Nagisa

NOT THIS TOPIC AGAIN!
 
Relax, it's not what you think.

If you guys remember this topic - and I'm sure most of you do - then you will remember that I made a proposal at the end of it. What I said I wanted to observe was the effect of "our" piracy - our as in Monochrome Heaven - on visual kei sales, using the GazettE's newest album "NINTH" as the benchmark. Some of you really took this suggestion to heart, and others thought I was making a bad joke. I wasn't.
 
There's something to be said for testing even the most obvious of conclusions because sometimes the results can surprise you, but the results of this did not. I knew that this album would leak and make its way here well under the two weeks I specified. Next time someone restarts the discussion of supporting our favorite bands by not pirating their music, point them to this topic and remind them that the Internet is a very large place and that shouting your demands in one corner of it isn't going to change what happens where your voice and influence can't reach. Not even mine.
 
It's good to know that we are not the center of the visual kei universe. We have some influence and we do our part to keep the show going, but if we were to disappear tomorrow, I don't think the show would stop. That is ultimately a good thing. The scene needs to spread if it wants to stay alive. It seems pretty obvious but its worth reiterating. For what it's worth, the album didn't appear here first so it's not like we are the alpha and the omega to all of the woes our favorite bands go through.
 
The conclusion that I can draw from this failed social experiment is that we need a better definition of what "piracy" actually is. There are reasons why the international scene depends on piracy, so to make future discussions more useful we should find as many different reasons as we can and the distribution within the scene. To that end, I've attached an anonymous poll to the top of this post.  If you are interested, vote for the option that fits your situation the best, and if there isn't one (and you don't mind), share your specific reasons below.
 
I'll leave this topic open until the end of the month so you guys can share your thoughts and opinions.

I'm doing the same thing. I regret listening to the preview for DOGMA. Not that long to wait anyways.

For better or for worse, visual kei is something that's had an impact on my life.  I never thought groups of cross dressing Japanese men playing metal would be something that's stuck with me for so long, but throughout all the surprises, discoveries, disappointments, and developments I've stuck around in some capacity. I may not be as heavy into visual kei or Japanese music as I used to be, but there's a part of me that will always go back to the music I've enjoyed and another part of me that's always looking forward to new bands, activities, and trends. Here are five things I really enjoy about the scene which has kept me coming back again and again since 1999.
 

 

 
 

 
 


 
 
So those are all the things I like about visual kei. I'm sure I missed some. What do you like about visual kei?

"OBSCURE" is one of the most graphic and notorious music videos ever crafted within visual kei, catapulting the band back into the spotlight after a sudden stylistic shift sent their fans into a frenzy. It's famous for both its shock value and its strong anti-abortion stance. Abortion isn't a dinner table conversation in any country, but I've always sensed that there's an extra level of taboo attached to this topic in Japanese circles. So naturally, Dir en grey went the extra mile with some of the best CGI 2004 could buy. Is there some actual meaning behind this imagery, or is it all shock value?
 
Watching it back now, this video isn't as extreme as a younger, more impressionable me thought. I discovered that there's mostly memorable segments, but most of the video is the band rocking out in a dingy room with bodies hanging from the ceiling. These also are the least offensive parts of the video too, unless you have a particular hate for vomit, leather, or white contact lenses. And if you do, how are you a visual kei fan? Anyway, the room resembles a hospital or a jail, although it's probably the back of an old fishing warehouse. There's nothing else to really discuss here.
 
I tried my hardest to weave together a story that makes sense. The closest I can get is depictions of their anguish over this topic and how it's treated, which could be all they were going for. The main scenes cycle throughout the course of the video, and each of these scenes seem unconnected to the others. To sum it up: there's a demon orgy, robot cocks, a monk ripping a baby's head apart covered in ofuda screaming to the Lord of Light, a dissected half robot/woman creation on a table with a mad doctor, circus performers, depictions of the band as monsters mutilating themselves, and of course the infamous demon geisha eating the apple baby head. The meaning of some scenes are obvious: the orgy depicts sexual irresponsibility, the circus is about how the topic is treated as a joke, and the doctor and robot is supposed to resemble abortion and the act of playing god.  Several elements appear in different contexts, such as the geisha and baby heads. The woman on the table is shown as not in control of her body, the doctor with the huge forceps symbolizes the invasiveness of the procedure, the ofuda which covers the monk is meant to ward off evil, and the constant depiction of monsters and demons is meant to associate abortion with bad omens. The rest of this music video is pure shock value and there's no real meaning to anything.

One thing I should mention before wrapping this up is that Dir en grey threw some serious shade at men in this music video. During the orgy scenes, the women have bare faces but the men are all covered with masks. I have several interpretations of this. One parallel I immediately noticed was to (surprisingly) porn, where it's all too common for the woman's face to be visible but the man is a secondary figure, and videos are associated with the woman and not the man. On a deeper level, it's also commentary on the unequal burden pregnancy puts on women. The men literally "don't see" what happens when they orgasm (hint: the women stop enjoying the orgy and start bleeding out their mouths with pained expressions on their faces), they don't have to deal with it, and they can carry on not caring, mouths transfixed in a smile. I dug deeper into the whole mask angle, and discovered that in Japanese mythology, oni masks refer to the belief in a spirit world in which demons carry out their roles of punishing the unjust and evil, as well as spreading disease. Double dip on the whole "spreading disease" = "venereal disease" bit if you want, but I don't think it goes that far. I think Dir en grey feel that men who do this and don't care are literally demons and worse than the women, but clearly the whole eating the baby's head idea also associates certain kinds of women with demons too. The band themselves aren't exactly human either, with Shinya's deformed body and Kyo's lovely tentacle mouth, so perhaps the band thinks everyone is a demon and that everyone is responsible?

