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Score: | Like a picaresque forty year old on the back of a Harley NoGoD has never been a particularly amazing band. They burst onto the scene in 2006 and created quite a name for themselves, but this wasn't due to their amazing technical skill, willingness to push boundaries or having the ability or desire to redefine visual kei. They started out as many bands today still do: releasing your standard pop-rock and acoustic tracks packaged with a vague theme about supplanting organized religion with their own and wacky, sometimes tasteless outfits. What really set them apart and got them signed to KING RECORDS was ambition. I haven't seen that side of this band in quite some time. After truncating their name and moving to a major label, NoGoD seemed to have lost their way. After dropping two underwhelming albums that indicated a lack of inspiration, it's reasonable to expect V to resemble his cookie-cutter predecessors. Good news: V doesn't sound like it was designed to fill a quota and the enthusiasm they once displayed is back. Somewhat. V plays much like an adult going through a midlife crisis. This is the most aggressive I've heard them get since their first album, but the band's claws are dull from years of playing it safe. Recollections of their pure acoustic tracks from their indie days poke through on 夢の泡, their progressive leanings birthed on Ring-a Ring-o and honed on II-懐柔 are on show for IV-他者　Philosophia, and their rock anthem side still reminds you it's there with STAND UP!, but there's an air of insincerity about it all. V sounds like new NoGoD trying to cover old NoGoD rather than just NoGoD being themselves. The difference is slight, almost imperceptible, but it's there. This would be a small complaint in the context of the entire album, if the entire album didn't sound so similar. I wouldn't blame you if you were hit with a sense of déjà vu. The formula is pretty transparent - take a song skeleton, a six-pack of Red Bull and a copy of 罰 and throw it into a studio with the band with the instructions "make more songs like this". All of the goofy gang vocals, distorted guitar and triggered bass pedals can't hide the fact that NoGoD is still strapped for ideas. Your attention may also be drawn to the surprising lack of ballads on this album, but I just attributed that to them having put them all on 欠片. You should too. The last thing V needed is diversity for the sake of being diverse. The thing they need most is a fresh spring of inspiration and creativity. Raw energy only gets you so far.

From Kanagawa, Japan, the technical progressive math/metalcore band ARISE IN STABILITY have announced that they will begin a one year hiatus from live performance while bass player, Hiroshi Mizuno, spends time in Canada. While ARISE IN STABILITY plan to temporarily discontinue their live performance schedule in the absence of bass player, Hiroshi Mizuno, the group has made it abundantly clear that they will continue to prepare for the future, writing new songs for what will eventually become the next full-length ARISE IN STABILITY album. Source: http://rrmetalmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1068%3Aarise-in-stability-announce-one-year-hiatus&catid=1%3Afeatured&Itemid=46#.UR07AWdZNw6

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This. For anyone curious: He did live on the states for some 10 years and his wife is american, so he probably had a lot of time to develop his english...