Demivee

What's up?
They 've changed for sure. I like their new groove out of the darkness, but a lot to lament too.
Not goint to try to fool anyone, It's a +&- album.
Hope their new direction can take me out in the midnight when the mist clears away.
Maybe it's better for the future or they can try new things again before it's too late.
Tick tak, funny world.

Does anyone else agree that Lament is shite? 😓

1:43 NIPPLE (for those who care about that...) ôÓ

Definitely beats Lime's English from black rain lol

I also will react to this topic.
 
I've listened to more songs on their youtube.. and all their previous songs are just  bad, shit visual kei music.. not even amazing rock quality, just typical boring visual kei, with no heart with no feelings just.... no.
 
 
but the new song...
The beat, the melody, the kinda vocal sound...
It all mix nicely together as a perfect mix.... it really though your heart.
Truly 10/10 song.
And believe me it is. 
 
Lately I only listen to masterclass rock music. music who is played by bandguys who are longer in the music world as those young dudes. music of people who know what music is.  I follow lot's of "legend Japanese rock stars (which most of you never did hear off tho lol)"  
So because of that I became very picky of what GOOD music is. 
 
 
However, I call this song really a master piece. it's a perfect song, easy to like, it touch your heart.
vocal fits perfectly to the melody....
 
 
But by listening to their previous songs,, I kinda doubt their their album will only contain this masterclass songs. 
 
 
If they will release more music like this... then I surely will support them.
I'm looking for this kind of visual kei bands, who really put everything into music.
 
 
if you dislike this kind of sound,
well then. you really don't have a good taste for music. 

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Dir en Grey have always been a point of contention for me. As a visual newbie, I was intimidated by their extreme aesthetics and sound, and it took me a while to come around to liking their early works since it’s basically an amalgamation of everything I already liked. This sort of distrust of their music has caused me to not really delve too much into their middle works. Sure, I’ve heard some of Arche, I sat through whatever their album from last year was called, and I dug Sukekiyo, but for whatever reason anything earlier than Marrow of a Bone hasn’t existed on digital platforms. Yesterday, this changed — three of their early ~ middle career releases were added to Spotify and now I have no excuses for ignoring them. As such, I was challenged to do a blind listening review by some veteran fans—partly for their amusement, partly because my musical opinions are highly sought after (citation needed). Here is my first listen review of the classic album Vulgar.
 
Let’s start with the album art. What am I looking at? Is it a bird? Are these disembodied arms in opera length gloves? Overcooked pork tenderloin? I’m really not sure. Sometimes art is like that — it makes you unsure, and that uncertainty makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes that discomfort makes you think, but then other times it makes you reject something and move on. I don’t want to give the band credit for being provocative. I’ve read a lot of Tumblr and have the arcane knowledge to confidently state that this artwork is actually from Disney’s Maleficent — it’s her horns after they got lopped off.
 
Audience KILLER LOOP: never a fan of when titles suddenly yell at me. It really makes me on edge, kind of like this song does. I’m really going into this blind and any departure from Gauze is going to be a real change for me. I guess this is alright, but maybe this style just needs to grow on me more. Let’s see how I hold up going further in…
 
 
THE IIID EMPIRE: not sure why they decided to make a Star Wars reference here, but to each their own. I suppose this is the hard-hitting style that people have grown to love from this band. The guitar riff slightly after the middle of the song is super cool — in spite of all of the shit I give this band, sometimes they really do have neat ideas.
 
INCREASE BLUE: Again with the yelling of the song titles. Reminds me of the graphic design class I needed to take, with my teacher looming over me. My composition was too warmly colored, so she yelled to me from across the classroom “increase blue.” I took her advice and then she docked me points for it anyway. “Too much blue.” Fuck me.
 
 
Shokubeni: Apparently this means “red food coloring.” I bet the lyrics have something to do with bloody food or chopping up someone’s girlfriend. This band seems big on that and it’s kind of off-putting. I’d give some deep analysis on the meaning, but I can’t speak Japanese well.
 
Sajou no Uta: Kinda boring. This isn’t really my thing.
 
RED…[em]: a bit too rough for my liking. I get that this is when their hurgleblurgle kind of approach to art really started, but doesn’t mean I need to be fully here for it. A part of this almost saved me from disliking it, but it wasn’t enough.
 
 
Sfisdfeijaoifjsoefijse: too long for what it was, skipped
 
MARMALADE CHAINSAW: sticky sweet and incredibly wasteful. Started a trend of bands naming things with “chainsaw” in their names, which makes me wonder if the Japanese really know what a chainsaw is? Surely you don’t need one for spreading jam but I’m not Julia Child.
 
Kasumi: Fun fact—this was the name of “Misty” in the Japanese version of Pokemon. Further fun fact, there is a Pokemon card called “Misty’s Determination,” which I assume is written like “Kasumi no Jiketsu.” “”Jiketsu” means “self-determination” but is also a euphemism for “suicide,” so whenever I see that card I read it as “Misty’s Suicide” in my head. Seems like a tangent, but this is honestly a very Dir en Grey kind of story.
 
