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Me fighting off the haters on my way to buy my 18th copy of Gensoukyoku

This sounds like a bad april fools prank someone here would make

No, but this time it’s different! Its ＲＥＭＡＳＴＥＲＥＤ (◡‿◡✿) Also, I specifically worded it as “Kisaki is releasing...” because I highly doubt any of the other 5 people who were in this group at some point even know it’s happening (except maybe Riku). As we learned from Kyouhei, miss thing doesn’t need to ask nor inform any artists involved when she makes a new ¢oll£ction or omnibu$

Yo! So, I've been a long time follower here and I finally decided to join. (Do I get a senior discount for using livejournal back in the 2000's?) 💦 I've been into vkei since the early 90's when my family hosted an exchange student from Japan. I instantly got hooked into Malice Mizer . Soon followed by Angura-kei and Nagoya-kei as I got older. There's so many different bands that I cherish, we'd be here forever if I listed them all haha After many years of saving and dreaming, I'm finally going to Japan in March/April 2019. 🌸 (If anyone has tips or Japan 101, I'd be forever grateful for your help. Especially with seeing a LIVE and getting merch) I definitely want to see ARCHEMI, D (or Asagi solo), and possibly some indie bands. I haven't seen too many bands, sadly. Dir en Grey- 2 times in San Francisco. Kaya- several times (San Francisco and Los Angeles *Most recently at RuPaul's Drag con. I made him a flag present) Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. I do have instagram and twitter if anyone wants to follow.

my condolences to the 1 phantasmagoria stan who will still buy this

Age isn’t always a factor. There are plenty of drummers that play way heavier and more technical stuff than Shinya that are in their 50s and 60s. He’s not a blast beat guy or a fast double bass guy. He’s better at grooves and using innovative tom and cymbal work. He’s awesome when he does what he’s comfortable with, but as long as DEG insists on doing br00tal songs Shinya has to adapt as best he can.

This is literally what I thought, lol.

Stunt Queen! Kisaki is simply a #vkhistorian wanting to teach/save the new vk children from forgetting a LEGEND.

Seeing as these days his career has gone to performing at the BANANA HALL with The Flying Pants, this release makes more sense

Because Mao is a ZERO ahahahaha... ha

why should we believe that they are going to sound better if this is just a blatant cashgrab tho

Again? Just let this band rest in peace

So most of the songs on this album will be released for the tenth time, great.

Count down to CHE DO A RA shows up here...

I want this so much you don't even know. Not going to happen though. I don't even think Mana knows of Klaha's whereabouts at this point. Everyone deserves a DVD of this.

I presume it has something to do with this. Probably just a pseudo-reunion or something for the show.

Uploaded the DVD, but it's still in 360p. It should be finished processing any time soon - Update - It's in 1080p now (the raw .vob files are in 480p but I encoded this 1080p)

Boku wa kuma, kuma, kuma, kuMMMMAAAAAAOOOOOWWWGEGEGEGGEGEGGEGGGJFJFHAKSLSKSLSKSKFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!

Get on motherfucker!!!

LIVE 2018 L’ArChristmas is Confirmed! LIVE 2018 L’ArChristmas 【Date】 December 19, 2018 (WED) OPEN 16:00 / START 18:00 December 20, 2018 (THU) OPEN 16:00 / START 18:00 【Venue】 Tokyo Dome 【Ticket Price】 All seat reserved 11,000 yen (tax in) ※L'ed band(wristband) included ※Special ticket sales will also be available to overseas customers. Further details about purchasing from overseas will be announced later. 【Enquiry】 KYODO TOKYO 0570-550-799 (Weekdays 11:00～18:00, Weekends/Holiday 10:00～18:00) LIVE 2018 L’ArChristmas Special Site＞＞ https://www.LArc-en-Ciel.com/LArChristmas/ ------------------------------ LIVE 2018 L’ArChristmas 決定舉行！ LIVE 2018 L’ArChristmas 【公演日期】 2018年12月19日(三)進場16:00/開演18:00 2018年12月20日(四)進場16:00/開演18:00 【會場】 東京巨蛋 【門票價格】 全席指定 11,000日幣(含稅) ※附L'ed手環 ※本次預計為海外居住的歌迷開放特別售票。 關於販售方式將於日後另行公告，請稍加等候。 【詢問】 KYODO東京 0570-550-799(平日11:00～18:00 六/日/假日10:00～18:00） LIVE 2018 L’ArChristmas特設網站請由此連結進入＞＞ https://www.LArc-en-Ciel.com/LArChristmas/

How come Visual Kei hairstyles went from awesome to horrible?

