Saishu

When you put yourself out there as an artist of an kind , you're opening yourself up for criticism. That's just the way it is.

Well, it kind of SOUNDS like "Joe" when you pronounce it. Japanese transliteration is never really a sure thing.

Like Shinya will ever reproduce.

Has he improved his growls/screams? Because they were awful on the War of Megiddo DVD.

No one should be surprised at that ridiculous song title after ASSaulter.

The problem with DSS is that it was mostly pieced together in the studio with no regard for how it would sound live. They sat behind their laptops layering riffs and whatnot, then rehearsal for the shows roll around and they realized they couldn't really recreate the sound that well. Shinya programs crazy ass drum patterns, then can't actually nail them when he's sitting behind the kit. This carried on thru to The Unraveling, too, where songs like the title track and Unknown.Despair.Lost just sounded thin and hollow without all the studio overdubs. So yeah, it's curious that they want to devote shows to DSS yet again. Maybe some renewed confidence has surfaced and they feel like they can tackle it again.

Am I just completely unaware of R-Shitei's popularity in Japan? They wanted to play Budokan? Really?!

Excited for the DVD and new single, but why the hell are they revisiting Dum Spiro Spero again? Have they finally gotten their shit together and learned how to play it live?

Pretty sure neither one of us is actually fighting over this.

YOU'RE THE ONE FIGHTING IT, IT'S BEEN OUT FOR LIKE 13 MONTHS THAT IS NOT TWO YEARS I WILL FIGHT YOU!!!

Arche has been out for just over a year, not two.

Okay, I finally listened to this. First off, be aware that there appears to be two track lists out there, one of which has the titles practically in reverse order. So watch out for that. Now The Black Swan is clearly Jin just picking up the mess that NEGA left behind, so it's obvious that he had a Ruki-like iron grip on which direction the band's sound was going in. And that's... not necessarily a good thing. NEGA wasn't that great. There were signs of promise here and there, but they were few and far between. The same applies to The Black Swan. NEGA was notorious for having awful production; listening to a NEGA song was like someone shoving my head into a pile of pots and pans, then clanging on them with a hammer. It's the opposite here. There's almost too much bass at some points. You don't have to be a major band to have good production, so I don't know what Jin's problem is. The songs come across as tons of ideas just mashed together with no regard for how they fit (and yes, the trademark "NEGA SWOOSH" makes an appearance). The band is promising, but that doesn't matter if they don't know how to compose a song that makes sense. My main problem, though, is the same one I had with NEGA: Jin This dude can NOT sing at all. I mean, we all know that VK vocalists are almost always lacking in terms of technique because they just never bother to learn to sing. But with Jin it's not just hitting wrong notes or having no breath control; he lacks creativity when it comes to melody and phrasing. When Jin isn't aimlessly mumbling and whispering his way thru a verse, he sings a melody that he's probably used several times before. It makes everything he's ever done just sort of blend together. But despite all that, I think Jin is super sincere about what he's doing. He just... doesn't really know how to do it. He needs guidance.

Fantastically funny review. actually makes me want to check the album out. Nega was an awful guilty pleasure for me, but The Black Swan just hasn't clicked the same way. It's like Jin got some new dudes and was like, "Have you heard my previous band? Play like that."

Well isn't the oldest member from a pop group that she got too old to be in?

I thought that perfect mix was evident right from the get go in Un deux. The pre-chorus where Kaoru chugs and Die does his melodic jangling.

I mean I've HEARD Mejibray before. I liked Decadance, but that was pretty much it. I guess I just don't "get it" this time.

Was literally going to post the exact same thing.

I've never liked Yomi as a vocalist. His singing doesn't sound natural, like he's forcing himself to sound the way he does. I actually think Ruki has improved, his problem is that he doesn't offer much variety in terms of melody or phrasing. But, honestly, there aren't very many great VK vocalists.

Well, piracy is pretty much how j-rock reached the US, and I'm pretty certain that's how most fans still get a hold of it. Importing is super expensive, so people resort to getting the music by other means. You would think more bands would put their music on iTunes as a cheaper and legal alternative for fans to buy the music. I pointed out Gazette putting music on US iTunes because it wasn't there for the longest time. I thought maybe they finally realized they have a following over here, but they still won't tour, so whatever.

I have to wonder what exactly is Nightmare's appeal? When I first heard Ultimate Circus and Livid, I had no idea that these guys would still be active and relevant a decade later. Then I heard Anima and saw they had huge potential. After that, though, every album has merely been okay to awful, with great songs scattered amongst a bunch of mediocre ones. So, I mean, I guess I just don't get it? They don't stand out when compared with other VK bands of their time. I thought they were aiming to be sort of the Luna Sea for a new generation, but that was mostly because Sakito is one of thousands of Sugizo wannabes. I don't hate Nightmare, I just very rarely get the urge to listen to them. If I do it's usually Anima, sometimes Livid, on rare occasion it's Killer Show.

I mean writing songs about being disenchanted with the VK scene. Though, I guess... yeah, they've been doing that for the majority of their career. At least Stacked Rubbish.

I think a few VK bands are going thru this phase right now, particularly Gazette.

Telling a crowd of people to be quiet for Shiver? It's not a ballad, in fact, it being an anime theme makes it a popular song that people are going to go apeshit over as soon as they hear the first chord. Whether Gazette likes it or not different cultures react differently to live shows. Dir en grey has had the experience and know what to expect from audiences outside Japan, Gazette are still timid about the whole thing. But, hey, they're okay with putting their albums in U.S. iTunes though!

There's a clip of Gazette performing in South America where Ruki wants the audience to be quiet before they start playing Shiver. It's kind of ridiculous. These people finally get to see Gazette live and Ruki wants a sea of emotionless dolls like you see in Japan.

Grudge is one of the best tracks on Dogma.