As far as PV's go for visual kei bands, this one is near the top in terms of effort and production values, even for today's standards. I'm sure there's more left to be discussed. What do you think?

NIL is a pretty great album. Nausea & Shudder, D.L.N, and 体温 are just amazing. It's my third favorite after DIM and 大日本異端芸者的脳味噌逆回転絶叫音源集 (if that counts). 

I think the size of the band is irrelevant. I'm only proposing we do this with this one release to get some hard data on piracy, our impact, and our place in the scene (instead of hypothetical outcomes, since that is all we have available to us right now). No one in the scene has ever bothered to do something like this before, because there's always been a trade of new music for internet status. As long as one person in the scene thinks they can get net cred for being the first to share "NINTH", it will spread on the internet like wildfire. It doesn't need to be an international fan because the leaks can come from within Japan too! Even if the staff deletes links for the first two weeks, other sites don't have to do this, and I'm really not expecting every single blog and site out there to comply with my proposal. That would be madness. We have no control over anything not on MH.

You can consider yesterday's proposal a test of the patience and cooperation of the entire scene. Can we hold out for two weeks? Is piracy an everyday part of the scene that we must accept? Can we even survive as a scene if we're at a two week lag? As obvious as the answers may seem, we don't know for certain.

One of the small joys of being a VK fan is the unique phenomenon of enjoying a band while having absolutely no idea how to say their name. And I don’t mean because a band’s name is in Japanese, I’m talking those band names that are ostensibly written in English but because of weird characters or punctuation you just have no idea how to properly pronounce or verbalize their moniker correctly (although most of the time the pronunciation just completely ignores the extraneous symbols).
 
Let’s try and trace the history of these unnecessary symbols and letters in VK bands’ names and highlight the influence (or lack thereof) of these punctuation provocateurs.
 
 
D’erlanger

 
The band: One of the proto-visual kei bands that began in the ‘80s and had an outsize influence on the first generation of post-X visual bands.
 
The name: D’erlanger kinda makes sense as a French word, so they themselves are forgiven, but it is apparent a lot of teenagers in the 80s who would go on to become players in the golden age of visual kei saw that apostrophe and thought “oh cool!” for entirely unintended reasons.
 
I said D’erlanger makes sense as a French word… but it’s not a very ‘band name’ kind of word. Can’t imagine throwing up the metal horns to a band called ‘from Erlangen’.
 
See also: L’Arc~en~Ciel, La’Cryma Cristi, La’Mule
 
 
L’Arc~en~Ciel

 
The band: No introduction necessary really. Almost certainly on the Mount Rushmore of VK bands, whether or not you like what they’ve done since the start of the new millennium (and I don’t). Pretty and melodious songs with just enough edge to appeal to a wide swath of fans. Not to mention a sexy frontman.
 
The name: Another word that makes sense if you’re French, but L’Arc~en~Ciel up the ante by adding some tildes for no reason other than young Tetsuya and Hyde probably thought they added an even more magical feeling to the word ‘rainbow’.
 
L’Arc~en~Ciel’s (making their name possessive *does* add a certain balance to the word…) popularity in both VK circles and a mainstream audience meant that adding dumb punctuation in the middle of your name for no reason was now completely tolerated.
 
Tetsuya has specifically denied he got the L’Arc~en~Ciel moniker from a cafe near where he worked as a teenager with the same name. It may have also been stolen from the D.H. Lawrence book ‘Rainbow’, but even that story is tainted because it includes the *movie* version.
 
See also: a million song and album titles with tildes in them, E’m ~grief~
 
 
cali≠gari

 
The band: Either groundbreaking, experimental rock that revolutionized and kick-started the ‘eroguro kei’ genre, or dissonant-sounding weirdos; depending on your tastes.
 
The name: Obviously lifted from the groundbreaking German silent horror film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”; an admittedly cool source of inspiration for an art-y VK band. The name even has a cool rhyme and visual symmetry when written/pronounced in Japanese (カリガリ).
 
See also: a ton of also-ran bands that have stuck unnecessary equals signs in their names: Loz'a≠Veria, D≒sire, Kar+te=zyAnose, Eyes≒Mirrorge, PARANOID≠CIRCUS
 
 
ZI:KILL

 
The band: Early VK rockers that burned out too quickly to be mentioned among the all-timers.
 
The name: Originally formed as G:KILL, which doesn’t shed any light onto the inspiration for the name, but is an interesting fact. G/Zi:Kill both *kinda* sound like Jekyll when katakan-ized, and Visual Kei has no lack of love for that story.
 