"Nana～繰り返す7人の私～" (Nana~Kurikaesu Nananin no Watashi~) will be released at 2018/09/26 (CD+DVD, 4320yen) [tracklist] CD 01. NaNa〜繰り返す7人の私〜 02. 歌舞伎町ミッドナイト(New Version) DVD 01. 花一匁 02. ストーキングジェシー 03. 2次元ラヴァーズ 04. 捻くれモンスター 05. 歌舞伎町ミッドナイト 06. I Scream 07. 愁いのアリア 08. Dirty 09. あなたのオモチャ 10. 夢幻∞メリゴ 11. 良音 12. 依存症パズル 13. 夢世界少女

I remember the re-recordings being pretty bad. Fairy Times Memory sounded flat and lifeless. This time I’m guessing they’ll just raise the levels and make everything LOUDER.

I was salty as fuck at first because of llll-Ligro- disbanding and cancelling Tomurai...then DIMLIM beefed everything up. I'm glad issei left, they really weren't that interesting with him in it, These past three songs have been spectacular and been replayed daily. Didn't think I'd be hyped so soon after being severely disappointed, I hope sho finds a different scream technique so he doesn't ruin his voice in the near future. (like hinata...ily hinata)

This is the truest thing I've read in this topic yet.

Probably another compilation/best of release, or like a 1 day revival. But, I honestly won't wince unless I hear about some sort of legit reformation. I try my best, but neither FED nor Breakn Holiday (?I think?) really do it for me, in comparison. If it's time to over-hype two ambiguous twitter posts, sign me the fuck up Basiiiically, the key is leda and juri being in a band again. Would be a shame if 10 years passed and they still didn't realize how G they were together

OMG WHAT IS THIS EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN I'M HYPERVENTILATING HELP

Please say 10th anniversary revival

DEZERT is dead, long live DAMY! Love those KoЯn inspired riffs. Those screams/shouts really caught me! Looking forward more and more to the album now!

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn didn't they release an entire boring single or something; song just got the movie plug.

Why are you guys getting my hopes up? It's obviously deep sanctuary related. lol

I won't be able to sleep now. I need a DVD of this.

as mentioned in the post above they are just doing a malice mizer session twice in september for the band's anniversary. sakura is on drums as it seems he was kami's mentor, while former malice mizer roadies kamijo, hitomi and shuji (caligari) will be on vocals. I think it's been announced about half a year ago?

All joking aside, at the very least a hiatus wouldn’t surprise me. By the way what is up with Seraph? Is there still only that one boring song?

yeah they might announce that when they put out those samples x

Nah they're both models. I don't think any of them are comfortable enough to do stuff like that in front of a camera.

LOL got this the random thought of DEG doing Utada's Boku Wa Kuma after reading your post

To change your header, click on your username on upper left corner. It will get you to your profile. And click the cover photo tab on upper right corner. And upload your image there. I find the 1065x220 pixels are best for it.

theyre out x

A digital version (in WAV format) of the album is available at Spook Jack's webshop for 2160 yen. https://spooklabelworld.stores.jp/items/5b698b9aef843f4b2b001a1a

I love singing these: deadman - fragile sandy laputa - breath dir en grey - merciless cult due le quartz - luna e 雀羅 - 路地裏ジプシー gullet - deracine baiser - flora baiser - prism goatbed - vouge man shazna - 恋人 一風堂 - すみれ September Love etc, etc, etc ah!!, and a lot of mucc song's, several years ago I was vocalist of a tribute to mucc here in chile 🤣

I was expecting people to not be so damn negative. This topic is six pages of snarky comments and it's exhausting to read. Dir en grey is not the world's most perfect band, but we could all do with more positivity.

