Saishu

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. 

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. 

Christ, it's like he did a quick "what is Canada known for" Google search before answering. 
 
Thanks, Yoshers. Cant wait to visit Japan. Heard you have great sushi and geishas. 

I think Yuu, the drummer, provided the piano work on at least Ousia (the song). And Ray formed another band didn’t he? Or did that die? 
 
I still cant get over the fact that he was in Aliene Ma’riage. I don’t know why I can’t wrap my head around that. 
 
Nega fans were the first to make me realize how deluded VK listeners can be. To hear “Guilt Trip” and then “Zakuro” and completely deny the blatant similarities is total insanity. I can’t think of any other song in visual kei that rips off another so closely. It’s almost a cover. 

I just checked that song out 
 
wow

I think Yuu, the drummer, provided the piano work on at least Ousia (the song). And Ray formed another band didn’t he? Or did that die? 
 
I still cant get over the fact that he was in Aliene Ma’riage. I don’t know why I can’t wrap my head around that. 
 
Nega fans were the first to make me realize how deluded VK listeners can be. To hear “Guilt Trip” and then “Zakuro” and completely deny the blatant similarities is total insanity. I can’t think of any other song in visual kei that rips off another so closely. It’s almost a cover. 

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 think WtD is pretty boring. Marrow is a mess, but what do you expect when they wrote it while touring America with a bunch of middle-aged edgelords?
 
kisou is cool, just unfortunate that the bad mixing sounds like the feeling of chewing a wad of tin foil. 

I hated The Inferno for a while, but it eventually grew on me. I like how the riff slightly changes over the course of the song. 

I agree, the Mode of Vulgar show is fantastic. I appreciate that it seems like they approached the DSS material by pacing themselves as well as figuring out which of the million overdubbed studio parts sound best when limited to two live guitars, but some of this stuff still sounds messy. Decayed Crow and Diabolos really just do not work, and I fear my beloved Different Sense is stricken with the same fate. Surprisingly, Utafumi sounds awesome live. 
 
The Kisou shows are fine. This is the first time I've found Pink Killer to be tolerable, and I like the weird "off" way they played Zomboid. It's a shame they settled on playing the new version of Karasu though. 
 
Vulgar is tight as fuck though, and Toshiya is a beast on this material. I'm actually kind of excited for a Mode of Withering to Death. Probably my least favorite DEG album, but I think the band's current approach to their music will benefit the material greatly. I feel like Marrow will be pretty good too. Macabre is next though. Maybe they can make Audrey a good song!

I like Utafumi, and it translates really well live.  I’ll never understand why a 3 minute song got a radio edit though 

Because he was mizerable. 

Because he was mizerable. 

I was legit shocked when Rinkaku showed up on Arche. 

Thanks, Shinya, but no thanks. 

I just realized I was confusing Beautiful Dirt for Spilled Milk and now I’m really wondering why the fuck they chose to remake it. 

Luna Sea is probably releasing another album to show Yoshiki that it's really not that hard. 

Luna Sea is probably releasing another album to show Yoshiki that it's really not that hard. 

pretty much everything from wtd bleeds together (C, beautiful dirt, spilled milk they literally sound the same)

I just realized I was confusing Beautiful Dirt for Spilled Milk and now I’m really wondering why the fuck they chose to remake it. 

I just realized I was confusing Beautiful Dirt for Spilled Milk and now I’m really wondering why the fuck they chose to remake it. 

I mean, there’s nothing here that makes this exponentially worse than the average, dime-a-dozen VK band, but that’s the problem; it’s not even bad enough to be noteworthy. 
 
Their nationality certainly plays no part in the mediocrity, as there are tons of VK bands FROM JAPAN that are bland and forgettable. So holding that against them is unfair. Hopefully they stick around long enough to learn and grow. 

sustain the untruth is the worst thing DEG have put out post-uroboros i literally feel RAGE at the thought of it

Oh hey it’s that chorus that Jin likes. 

No. Just those three.