Hakari

Well, I've been lurking Monochrome Heaven for some time, and I decided to open an account here. Really impressed by the high activity rate here. It's great to always find another music forum dedicated to Japan or even any other part of Asia, as that part of the world tends to go ignored by the masses.
 
I'm really into a lot of the old school bands, such as Anthem, Terra Rosa, Sabbrabells, Concerto Moon, Sabbat, Bowwow, Sacrifice, Rosenfeld, Abigail, and so on. My tastes in metal are quite diverse, although I don't really listen to genres outside of metal.
 
One of my friends on here helps run a forum dedicated to Japanese metal and the like. It's doing quite well. I hope a few of you guys would check it out and let us know what you think. I just really enjoy talking about Japanese metal with my friends.

Apparently in an interview, multiple times the band members said there will be new songs during the dum spiro spero tour. I hope that wasn't mistranslation

Honestly I don't think HGP sounds like Versailles at all though.

The TRUE football too! Not that prissy kick sport they call football over in euroland and pretty much the rest of the world!

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while!
 
I wonder if - OH MOTHERF- FUCK YOU SONYYYYYY!!!!!!!
 
Gonna have to source another way to view this, but I'm excited nonetheless!

Racism is a very real issue, but all of this fuss about Ellen is pure nonsense. It's literally just people jumping at shadows. The people who know what's REALLY going on definitely aren't sitting on twitter or social media playing who can be the biggest SJW race baiting dipshit. And they definitely aren't concerned about a mere joke that some comedian made.
 
 
Art doesn't need reason!  

no.
 

When Ellen typed out her tweet, I bet the thought of this being a tad on the racist side, came across her mind. I'm sure she must've thought "Oh, they'll know what i mean.....", and posted it anyways.
 
Guess they didn't.
 
I wanna defend Ellen, I really do. Yet, with the number of current events  involving (in the eyes of some) some form of racism, she should have known better.
With that being said, it's a damn shame that she and everyone else, will now be afraid to share anything. We all know she was just trying to be funny.
 
I'd agree that everyone now becomes "triggered" by anything that 20 years ago, was used as a comical stunt or baseline for entertainment. Too many keyboard warriors now.
Way to make things not funny anymore.
 
 

Poor Ellen.
 
The last person you'd expect to get blown up on social media, makes front news for a tweet.
Really shows how irrational some people will go to take things out of context.
 
Thinking that society today would find find your humor innocent Ellen was mistake #1.

Lovely! I used to have family who lived in Honolulu and I visited frequently. Absolutely beautiful.

Oahu

back in Hawaii for vacation. enjoying visiting friends and eating all the delicious local food!!

I'm yellow, bitches!

does any1 else think that swapping random words from miyavi's upcoming album tracklist with s*** makes everything a million times more exciting?
 
he could been a meme queen for a hot second too :'(

can't believe i'll be moving back with my parents tomorrow.
not too happy about it but at least i'll be saving more money.

Kieth Ape is the shit omfg.

Found a place to live next year.

Does this count?
 

If anyone needed anymore convincing

If anyone needed anymore convincing

okay sine you two wanna do that
Since1889 for though because i was just using unsraw for the harsh and hard beat, and hated when he sung. With since 1889 im not using them and i can rock out to their hardness. Their songs are more fun to and interesting. and  unsraw wasnt as flexible to me. Also since 1889 has alot of followers doing his harsh vocals, selm, div and some others
 

If anyone needed anymore convincing

I enjoyed the title track. But like Sustain the truth I was only intrigued by this track for a short period of time. Curious to see what they are going to do with their next single/album.

Tracklist:
1. 詩踏み (utafumi)
2. 空谷の跫音 (kuukoku no kyuuon) feat. SUGIZO
3. Revelation of mankind [REMIX]
 
| Just your standard Dir en grey single
 
Dir en grey should think hard about not including B-sides with their next single. I haven't heard a convincing original B-side since "腐海 (Fukai)" and that was back in the VULGAR era. I don't want Dir en grey taking great tracks and hiding them in the dark corners of their discography, but I hate feeling like their additional offerings are never worth listening to. Once in a blue moon the band will surprise you with something decent - like the "undecided" remix - only to turn around and punch you in the gut with something like the unplugged version of "AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS". A part of me wonders if they even put effort into the coupling tracks, knowing that only hardcore fans would even think of looking there. These complaints don't take away from "詩踏み" being a wonderful single track, but it's a fact that as far as Dir en grey singles are constructed, this is nothing revolutionary.
 
Sounding like a less restrained SUSTAIN THE UNTRUTH, "詩踏み (utafumi)" drops the nuanced groove and focus on atmosphere for pure aggression and it's absolutely amazing. Distilling all the best parts of their last three albums into a three minute songs is a herculean task, but Dir en grey do it right. The loose structure takes a few listens to digest, yet it still manages to create an engaging experience that captures feelings of solitude and anger the band was aiming for. This I attribute to the production; the mix feels full and the bottom end feels heavy and tight as it should, but with a memorable chorus and Kyo's performance overall I get claustrophobic, religious vibes. One thing is for sure is from the distortion laced opening to the creepy interlude, "詩踏み" keeps my attention effortlessly the whole time. The completely mental music video and their accompanying look has quickly become my favorite one of year, perfectly capturing the aggression, energy, and confusion of the song. It is also a clear sign that they're over their rebellious phase as they've taken their visuals back to new and shocking heights. This is one hell of a return to a scene they said they were done with all those years ago! As we approach their 20th anniversary, "詩踏み" is a bold statement that Dir en grey isn't done impressing us yet.
 
If only I had kind words for the rest of the single...
 
I can feel my attention span rapidly depleting as the dull "空谷の跫音 (kuukoku no kyuuon)" makes a reappearance featuring SUGIZO of LUNA SEA fame fiddling on the violin for extra ambience. This is what happens when a good idea hits too late. It's an improvement over the original, but it also doesn't differ by much. Whenever I think of SUGIZO making a guest appearance on a track he usually elevates it to another level. Unfortunately SUGIZO doesn't leave too a large impact on this track. Iit goes in one ear and out the other in five minutes. I'm content to throw out the original album version and slide this in its place because SUGIZO makes it infinitely better, but I'm not going bananas over this.
 
"Revelation of mankind [REMIX]" is very misleading and is the band's newest entry in "garbage remixes no one wanted or asked for". The original track was a passable second attempt at "流転の塔 (ruten no tou)". This sounds like nondescript trance step blasting from burnt out speakers in a seedy Manhattan club, and that's a sentence I never wanted to use to describe Dir en grey music. The upbeat tone, vocoder, and wubs stick out badly in sound and mood. It reminds me a lot of ゆらめき (yurameki) (S.N.Y. Remix) in the worst ways possible, especially in how little it resembles the original song save for some lyrics here and there. Even as the staunchest Dir en grey fan, I say you can do without this.
 
Take the first track and split.
 
 
Purchase:
cdjapan | itunes