Final Destination (album)

Final Destination is the debut studio album by Japanese rock band Coldrain. Recorded at Studio Sonorous Audio in Tokyo, Japan which was self produced by Masato Hayakawa and Ryo Yokochi, it was released on October 28, 2009, by VAP.

Final Destination was exclusively released in Japan, along with the second studio album follow-up The Enemy Inside, which was released in 2011. Final Destination debuted and peaked at number 88 on the Oricon Albums Chart, before dropping out of the charts completely the following week.

The album housed three singles, two of which were released as maxi-singles. "Fiction" in November 2008 and "8AM" in April 2009 respectively. The final single, "Final Destination", was released 5 days prior to the album's release.

In 2024, the band released a re-recorded version of Final Destination for the album's fifteenth anniversary, entitled Final Destination (XV Re:Recorded). Alongside the release, "Vengeance" was released in tandem with the release as an additional track on the tracklist. It was initially released on 10 February 2024 as a venue-only limited CD sale at their homecoming show in Nagoya, but due to high fan demand, the band later released the re-recorded album worldwide on digital services after the conclusion of the album's fifteenth-anniversary tour on 26 May 2024 via Warner Music Japan. "Vengeance" was released as a single to promote the re-recorded album on 11 February 2024, as well as Adult Swim's anime Ninja Kamui to which it is the opening theme.

Styles and influences
Final Destination has been stylistically described by critics as post-hardcore, punk rock, and alternative rock. The album featured the two remastered singles "Fiction" and "8AM", while the album also featured demos of songs that were never previously released, such as "Painting", which was the first song the band had ever recorded and wrote together. Frontman Masato Hayakawa stated in an interview with Gekirock that the recording process in the studio during July 2009 that they never "felt bored", to which their lead guitarist Ryo Yokochi added that they wanted the record to sound natural. The band recorded the album on a tight schedule that added "tension" to the recording process, that Yokochi felt greatly impacted the album positively. The band were inspired by various different sounds such as emo, screamo and heavy metal, while also looking at bands like Taking Back Sunday, Sevendust and Dark New Day as other sources of inspiration. Hayakawa commented that the band wanted to mix pop and loud aggressive music together to form the band's core sound. Muraoka of Gekirock compared the songs on the album to the likes of Hoobastank and Lostprophets, to which they would further liken the sound of Final Destination to a samurai sword.

Lyrics and themes
The album's title track, "Final Destination" is about "a heroic determination to move forward with a life from which there is no turning back" and has been described as a "wonderful rock song with a catchy melody", that ended up becoming a fan favourite live staple for the band. "Counterfeits and Lies" tackles themes of the evils of television, "Fiction" and "24-7" are about "two-faced" friends, while "Someday" is about the life of working a dayjob. Final Destination also tackles themes of love, survival instincts and the art of life.

Personnel
Credits retrieved from the album's liner notes.

Coldrain
 * Masato David Hayakawa (マサト) – lead vocals, lyricist, producer
 * Ryo Yokochi (ヨコチ) – lead guitar, programming, keyboards, producer, composer
 * Kazuya Sugiyama (スギ) – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
 * Ryo Shimizu (リョウ) – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Katsuma Minatani (カツマ) – drums, percussion

Additional personnel
 * Koichi Hara – recording engineer, mixing
 * Hokuto Fukami – assistant engineer
 * Hiromichi Takiguchi – mastering (Parasight Mastering, Tokyo)

Additional personnel (Final Destination (XV Re:Recorded))
 * Sam Guaiana – mixing
 * Mike Kalajian – mastering (Rogue Planet Mastering, Gardiner, New York, US)