Pretsy

Some guy named "Orange" off Unravel. studios directed the PV for "Aftermath" (you can see the credits in the end) and I think they should definitely let go off Visual Trap too - the quality of PVs is kinda getting down tbqh.

Now it's DEG's turn to promote themselves - in terms of PV tho, I really hope that this is their only "cheap" effort for future/possible PV collection (AVERAGE LATIN, lmao) ps. Red Soil pv is hands down their worst pv ever.

Considering the content shown in that teaser, it's sort of "Saku meets Dogville" = child abuse/something related? = totally not appropriate for proper web streaming. /justspeculating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFYgR_FJiBU PV edit: the concept here is pretty straightforward too (I like my DEG Pvs with more, say, *obscure* artsiness...no, not a pun lol). But hey, "Fukushima truth" is kinda getting old to be discussed about.

After many listens, this is pretty much what I feel now. The title song has enough oomph to make listener interested - but that too doesn't last for long. Choruses are kinda boring here tbqh. Also, it's kinda hard to imagine low-key Kyo vocals (let's face it - most of his low-key vocals these days feel quite monotonous) fitting their newer production. Even if he has to force himself in many situations, his "whiny" vocals give a good contrast to background A-tuning riffage and Toshiya's "KLANG!"-bass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8O55M4kYEc I reuploaded it... EDIT: for those who got their shipment already - you know what to do next (I have no need to tell you)

DIR EN GREY - Rinkaku Reason: I think DEG didn't really have any beautiful illustrations earlier as album/single artwork (Glass Skin cover is not counted for reasons) - and to think that Kyo himself drew this, is just mind-blowing. I dig avant-garde-like elements in this cover (made me think of Resident Evil in the first place tho, lol), and that makes it much more memorable out of their visual repertoire. L'Arc~en~Ciel - True Reason: No one could argue with the fact that L'arc guys were really into late 80s/early 90s pop artwork during Tierra-True phase, and this is the perfect example of it. "Seductive eyes" here works quite well as a visual description of what will come out of your speakers during the first listen. Album's content is very charming, floating, emotional and yeah, seductive! Early 90s-iness of font used in the cover works as so-called "sound indicator" too. Wish they could really get back to this kind of romanticist approach... Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist Reason: Might be pretty, say, dirty for some people - but we, Deftones' listeners/fans (I know you are in this community), should admit this already (despite the early disliking towards the cover above like 6-7 years ago): after listening to the album more than once, you will realize why they used this kind of album cover. It's pretty sensual! Just like album's musical content, haha.

Damn, it's kinda sad that I know him only due to him being the main guy behind the sound of Kuroyume's Romance of Scarlet, Cruel, Feminism and Fake Star (producing and contributing some instruments). Hope his legacy will live on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIBMdTtwiUQ Full single on YT, guys. Such a good title song tbqh (very Vulgar-ish at some parts) and yeah, I haven't heard DEG doing constant wah-wahing for awhile. And about Ruten no Tou's acoustic remake - they definitely need to make more acoustic songs in the same vein...

That mask looks like it's been plastered straight on girl's face through photoshop. Either way, I am okay with them having ~some~ DEG worship - BUT NOT in "true grief"-kind of way (I mean seriously, Yurameki?) - and I hope that this sample is the sign of that.

Se oli vain nopea olettamukseni - ottaen myös sen huomioon, että moni suomalainen "ernu" ei ole välttämättä ikinä kuullut tästä yhteisöstä (ja jos nyt oikein muistan, kaikki japsirokki-foorumissa vissiin tietää tän paikan?) ja tänne saapuvista J-yhtyeistä saatan ehkä korkeintaan tsiigailla Girugameshia jos ne tulee oikeasti tännepäin kesällä (en sano mitään niiden viimeisimmän laatan suhteen...)

I went a full round in terms of my musical taste. My teens were filled with various nu-metal garbage (of which some ended in my frequent playing habits even nowadays) but pre-teens instead were filled with glee, house-y, poppy, disco-ish and calming/serene music They made a comeback last year, but now with much poppier and wider content. In that sense, I would say that I am more accepting music-wise than earlier - and much more defensive in terms of my own taste (affected my circles a bit but I won't even talk about it here). And as with most MH veterans/sophomores, I lost my grasp on frequent "vk-ing" - okay, VK scene these days might have some curiosities lying ahead, BUT they won't necessarily please me the same way like before.

