Saishu

Aoi, more like Owwie

Early Gackt. Specifically Mars and Rebirth.

It's easily the worst thing he's done, which is saying something given his solo career.

That Berseker video is fucking awful it's embarrassing. It actually makes me cringe. Did he just cram a bunch of Europeans in a warehouse and get up on stage with no band behind him? Really? And he's not even making an effort to look like he's doing the growling parts.

I thought Toshiya was wearing a head band...

Blonde Die bothers me.

Okay, the title of the song did not give me the impression that they would take a darker turn visually. So when were those other photos taken? The one where Die had shorter hair with red highlights?

I mean, in a lot of heavy western music, the bass mostly follows what the guitars are doing. But that's the complete opposite of what Japanese rock bands do, where you often get the bass laying down its own separate melodic foundation (Toshiya's performance in "Glass Skin" is a good example). So for Reita to suddenly just disappear is alarming. Though, to be honest, I was never really fond of his bass playing to begin with.

Toshiya so jacked tho!

I wish Shinya would practice more.

Well it's not like the band releases albums every year anyway. Wasn't it like 7 years between the last two?

I have to agree that Reita hasn't stood out in a long time, even before the Dogma era. But the way the albums are mixed isn't helping matters either.

3 Blu-ray discs? Why?

Currently missing Sugar. Whenever I make some sort of j-rock compilation, the song "Blossom" always makes it on there.

I don't anticipate DEG lasting another ten years, or maybe not even five! In all honesty, I was expecting Shinya to peace out at some point during the last few years, but he himself said that DEG is how he expresses himself, so it is/was a viable creative outlet for him as recent as two years ago. Or perhaps we'll start getting longer breaks between activity and an increase in material from their various side projects. Who knows. They could become a Buck-Tick, or just go poof and come back later like Dead End or D'erlanger.

Jin just sitting there like a gothic garden gnome is such bullshit. You're not mysterious dude, so try a different persona.

Finally gave these guys a listen. First song I heard was "Yuki Tokei" and I was not impressed, but, then again, I'm not a fan of ballads written in 6/8; they just bore the piss out of me. However, next song was "Doshaburi no Kanojo" and HOLY SHIT! These guys GET IT!" It was like listening to good, classic VK unsullied by current western trends. I'm actually excited to continue listening. Unless you want to count Sukekiyo as a VK band (and I don't), XAA-XAA are the first VK band to impress me since NoGod first hit the scene (and I got tired of them like five years later, but that's a different story). So yeah! Nice to see a new and young band that seems to capture the spirit of why I fell in love with VK in the first place!

The part about healing and coming back for the anniversary was in the actual comment from the band about the hiatus. The thing about Sakito and Hitsugi came from somebody here. If anything, I think DEG members doing solo work will help DEG in the long run. Then they aren't sitting stagnant doing the same stuff all the time.

No, it's a hiatus to give band members time to heal and whatnot. Supposedly they're going to be back in time for their 20th anniversary, but I wouldn't hold my breath. From what I'm hearing Sakito and Hitsugi hate each other.

Nightmare

Welcome to the biggest surprise of 2016 so far. If anyone asked me a few years ago which j-rock artist do I think will dabble in the djent genre of metal, I'd probably say Dir en grey or Gazette, but Satsuki? The guy with the angelic voice and less than brutal growls? And yet here we are with one of his two March 19 releases, Apocalypse. This is a four track EP, the other, Eclipse, is a fuller 9 tracks. But for right now we're dealing with Apocalypse, the heavier of the two releases. It opens with "Reincarnation", a moody intro that gives off a vibe of a dystopian post-apocalyptic society, then it leads into the title track, which is a surprising take on bands like Meshuggah, Tesseract, and Periphery. The riffs are thick and chunky, but there are hints of haunting melodies buried beneath the chaos. Then Satsuki's trademark angelic vocals come in and it almost feels like home. But then "Burning Out" comes in and we hear Satsuki's new and improved harsh vocals. A vast improvement over his slightly perturbed Cookie Monster vocals in Rentrer en Soi's final live. Satsuki clearly got some coaching on how to growl correctly. The EP ends with "Revelation", a track that could have fit in on the latest Meshuggah album. Satsuki (and the band) seem to understand how djent works, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it's pulled off. Great syncopated grooves and head nodding riffs. The only problem here is the production (which also applies to Satsuki's other release "Eclipse", but I'll get to that another time). Again, everything is mixed too loud. I listened to this via high quality streaming on Tidal with Sennheiser ear buds, and it all just sounded flat and lacking in dynamics. I shouldn't have my phone volume at less than half way and it sounds like I've got it full blast. This will always be a pet peeve of mine. Overall I'm pleased, especially since Satsuki's solo career has been less than impressive, merely cranking out toothless and nondescript J-pop/rock ever since RES disbanded. Here's to hoping Satsuki has finally found some direction.

I used to be afraid of getting fined or arrested for uploading Uroboros.

Is Tsuki no Uta a Gackt cover? LOL

I gave up on Girugamesh after NOW, but this is still pretty sad to see one of the major well known bands break up. I predict Ryo will bounce back first.