Following the heels of the two highly successful albums ark and ray, L'Arc~en~Ciel come up with REAL, their heaviest and loudest album yet.  Highlight tracks include get out from the shell, probably the best Yukihiro composition yet at this time, as it's a techno-rock song that actually manages to not be totally boring and repetitive.  NEO UNIVERSE is a great track, one of the lighter ones on this album, with a very full sound and heavy synthesizer usage.  LOVE FLIES had a really interesting video to go along with it, and by itself, it's a great song with a really nice melody, and finale is another single with Hyde's most emotional vocal performance yet, and a very nice string accompaniment.  STAY AWAY is a fan favorite, a very fast-paced rock song with a very unique chorus and high energy throughout.  ROUTE 666 is a very punk rock inspired piece, with some equally gritty vocals.  Things take a chance of pace for TIME SLIP, an awesome and laidback piece that has awesome guitar instrumentals.  And ALL YEAR AROUND FALLING IN LOVE is a nice way to close the album on a somber note in contrast to the loudness that's present on most of this record.  a silent letter is probably the most difficult track to appreciate on this album, as true to its name, it's a very quiet and slow song that gets its much more energetic resolution near the ending.  This was also for a while thought to be L'Arc~en~Ciel's final album, as after this, the band would go for 4 years split up each working on their solo careers, but luckily they would reunite after this to make SMILE.