Saishu

But not necessarily a good Dir en grey song.

The official translations are weird, but they usually read naturally and have good flow. Some of the fan translations look like the lines were run thru Google Translate, so they’re very mechanical sounding. Some of the best fan translations are from people that understand Japanese enough so that not only can they translate, but also interpret what the author is trying to get across. Again, like you said, Kyo doesn’t make that easy for anyone, but we can all be sure that he’s never trying to create a straightforward image.

Yes, but you can’t just stick with that as the final translation. No language can be reliably be translated into English and make sense. It’s why so many of the Sukekiyo translations read so awkwardly. And from what I understand, the album comes with english translations anyway? The Hidauta example is funny to me, because people see the romanization “uta” and assume it means song. But it’s not the same kanji.

Another interesting thing about Sukekiyo, particularly since Adoratio’s release, is how many people that attempt to translate Kyo’s lyrics literally. He usually doesn’t work that way considering how he often uses words his own way or just makes them up. For instance, the two kanji Kyo used to write “hidauta” really don’t lend themselves to a literal interpretation. Best you can do is translate the two kanji and then see how they relate to the lyrics. But anyway coming back with the title translated as “fold/pleated song” is wrong, because the kanji Kyo used for “uta” does not mean “song”. Does this mean I know what Kyo is trying but to say? Lol, nope. I have a guess though. The kanji he used for “uta” basically means “praise”. So, I dunno... “folded praise”? Or maybe it’s just “fold praise” and given how often the theme of sex runs thru the entire album, “fold” could be a euphemism for female genitalia. So, you know... “praise the vagina”. eh.

I thought it was girl from first PV has child as a result of her father raping her and this is the continuation of her story. She meets a man that rapes her and abuses her daughter, so she kills him much like she killed her parents. It’s really a story about the cycle of abuse. This is more or less R-Shitei’s version of Revelation of Mankind.

Re-recording of Unknown Despair Lost pisses me off.

Feel like I’ve heard and seen this before, but not bad.

If the album has one flaw it’s that Naburi drags a little bit. It’s not even a bad song, but when it’s playing sometimes I kind of zone out and forget it’s there.

First five tracks are stellar! jyunboku, muku de arouga is one of my favorites.

On the topic of Adoratio, Mimi Zozo, Aoguroi Hysteria, and Hakudaku are the perfect trifecta to end the album. They all combine to make a very effective emotional climax.

I was not expecting Sukekiyo to play Gerbera note for note, and they weren’t the only band to completely reinterpret a MUCC song on this thing, but how they deconstructed it really left me stunned. Honestly, I don’t like covers that just sound like the original, because then what’s the point of another band playing it if it’s just going to sound the same? Like I really have no need for those covers of Flight and Utagoe.

Bring it. Kasumi is one of the most generic 6/8 metal ballads I’ve ever heard. And I’m assuming the inexplicable high praise for The Final comes from it being one of the few real actual songs on WtD that doesn’t sound like mushy nu-metal rubbish.

They don’t even need to have analog mastering (though that would be cool), they just need to stop compressing everything so much. There’s no room for the instruments to breathe because the lack of dynamics just sort of mash everything together into BIG HEAVY NOISE. As much as I am a fan of the songwriting in Arche, I think it’s one of their worst sounding records.

This song would be boring no matter what band performed it.

I can’t imagine it sounds much different since Gauze was most likely recorded digitally.

Original versions of Kasumi and The Final are boring.

Yeah, that seems likely.

I think the lyrics are the same, Kyo just changed the phrasing and melodies. The growling part is weird and really doesn’t fit the original tone of the song, but, then again, sukekiyo did make it their own so...

Hisaki is a sick bassist, but I am so tired of the VK shuffle beat. This isn’t really piquing my interest.

I literally rolled my eyes and screamed when I heard the main riff in Pain After Pain, which is the same riff DADAROMA used in Oboreru Sakana (which is also the riff used in millions of metalcore songs, so whatever I guess?). But at least this EP sounds focused instead of like a VK dumpster fire like that first album. Holy shit, Junky Monkey Boogie Down is Increase Blue LOL.

This being a best of collection makes me think they might not mess with the arrangements too much. They might just play them straight with maybe a few new additions here and there (I predict Die will add some sort of solo in Fukai), and the production will match Utafumi most likely.

Sukekiyo, I love you all. But this is the first time I’ve wanted to tell you to go fuck yourselves. Like, you somehow made it hard for me to remember the original composition for Gerbera. You’ve got the chord progression there (kind of), and Kyo sings an actual melody from the original that one time. What is the rest of this? Why does the second half sound like something Kaoru wrote and subsequently threw away during the DSS sessions? I’M SO CONFUSED.

That’s just it, it’s NOT Luna Sea. It sounds like what I hear on American mainstream alternative rock radio. The only thing Luna Sea about this is Ryuichi’s voice.

Nope! 44 here.

I just checked that song out wow