*Quick public service announcement* Are you that dude in the mosh pit flailing your arms everywhere and punching and kicking all around?? Nobody likes you and your whole shit is definitely an act.

So, Ninth is out and what I've mostly read online is that it is not at the same level as Dogma, it's generic, it's been heard before, bla bla bla... so I tried it out asap and wrote an overall review, (don't expect a song-by-song musical analysis). I have to agree on one thing with the negative critics: Dogma was the shit on a technical level, but the more I play it the more it feels like a single long song. I distinctly remember playing it for the first time and asking myself "when is this song ending, sounds like a freakin' Versailles song", only to check the iPod and realize it was already on track three. Sure, Ninth sounds like "shit we've heard before", but the album on it's own is more diverse, soundwise, and has ups and downs. I rated songs while I went through it with 4 stars and others with 2, 3's and a 5 along the way. Dogma was a flat three. All the way. For Dogma, none of the tracks sucked but none was outstanding for me either. Which is not a good thing because I honestly never even remember what the album sounds like (the album and the singles related to the concept). And every time I play it to see if I magically start liking it I get bored and switch to something else halfway. Ninth, however, felt more... Complete? Catchy? Memorable? Your pick. It was definitely something else. I can distinctly remember which tracks stood out for me and which ones I disliked. Whereas for Dogma I cannot even tell them apart. Sure, it's generic GazettE, it's stuff we all know, it's familiar. But more importantly: it works. Structures work together to make songs memorable, in good or bad ways. And, tbh, I feel if any other band would have released this it would have been probably praised. But since it's Ruki's distinct voice attached to those riffs people get a "déjà vu(heard)" feel. And, being the popular band it is, the bar is always high when it comes to them. While Dogma was a good dive into darker, heavier waters, I always felt their execution of it was not as proficient or distinctive as it could have been. While, for me, Ninth nailed it. You can always try new things, and I'm all for bands attempting new styles, but sometimes it can be better to go back to a safer zone and kill it than keep attempting at something new and do it halfway. And Ninth is good proof of it. I get the more versatile feel I got from albums like Nil and Stacked Rubbish, in a more mature, polished and 2018-ish way. The tracks that stood out for me were Falling, Utsusemi, Sono Koe wa Moroku and Unfinished (a banger, way to finish an album). I did not pay attention to the first version of Falling and I will certainly not do it now, but this version gave me a better impression (it could be the transcode-decent bitrate difference rather than the mixing itself). It's catchy and modern enough for a PV and the composition has Ruki all over it. I'm a sucker for good rock ballads and Sono Koe wa Moroku was melodic enough without going on a chopped-onion level of cornyness. Utsusemi and Unfinished were just straight up my alley; strong yet not overly harsh on the voice. Ninth Odd Smell and Gush sadly blend together a bit too much for my taste yet both are solid tracks that will most likely grow on me and Babylon's Taboo was barely... bearable. The SE track was terrible, but their SE's rarely are my taste at all. The Mortal has a mystic feel to it and to me it carries on the atmosphere from the previous releases, with a pleasant twist. Abhor God is powerful and thankfully short, otherwise I'd feel it drags on more than necessary. I feel it will be a great song live. Two of a Kind felt like a "fresh old Gazette" and Uragiru Bero fitted the album nicely to, but didn't catch my attention that much, felt like a filler track. The album showed both a heavier side yet was kept melodic and reminded me a lot of Division, one of their best releases imho. Like it, it was packed with both harsh and softer aspects and shows maturity and improvement. Overall I give it a 4/5, and I will most likely buy it in Japan in a few months. Otherwise I'll get the iTunes version. It's a great release and if you felt lately that GazettE was getting stale you should definitely try this album. It is unmistakably The GazettE, yet fresh and modern.

