''Moon'' is the third full-length studio album released by Japanese solo artist

Gackt , better known as Gackt (stylized in all caps), is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. Born in Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa to a Ryukyuan people, Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was rai ...

on June 19, 2002. Instead of a booklet, the

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

comes with a printed note by the artist, asking readers to "sense" the record's story, rather than analyzing the lyrics. The booklet was eventually included in the packaging of ''Moons 2003 follow-up ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

''. Both albums are linked, as well as his more recent albums ''

Diabolos ''Diabolos'' is the sixth full-length studio album released by Japanese solo artist Gackt on September 21, 2005 in Japan, and on October 26, 2007, in eighteen countries across Europe. As a concept album, it is a sequel entrant to the "Moon Saga" ...

'' and '' Last Moon'' from the "Moon Saga".

Release

The album was released on 19 June 2002, by

Nippon Crown is a Japanese record label established as Crown Records on 6 September 1963. It is a spin-off of Nippon Columbia and is owned by karaoke maker Daiichikosho. The record label singles which topped the Oricon Singles Chart are Kaze's "22-Sai no ...

. In the initial counting week of July it reached number two on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

charts, with sales of 185,840 copies. It charted for 10 weeks. In 2002, with sales of 281,590 copies, was the 67th best selling album of the year. As since its release the album has sold more than 250,000 copies, was certified Gold by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include prom ...

. The first single " Another World" became Gackt's first to reach the top two on the charts. The single reached number two on the third counting week of September 2001, with sales of 111,560 copies. In the upcoming weeks, it was at number three and eight respectively, with sales of 42,490, and 22,850 copies. It charted for 17 weeks, of that eight in the top twenty. In 2001, with 255,640 copies sold, it was the 74th best-selling single of the year, and it sold over 284,550 copies, most of any of his singles. The second single " Wasurenai Kara" reached number four on the initial counting week of May 2002, with sales of 78,310 copies. It charted for 5 weeks. In 2002, with 132,260 copies sold, was the 98th best selling single of the year.

Critical reception

''Moon'' was generally positively received by reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

author Alexey Eremenko gave the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, observing that "is a fine specimen of its kind", it's "fast, emotive, heavy but not scary", praising the slow-tempo somber song "Fragrance", but criticized the album because is "too fine and effective" it becomes "sterile", and "sounds too much like music in general". He concluded that "despite the few musical connotations it actually possesses", as "far as artificial (read: professional) Japanese music goes, ''Moon'' is definitely one monster of a record".

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic (abbreviated as Sputnik) is a music website that publishes music reviews and news entries. The site hosts both professional and amateur content, covering metal, punk, indie, rock, hip-hop, pop and other styles. Its reviews are us ...

's review also gave it 3.5/5 stars and highlighted the song "Fragrance", with "Rain", "Luna" and "Speed Master", but considered it to be "one of the most ridiculously top-heavy albums ... since the rest of the album doesn't provide nearly anywhere near the same level of satisfaction as the first six tracks do". In conclusion, felt that "the concept is effectively lost on anyone who can't speak fluent Japanese and ... the fact that almost half of ''Moon'' is a pretty uneventful pop-rock album would make it hard to "feel" the concept regardless".

Track listing

Notes

* The song "Lu:na" was used as an opening theme in the anime '' New Fist of the North Star'', for which Gackt provided the voice of the main antagonist Seiji. * The song "Another World" was used in the ''Neue Men's'' commercial for

Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world an ...

. * The song "Doomsday" was used in a Takano Yuri commercial. * The song "Speed Master" was covered in partly English version by Gackt's band Yellow Fried Chickenz's and performed live including at

Makuhari Messe is a convention center in Chiba (city), Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, located just outside of Tokyo. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Transportation in Greater Tokyo#Railway and subway, Tokyo's commuter rail system. ''Makuha ...

in 2011, released on DVD recording ''World Tour *Show Ur Soul.I* 世壊傷結愛魂祭 at Makuhari 2011'' in 2012.

Album credits

; Personnel *

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

: Gackt *

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

: You *Guitar: Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura *Guitar: Masa *Effects, Guitar: Nao Kimura *

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

: Ren *

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

: Toshiyuki Sugino *Drums: Ryuichi Nishida *Bass: Crazy Cool Joe *Bass: Koichi Terasawa *Bass: Yoshihito Onda *Drums: Kota Igarashi *Violin: Gen Ittetsu *Keyboards & Orchestra arrangement: Shusei Tsukamoto ; Production *Producer: Gackt *Associate Producer: Yukihiro “Chachamaru” Fujimura *Executive Producer: Masami Kudo (Nippon Crown), You Harada (Museum Museum) *Recorded & Mixed & Pro Tools Edited: Motonari Matsumoto *Assistant Engineer: Yoshitaka Ishigaki (Burnish), Michinori Sato (Burnish), Takanobu Suhiyama (Burnish), Chie Miyasaka (Burnish), Tadashi Yamaguchi (Studio Jive), Shinichi Tokumo (Sound Atelier), Teruaki Ise (Wonder station) *Recording Coordinator: Maki Iida, Yoshihito Umeki (Burnish) *Mastering Engineer: Yoichi Aikawa (Rolling Sound Mastering Studio) ; Design *Art direction, Design, Gun Coordinator: Jun Misaki *Photographer: Kenji Tsukagoshi

References

{{Authority control 2002 albums Gackt albums 2000s concept albums