Saishu

Lol right? Sometimes I wish a band would just be like “it’s just 12 tracks of smashy butt metal”

Holy shit, Joker is almost everything I got tired of hearing in VK years ago wrapped into one song. Edgy swing jazz with a Marilyn Manson rip off in the middle that doesn’t even fit. Lynch more line Stynch.

Doesn’t give writing credit to anyone other than Ruki for the lyrics.

Yeah, but where?

That’s why it sounds like all the other ones. Are writing credits listed in the liner notes? I haven’t even looked.

Yes, but I believe he also wrote the snoozefest ballad, so watch it.

Ah, another member of the Baldman family.

Not disagreeing with you, but the complete 180 threw me off.

Well no, they shouldn’t. Just pointing out things are different over there. But if VK is indeed a yakuza run business, it’s no wonder so many bands come and go.

I mean let’s not forget the huge drama with Lynch when Akinori got caught with pot.

Yakuza and respect and Japan and different culture and all that.

So much for that fresh sound

This isn’t even bad, it’s just bleh. Which is worse than being bad because I can remember something that’s terrible. I’ve already forgotten what this tepid dishwater sounds like and I heard it less than five minutes ago.

Oprah and Yoshiki looks like a bad drag queens.

Fuck Yoshiki

Inhales are a good way to mess up your vocal chords though.

Ruki is consistent and can definitely deliver live, but as I’ve said before I feel like he recycles his melodies a lot. So, I mean, he’s a great performer, but he gets a bit stale sometimes. Even his songwriting seems to repeat himself. Unfinished sounds like another version of Shiver and Ibitsu (but I’m only assuming he wrote Unfinished).

Lol, Ruki whispers “bero” at the beginning. I just noticed.

Yeah, Babylon’s Taboo sounds like it could have been written by any number of western nu metal bands in the early ‘00s. Ninth is really strange. Like I said, I don’t necessarily like it more than Dogma, but I’ve listened to it more in the past two days than I did when Dogma first came out. The variety in the tracks and shorter run time are huge positives here, as Dogma being a heavy slog for 50 minutes straight didn’t always sit well. Real problem is there’s nothing on Ninth that even approaches songs like Dogma or Undying in terms of composition. And yeah, Ruki’s lack of creativity is a downer. Nice to hear Reita again (he got buried in Dogma) and Kai is a fucking beast!

It’s muddy in my Sennheiser earbuds and it’s muddy in my car. Abhor God is the absolute worst because none of the instruments are given any room to breathe. Sounds like the typical overcompressed stuff we’ve been getting from DEG the last six years.

I had a feeling. The Aoi songs tend to be my favorite. Did he write Grudge?

Oh dear, Uruha had a hand in the mixing. Didn’t he learn anything from the Traces Vol. 2 mess? other than him there’s Koichi Hara and someone named SIN.

Mine is being delivered today, but I’m not expecting a huge difference. Why did they even bother with a different mix for the PV? It’s not like it was released as a single.

I knew there wasn’t something quite right about Tatsurou

I had tickets to that