Saishu

Zetsuentai was tired as fuck. I was hoping they were done trying to chase Vinushka. 

As long as new single doesn’t do the same old pretty melody HEAVY RARRRGH drop again. I guess. 

Ten minutes wtf

Looks like he’s still stubborn 

Kaoru looks like a cross between a 1930s DC villain and the uncle nobody wants to invite to the picnic. 

11 hours ago, Wakarimashita said:

Ok, but one can't really erase the previous discography like it never happened, right? THE SILENT SONG was a good song/single.

DEG did it for years. Maybe Dimlim will eventually go back and re-record the Issei stuff so it doesn’t sound like everyone in the band fell down a tin foil staircase while they were playing 

A best album for a five year old band?

someone is trying to get out of a contract

They played Ambitious Principles twice?

6 hours ago, LIDL said:

 

Hmmm, so you counted out Gazetto like that? 

*Snoop Dogg gif*

WHO?!

Tempted to bid on that shit

My ding dong is hard

Funny thing about all the solos on Arche is that most of them are in the same place: right after the first chorus of each song. 

No one can honestly say that Kyo is a great vocalist on a technical level, which is why I don’t really put much stock in all those “THE VOCAL RANGE OF KYO” videos. He’s not consistent at all, but it’s clearly by design since he typically puts emotion before technicality. 

WtD era was the worst. 

23 minutes ago, saiko said:

How can you 'guarantee' that?

 

Kaoru saying Shinya is the most stubborn coupled with the suggestion that he wanted to quit when the band dropped the VK image. 

Also just listen to his playing. He is not interested in extreme metal drumming regardless of the band often tipping in that direction. All that growling and low tuned extended range guitar chugging in Uroko, yet Shinya treats it like a Gauze song. 

1 hour ago, geist said:

Arche was the reason I temporarily stopped listening to the band, The Insulated World is why I came back. Arche isn’t bad but there’s nothing going for it. In total it’s an album with cool parts but nothing holds it together for me maybe because there’s so much filler. 

 

Also, let’s stop pretending Kyos vocals weren’t awful around 2013-2015. With Dum Spiro Spero and Arche, Kyo began relying on those falsettos that he can’t reliably hit. They’re all over Arche and when they play these songs live, even songs from DSS, they don’t sound as good as they do on the record because they’re songs crafted in the studio with things Kyo could only do in the studio. 

 

The Insulated World is an album the band can actually perform live, sounds great live, and shows the band at a creative peak no one expected them to hit. TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot and maybe even DSS largely because they’re dealing with more complicated song ideas. The material is just so much more interesting. The only downside is the production isn’t as great as Uroboros but I tend not to obsess over that stuff. 

 

The Insulated World is great and deserves to be in company with the likes of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero. 

Yeah, this pretty much. Insulated World is the first album since Marrow that sounds like it was written with live performances in mind. 

Shinya’s problem is that he’s fucking boring when the band gets heavy. Sure he plays fast, but he’s barely doing anything. 

Now listen, Shinya’s hands do some creative things. I love his tom patterns, and he usually has some great fills. When he’s in a groove he sounds awesome. Now kick things up a notch; he starts to rely on this very basic kick, snare, kick, snare pattern that’s almost like what you play when you’re just learning to play blast beats. He tried to be more varied during for the DSS stuff, but he couldn’t pull that shit off consistently and started scaling it back for lives. 

Bottom line: Shinya’s feet suck. I guarantee you he wasn’t gung ho about the band’s heavier direction, and he was probably like “whatever, fuck you guys. Still gonna play like it’s 1999”.

3 hours ago, saiko said:

Like actually trying not to realize what a tragedy is that one of the most creative bands in Japanese music history suddenly ran off of ideas lol

A lot of hyperbole there

I did a meet and greet with Kaoru and Die in 2006, then the entire band in 2008. Both times required you to buy merch at the venue (and to be fair, 2006 was at Family Values and applied to every band). 

There were no barricades at both events; they sat behind tables. The Kaoru and Die meeting was just a quick handshake, the full band meet and greet in 2008 was handshakes and each member signed the merch you bought. No idea how they would handle it now. 

Haven’t really listened to them since Dawning. E

I used to stuff the obis inside the CD booklet. I’d the CDs came in a plastic sleeve I’d leave the wrapper on as well as the obi. 

However! With DEG’s book style packaging for deluxe singles and live releases, I’ve been throwing the obis away. The obis are on the BOTTOM, and every time I’d take the case out of the wrapper it was a bitch putting it back in without smashing the obi. 

At this point I don’t care anymore. The obis typically just mimic what’s already on the case itself. 

The world has gone from insulated to merciful.

My money is on yet another ballad with metal production   

I actually prefer the remakes of The Final and Kasumi composition-wise, but they have awful mixes that make them sound flat

Is Retsu a Hiro fanboy? Some of those clean guitar passages sound like early La’Cryma Christi

Also, anyone who thinks Mana went in a different direction with M10M is kidding themselves. 

Sorry, but “it’s blu-ray” is not a reason that can be used to justify it costing $150.  Especially if the CDJapan listing is correct and there’s only one disc. 

On 7/11/2019 at 8:07 AM, spockitty said:

So, no founding members remaining? 

 

Please don't fizzle out into nothing 😭

Wait what?

Are Sho and Retsu not founding members? 

I really liked Taishi’s playing though. 

Fuck