Saishu

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. 

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. 

Traces Vol. 2 tells me it wouldn't. 

Traces Vol. 2 tells me it wouldn't. 

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. 

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. 

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'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. 
 
 

setlist looks like a NA tour date lol

We are all the new X Japan album. 

Shintaro and Wataru seem like obvious choices. Because having sex with underage girls and strangling a woman until her neck bleeds are on a whole different shitty level from doing drugs and stealing money. 
 
And i think Yoshiki should be on this list for being a self-centered scam artist. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

Man, Tool has been promising a new album for years now, but at least they have the balls to say it's just not fucking done. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album. 

We are all the new X Japan album.