blackdream

Ever listen to a song and think to yourself that you've heard that melody somewhere before, but you can never place it? Alternatively, have you ever gotten into or read an argument with someone who says "x band copied y melody from z band"? I'm sure all of us have been there at one point and this is a topic that personally interests me. I like knowing where my artists source their inspiration from, and where their inspirations got their inspiration from, etc., because I believe that no idea is original but the interpretation can be. The subjectivity in how different artists hear and play back certain melodies is what makes music beautiful!
 
...and then there are times when bands just steal melodies and put no effort into it.
 
Today we take a look at six songs that can go either way. I provide examples,  where I think their origins stem from, and my final judgement. Sometimes it's hero worship. Sometimes it's laziness. Sometimes I just don't know. A lot of this was sourced from the "Inspirations..." thread I started a few years ago, but I also did a bit of legwork the last few months to cobble together my own examples. If you see a track here you pointed out somewhere before, odds are you helped me make this list!

Remember, these are only my opinions and based off what I can hear between two songs. I am not classically trained in music theory and I'm going purely by ear. You won't see me drop music theory knowledge anywhere in this post.
 
"Diabolic edict" by Ha;qch
stems from "Black Valor" by The Black Dahlia Murder
"When The Last Grave Has Emptied" by The Black Dahlia Murder
"Elder Misanthropy" by The Black Dahlia Murder
Homage or Copy: Frankenstein lives!
 
 
 
 
 
"セラフ。" by KILLANETH
stems from "DECADANCE - Counting Goats ... if I can't be yours -" by MEJIBRAY
"go ahead" by girugämesh
Homage or Copy: c-c-c-COPY...but every band has to start somewhere
 
 
 
 
 
"The Summer Funeral" by SIGH
stems from "Opening Theme ~ Bombing Mission" by Nobuo Uematsu
Homage or Copy: Definitely a nod towards the veteran composer himself.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"道化ノ華" by アルルカン (ARLEQUIN)
stems from "zombie" by Versailles
Homage or Copy: Smells like a copy to me but can go either way
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Black Butterfly" by A
stems from "Enter the Sandman" by Metallica
Homage or Copy: Sounds like a copy to me.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Amentia" by E'm～grief～
stems from "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" by Dimmu Borgir
"The Promise of Fever" by Cradle of Filth
"Shat Out of Hell" by Cradle of Filth
"Honey and Sulphur" by Cradle of Filth
Homage or Copy: A shameless mix of three black metal riffs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Don't disagree with the ARLEQUIN one, but I do think that “zombie song” is just a visual kei trope at this point (a la “that one jazz song”), so they could be ripping off any number of people  Off the top of my head, LIN's "Walking in the rain" (though that one came after Zombie), etc.
(I think the trend probably started from Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People," right?)
 
Re: E'm, I had no idea that the rest of the song after the intro was stolen as well! Thanks for this thread hahaha

Their new PV DVD "-Fermata-" will be released through Starwave Records official webshop and during their lives since 2016/08/08 (3000 yens, limited to 100)
 
[tracklist]
01. -What do you want?-
02. -Misty-
03. -Reunion-
 
 

AvelCain 2 LIVE DVDs "2016年6月23日 AKASAKA BLITZ 2ヶ月連続発売記念単独公演『はじまり』映像集" "2016年07月27日 NAGOYA DIAMOND HALL 最終単独公演 『輪廻転生』映像集" will be released at 2016/10/26 (7,344yen, limited 500 each)
 
 
LIVE DVD "2016年07月20日 SHINJUKU BLAZE" & box containing 2 DVDs will be enclosed if pre-ordering their 2 LIVE DVDs together through fiveStars web-shop since 2016/08/13 and up to 2016/09/30
 
LIVE DVD "2016年07月22～24日 NAGOYA MUSIC FARM" & box containing 2 DVDs will be enclosed if pre-ordering their 2 LIVE DVDs together through their official web-shop since 2016/08/13 and up to 2016/09/30
 