You may be noticing a trend so far; early VK bands apparently hated having blank spaces in their names.
 
See also: La:Sadie’s, ru:natic,【_Vani;lla】, ha;qch, DAS:VASSER, L'yse:nore
 
 
Aliene Maφriage

 
The band: One of the harbingers of VK starting to get really dark and almost certainly offending the middle-aged parents of the teenagers listening to it. Lots of leather and hair... and in Aliene’s case; some good songwriting to back it up.
 
The name: In the book Freakonomics the authors cite a study that shows, all other things being equal, people are more likely to be asked to interview for jobs if the interviewer/hiring manager can pronounce their name. I have to believe this is why even Kyoka & Co. started writing their name simply Aliene Ma’riage eventually; they were probably tired of having to pitch things to record label execs who looked at their name and thought “pass” before they even heard the banshee wails.
 
I couldn’t find anything about the origins of their name. It is a vast improvement over their original moniker Autism though.
 
See also: √eight, ∋elf gravity∈, ZETSURIN⚡HAGUKI
 
 
Kagrra,

 
The band: The undisputed kings of beautiful neo-japonisme in VK.
 
The name: Even Kagrra,, who peddled a very classic Japanese aesthetic, weren’t immune to an unnecessary flourish such as a comma at the end of their name which, when spoken, led to a kind of hesitant mumble as if you were supposed to continue a train of thought which was still at the station. I mean, revisit that previous sentence I wrote, should it really have been written “Even Kagrra,,”? Kagrra,’s name certainly gave the editing staff at Shoxx a headache.
 
Kagrra,, originally called Crow, took their name from 神楽 (Kagura), a Shinto music and dance tradition.
 
See also: Thankfully the comma didn’t catch on much.
 
 
+DéspairsRay+

 
The band: One of the rare examples of a band who can pull off unabashed zetsubou unironically and follow it up with soaring choruses and catchy melodies without sounding disjointed.
 
The name: Another band that dropped some of the more superfluous parts of their name as soon as they started to gain some popularity. If I had to guess, their name is probably one of the most mistagged in VK. I know for sure if I opened iTunes right now I’d have songs by +DéspairsRay+, DéspairsRay, D’espairs Ray, Despairs Ray and probably more in my artist lineup.
 
The members of the band haven’t commented specifically on how they chose the name, with Zero even saying “It's nothing special.” I interpret this as ‘we know it’s dumb, don’t ask about it please’.
 
See also: VAL+IX+LIA, MARRY+AN+BLOOD, Ti+Dee
 
 
Nuvc:gu

 
The band: Nobodies.
 
The name: I honestly was pronouncing this “nuv-ka-goo” until I heard @Biopanda say “New vogue” in a Rarezhut stream and the lightbulb went off. I almost want to give them credit for using the *shape* of punctuation to emulate letters, but then I realize that’s incredibly stupid unless you’re working with some seriously custom fonts.
 
See also: VΩID, k@mikaze, SHAD∞W, XOVER
 
 
Exist†trace

 
The band: Probably the most successful all-girl-kei band ever (which unfortunately isn’t saying much). Started out very gothy and have gradually transitioned to a more mainstream sound. They let the pretty one sing and it makes me sad because Jyou has come up with some flat out beautiful, haunting vocal melodies.
 
The name: Miko said in an interview that,
 
And let’s be honest, that explanation makes no sense. It sounds cool though, and really that’s what you need in a band name (and something unique that can be Googled).
 
My biggest problem with their cross symbol is that it probably shows up as a question mark or some other placeholder punctuation 20% of the time because who the hell has the time to look up the unicode symbols? (although I’m sure people who write about Witch-house bands have the code for the cross symbol memorized.)
 
See also: Serpentine†Ghost, Jail†Breaker, Vice†risk
 
 
xTripx

 
The band: A surprisingly endearing mix of oshare kei and numetal.
 
The name: Weirdly, I always pronounce the first ‘x’ in xTripx’s name but not the last one (ecks-trip). I actually think more bands need to come to terms with the fact that eventually the world will run out of new band names and everyone will have to resort to having a moniker that looks like a circa-2002 emo fan’s AIM screenname.
 
See also: xジハードx, 【TRiANGLE▼SONiX】, Noi’X
 
 
12012

 
The band: Undercode stalwarts that started out lo-fi and disjointed and nu-metal influenced but very charming, and graduated to poppier fare when they decided to take a stab at becoming famous.
 
The name: ‘Ichi ni zero ichi ni’ if you’re Japanese, ‘twelve-o’-twelve’ if you’re me. Allegedly named after a section of the California penal code that deals with illegal weapons… and that actually kind of tracks. It’s an extremely boring section though (besides we know Wataru prefers hand-to-hand combat):
 
 
Not a cool law for a band name. I think we’ve got a retconned term a la 420 and 311.
 
See also: Plenty of other band names that need a pronunciation guide:  0801弐209XX6* (zero hachi), …。(silence), 6→7 (upper)
 
*The guitarist of zero hachi should get an unnecessary punctuation in band names lifetime achievement award. He was in all these bands according to vkdb: †Zaide†,  Diod'honneur,  カレヰド, re:Make, 0801弐209XX6.
 
