Do As Infinity - DEEP FOREST (J!-ENT World Groove Classic Album Review)

May 11, 2008 by Dennis Amith

“Do As Infinity’s 3rd album “DEEP FOREST” (2001), showcases the band’s music and vocals and in my opinion, is the best DAI album released!”

BAND: Do As Infinity

ALBUM: DEEP FOREST

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-17913

DURATION: 50:46

RELEASE DATE: September 19, 2001

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Fukai Mori
Tokumade (Album Version)
Tadaima
Get Yourself
Tsubasa no Keikaku
Koko Kaikaku
Koi Otome
Week!
Hang out
Boukensha Tachi
Enrai
Signal (Album Remix)

In 2001, Do As Infinity was the band to keep an eye on. With Avex featuring a good number of pop music artists, there were a few who were rock-based at the time for the label and Do As Infinity was among, if not their successful chart topping rock band.

Looking back at this album, seven years later and just remembering how cool they were. Do As Infinity featured lead vocalist Tomoko Van (note: Her real last name is “Ban” but she chose Van because she felt it was more rock n’ roll sounding), Owatari Ryo on guitar (vocals and songwriter) and Nagao Dai (guitar and composition).

And looking back, just kicking myself for not seeing them perform live when they were at the anime convention A-kon in Texas or their performance in New York City in 2004.

But if there is one album from Do As Infinity that still gets a lot of play on my CD player is “DEEP FOREST”.

The group would release this third album (reaching #1 on the Oricon Album Charts) several months after releasing their second album “New World” (Rel. Feb. 21, 2001) and would feature their 8th through 11th CD singles.

The first track “Fukai Mori” (their 10th CD single) is known by anime fans as “The Inuyasha ending theme” and my favorite track from the group. The mid-tempo song featured Tomoko’s beautiful vocals and the beautiful music showcasing that DAI sound that manages to capture happy and sad emotions from listening to it. Beautiful!

The second track “Tokumade” was used as the opening theme for the anime “Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust” and another cool song that was full of energy and one of their coolest songs to watch them perform live.

The third track “Tadaima” was another cool song with a very cool composition and enjoy the acoustic guitar playing throughout. Similar to “Fukai Mori”, had that special vocal quality to come from Tomoko Van that made me enjoy this song a lot and felt it could have been release as a CD single.

The seventh track “Koi Otome” is a heavy hitting, upbeat track from the band that shows the power of Tomoko Van’s vocals as it transitions from gentle to fierce. Really awesome guitar solo as well!

The eighth track features the band’s ninth CD single “Week!” and the 10th track features the band’s eleventh CD single “Boukensha Tachi” which both are catchy, upbeat tracks.

Of course, Do As Infinity also does some experimenting with their music.

The sixth track “Koko Kaikaku” utilizes a much more electric guitar-driven rock song with a number of brass horns and the 12th track “Signal” which was the coupling song to the “Tokumade” CD single gets a dance club treatment which felt a little bit out of place for the overall album, but fit in, mainly because it’s something you are accustomed to listening to from an avex trax pop group.

And for those wanting another ballad to compliment the first track “Fukai Mori”, the 11th track “Enrai” is a beautifully sung ballad with an enchanting composition.

The CD insert is a fold out booklet with the lyrics on one side and photos on the other.

NOTE: There are two album covers for “DEEP FOREST”, one with the main album and the second that came with a different cover for their album box set “DO THE BOX” (featuring all six albums with the bonus tracks from all limited edition releases and a bonus DVD) released in 2006.

I tend to find myself going back and listening to “DEEP FOREST”. It was a very well done album and features a very good number of tracks that are just enjoyable to listen to now as it was back in 2001.

Although the band has broken up and everyone is working on their own projects, this album definitely showcased their talent in songwriting, creative compositions and of course showcasing Tomoko Van’s distinctive, yet beautiful vocals.

An awesome album worth owning!

BUY THIS ALBUM TODAY!