 
SET-LIST at 2016/06/23:
 
01.蘇-よみがえり-
02.手首の切り方
03.操り人形
04.月蝕
05.裁
06.蛇と姑獲鳥
07.ID
08.病
09.PSYCHO-サイコ-
10.片想い
11.午前二時
12.月-MOON-
13.夜光虫
14.BELIEVE
15.花一匁
秒-byou- time
禅-zen- time
16.いろはにほへと
17.手毬唄
18.狐狗狸
19.懺悔、寡黙ナル君ニ…。
 
 
SET-LIST at 2016/07/27:
 
01.輪廻転生
02.蘇-よみがえり-
03.自責
04.手首の切り方
05.PSYCHO-サイコ-
06.月蝕
07.裁
08.「存在理由」
09.ID
10.病
11.蛾
12.片想い
13.午前二時
14.月-MOON-
15.彼岸花
16.千羽鶴
17.花一匁
秒-byou- time
禅-zen- time
18.いろはにほへと
19.手鞠唄
20.狐狗狸
21.懺悔、寡黙ナル君ニ…。
22.死化粧
 

I came here to echo sentiments. 暁-aki- please coordinate with a vocal coach to improve your harsh vocals. You don't want to follow Kyo's struggle.

The fuck happened here? 

I derived endless amusement from the banter in this topic. The mental calisthenics some of you are going through to paint the staff in a bad light with absolutely no evidence to back it up really gives me a chortle. I don't know if you get your rocks off always being contrarian or if you just don't like us - and I don't really care - but now it's turning into personal vendettas against members who have beef with one another and who are using his departure as a cover. So now this ends.
 
@blackdoll, you in particular need to chill out. None of what you said has any basis in reality and @emmny is more on point than you are. Do not conflate the right to an opinion with being wrong. You shared your opinion and I am telling you that you are wrong. Enough already.
 
Thank you to everyone else in this topic who didn't jump to conclusions and who understands that this is a delicate, complex situation with no right answers. Trombe has been a vital part of Monochrome Heaven for a very long time but even long-lasting relationships don't always work out. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this didn't work out because the staff and Trombe no longer see eye to eye on how news should be posted and how the section should be moderated. The ban is a separate issue entirely from what everyone else in this topic is going on about and I'm reserving Trombe's right to privacy so don't ask or offer conjectures. Trombe will continue to post news in the form that he sees best and if that entails returning to MH at some point than so be it. Monochrome Heaven will continue to have a news section and you are all welcome to fill the void and post news.
 
In case you need me to make it extra clear for you: Trombe chose to leave Monochrome Heaven. He said so. We said so. If you don't believe either party, that's on you.
 
This topic will now return to wishing Trombe a farewell. Anyone who uses this topic as a platform for airing their own drama will have their posts deleted and receive a nice warning notification to go with it.

Here's the thing about vk news though: there's no 'original source'.
 
For major and relatively well known bands you can rely on visunavi, NAVER, various 'matome' and news purveyor accounts on Twitter. But otherwise it's down to stalking thousands of bandmen - something which I have literally attempted on my main Twitter account. The result was me getting spammed with 30 tweets every 10 seconds, and THEN I had to sift through the crapload of awkward selfies and useless tweets talking about weather and food. I don't recall, but maybe 0.01% of the feed was useful news? In any case I abandoned that account shortly after because it was unusable.
 
There are also other avenues like LINE accounts, bandmen's ameblo, and 2chan as mentioned. Or you can try typing 始動 and 解散 into twitter search and refresh it every 10 seconds.... if you have that much time. In any case, what a lot of people don't seem to notice (and this is the point @filth_y was making) is that Trombe also posts news that don't "officially" exist on the Internet except maybe, in a bandman's private reply to a fangirl's tweet (I've witnessed this at least twice), or as a casual afterthought in a label staff's ameblo post. (In the latter case, I talked to a band's shikiri and even she wasn't aware that the band would be releasing a CD that day..). Yes, some MH members may have done this before - but to do it consistently for an insane number of bands is a whole different animal.
 
