N is for Nell's "Newton's Apple" (a.k.a my early pick and no.1 strong contender for Album of the Year)

Going through the AtoZ challenge post here in my blog, there's a couple of titles and topic that pops up anywhere and everywhere depends on the topic of the day; and it must be blatantly obvious by now that N will definitely belongs to Nell.

Of course, as easy a decision it was, there's still a problem whether I ought to just talk about them like I did with Linkin Park for L (but then it will be nothing but me fangirling to oblivion and beyond), or spam the hell out of this post with their whole discography (you have no idea how tempted I was to do exactly just that).

So I go back to basic and take the sorta-award-list-but-not-really style of post when it comes to music and really, Newton's Apple is so amazing I cannot not talk about it.

Before I begin this album comes with 2 CD and the video below comprises of only the 1st CD, since the 2nd is basically a re-release of two mini albums that makes up the first two of the Gravity trilogy; Holding Onto Gravity and Escaping Gravity. And this post shall focus on the 1st CD only since it'll be cheating to include the 2nd as well, as it was released earlier on late 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Now that's out of the way, let me tell you on the amazing that is Newton's Apple, which was released on 27th February (which was also a day after my birthday, so I call it a belated birthday present ha!)

Again, like Slip Away; I make my own playlist for the whole album, and Nell remains the only artist/band to have the honor. I mean, really, where do I start? The 11 new songs are just amazing and it's hard to be concrete when I'm still bombarded by all the damn feels with every listen. In a breakdown, there's:

• the awesome instrumental-only intro Decompose, 
• the ironical for the lyric don't match the light sound Fantasy,  
• the beautiful acoustic sound in Memories of a Stranger, 
• the subdued atmosphere in History of Silence, 
• the gorgeous Four Times Around the Sun (which also have one of the most-beautiful-and-pain-inducing-because-feels MV this year), 
• the simplest lyric Kim Jongwan ever wrote (it's just 2 lines!) but still heartbreaking as hell Grey Zone,
• the auto-tuned yet flawless Newton's Apple, 
• the glorious rock + string + synth combination in Night of Rebirth, 
• the uplifting chorus and sound in Escape of Extinction (or as they called it in the strictly-performance-with-awesome-lighting MV, The Great Escape),  
• the brilliant instrumental sound in Dear Genovese, 
• and the one that manage to give me so much pain and feels akin to Slip Away's The Ending as well as my pick for THE Song of the Year so far; Sunshine. Really, the instrumental part starting at point 2-minute mark is nothing short of utter brilliance. (and I -quite- bitter that they left it out of the setlist in their 2-day concert for the album; it's the only song that got left out! T_T)

This is the simplest I can do and I myself know that this is far from giving it justice, as regrettably, I am inadequate enough of a person; the more I adore something, the harder it is to describe them in the way it rightfully deserves. In other words, none of my rambling can fully convey how good these songs really are, thus it was wiser if you go and listen to them yourself. Really, you won't regret it.

I am a picky listener, and since I'm in a constant losing battle to clear some space in my HD, I always make it a point to download only songs that is worth keeping (though of course I tend to download everything and regret it most of the time). Of course it's a given that I'll keep Nell's, but the fact that I love not just half, but ALL of the songs further strengthening their spot as my No.1 Favorite Band as of late (considering the fact that my favorite genres are mostly rock and from bands, this is a freaking huge deal to me).

I know this is just April, and there's still chances for upsets, but Newton's Apple set the bar for 2014 albums damn high for any other to come close I might as well called it that it'll remain the lone contender for Album of the Year, like I did with their previous release Slip Away.

Alas, for exceeding my huge-as-a-mountain expectation and basically stomps on it like it's nothing; Newton's Apple is my early pick for 2014's Album of the Year.

Now to see if there's anything else that can impress me more than this.

Till then,

 (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

~ the hardcore-Nell-fan Heiji

Music of the Day: Nell - Self-Injury