Be sure to add your favorite band name with unnecessary punctuation!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to vote and share your thoughts. We had 69 people submit a vote for this poll, which has to make this one of our most popular polls of all time! It is intriguing how little the hive mind opinion of our scene has changed within the last ten years. Over 75% of us believe that piracy is still a necessary evil, 72% of us cite piracy as one of the main factors of engagement retention, and that a whopping 60% of members believe Monochrome Heaven would get worse if downloads and piracy were to disappear overnight. I tend to agree with the majority, but I also agree with the minority. Things haven't gotten any easier to acquire legitimately as a sailor of the high seas since the turn of the century, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon, but I'm reluctant to force sweeping changes that I don't fully understand to an ecosystem which is one of the few remaining and active ties to the scene. On the other hand, we provide a valuable service through piracy that record companies couldn't throw enough money at to replicate, and the answers you all gave to the poll show that.
 
So this is what I propose we do next, just to see how things play out. The GazettE is releasing a new album, "NINTH", on 2018-06-13. Let us not share this album here until 2018-06-27. Ideally, as a scene we wouldn't share it at all, but I have no control over anything not posted here. If you purchase it on your own, please refrain from sharing here, but you can write reviews and openly talk about it. If you never planned on buying it, you may have to wait an additional two weeks. What I am interested in seeing is just how much our piracy impacts sales, and how much higher CD sales are if we don't immediately put it on the internet for free the day it comes out. Maybe Ruki will even make a twitter comment about it so we can get some deeper perspective. We can do this with two or three more hot releases, and then come back to discuss this again with some more information. I have some thoughts about how this will go, but I will save them until after the experiment is complete.

Thanks for reading.

I’ve had a Heresy membership for the past three years and to be honest I find it relatively cheap compared to other bands. I’m excited to see what they have in store for members during this new era. That being said, I think for what you pay for, you don’t get a whole lot out of it when it comes to their international fans. That’s to be expected. 
 
I’m not the biggest GazettE fan nor are they my favorite band but I do appreciate that they’ve since earned the respect they deserve over the years and continue to push out good music for what it’s worth. I don’t mind supporting them any way I can because after bands like 12012 and Sadie calling it quits, there’s only a few other Japanese bands that I even care about anymore.
 
I’m getting older, I’m married, have a kid on the way, work way too much and really don’t have the time to get into new music like I used to. So, seeing the GazettE still active and doing their thing and seeing them grow from their Cockayne Soup days to NINE really puts a smile on my face. 

Finally a real sixth gun I just joined here yesterday why is everyone one here is talking shit about the gazette? They are talking like it's the worst band  in vk.  This is really disrespectful to a great band like the gazette and to their real fans.  

I'll be happy if there's one or two songs on the level of DOGMA, UNDYING or OMINOUS.

I can enjoy a good bit of DOGMA on an individual track basis, but as a whole it's far too tiring to listen to.
 
edit: I can appreciate their foray into "darkness", but DOGMA was perhaps a bit too heavy-handed in its approach. Even DIM had a certain levity about it that kept the album from becoming self-indulgent to the point of staleness. That said, I do enjoy this darker/heavier sound of theirs, I just hope that they can create more of a balance on their next album. Have a little fun with it.

I thought the consensus was that OMINOUS was one of the best tracks in the album, hence the early release.

Overall I like Uruha's songs the best: 千鶴, DIM SCENE, TO DAZZLING DARKNESS, and CODA were all amazing in my opinion.

In celebration of Monochrome-Heaven's 10th Anniversary, we've decided to hop in our musical time machine and take a look at some of the important, classic, and downright pivotal J-rock albums of 2007! Below you'll find albums that left a significant impression on us as fledgeling J-rock fans and albums that impacted the fandom at large. So let's put on our nostalgia-goggles and take a look, shall we!!?? 
 
9mm Parabellum Bullet 
Termination

Alongside the likes of ling tosite sigure, these guys were one of the most hyped bands amongst the J-indie fandom at the time - and with great reason. On this album, 9mm crafted the perfect blend of explosive indie rock with elements of punk, hardcore, and metal - creating a sound so dynamic and fresh that even their naysayers couldn't deny it! TERMINATION was only their first full-length album, but it's responsible for inspiring an entire generation of successive bands with an influence that's still palpable to this day. Sadly, 9mm descended into utter mediocrity after this release, but this remains one of the few albums that I'd consider flawless, and it's widely regarded as a classic by fans.
-@CAT5
 
girugamesh
girugämesh

Few albums I have listened to in their entirety as much as girugamesh’s 2007 eponymous release. The 45-minute epic strips the soul bare - from the dynamic opener “Patchwork” to the heart wrenching “Kowarete Iku Sekai”, girugämesh brought out an unmatched explosion of creativeness from a group of friends that, despite barely breaking into their 20s, had given their all into music. It is a quality seldom heard in VK today as they channelled all of their aggression, elation, desperation, pain and longing, relishing the listener in girugamesh’s world of raw emotion where each song held meaning and every individual tune stuck to memory.
 