All of this aren't even considering the facts that: (i) these news are in Japanese, so let's not trivialize it as as copy-and-pasting. Translating and formatting it into a news post is a bitch if you consider the volume of news Trombe puts out; (ii) Trombe posts news of bands he doesn't even care about on a regular basis, some of whom comprising members that no one here has even heard of, much less having an interest to follow and post news of.
 
I'm on no one's side at this point. None of this is a defense for what Trombe did, nor is it a suggestion that he should be immune from punishment if he has contravened the rules. I just wanted to provide a corrective to previous comments suggesting that by picking 1 or 2 bands each we will communally be able to cover the ground that Trombe did, as if it was as easy as sitting together and doing some Ctrl C+V while having cereal in front of your computer. Let's just say I'm not that optimistic, because I can't imagine someone, or even a group of competent and extremely free people, going to the lengths Trombe did. Hopefully more people can appreciate the scope of the dirty legwork he has done for MH ("appreciate" as in "understand clearly", not "prostrate yourself"). And before any accusations come my way: I have contributed news of bands I like (including translating full-length interviews of them), and will happily continue to do so. Let's just see what happens.

I am not his pet, nor his friend, nor anything to him at all. 
 
I am posting in this drama thread for the simple reason that VK news is the main reason why I am here on  MH, and thanks to this drama, again, VK news are going to vanish little by little 
 
I don't know what happened and I don't care AT ALL
 
Like it has been said before, even when you follow 10000 twitter bandmen, you can even keep track of everything, since not everything is posted there and there are like 20 messages/minutes. So yes the fact that Trombe will no longer post in this section is a huge problem for me and probably for many others who DO care about your so-called "no1cur about bands"
 
I get it that stuff happened, shit happened either and I get it that Trombe nor anybody in this forum should have the right to do whatever they want, that's a fact, still this one thing will have an impact on a very important section of this forum.
 
And yes, it is an important section, just look at the number of answers, even people nobody knows are posting atm to say how it will change MH
 
So of course you are all able to say whatever you want  and think whatever you want about Trombe and the people who kinda "support" him, but if your throw you egos away for a moment, you will agree with other people who say he is a huge contributor in this forum and not having him will clearly change a part of MH.

I don't know what happened, so I'm going to assume there is some reason the mods have all  converged towards that ban and they weren't just being bullies. But even if Trombe was in the wrong, that does not in any way invalidate all the valuable contributions this person brought to the News section and the forum in general. I find it in poor taste to suddenly start acting as if his work wasn't such a big deal or even worse, that it was inconvenient this person was so thorough in news coverage.  I didn't see anyone complain about this before, so It feels disingenuous to start downplaying his/her work now that he/she won't post anymore.  I'm sure it's not the same for everyone here, but take a step back and it's easy to realize some of us were really appreciative of all the news posted, either minor or major, and in very due time. Just an opinion from someone who barely posts and has no  particular sympathies for anyone.

boiii you just got dunked on. you gonna sit there and take it?

i'm sad to see that it has come to this.
 
not gonna take sides since I hardly know the details of the drama, but no matter how you look at it this is a blow for people who actually care about the 'no 1 curr' bands, or random ad-hoc sessions, or what live-limited cd is being distributed in sendai next weekend. whether the news is of quality is for the audience to judge; however without an appreciable volume of news filtering in there's nothing left to know about, much less to judge. and regardless if you like trombe, or however questionable his motives may be, it can't be denied that he's been a great service to not just you and me but the international vk community since it should be patently obvious that every self-professed 'vk news source' out there is basically a c+p of what's posted in MH.

As if any of us who have been here for like 5-8+ years would be able to leave now. 
 
See you in two weeks trombe!

