"Dahlia" is a single released by X Japan

X Japan

is a Japanese heavy metal band founded in 1982 by Yoshiki and Toshi. Originally named X , the group achieved their breakthrough success in 1989 with the release of their second album Blue Blood...

 on February 26, 1996. It would later become the title track of the band's 1996 album

Dahlia (album)

Dahlia is an album released by X Japan on November 4, 1996. It is the band's fifth studio album and is composed largely of ballads, with only a few tracks retaining the band's heavier musical traits seen on previous releases...

 and one of Yoshiki Hayashi's last compositions in his signature blend of speed metal

Speed metal

Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots. It is described by Allmusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music....

 and symphonic rock

Symphonic rock

Symphonic rock is a sub-genre of progressive rock. Since early in progressive rock's history, the term has been used sometimes to distinguish more classically influenced progressive rock from the more psychedelic and experimental forms of progressive rock....

. The song's title, "Dahlia", appears in the lyrics as an acronym during a voice over, which says "destiny, alive, heaven, love, innocence, always, destroy, aftermath, hell, life, infinite". The B-side of the single is a live version of "Tears", recorded on December 30, 1993 at the Tokyo Dome

Tokyo Dome

Tokyo Dome is a 55,000-seat baseball stadium located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan.The stadium opened for business on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome which was next door to the site of the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium...

. The same recording also appears on their live compilation album Live Live Live Tokyo Dome 1993-1996

Live Live Live Tokyo Dome 1993-1996

Live Live Live Tokyo Dome 1993-1996 is a live album released by X Japan on October 15, 1997. As the title implies, it contains songs recorded at the Tokyo Dome between 1993 and 1996, all of them at the band's annual New Year's Eve concerts at that stadium. The album reached number 3 on the Oricon...

. The single peaked at #1 on the Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 charts.

Track listing