The maturity and consistency demonstrated in their previous release, "Symphonic Moon" is expanded upon here. There is less diversity of sound than in all previous albums, as they seem to have found their groove. With sounds reminiscent of Nightwish, Within Temptation and Edenbridge, Live Moon is a fantastic opera-led metal band with phenomenal talent. Musical talent alone can't make a band, as Tarja learned when she left Nightwish. If Akane Liv is the heart of the band, then Tatsuya Nishiwaki is the brains, for it is his composing which lifts this band above others. Aside from being consistently great, this album also has some songs which, individually, may become my favorite Liv Moon songs, starting with the title track, "The End of the Beginning", which starts out with shades of Trans Siberian Orchestra, then slides towards Diablo Swing Orchestra with some distinct vocal work, then settles comfortably into epic symphonic metal along the lines of After Forever and Edenbridge.If you are looking for a band so you can acquire a taste for Japanese metal (with predominantly Japanese lyrics, though there is one entirely English song and some English lyrics scattered about) then Liv Moon is the place to start your quest.These guys are fantastic, and this album is (so far) their crowning achievement.One request, though: Make the DVDs (which come with the special editions...all of which I own) "region free". There is no need to restrict the DVDs to Japanese DVD players only.