In my opinion, there even being a divide between "international" and "local" fans is the root of an entirely different problem. Fans are fans, no matter where they may live, and we live in a time where the world is becoming increasingly interconnected. There's a distinction in my mind between a local artist who has their music internationally available (example: a rapper promoting his first mix tape on sound cloud) and an international artist only promoting their music locally (example: fan-club limited CD's a la cali≠gari). Even if a local artist has to rely on word of mouth to have their music spread to new ears, having it available on a venue such as Bandcamp or Spotify doesn't actually cost them anything to attract new listeners. They upload it once, the big man upstairs takes his cut, and whatever funds come your way through those sources are yours. And think about how many of these artists go viral and actually become mildly or wildly successful because their music was easy to access. This is in contrast to only promoting music locally, which doesn't necessarily take less money to produce, and is purposefully reaching a smaller audience. Sometimes, bands even go out of their way to make it difficult for non-Japanese people to engage with them, like when record labels purposefully prohibit selling releases overseas through second hand shops even though they aren't footing the shipping bill, or when the label uploads a PV to their official channel and then region-locks it to Japan so that we have to use VPNs to watch a music video on an international platform. Stick some fucking ads before the video and make some free money god damn it. Here's an excerpt from Bandcamp's pricing page where the explain how they run their business. Now I don't suggest this in lieu of signing a record deal, because a deal also comes with other benefits such as free promotion, practice space, and studio time. But for a lot of starting, independent visual kei bands that don't have a lot of funds, this is the more ideal way to go. We don't even know how well this approach would work because no band has ever tried it. I listen to both the underground metal scene as well as the doujin scene from Japan, and both scenes run their affairs completely differently, and both manage to promote their music and ship internationally way more efficiently than visual kei bands. The way the visual kei scene runs its affairs in 2018 is almost identical to the way they did it in 2008. It's been ten years and not much has changed, and the underlying attitudes pervading the scene are even earlier than that. The world is changing, and bands must prepare and adapt. You are entirely correct in that most of us would never buy a release. I am guilty of this too, no doubt. Many record companies realize this, and that's why they are transitioning to streaming services. Japan needs to catch up. I don't even like streaming services, and I still prefer to download and hoard all my music, but I recognize the appeal and utility in what they offer. Complaining about being on the brink of disbandment while spending large amounts of money on make-up, outfits, and photo shoots means concessions have to be made somewhere, and if the way that music is distributed has to change then so be it. Visual kei needs to become more consumer friendly, no matter where that consumer may live. I should make an addendum to my earlier post and clarify that live-distributed releases don't bother me if they function as a preview. If whatever music or DVD or merch sold at a live is eventually included in a store-purchasable fashion, then I'm fine with waiting. I'd have to wait anyway, and at least the luck portion is removed from the equation. Extract your profits up front, and then sell it to the masses later. If pumping out CDs stresses the budget that much, take orders and only sell as many CDs as was ordered so no band ends up with hundreds of unsold releases. Hell, do what Kisaki did and distribute any remaining CDs through auctions online under anonymous accounts at a later date so all the money goes back to the band anyway. But only selling things at lives sucks for everyone who couldn't go, international fan or not, and you don't make as much money as you could have if you just sold it both ways. This is a ... weird approach to take, but I actually like that masaya cared enough about the international fans to make it available to us in some fashion. BLESSCODE tried something different, and it wasn't at the expense of the consumer's time, money, and effort. Maybe they didn't make that much money off of it, but the alternative was to have a bunch of pressed yet unsold CDs sitting around, which would just mean that's wasted money anyway. Sometimes the sentiment behind actions are priceless, and I know many fans of BLESSCODE appreciated this gesture. I sure do, and I'm not even a fan of them! I would really like to understand the logistics behind how this whole scene works from top to bottom, because the more I sit and think about it the more I feel like there's a few people at the top holding back progress for everyone else. A lot of counter arguments I can make to my own points is that some big wig sitting in a cushy office set up a contract expressly forbidding bands from implementing half the ideas I proposed, which makes most of my arguments moot anyway. Record companies may be making record profits these days, but on that same token artists and musicians have more tools and promotion than at any time in history before. The fact that we know about every single upstart indies band in Japan just weeks or even days after they formed is a far cry from how the scene was back in 1999, when only the biggest names in the scene were whispered in noisy American cafeterias with 128kbps sound samples and low res PV snippets available online in two to three places, with a random selection of full tracks available for the pirating on Napster. tl;dr - a band is both a business and an investment. It may sound harsh, but just because a bunch of pretty boys slap on make up doesn't mean that they can get away with running their business inefficiently. Diversify and adapt, or face disbandment.