This is certainly one of the albums that not only epitomized 2007, but defined girugamesh for me. For many of us, bands like girugamesh catered to our angst-ridden adolescence, as we threw away our childish inclinations while gravitating toward the darker side of VK. And it was partially thanks to this album that gave me the faith to continue following them throughout their tumultuous latter years and see their career to their end, finally gaining closure with their swansong “period” that took them back to their formative roots.
-@helcchi
 
bis
Believe in Style

If girugamesh represented the transition into the dark side of visual kei to the generation that were growing up in the 00s, bis held tight to that childhood naïveté as they remained frozen in time, echoing sounds of a bygone era of oshare kei.
An ode to eternal youth, Believe in Style is an endearing Summer album that embodied all the stupid things we did when we were young and all the fun we had - free of consequences and responsibilities, as well as the bitterness we held towards growing up.
 
“Start”, “DAYS” and “SEASONS” were the quintessential high school anthems that perhaps started many people's venture into j-rock, brimming with youthful energy, catchy tunes and an attitude ready to conquer the world. It certainly seemed that success would come easy with the bright-eyed popular young band shooting their way to the top of the indies charts, yet bis’ world was painted through rose-colored glasses. And like many young bands trying to gain their footing in an adult world, the fun was short-lived and they disbanded way too early. Believe in Style would be their first and only full-length album, however not before leaving us with heartwarming memories.
-@helcchi
 
D'espairsRay 
MIRROR

Perhaps the only album I personally covered that sounds just as good today as it did ten years ago, MIRROR is one of the defining visual kei albums of the '00s. Every time I think of the mysterious cover, the riff to "Trickster" starts playing in my mind and Hizumi's crooning is like a harpoon that gets stuck in your head and can't be removed. It's funny to imagine how divisive this album was when it came out because it sounded nothing like [Coll:set], but in retrospect I might consider it the most approachable D'espairsRay album that still maintains the darkness I love them for. There's also bittersweet sentimentality talking, as this is the release which marks the point of no return for many fans.
-@Zeus
 
Eksperimentoj
Eksperimentoj

Having garnered a good amount of clout from the highly regarded band Dhal (a side-project formed by Aoki Robin of downy), vocalist Eugene Wakamikoto's first album with his own band Eksperimentoj was certainly a release of great interest back in 2007. In a lot of ways, Eksperimentoj sounded something like a spiritual successor to downy (who were on hiatus at the time and would remain as such for another 6 years). Eugene wrote and sung the album entirely in English, yet he sounded almost identical to Aoki Robin, and musically, the band played a gloomy, atmospheric style of post-rock that was aesthetically in line with downy as well. Though in spite of the similarities, Eksperimentoj still occupied a space of their own. Unfortunately, this was the only album they ever released, yet it's singular to this very day.
-@CAT5
 
HIZAKI grace project
Dignity of crest

Released on New Year's Day of 2007, HIZAKI grace project's first album was significant for me as it ushered in the second wind of my VK fandom, which is still kickin' today. I was delighted to see an old face, Juka (ex-Moi dix Mois), combined with some great neoclassical guitarwork and subtle tinges of MALICE MIZER (dat harpsichord in "Philosopher") that brought me back to when I first learned of VK in 2002. Virtuoso guitarists HIZAKI and Teru went on to form Versailles and Jupiter, but I still come back to Dignity to crest fairly often, as it showcases some of their best riffing.
-@fitear1590

Ling tosite sigure
Inspiration is DEAD

Ling tosite sigure (who were still being referred to as 'rin toshite shigure' by western fans at the time), had to be the most exciting band in Japanese indie at the time. Here you had a demure indie rock trio playing music with the technical prowess and ferocity of a death metal band, and their creativity seemed to know no bounds. Even if you found the vocals grating or annoying, you couldn't deny the Ling's ingenuity. Hell, before I grew to appreciate them, I found myself simply captivated by all of TK's insane riffage alone. Coming from a band so talented, and so obviously inspired, Inspiration is DEAD seemed like a statement - a dig against all of the bands who were content to tread the status quo instead of breaking new ground. And that's exactly what Ling did with this album, as they continued to do for years to come. Inspiration is DEAD remains a fan-favorite to this day, and as the band's final indie release, it's one of the most raw and unkempt records they've put out - a far cry from the polished, formulaic, and generally diluted music they've been producing lately.
-@CAT5
 
LOSTAGE
DRAMA

Just a year after LOSTAGE dropped the classic PLAY WITH ISOLATION, they returned again with this spectacular release. DRAMA took all of the emo-tinged indie rock of the previous album, but accentuated it with hard rock elements which resulted in a fresh and powerful new sound for the band. In fact, you could argue that this is the album that set the tone for the rest of the their career, as the style they crafted here is one that they've continued to hone throughout every album since. Truly a highlight in LOSTAGE's discography and the year 2007 alike.
-@CAT5
 
MERRY
M.E.R.R.Y.

