Deremie

offer to babysit their illegitimate children

I'm not a fan of the test by 16personalities... there are even communities on MBTI that completely disregard tests on the internet and especially the one by 16p.
 
But I'm also an INTP and delighted to see so many people with smiliar types here c:
 

I'm not a fan of the test by 16personalities... there are even communities on MBTI that completely disregard tests on the internet and especially the one by 16p.
 
But I'm also an INTP and delighted to see so many people with smiliar types here c:
 

A lot has been already written about the SS uniform being an 'edgy fashion thing' that was copied over and over again by generations of vk bands from the 80s until today. Personally I think it's cringy and stupid but I can't really feel offended after seeing it done so many times.
In fact it's also pretty exotic and in a way understandable that the Japanese wouldn't feel as sensitive to it as Europeans and would generally be less educated about it than them.
What I find much more problematic is the way a lot of bands are using the  imagery of Japanese imperialism. (WWII Uniforms, rising sun flags, propaganda) After all, Japan has its own fascist history of imperialism and war crimes, mainly in other Asian countries. And in contrast to Germany they don't really admit them and don't make mention of it in their history books. It's not really controversial to use these images, despite the crimes they stand for. Using symbols from foreign history as some exotic gimmick is one thing (albeit not great), but using the same propaganda your ancestors used a while back without any proper reflection and not expecting backlash either just shows that young Japanese people are very oblivious and ignorant due to their lack of a proper political education.

I wish they'd come up with a fresh idea for once. Their post-reunion stuff is just one big lazy, derivative, self-referential snoozefest. But every time they announce something new, there's this tiny bit of hope that it might not suck or put me to sleep.

Wataru is an Instagram model now 😘
 
https://www.instagram.com/ruco_inc/
 
https://twitter.com/RUCO_inc (I think he also mentioned he won't play in bands anymore, idk if that's correct tho)

I think a lot of people here, including myself lol, don't really understand how all this stuff works in Japan in the vk scene especially also in relation of the general public in Japan. Afaik, vk is already perceived as the last refuge for people totally unfit for society, an whether some bandoman is guilty of this and that over there is not really something to cause much attention, probably because the perception of the vk is pretty much true and all these dudes are just really shitty when it comes to treating both women and each other, I mean just look up stories of how they treated the vocalist from Screw back in the day and imagine if something like this came out involving some lamestream band in the west, like that could pretty much be the end of everyone involved; and this is only the beginning, like I think we've already heard tons of stories of really dodgy stuff which while shocking to people in the west accustomed to a totally different kind of culture and conduct, especially when it comes to regarding an elder statesman of the scene like ki$aki. This is an underground music culture of rejects that had a flash in the pan moment 20 years ago that brought it to the surface, which while an important moment it for sure didn't change the general makeup and reality of the scene, which is a large prostitution racket ran by yakuza and horny guys wanting to play shitty rock 'n roll to a fanbase consisting of people with as many issues an the bandguys themselves.
 
And to add to this I think everyone knows the Japanese think we are joke and that some gaijins are rustled is literally no concern of theirs, unless you're willing to fuck or buy them some chrome hearts of course.

THIS
Plus, when they do fanservice I feel even less guilty about it. It's less cringey than shipping yourself with them tbh.

Damn IZA slaying his looks as usual 

this is great!
 
the chorus take me back to 2005 oshare peak

Schwarz Stein will release 2 new singles (1800 yen each) this year!
 
Their first single will be released on May 11 (1800 yen), and their second single, "Queen Leech" will be released on July 20.
 
Purchase benefits include a Special arrange CD (Venue only) and a Comment CD (Mail Order only)

@Jigsaw9 that's hilariously spot on.