I would think that way too if it only wasn't for TWO Uroboros-themed stadium gigs (2010 and 2012) and long-term riding on Uroboros fame (remastered Uroboros pretty much was the side-product of their 2nd stadium gig promotion).

http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/6902/ranking/cd_album/ this is the first thing DEG fans need to see before assuming something about their latest efforts having been somewhat "successful" commercially (and nekkichi is definitely not the only one to dislike the album - read: major population of Japanese music listeners (being able to somewhat read the language made me able to see harsh criticism in such places as 2ch for instance)) And they (the band) actually took it into account! Notice the high, commercial value of Rinkaku - no wonder that they managed to land themselves back on proper TV airing ever since their "comeback" with (2008 - and Hageshisato's case was basically fandom's presumptions of it being full-on clean vocal-fest until the full song came out (check the diagrams) -> applies to "THE UNRAVELING" case as well (well, of course it would gather lost fans back with "the combination of old and new"-slogan) If you think that they don't acknowledge their flips and flops at all, then tell me: what was the point of remastered/expanded Uroboros + dozens of Uroboros promotion tours for 2+ years then? Definitely not faux-artistry of "willing to express the world of Uroboros further" ! Oh, and if they wanted to go really avant-garde/"fuck the major music sense"-type of way, they wouldn't do Vanitas/Lotus either (those two stick out like sore thumbs anyway, why? They are obvious "old fan staplers", I say) So yeah, if they kept their wits - they will make their next album much more commercial (aka "listenable" major music thinking-wise) than DSS was. And like nekkichi, I would be actually pleased too if that really happened - in fact, on topic-wise, I think "STU" will retain the commercial value too! I apologize for going severely off-topic , MH staff.

Holy shit, I am sorta digging this (well to be honest, SuG has been one of my guilty pleasures for a while) - their artistic direction here looks quite decent too. What's that Fam Entertainment anyway? I seem to stumble upon some ghetto label with the same name all the time so I really hope someone would enlighten me about this.

On par with Rinkaku and much better than Unraveling (even though it's hard to say anything yet tbh)...

and this is where I will cite my earlier comment off the other thread in different fashion: it's not their music that landed them with "major status" - it's Byou's 100x deals with various fashion magazines, brands etc. etc. (Men's egg, Civarize...it's easy to spot him in various gal guy-related promo tbqh)

On täälläkin aika kuolettavan hiljaista kun kerran tänne (as in Suomeen) ei tuu pitkään aikaan mitään huomionarvoisia* J-akteja (etenkin Gazekeikan jälkeen). ja mäpä arvaan, oot vissiin tullut tänne japsirokki-foorumilta, paradoxal? *sellaiset kuin Miyavi, ADAMS tai joku LOUDNESS (jaujau) ei mee mukaan laskuihin, sori!

I think they are trying to be more of DEG x Gazette-kind of mess (considering the fact that they even went out of their way to emulate DSS in one of their songs and hire Ted Jensen for mastering (??????????)) Also, I remember the middle guy being very pricky but hey, DEGstania is never friendly towards people thinking "outside its borders"...

Album-themed tours? I am in for the first 2 tours, if they manage to capture some moments of it for a DVD or something

editing my list - for the last time, I promise. Japanese: Capsule - CAPS LOCK THE NOVEMBERS - Zeitgeist DIR EN GREY - THE UNRAVELING Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - なんだこれくしょん SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS - CIRCLES Towa Tei - Lucky Perfume - Level3 geek sleep sheep - Nightporter Downy - 第五作品集『無題』 Möscow Çlub - Station M.C.Ç.B. Tam Tam - Polarize Non-Japanese: Sleigh Bells - Bitter Rivals A$AP ROCKY - LONG.LIVE.A$AP Daft Punk - Random Access Memories Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels Glasser - Interiors Goldfrapp - Tales of Us

Inb4 No one realized that Kiddie's vocalist will sing Dir en grey's -I'll- (yup, that's anime song too, new DEG fanboys/girls!)

Gotta dig that "glamorous gasmask look" of Toshiya's tbqh Other than that, almost off-topic thing I would like to discuss is the fate of Unraveling/Rinkaku PVs? I am gonna bet that both Rinkaku (based on TABULA RASA performance) and this new PV won't have any sort of "freaky shit" going on. Instead of "we should wait for the next PV dvd", I would like to hear people who actually bothered to ASK SUN-KRAD (or anyone affiliated with DEG staff) about this matter. Aren't PVs supposed to be streamed so that promotion would boost up? I am not really familiar with the way how certain promotion tricks would affect the sales, so yeah...

Women: Ringo Shiina - I adore her radical, but still mature changes, and admit already guys: she's such a cutie (Cat's "the milf of j-rock" is not an overstatement at all!) Nocchi from Perfume - I don't personally get those who call her "the most un-feminine one", considering that she has some sort of "strong woman image" imho. Guess I am into tomboy-ish ones? Who knows. Utada Hikaru - for the same reasons as Shiina tbqh, unf. Men (I just look up to them - not gonna go on "over-obsessive, hypersexual and rabid fangirl" mode, yuck): Toshiya (DEG) - obviously the best-looking (and the most tasteful style-wise) member in DEG- even nowadays, heh. Hyde - even if he has that of "wasted"-like appearance, he still managed to save his "almost androgynous" looks back from the past. Byou (Screw) - okay, this guy can't even sing. But hey, at least he's doing well in being "more-than-decent" looking both with makeup and without makeup (not that many post-millennium vksters have a chance to appear in various fashion-related events/magazines more than once, hey) J would have been in my list too, only if it wasn't for his apparent, sweaty "hyuk-hyuk"-ness back in the 90s. Oh, and I adored Ayu's/Kuu's looks back in the day but eww what did happen to them now tho...

I think such songs as "SERAFINE" for instance had that U2 flavor you would still hear in vk music - a la L'arc,Alice Nine etc...