After ten years, M.E.R.R.Y. still remains as one of MERRY's most memorable albums due to the band's versatile sound, which consisted of distorted punk rock with jazzy elements, groovy melodies, and some tender ballads. The singles included are "Blind Romance", "Saihate no Parade (最果てのパレード)", and the tender "Komorebi ga Boku o Sagashi Teru (木洩れ日が僕を探してる・・・)", which all remain as fan-favorite tracks today. In fact, 2007 was around the time of MERRY's prime, as the band had already been signed with major label Victor Entertainment for 2 years, and they had already performed overseas for the first time a few months prior to the album's release. Personally, the album has some of my favorite MERRY tracks ever, including "Utagoe Kissa 『MODERN』 (歌声喫茶『モダン』)", the catchy and melodic "Hirahira Tonderu. (ひらひらとんでる。)" (whose PV was directed by FULL of GUNIW TOOLS), and dat sweet bass solo at the start of "Coq d'or mama (コックドール・ママ)".
-@suji
 
nayuta
solar ribbon・solar children

Never heard of this band? No worries - most people hadn't heard of this band ten years ago either! In fact, nayuta is so obscure that only some of the most hardcore J-indie enthusiasts that I know have come across them, as this album wasn't released widely and almost no information can be found on it today. Still, despite their stature, nayuta has to be one of the best kept secrets of the J-indie scene, and this album is one of the best that you've never heard. On Myspace (yes, Myspace was still a thing in 07), they used to describe themselves as 'Underground hardcore parade music', and while that's actually pretty apt in a weird way, it doesn't do them justice. There's a definitely a hardcore element to their music, which is further emphasized by the rough and noisy production quality, but the band makes creative use of melody while maintaining the beauty of it. Add in some sublime male/female vocals and you have a sound that's as chaotic as it is charming. solar ribbon・solar children may be a hidden gem, but it's well worth excavating to wrap your ears around.
-@CAT5
 
OGRE YOU ASSHOLE
AlphaBeta vs. Lambda

If bands like Ling tosite sigure and 9mm Parabellum Bullet were dominating the aggressive side of Japanese indie in 2007, then on the opposite end of the spectrum, OGRE YOU ASSHOLE were the kings of slacker rock. The band already an album and a mini-album under their belts at the time, but Alpha Beta vs. Lambda truly solidified them as an indie rock force to be reckoned with. Characterized by laid-back grooves, smooth vocals, colorful riffs, and tight instrumentation, OYA carved out a delightful sound on this album that many younger bands like mitsume and siamese cats have aimed at, yet have never quite been able to hit. Hell, even the band themselves have never been able to live up to the sound they established here - and they've released eight albums since!
-@CAT5
 
Plastic Tree
Nega to Poji

2007 marked the 10th anniversary since Plastic Tree's major debut, and to pay all their efforts for making it that far, they decided to release the groundbreaking and jaw dropping album that is Nega to Poji. It was a major turning point for Plastic Tree, throwing away the old and bringing out new ideas. Nega to Poji as a whole laid out such a unique charm that if you listened to one song out of the album context you'd instantly recognize the Nega to Poji sound; the dreaminess, the grungy guitars, and Ryutaro's less childish to mesmerizing vocals. Honestly, there really is no bad track on the album as they all give it a perfect balance, except for old, but newer versions of tracks like "Spica", "Makka na Ito", and "hate red, dip it", that might feel like extras to some. I do admit however, that the new "hate red, dip it (loudest sound version)" flows well with the rest of the album. You've got the dreamy "Nemureru Mori" as a tranquil start, the pumping "Fujunbutsu" and "Elegy" to amp up the noise and energy, the heavy "Sabbath", which is possibly their heaviest track other than "Ghost", some impressive drumming in the melancholic "Kuroi Kasa", and the beautiful and heartbreaking "Andro Metamorphose" that received huge debate for copying Mew's song "Comforting Sounds", yet is still loved by most, if not all pura fans. I remember playing this album on heavy rotation the day it released. It was one of the best things I heard at the time and is still an absolute favorite of mine, which I'm sure many fans can agree with as well. Hell, there's even a whole studio version of the album on DVD from the limited edition. 
-@plastic_rainbow
 
RENTRER EN SOI
The bottom of chaos

It's not the album that springs to mind when I think of classics, but THE BOTTOM OF CHAOS is the album I think of when I think of Rentrer en Soi. The sound of a band successfully reinventing themselves to fit the hype sound of the time while still retaining their defining features and simultaneously progressing is as difficult to pull off as it is to describe, but for the most part THE BOTTOM OF CHAOS does this successfully. The album hasn't aged as well as I would have hoped - the production sounds thin, the growls are weak, and the best moments are segments of tracks spread over the whole affair rather than one or two solid songs - but when the entire package is this consistent it's still fun for a spin. Give this one a try if you want to know what fans a decade ago thought the tops in heavy music was.
-@Zeus
 
school food punishment
air feel, color swim

school food punishment debuted with their first mini-album school food is good food back in the spring of 2007, instantly turning heads as one of the new, promising indie bands on the block. Some people were even quick to compare them to Spangle call Lilli line - one of the most prominent female-fronted indie bands of the time. However, It wasn't until later that year with the release of this album that sfp really began to come into their own. The groovy, upbeat power-pop of the tracks like "you may crawl" and "art line" were basically the prototypes for what would become sfp's signature sound later on in their major label years. While the moody and dramatic "loop, share" was like a precursor to the band's 3rd mini-album Riff-rain, which came to be widely regarded as their best work when it dropped the next year. Still air feel, color swim is an important release that marks the development of a band that later grew to become iconic in their own right.
-@CAT5
 
