire booklet with actual human beings. Simplicity to the maximum! But that's not to say that the songs aren't good because it's supported by solid singles! Furthermore, Do As Infinity has always been fantastic~ :D

I actually like this font. Anyway~ This is the front of the lyric booklet with the track list, in case you're interested.

Yeap, the lyrics of some of the songs in this album. Purposely chose the page with "1/100" because it's such a marvelous song! You should go listen to it; it's fantastic!! Upbeat, motivational song~



The album, in terms of packaging, is simple and even though I have not heard the songs yet, I know that it's good because of the strong singles that are featured in this album. Furthermore, the first few songs sounded quite promising (that's when I heard them through the first time) but only listening to the entire production then can I prove myself right. :)

Hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed shooting them! I spent a lot of time and hard work to take the photos (like "stealing" my father's and sister's study lights and setting up my tools) so if you want to reproduce my photos, ask me first okay? It's only polite, right? :)


Do drop by now and then to visit for more updates on probably something else other than CDs! (I hope - I hardly have a life nowadays)