Phantomime

Overall

This album feels like the UMJ-era equivalent to UnAlive: the point where Mori's truly gone all-out on experimenting with wildly different genres and writing lyrics deeper and more personal than anything that came before. There's some abrupt changes in tone throughout but overall there isn't any track that stands out as "bad" to me.


Tracklist

  1. タイド (Tide): After Jigoku 6 and Overkill it was nice to see Mori try to write more uplifting music again, and it works especially well as an immediate follow-up to Left for Dead Lullaby. Also I'm a massive sucker for gospel choirs
  2. SNEAKING Revenge: Lotus Juice fucking killed it. I'm glad Mori finally got to make the Metal Gear song she wanted (I think they should've gone with Revengeance as the subtitle though)
  3. Go-Getters: Not sure if it fits with the rest of the album but it's a genuine bop, and it's cool that Mori was able to write a song that fit her character and Harley's at the same time. Here's to hoping it opens up bigger opportunities for her in the future
  4. Cult Following: Of all the previews this is one of the two I was most hyped for (along with Last Days) and it really delivered. It's a bit repetitive and feels like it was building up to a big drop that never came, but the beat and Mori's range definitely make up for it.
  5. DONMAI: Wow, Mori wasn't kidding when she said the Texas accent slipped through here. If she tried to do country music I honestly wouldn't complain, and I normally don't even like country music. Lyrics-wise it reads like a successor of sorts to Guh or Resting Power, where the Mori Calliope persona is struggling against her irl self's confidence issues.
  6. Overkill: I'm surprised this wasn't made for Jigoku 6. Between the metal track and the similar themes to Black Sheep and Wanted, Wasted it feels like it would've fit right in.
  7. Midnight Mayoi: Such a great melody and I actually got goosebumps from it. Really captures Mori and Kobo's dynamic too, it's kinda cute. Placing it right between Overkill and Skeletons was a pretty strange choice though, kinda gives it an "eye of the storm" feel if that makes sense
  8. skeletons: Stylistically this feels like a pretty good throw-back to her work from late 2020 or early 2021 and even some of her pre-Hololive stuff. To me it's also the point where the album starts to get more melancholy and introspective, and I get the impression that this was based on a time where she was ready to throw in the towel before getting her resolve back.
  9. Last Days: There's such a bittersweet feel to this one, something about how triumphant it sounds vs the lyrics; it almost feels like a counter to L4DL, where instead of dreading abandonment by everyone else she's forcing herself to push forward and accept that all things will come to an end. Overall I'd say it lived up to the hype just as much as Cult Following did.
  10. through the blue: When I first heard the preview for this I had assumed it would be more of a chill track, kind of like a palette cleanser after Last Days. I wasn't expecting Mori to stand right on the edge of kayfabe as she spoke about processing the loss of a loved one, or that the lyrics would be about survivor's guilt and include her straight-up saying she wished she had died too at one point. I can't say I've ever dealt with a loss like that, but it still brought me as close to tears as Live Again did. Really hope she felt alright after making this.
  11. Go-Getters (ft. Yoon): I don't think Yoon is a bad singer but her voice just didn't fit well with the rest of the song, it feels more like an fan cover to me or something. And having it come right after some of the most depressing tracks Mori's ever written at this point is just too much of a tonal whiplash for me to handle.