I guess I want, like some others do too, the fact that you emmy don't care doesn't mean it's the case for everyone
 
As long as one person cares about the band, the news is worth posting unlike what you said,
if you want the news section to be just about MEJIBRAY, DADAROMA, Gazette, Dir en grey and some other "big" bands then that's your problem. I want it to be about every bands that form even the crappiest one I would not listen to
 
What do you even expect from a VK news section anyway ?
 
Your personnal opinion on Trombe here is clearly way to important for you to be able to think about the news section in general.

In fact I have expressed my personal opinion about the "band", NOT on who listens to them. for me everyone is free to listen to what you want! ^^ /

KILLANETH 丐(kai) produce brand "Another Neid Kerberos"
 

Compose your own music, create your own concept and personality instead of making merchandising like that...

This is why everyone should just come over to my side of J-rock - all of the cool indie and underground stuff that gets overshadowed by visual kei and mainstream J-rock. I just turned 29 and I'm actually among the youngest most of the people I know who are into this kind of stuff. There are no snivelling, snot-nosed brats or dramatic, temperamental fanpeople over here!
but...
the only problem is...
this fandom barely exists for overseas fans....
...and it's lonely

[...] will be released in 2016 autumn
 
It's summer yet.

CROWMUSIC NEW SCREAM CIRCUIT 2016 will be held at Shinsaibashi FANJ, Shinsaibashi soma and Shinsaibashi paradigm at 2016/04/01
 
[participating artists]
アカシジア(akathisia) / アネモネ(anemone) / ARCHEMI. / UNDER FALL JUSTICE / VAN9ISH / VIVALET / WeZ / A113 / ELYSION / 春雪-sakura- / Shellmy unit / -真天地開闢集団-ジグザグ(zigzag) / JOKER / 叙情四重奏｢カノン｣(kanon) / スタア区。(starku) / DIEALO / Deviloof / Dead Children / Hiz / Paranoid≠circuS / BLAZE / BLESSCODE / 紅蝉(benizemi) / HOLYCLOCK / 暴徒教團666-six- / Malice invitation / 無玄-MUKURO- / Riddle=Dect / REVINE
 

ペンタゴン(pentagon) new mini album "絶叫！(zekkyou!)" will be released at 2016/08/17 (2 TYPE)
 
limited edition (2,700yen) will include CD (6 songs)+DVD (including "ボクラノウタ(bokura no uta)" PV & footage), and regular edition (2,376yen) will include CD (7 songs) only
 

SET-LIST at 2016/07/10:
 
SE.SH
01.咲いたメリーゴーラウンド
02.バビDOLL
03.ルール
04.ウェンズデー
05.8
06.見えないウワサ
07.理想street
08.オトメ
09.切っちゃえコール
10.B級ニュース
 
EN1
01.NO NAME
02.切っちゃえコール
 
EN2 (with Ba.SEIICHI)
01.ニセ恋愛占い師
02.切っちゃえコール
03.B級ニュース
04.ブラインドマン

SCISSOR will revive for one-day at their one-man live "Rusted SCISSORS" at Ikebukuro CYBER at 2016/07/10
 
SCISSOR line-up at 2016/07/10:
Vo.MIKI (Mix Speaker's,Inc.)
Gt.シノ(shino) (MiU)
Gt.のの(nono) (ex-サウイフモノ(souiumono))
Ba.きの(kino) (ex-beaU)
Dr.子雲(shiun) (ex-ケミカルピクチャーズ(chemical pictures)-->GOA)

TYPE A (2,700yen) of their new mini album "GIGAGAIN" will include CD+DVD (including "SCRAP ROCK" PV), and TYPE B (2,160yen) will include CD only
 
[CD track list]
01.GIGA SPEAKER
02.SCARY GODS SHOW
03.プラトニック(platonic)
04.東京(tokyo)
05.監獄ロックメン(kangoku rockmen)
06.ノンフィクション(non-fiction)
07.Mirror, Mirror (included in TYPE B )