Hello, welcome to the second half of my tour stop for the Spell Starter blog tour hosted by Shealea @ Caffeine Book Tours. If you missed my review, you can find it here.

For this playlist, I picked a bunch of songs with a darker tone, and they’re also heavy on the electric guitar. The links direct to YouTube.

Break the Wall – Dreamcatcher

This song expresses a struggle against extreme obstacles and I thought it was a good fit for the central conflict of the story. Here’s a translation the chorus (credit: 7DREAMERS Kim Hojoon):

Come on break the wall
That you protected till now
Fight it with all your strength
Defeat those hardships

Come on save your world
Above your world
Leave deep tracks
Shout towards a higher place

Don’t Don – Super Junior

Aside from presenting a gritty and edgy aesthetic in the music video, this song also talks about greed and corruption in society. I think it captures the spirit of Aza’s struggle with hunger for power and control. Here are the translated lyrics from the first chorus (credit: eeconomistt on LyricsTranslate)

Don’t Don
Everything in this world is about money
You that’s stuck in the middle
What is your mind?
You outta control (what is your mind)
I beg you to look around yourself
You can see the desire in one’s eyes
Stop bangin’ my head (my eyes gone red)

Strong Fate – Wagakki Band

This is a haunting song that sings of decay and a calamitous fate. Here are the translated lyrics for the first verse (credit: Kimhren/Aka at Robots and Lyrics):

One, two
Pasts fold over
A line between two points,
That is the voice that calls death

In this endless place,
Awaiting the cycle of rebirth

Not knowing that you’re confined;
If you examine it, (you’ll know) it’s a trap
Words of power that creep up
Fill your ears

Black eyes peer in,
Questioning the chain

Cries at the number of betrayals become yells
Gasping, shadows reflect in your vision

Roll the Dice – Takanori Nishikawa (T.M. Revolution)

This song is about risk and chance and being chained by darkness. It expresses Aza’s harrowing encounters in the tournament and also her broader sense of disillusionment and powerlessness. Here’s a translation of some of the lyrics from the second chorus (credit: newsonglyrics):

The wind that stroked my cheeks,
Is it the mercy of God or is it the whistle of a devil?
Seeing through the confusion,
Like fearing for the darkness unable to awake from it.

What the Hell – B.A.P

This song expresses revenge and righteous anger and captures the feelings Aza has toward her tournament rival Finch, who killed her sister. Here are the lyrics from the chorus (credit: Kaeryn & namtroll @ TSUndercover via itsbap.tumblr.com)

No way, no way, you strangle me
Even if I scream, no one helps me
Mayday, mayday, I am suffocating
Even if I shove you, even if I stand against this
Oh why are you you you you

What the hell you do, I will repay back
I will find you and wait until the end of the world
What the hell you do, even if I die, I will repay you back
Wait and see, in some time you you you you
You’re gonna break down