Saishu

It bothers me that Ruki seems to have written the most songs for the band, especially in recent years. The band will never evolve with him in control.

Lol, exactly what I was thinking of with my post.

Ruki always says a lot of shit that amounts to nothing though.

Okay I’m digging the old school VK thrash part. Uruha dug out out some late 90s VK guitar tones for that shit.

It definitely wasn’t cheap (¥3,400 for shipping), but the total was far less than what CDJapan was going to charge me via their proxy service.

It’s supposed to come in a metallic box. I hope the translation didn’t get screwed up and they meant foil box. Because let’s be honest, the majority of the price for the thing is for the CD and the Blu-ray. Those alone average about ¥9,000 total.

Is that the limited edition?

Speaking of Undying, I was just listening to Vacant and there’s a point before the chorus where it sounds like Ruki wants to start singing Dim Scene, then stops himself. And this is what’s so disappointing about this band lately. I don’t want them to necessarily try anything new, I just want better songwriting. I don’t literally want another Dim, I want another album with strong and varied compositions. I wish I hadn’t heard here three tracks from Ninth, because I’m bored already.

DEG and Gazette are both rehashing old shit at this point, so I don’t even have a comment about who’s writing better songs. Gazette trounces DEG when it comes to production, that’s for sure. Vocally, Ruki is more consistent than Kyo in terms of performance, but holy fuck is he getting stale with his melodies and phrasing. Ruki is the reason why so many Gazette songs over the last 8 years sound the same to me.

42 minutes is fine. CDs hold about 80 minutes of music, but that doesn’t mean they should.

Immortalis and Vitium were both available thru other stores, though. It wasn’t until Anima when they started selling directly from their own shop (or whoever Galaxy Broad belongs to).

You can absolutely get international shipping with Sukekiyo. I ordered Adoratio directly from the Galaxy Broad shop.

I find Division to be the most enjoyable out of the weird 2011-2013 period, mostly because it feels less bloated than Toxic and Beautiful Deformity. Also, it has Yoin, which is one of Gazette’s best songs. Period. I’m sure Toxic’s songs work best in a live setting, but I’m pretty much yawning by the time Devil In My Bed rolls around. Beautiful Deformity sounds like the leftovers from Division, and considering how often they were squeezing material out at the time, that’s entirely plausible. I’m expecting Ninth to be more varied than Dogma, but whether or not the songwriting is on par I cannot say.

Is Pledge the one that sounds like Guren? They started to blend together after Dim. They’ll never top Hana Kotoba.

Okay, so what exactly classified as a ballad? Cuz I mean... Grudge?

I’m not sure how I would describe the song structure, because for me there’s no clear distinction what the chorus is. It’s like a collection of different verses. Dir en grey’s Blossoming Beelzebub is also similar in that way where it’s just this constantly shifting piece. The structure is more, I dunno, literary than musical? I’m not sure how to explain it. There’s a beginning, an end, and various acts in between.

Dogma, the song, is fucking brilliant in how it’s composed. It’s always moving forward and doesn’t follow the standard song structure. I think maybe one early riff gets repeated in a later section? I’d definitely take more songs like Dogma and Undying from these guys.

Sukekiyo has two of Satsuki’s former band mates.

If it was anything like those two songs I would like it.

God their ballads have been so boring for the past few years.

Know what would be cool? If they remastered (though re-recording might be better) Peep Show, M.E.R.R.Y, and Underworld. I call that Merry’s “tin can era”.

Wtf at that album cover.

They’ve never shied away from crediting who writes each song, though.

Good, I needed someone other than Kaoru to make fun of for their fashion choices.

Because three months ain’t shit!