Except! As someone who loves Atom Miraiha No. 9 - it has become my second favorite album of theirs after Six/Nine! - it pains me to see it not get the adoration it deserves. Granted, it is a bit weird and even cringy at times (the "I don't know if I should be impressed how they do that with a straight face" kind). There's also the aspect where the music very deliberately references recognizable sounds and moods - but not without its unique twist on them! I think the title is a key to the method, a future built from fragments of the familiar and nostalgic. But once you embrace the album, there is nothing like it. So let me be super self-indulgent and do a track by track of why it rocks. 
 
cum uh sol nu - This is halfway a grandiose incantation about immortality that would be at home at any old sci-fi or fantasy film with bad effects, but also personally the chorus gives me the image of a lone drunk rambling ("I'll never die, ha!"). Is it a flask of alcohol or the alchemist's flask with the homunculus inside (unscramble the title)? Keep the theme of creating humans in mind, because next comes...
 
PINOA ICCHIO - The superior love song for the age of AI. Listen to Imai having so much fun on the guitar! It's the combination of danger and exhilaration (to the point of madness or system breakdown) that I love.
 
Devil's WIngs - It really gives the feeling of flying, falling apart into sensations and coming together again. Also if you read the lyrics, the juxtapoition of the standard gothic imagery of souls and devils with the cells multiplying is cool.
 
El Dorado - This, this is my favorite! The melody inexorably pulling you forward, and one the most vivid Sakurai performances ever as the drunk "alchemist", in Mexico at that.
 
Bi NEO Universe - Eh, I'm not so big on this one. "aishiaVODKA"  is iconic though.
 
BOY septem peccata mortalia - This one is pretty funny with the whining ("Why is it wrong?") and the tantrum at the song climax. Also the vehiment denial of telling lies always reminded me of Pinocchio (given the second song's title), so I always imagine this song as his journey through the Land of Toys, only a not-quite-PG-13 version of it.
 
Jukai - I'm not sure this even works without the imagery of the lyrics in mind, but they come together with the music to form a terribly vivid sensual impression. Sakurai tying love and death is nothing new, but never has it been quite this chilling.
 
THE SEASIDE STORY - There they go again with the tonal whiplash. Now excuse me but I LOVE THIS. I'm just unreasonably happy with the idea of Sakurai singing a song from the point of view of the little mermaid reimagined as a shoujo heroine without batting an eye. I don't know how the conversation about this went, but thank you Imai! And just what a lovely summer jam. (Mix with Sid Vicious ON THE BEACH for pure perfection.)
 
FUTURE SONG - It is the future and you're kicking ass. Apparently you're also getting some. But bottom line, if you don't take the excuse to self-insert yourself into an imaginary space opera, what even is the point?

Manjusaka - This one is striking, the way it walks the line between tender and cutting, spiteful even. The music gives me a very specific feeling, like the electric air before a thunderstorm. Also if you are a B-T lyrics nerd, there is cool continuity with the imagery of the cherry blossoms - in Kalavinka they "suck red blood and sing", and here they are "spitting blood" (going by Cayce's translations).

Cuba Libre - The first thing I fell in love with about Atom Miraiha, especially with it coming on the heels of The Mortal, was how colorful it was, and this is the clearest example. Maybe because Cayce pointed out that "Taiyou ga Ippai" is the Japanese title of "Plein Soleil", but this song has a bit of that old film glamour to it for me on top of the carnival vibe going. It's also impossibly catchy.

Ai no Souretsu - It either gets you in the feels, or it doesn't. The grand yet poignant closer. (Only it isn't! Ha!)
 
NEW WORLD - Part of me hates that this is the actual closer. Don't get me wrong, I like the song, how airy and shimmery it is, and the water-spiral-dancing line, pretty! But after Ai no Souretsu? Nah mate. I usually do the same I do with Merry's Fuyu no Castanet (which I also like) and pretend it was never on its album. Once in a blue moon though, I let myself think how it could fit in the album progression, and it sends my thoughts spiralling back through the beginning, zeroes and nines and going from the creation of humans to the creation of whole worlds. So I am happy it is where it is.

Excuse the rambling, but guys, see, I stayed until 5 in the morning to write about this album! Please give it a chance, something just may click.

It can be quite intimidating, yeah.  
 
