It gave me goosebumps with the tenderness described in the story that is told in the lyrics. It’s a touching tribute to a parent’s love (Taka wrote it about his father) and is so very beautiful. The next track, “Hard To Love” is a slower song and has an acoustic and sweet sound. That beautiful choir sound is featured again and it’s ever more impressive rock on the ride out of the song (the last 10 seconds put a smile on my face). The song is accented by electronics and drum beats that feel like collisions in parts. The pace is electrifying, along with the inspiring lyrics: Oh boy, am I ever in love with the heavy guitar sound leading into the first verse. The blend of voices is fluid and works well. “Jaded” is the next track and features All Time Low‘s Alex Gaskarth. The guitars make this song, adding a sense of strength and forward movement, which feels so good in the face of the doubt-full and stuck verses. It has a feel of temporary worry before reassurance that they’re doing what they love, even if it’s not what they feel they should be doing (“Drag me all the way to hell / ‘Cause I’m never gonna let it go”). This follows out into a pre-chorus, like a single thread back into an open sound again. The verse pulls focus onto a situation of frustration: This track has such a wide open and warm rock sound. “Taking Off” is the third track and we’ve met this particular creature before, with this track already having already been released. The outro of chords and high vocals sees us out to silence. A sassy drum beat brings us back to the massiveness again and we’re back to bouncing. The bridge is a moment of stillness, where all of the sound is reined in and it’s just vocals and a guitar. This is such a perfect rock tune and I just want to jump along with it. Still on “Bombs Away”, the guitar riffs during the verses work as a teaser, and along with the drumming seeming to foreshadow something awesome coming ahead: The chorus. It’s all very Bring Me The Horizon with this massiveness of sound. I love the heaviness of sound courtesy of guitars and drums as well as a choir adding another layer. I’m wondering how so much awesomeness can fit into those bars of music. The chorus is mind-blowingly good, made even better by a pre-chorus build up (“The higher up I get”). The vocals start and it’s so freaking good, at first listen it already has the feel of a song I’ve been listening to on repeat for weeks. “Bombs Away” continues the similar chords and adds high pitched vocals as the track starts. This track says ‘we are here’ in sound and vibe. It is hype building and exciting to listen to, with goosebump-inciting electronic chords, sound effects and deep beats. Having had a taste of the album already with the pre-launch releases (such as “Taking Off” and “I Was King”), I couldn’t wait to go deep into Ambitions, the seventh album for ONE OK ROCK.Īmbitions begins with an instrumental track, “Ambitions (Introduction)”. Fans can now contribute yellow images to their ‘WORLD AMBITIONS’ website to further support this concept of hope, all across the world. Ambitions‘ bold yellow cover was chosen by the band due to yellow signifying hope. ONE OK ROCK signed with Fueled by Ramen in September 2016, and on 13th January they released their first album under this label Ambitions. This became ONE OK ROCK as we know it today. Debuting in 2007, their name came from the time of their band rehearsals, 1am or ‘One o’clock’, sounding like ‘One O’crock’ due to the pronunciation of L’s in the Japanese language. ONE OK ROCK are Takahiro Moriuchi (Taka), Toru Yamashita (Toru), Ryota Kohama (Ryota) and Tomoya Kanki (Tomoya).