Shiina Ringo
Heisei Fuzoku

Shiina Ringo is a legendary figure in Japanese music, hands down. With her gigantic and diverse discography, it can be quite overwhelming to start digging in. While I started with her most famous albums 勝訴ストリップ (Shouso Strip) and 加爾基 精液 栗ノ花 (Kalk Semen Chestnut Flower), I wasn't officially 'sold' on her until heisei fuuzoku. The album, which was arranged with the help of Neko Saito and served as a film OST, is a collection of self-covers and new tracks (like "Gamble"), all with a sumptuous orchestral/jazz/big band sound. The reinterpretation of "茎 (kuki)" as a sultry jazz number is particularly unreal. For anyone not quite ready for Shiina's pop-rock or more experimental side, heisei fuuzoku is another great entry point to her oeuvre.
-@fitear1590
 
the GazettE
STACKED RUBBISH

2007 might have been the last year I was flat-out head-over-heels in love with visual kei. Great albums and band debuts were happening left and right, its popularity was growing, bands were touring internationally, and people were still allowed to post fan-made content on YouTube (or am I the only one missing hilarious fanvids?). One of my most played albums that year, and probably my most played GazettE album ever, was STACKED RUBBISH. Not only did the singles leading up to the album kick ass, but just about every B-side from them was just as good in their own right, and it's no surprise some ended up making it to the final cut. The album enveloped the singles perfectly too, with just the right amount of variety between upbeat clap-alongs like "ガンジスに紅い薔薇(ganges ni akai bara)" and "SWALLOWTAIL ON THE DEATH VALLEY" and GazettE's classic, bitter aggression in tracks like "BURIAL APPLICANT", "MOB 136 BARS" and "CIRCLE OF SWINDLER". A light sprinkling of Ruki's new-found 'hip hop' influence also gave the album a dose of intrigue, as it opened with the questionably titled and unintentionally hilarious "ART DRAWN BY VOMIT" as well as the unforgettable did-he-really-just-say-fuckboy? engrish in "AGONY". Whether it's for a good laugh or a good headbang, STACKED RUBBISH's epic-ness needs to live on forever in VK infamy. Yes I did probably link the entire album, fight me.
-@doombox
 
Tokyo Jihen
Variety

Let's take a trip back to the past when Tokyo Jihen was saving jazz and Shiina Ringo was still relevant. Believe it or not, Tokyo Jihen's third full-length  娯楽(バラエティ), pronounced Goraku, turns ten this year! Feel old yet?  I would consider 娯楽 to be the black sheep of their discography, mostly due to everyone but Ringo composing music for this release. 娯楽 includes seven tracks from guitarist Ukigumo, five tracks from keyboard player Ichiyo Izawa and one composed by bassist Seiji Kameda. Drummer Toshiki Hata was also asked to contribute, but he declined. There's nothing wrong with it, but when it comes time to name drop Tokyo Jihen tracks, my mind often does not wander here.  娯楽 is best known for lead singles "O.S.C.A." and "キラーチューン" (Killer-tune), and  "金魚の箱" (Kingyo no Hako) which became the theme for the film 魍魎の匣 (Mouryou no Hako), but my personal favorite song is "黒猫道" (Kuroneko-do). It ended up selling 175,000 copies and was certified Gold by the RIAJ.
-@Zeus
 
trico
MUSICS

Sometimes brilliance goes overlooked because it's found in the most unexpected places, or in trico's case - a place that wasn't even on the radar for most. 2006 saw the release of the band's first album, but it was just humdrum enough to be negligible. They hadn't become a band that you'd hear readily flying off the lips of J-indie fans, so it made sense that Musics went by barely detected when it dropped the next year. I'm not sure what transpired in the time between these two releases, but trico had clearly become inspired in the interim. As opposed to downy, who were far left-field, and sleepy.ab, who were perhaps a bit too poppy, trico managed to hit the perfect stride of Radiohead-inspired rock, while also forging their own identity. With Musics, the band remained highly accessible while keeping things interesting. They took some interesting creative liberties, employing unusual sounds and subtly progressive arrangements, yet never became overly-experimental or self-indulgent. This was a short but fantastic mini-album, and it's a shame that this was trico's last proper release. I would have LOVED to hear what else they could have gone on to produce!
-@CAT5
 
 Versailles
Lyrical Sympathy

Many of these tracks have been revisited and re-recorded in many releases by Versailles, which should indicate just how influential this release is. The Revenant Choir  was the first release, but Lyrical Sympathy is what opened the door and introduced the band to the world. Classics such as "The Love from a Dead Orchestra" and "Sympathia" are among many fan favorites, and it's always refreshing to hear a power-metal band take a few trends and buck them. Actually, there are only one or two tracks here which haven't made a reappearance because they've even recycled the intro track! A decade ago when I first stumbled across Versailles, I never thought I'd have the opportunity to see them grow and come this far. Lyrical Sympathy holds up if you approach it from an ideas perspective, but as far as execution goes it's a diamond in the rough that I enjoy with the thickest rose-tinted glasses I can find.
-@Zeus
 
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Liked our list? Disagree with our list? Did we miss anything? Feel free to leave your comments below, let us know what you think, and let us know what albums you found remarkable that have turned 10 this year!  