If this helps, here's a little breakdown of their post-2000 albums so you can get a general feel:
 - ONE LIFE, ONE DEATH (2000): dads discover science fiction
 - 極東 I LOVE YOU (2002): dads discover science fiction but with layers*
 - MONA LISA OVERDRIVE (2003): dads discover cyberpunk*
 - 十三階は月光 (2005): dads dress up for Halloween and drink a bit too much but it goes much better than expected
 - 天使のリボルバー (2007): dads being dads
 - memento mori (2009): dads being dads but more rad, how do you do, fellow kids?
 - RAZZLE DAZZLE (2010): dads stumble into a disco, drink a bit too much but this time it does not go well
 - 夢見る宇宙 (2012): dads being dads who took their medication
 - 或いはアナーキー (2014): dads could not find their medication... hilarious results!
 - アトム未来派 No. 9 (2016): I could not find the dads but this background music is kinda okay
 - No. 0 (2018): dads have become cyborgs, I have become a dad while listening, feels weird man
 
* originally these two albums were imagined by the band as one concept double-album
 
My personal recommendations would be MONA LISA OVERDRIVE, 十三階は月光 and 或いはアナーキー btw.

If I hear something particularly negative about someone, I'm very sceptical about it until I see it with my own eyes or until I see irrefutable evidence. It's not that I instantly deny the possibility of them doing the thing they've been accused of, unless they have a reputation for being dishonest (*cough cough* Tanuki *cough cough cough*); it's just that I believe in innocent until proven guilty on both sides. Basically, if someone accuses someone of doing something bad, I'll stay out of the situation pretty much completely until I know something for sure. I don't think this should be any exception. You don't know for sure? Ignore it until you do or try to find out more personally. I can't say whether or not you'll meet him at some point, but let's assume for argument's sake that you won't. That means that you'll have no way of knowing his true character, so unless you find out something that you cannot deny that proves him to be a bad person, why not give him the benefit of the doubt? It could be true, it could be speculation. I don't know, and neither do you. People who have had bad experiences with him are obviously free to dislike him (as is anyone, really), but if we hear something about someone we know of in real life, we're normally curious as to what kind of a person they are anyway, as we often assume it to be just a negative experience from an individual's account and not strictly generalisable.

TLDR: If you met him, you might like him. Who knows? Everyone's individual experience with someone else is just that; an individual experience. It's best to just stay out of things you don't know much about and not hold negative beliefs about someone you don't really know, unless you're willing to find out for yourself from first-hand experience (i.e. meeting him).

I thought I was as straight as can be until I saw Iza from Razor

I am currently listening to the album, and I can see where the people who generally do not swerve towards western metal can find this innovative or refreshing, as it is different from your usual visual kei oeuvre. But when especially black metal (they're selling it as black metal, right?) is your daily consumption, this feels like it is nothing more than entry level gothic/black names like Cradle of Filth and late Dimmu Borgir esque releases, lacking originality and creativity, and pandering to the masses with a more approachable sound. So perhaps it is a matter of perspective. To one they can sound like a completely new thing, and to others it may indeed appear as what is almost a parody-band.
 
Very enjoyable as a visual kei release, not so much as a metal release.

New Fukuoka band "Blue Blood Boa" has formed.
Their pre-live was at 2018/12/30 and their first official live was at 2019/01/30 at Fukuoka graf.
They also released their first single 【ゼロ】(Zero) on 2019/01/30 at Fukuoka graf, which is 1000yen.
 
 
Members
Vo.KEN
Gt.Ray
Ba.Taikou
Dr.Ryuta
 
 
 
Official links:
https://twitter.com/BlueBloodBoa_Dr
https://twitter.com/BlueBloodBoa_Ba
https://twitter.com/BlueBloodBoa_Gt
https://twitter.com/BlueBloodBoa_Vo
https://twitter.com/BlueBloodBoa
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf6-99KEJ8hufcq6xuDQjxw
 
 

Loving the promotional visuals for this album

For me it's Schwartz:Mist
idk if the second word is supposed to be english but if it's german like the first one tries to be, that translates to black shit.
 
also, dad-aroma.

I'll try it too this year if i don't forget halfway through
 
 

I can't be the only one who misread the topic as "meatbeat"...

