Saishu

Arent the arrangements pretty much the same?

I think the drums are programmed. I don't have hard evidence, I'm just going by how the drums sound. Maybe he did play on the album and the awful production is what's making his performance sound robotic, but at the moment my money is on programmed drums. Also, when you take into consideration that the band took on the production themselves, it kind of hints at maybe Traces Vol. 2 was put together quickly (and cheaply) to fulfill record label requirements. And if that's the case, cutting corners by not recording live drum tracks would cut down on time and cost. Plus Kai was suspiciously absent in interviews about the album.

I mean, I'm aware that Traces Vol. 2 was basically recorded and mixed entirely by the band, but beyond that I really just didn't like how sterile and soulless the actual performances were. It was cool to listen to out of curiosity, but I haven't felt the need to listen to it instead of the original recordings at all. And I'm convinced that Kai is not playing on the album.

Traces Vol. 2 tells me it wouldn't.

I'm actually surprised Gazette and DEG haven't gone djent yet. Especially considering The Black Swan and even fucking Satsuki have dabbled in it.

Gazette benefits more when they don't pump out material every year. There's a reason why 2011-2013 is such a point of contention for fans.

Both versions of Hydra suck, though.

They played the original Tsumi to Batsu during the Mode of Gauze tour.

I believe it's the regular one. The 21 track set list and then the disc with the PVs on it.

How much do I love deadman? I got an all region DVD player just so I could watch endroll.

Yoin was one of the best songs Gazette wrote (or Aoi I should say) from 2011-2013. Ibitsu just sounds like a rearranged Shiver to me, which in turn reminded me of Regret. Anyway, I listen to Division more than Toxic and Beautiful Deformity. I think the whole split disc concept was a huge failure (especially since there was a single disc version anyway), but that at least made it easy to avoid Ruki's ill-conceived takes on industrial metal. I'm curious where they're headed next stylistically. I liked Dogma, but it was not an evolution of the band's sound in any way; it was Gazette without ballads. And I'm hoping Ruki loosens his iron grip a bit for the next album.

Just checked out Baby Who Wanders and it's a definite improvement over Red or Maryam, which was just all over the place stylistically. I like the addition of the violinist, and I'm always happy to hear Die's distinct "flicka flicka" guitar licks. It's not as experimental or progressive as DEG or Sukekiyo, but I do think it's very much what we should expect from Die.

I suppose in the context of VK, a year since the last new thing is a long time. But these veteran bands are slowing down. When was the last time Gazette released something? Was it Undying?

I'm saying DEG doesn't drop new material every year and they often have large gaps in between releases. And with all the touring they've been doing along with the various side projects going on, it's really not all that surprising.

Utafumi was released a year ago. I'd say as far as DEG's release schedule for new music goes, this is about par the course for the last decade.

And it's ¥12,000 if you buy a DVD that covers just one of the days. Considering the Arche at Budokan Blu-ray was less than that, they can go fuck themselves. How much content is going to be on these things?

Well at least Toshiya and Die are actually singing the backup in Umbrella these days. There's a start.

I hate Daron's vocals, and his greater presence on Hypnotize/Mesmerize is a rather big stain on what are otherwise two fantastic albums.

Oh, well yeah. After several listens I also noticed how pedestrian and sterile his performance sounded. If it's even him playing. His drum tone on studio recordings has been sounding like it's all programmed since, I dunno, the Hageshisa single?

Haha I was thinking the same thing. "Filth" is the bone being thrown for the "old school" fans.

The Decade releases were utterly shitty cash grabs, probably hastily cobbled together to meet a requirement for the label. This new one requires some love and attention. If they don't do rerecordings (which I kind of hope they don't based on everything DEG has released starting with Rinkaku being compressed until the dynamics are gone) I hope for a PROPER remaster. Look at what Radiohead did with OK Computer for inspiration of they must. Just don't run the original tracks back and raise all the knobs to 10 and call it all day.

And yet, it's very Shinya.

Between this and Creature Creature it's been a very good year.

Well it's not like he didn't play slow songs in DEG.

For some reason I see Merry covering a more recent thing like Deracine or Kagemai.