New year postcard from FC  Uruha's looking good xDD
 
Sorry for the poor quality lol

Anyone think that the recent GazettE SEs have improved? In particular, I think they have gotten better at getting them to either flow into the next track or continue from the previous track. Maybe they weren't trying to do that in earlier albums, but I noticed that in BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY, both the intro and outro had pretty seamless transitions, and it seemed to be the same with DOGMA's intro. I also think the more recent SEs sound better but that's just my opinion. For example, even though DIM is my favorite album, I thought most of the SEs on it were pretty lackluster compared to, say, CODA (not really a fair comparison, I know). 

I definitely think they've improved a lot, but I think the style of SEs have changed as well. They used to kinda just be snippets of cool little beats at the start and end of an album, but since DIM they seem to be trying to make SEs that fit with some sort of theme with the album. I think DIM was an earnest attempt, but I agree that they feel pretty lacklustre now - especially compared to the recent albums' SEs. I also think the songwriting on DIM is really high level, and the SEs thus feel sorta slapped together at the last minute.

My favorite is the one that's my profile picture. I like their older looks that were more over-the-top better than their current ones.
 

 
I also really liked Ruki's look in the PV of 飼育れた春、変われぬ春.
 

 
Their DOGMA look was pretty good though, I have to admit.
 

If you know Japanese, this site has pretty thorough explanations for the discography up to DOGMA too. http://seesaawiki.jp/the_gazette_expla/

Anyone think that the recent GazettE SEs have improved? In particular, I think they have gotten better at getting them to either flow into the next track or continue from the previous track. Maybe they weren't trying to do that in earlier albums, but I noticed that in BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY, both the intro and outro had pretty seamless transitions, and it seemed to be the same with DOGMA's intro. I also think the more recent SEs sound better but that's just my opinion. For example, even though DIM is my favorite album, I thought most of the SEs on it were pretty lackluster compared to, say, CODA (not really a fair comparison, I know). 

They have changed their look quite a lot? Whats your favourite?
My favourite one is from the live Decomposition beauty

I'm going to buck the trend in this topic and say I do! But not right now. I never thought to ask my girlfriend if she wanted kids, partially because I didn't want them now either and partially because I just expected her to. The latter part sounds messed up, but I can't do it alone. If I could, this would be a totally different conversation. It's always been "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it", but bridges are euphemisms for problems so at some level, I view childbearing as a problem too. So I guess I fit in here enough to ramble for a bit longer.
 
The reasons I have for that aren't unique. I'm depressed and probably have an undiagnosed mental illness I'd pass on to my children. The world sucks. I don't want to wake up one day and hear the news that my child was killed for being black. I like video games too much. I'd have to be responsible with my weed usage. I like having money for things instead of money for diapers and formula. My opinions on most of these things may change with time and that's why I can't say no. @The Bread Wolf, maybe the doctors are approaching your problem the way I approach mine and are just deciding for you that in the future you may change your mind and so they don't want to do an invasive procedure now. That's fucked. But as you said, people have far more invasive surgeries for less developed reasons, so the docs should just respect your wishes. And if passing on your genetics isn't of importance to you, you can always adopt or raise fur babies if you change your mind. I believe one can fulfill the need to be a caretaker without having to have babies.
 
I don't think the concept of not wanting to have kids is unusual. Starting with the toll it takes on the woman's body, coming to the realization that birth is really just the beginning, and then shouldering the responsibility of having to raise another human being is a lot. My friend is having a(n unplanned) child and when he told me, it hit me. I started thinking about all the things I'd have to do and how much my life would change, and it was a daunting realization. I can't imagine the thoughts that go through a woman's head, but one thought that won't leave my head is how lucky I am that I won't ever have to push a cantaloupe out of my pelvis. Maybe the cognitive burden would be less if women didn't feel forced into having a baby (but I'd blame biology before society on that one). If you can come to that realization now, and determine your life is better without a kid than with a kid now and into the immediate future, than more power to you!

On a more global note, I think our generation not wanting to procreate en masse isn't a bad thing. We don't have the resources to sustain our current population as is; the last thing we need to do is double it.

Honestly, the only argument I have for you having kids is to power the next generation of visual kei fans. Get them while they're young, I always say.
 
 

Just like the title says this is an attempt to bring back the m-h jrock awards for the year 2017 which last took place way back in 2012 and apparently ended do to lack of participation. Awards were given for best album, single, new band, etc. And all of this was decided by user votes.
 
So I asked about reviving this and here's what @Zeussaid, 
Judging by all of the yearly best album/single reviews I would hope there's still some interest in something like this. So if you want to see the "Monochrome heaven J-Rock Awards 2017" then help me get this topic 50 likes and/or 50 comments by the end of the month.

That set list is unreal. They could make a BEST-OF out of that and I wouldn't be mad.