I'll try it too this year if i don't forget halfway through
 
 

Looks like they're not going on hiatus or anything - they announced that they're playing monthly shows at Takadanobaba AREA from April to December. I wonder if they're going to have a support bassist or if they already found someone new?
 
【AREA 22nd anniversary～LIPHLICH -Monthly- Oneman Show～】

4月25日(木)高田馬場AREA
5月10日(金)高田馬場AREA
6月14日(金)高田馬場AREA
7月12日(金)高田馬場AREA
8月10日(土)高田馬場AREA
9月14日(土)高田馬場AREA
10月12日(土)高田馬場AREA
11月9日(土)高田馬場AREA
12月22日(日)高田馬場AREA
 
http://www.liphlich.com/news/

Remember when back in the proverbial day oshare kei was considered by some circles as the uttermost depths of shit this scene ever delved into. If you were a frustrated male between the ages of 12 to 18 in 2005 to 2010 and enjoyed Dir en grey on more than a few occasions, such as myself, then you surely took part in this folly. 
 
Well now in retrospect I think anyone with a lick of sense has realised that we've rarely had it better. The best bands of the oshare bunch carried the torch of florid guitar noodling, big colorful outfits and nasally eccentric vocalists into their new ventures, all the while the rest of the scene was playing catch-up in black 50 dollar suit jackets with Dir en grey's angryman vocalist and nu metal stylings. Oshare's debt to older visual kei I think is often unjustly disregarded and the style largely considered as the scene jumping the shark, when I think this couldn't be further from the truth. That moment when all the Unsraw's in the world were stinking up the place, there existed a scene where one could Image an alternative reality where Japan had shut its borders in 1999 and the bandmen had to make due with their old Luna Sea and Kuroyume records. 
 
A good cutoff point for this fad I'd say could be Royz' debut ( prophetically named as "the new age". ) That kind of bijuaru did definitely exist prior to that, but I still consider it an important turning point from whence we've really hit the shits in way I'm not entirely sure we'll ever recover from.
 
I confess immediately that I'm definitely not an expert, but I know for a fact there are people on this forum who are. Some bands that were formed prior to this date, but continued after 2011, will surely apply in this topic such as Cindykate. I'd say the range is broad enough to include bands like early Dolly as well, though suppose someone could dispute that.
 
Please post and link away ( and save this thread from bombing ) because even at its very worst, this shit was at least infinitely more entertaining than all that new royzcore shite. Going to kick things off by posting some entry-level stuff 
 
 
 
Irokui never got shit in my opinion, which is quite a marvel. Stayed very consistent and their musical trajectory I thought was very logical for them, and it brought us classic tracks like Sakura Seven
 
 
Their early output was so sexy. Essential of the rainbow vomit bands that got progressively more domesticated as they went along.
 
 
Incredible from the first release until the que:sera single. They musically progressed and amassed fortunes for fancier recording equipment at a blazing speed that made me very optimistic about their future. Then the very moment they had chiseled their musicianship to almost Kiryu levels controlled chaos, they dun fuck it up with some menbas leaving and Emoro blowing his indie rock wad all over the final couple releases. Still I suppose not even at their last breaths, they never sucked.
 
 
Early Paradeis needs to be linked, not only because of what a shellacking it got on this board, but because they were unironically pretty good. If you don't like the vocalist, then you have no business listening to vk in the first place.
 
This is merely a scratch on the surface. There are tons and tons more to choose from like the earliest attempts at the style like Vinett, the more "acquired taste" like Dragonwappppper, left field like doginthepwo and the entire baroque influenced strand. 

It's pretty confusing, but it looks like the album was available from 2018/12/26 only at lives and ordered through the official webshop. Now that version is sold-out apparently, and the 'normal' release date of the album will be on 3rd February (at the official webshop, dunno if regular stores will carry it).
 
This PV song is not bad btw. I listened to the previews too, but something's missing for me. I did really like his stuff back when he started WW tho, so dunno, maybe I'm just not into this style that much anymore.