Art Of Life

Art of Life is a tremendous song. To think they played it live boggles my mind. It is not an easy song to play or easy listening. To truly appreciate the song you must disect it with your ears. It starts off with a slow ballad-like approach. Toshi's voice is sort of in-between the raspy voice we grew to love from Vanishing Vision to Jealosy, and the clear, beautiful voice found on the Dahlia album. It's the best of both worlds. Then, with a serious of rolls, the tempo changes and the first of many excellent guitar riffs begin. Listen to how in sync hide and Pata are. It's like a guitar orchestra. The solos in this song are breath taking to say the least. They're awesome. Then the piano solo(which many say is strange or ruins the song) is a work of art in it's own. It starts with the main rythm and after a while Yoshiki begins to place inconsistencies throughout the melody. You almost feel as though Yoshiki's messing up, but its a well-orchestrated solo that shows us the genius mind of Yoshiki. You could also relate the solo to the progression of life. You start off young, sweet, and innocent(the slow beautiful melody) then life begins to through you curve balls(the minor incosistencies) and then finally its like a torent of problems being thrown your way(all of the inconsistencies thrown together) and then finally the sweet release of death(the change back to the beautiful melody and re-emergence of the symphony to the foreground). Then the ripping guitars break back into the song going faster, and more technically difficult than ever before. Once again listen to how well hide and Pata play together. Never have I heard two guitarists play so well together. Fianlly, the song slows down a bit as the main them of the song is played and echoed through are minds as the song ends. Art of Life is truly a heavy metal anthem, it has everything Stairway to Heaven has to offer, and much, much more. In terms of the skill behind the song, the killer riffs, excellent timing, and awesome lyrics I dare to say that this might be the greatest metal song ever composed. It took the art-form Yoshiki created with Rose of Pain, and perfected it. This is a true classic.

my favorite song in the world, there is so much meaning and so many metaphors in this song. amazing, beautiful, i'll never stop listening to this song, ever.

Art of Life is by far my favorite song of all time. The pure honesty that's written behind the lyrics and hidden in every chord is a miraculous. I do believe this is Yoshiki's most 'naked' song in which he willingly exposes himself inside and out. Truely listening to this song gives anyone a chance to see what makes Yoshiki tick -- who he is. It's a song that not even 1/4 of it's listeners will honestly understand. Forever X

this song is not gay.

This is such a beautiful song. I'm embarrassed to say when the first time I listened to it and heard the first couple lines of singing, I turned it off, thinking it to be like Voiceless Screaming, only 29 minutes long. (X-Japan may be my favorite band, but I do not like that song... I only like the guitar solos and that's it.) What can I say about this song? I don't feel I can do it justice by anything I will say, so I will just say this: the music is beautiful, the lyrics are beautiful, and Yoshiki is a genius. A talented genius who put so much work into this song. I can't imagine all the work his put into this song, especially the piano solo where there are 2 sets of hands which means he must have recorded it twice... I cannot praise Yoshiki and all the band members and orchestra enough on this work of art.

Slow, Fast, Beatiful, Full of Feelings, everything ! I like Art of Life, is one of the best songs ever, (MUCH better than Stairway to Heaven) specially the piano "solo", I love that part, I think Yoshiki was in another state of conciense when he wrote that, that piano part is the progression itself. The rest of the song was beatiful too, good structures, good solos... The only thing I didn't was the singer, I think that song needs THE BEST singer, the voice can always be better, is the most complicated instrument... Art of Life, just look at the name...

Yoshiki is a fucking genius. that's all there is to it. i'd give my limbs to meet him le sigh

I'm with you on that one, Pink Spider... I was actually very thrilled that I had a choir trip to Anaheim (baka people cancelled it though) ... I was like, "Yay! I stalk Yoshiki while I'm down there." =^_^=

x japan blows hahaha

No, brothermage, you just suck. Art of Life is one of the greatest rock songs/ballads in history. you have no resspect and are obviously just here to piss people off. so go get raped. now.