R THE CORE: filler intro 
 
DRAIN AWAY: I actually kind of like this. The guitar atmosphere is really enticing and they’ve definitely upped their skill since Macabre (the last album I blind listened to). I know I’m very firmly into the “Gauze and then the band died” camp, but I am glad I am getting something positive out of this album.
 
NEW AGE CULTURE: Wow. Woooooow. Y’all went OFF on Kisaki for “stealing Kyo’s girlfriend” or whatever and then they go and literally steal the title from a famous Matina omnibus series? I cannot believe the low-life attempt at being petty, but here we are. Unfathomable. 
 
OBSCURE: huh…pretty sure Grieva used this. I mean, I knew they seemed like they were fans of Dir En Grey, but I didn’t think they’d flat-out STEAL from them. Well, song is kind of bouncy and hypnotic, so I can see why they’d want to base on of their own songs on it. Still kind of shocked that this is borderline plagiarism.
 
CHILD PREY: One of the best songs on this album. Love the meaning behind it and how the lyrics fit together from the parts I could understand. I don’t mean to gush, but this definitely has that “it” factor that draws people into this band. Amazing. Pray / Prey for your butter
 
Amber: This band likes to have female names as titles. Amber, Kasumi, Audrey, Yurikago….it makes me wonder what their take on feminism is. They’ve already displayed a rather ham-fisted pro-life stance a few albums ago, but maybe their time within the inner machinations of the visual scene caused them to change their stance, especially having interacted with so many female fans and the changes fame brought to them. I wonder if this song’s direct is a reflection of that as well — it’s hard to get into an artist’s head and really understand how they see the world.
 
 
Overall: 5.5 / 10 for me
 
I know this is a classic album, but that’s how I felt on my first attempt at going through this. I still need to listen to Kisou, so I am open to doing a blind listen review for that as well. If you’d like to try out this album for yourself, or provide your own take on the music, feel free to check it out on Spotify. Sometimes I need to listen to things multiple times to form a true opinion. Funny enough, I still need to actually listen to this album for the first time, as I wrote this review solely based on the song titles and album art.

Ah so it's about phones being bad. The low bitrate sound symbolises how by being addicted to our phones, we are experiencing a low bitrate version of life. This is very DEEP.
 
Edit: but I guess me listening to this sample over and over shows that I'm still very hyped for this album.

Don't know if people were interested, but I mentioned a few weeks back that I was compiling my 2019 favorites and so here it is. Just a warning though, I probably only went through a third of the releases I had my eyes on so I may have missed a few good things. Also, I tend to cherry-pick songs so my top song list is rather lengthy. Anyway, I'm gonna try to make this as short and sweet as possible. Ranking is in no particular order unless stated.
 
Top Albums
 

BAROQUE - PEUR ET PUELLA
 
If there was one album I could choose from 2019 it would be PEUR ET PUELLA by BAROQUE hands down. Even though I was still feeling sulky about their music direction, PEUR ET PUELLA honestly took my be surprise. The album feels like a mixture of everything both the members have done in the past, from early baroque to kannvalism, and even Kei's solo work. I'm definitely looking forward to their new album coming out next week.
 

MONO - Before The Past • Live From Electrical Audio
 
Okay, maybe if there was one other album I could choose from 2019 it would be this commemorative album of which MONO re-recorded three songs from their early days. I never remembered much of the song "Halo" but the new energy they have put into it really brings it to life. You can really feel their loud and raw sound in this entire album. Also, I will say that I enjoyed this much more than the new album they actually released, probably due to the fact that "L'america" and "Com(?)" are some of my favorites of theirs.
 

仮病 (Kebyou) - 毒針 (Dokushin)
 
This might have been the release where Kebyou really caught my attention. I feel like this is the best VK album I've heard in a while that aren't from veterans in the scene. There are so many good tracks here but my favorites might be "Q" and "冷凍保存". If you haven't checked them out yet I would start with this album of theirs.
 
Top Singles
 

gulu gulu - 変なメリーゴーランド (Henna Merry Go Round)
 
Best newcomer of 2019? Hell yeah! Gulu gulu starts with a bang with all great tracks from this single. They released a second single too, but I enjoyed this one more.
 

Develop One's Faculties - ephemeral
 
I'm glad that Develop One's Faculties are still going off strong, they deserve so much more recognition. The second track is a lot of fun and stands out more than the title track. I just love what Yuya does with his vocals sometimes.
 

ペンタゴン - カルチャーショック (Pentagon - Culture Shock)
 
After not enjoying their poppy and synth sound from previous releases, I was surprised by how good this single of Pentagon's was. The title song showed a lot of promise so I gave this single of there's a go for once. Although it still largely has a pop sound it is much more listenable and shows how the band has really matured. Quite a shame that they're now disbanding.
 
Top Songs
 

ザアザア - 光 (Xaa-xaa - Hikari)
from 破裂 (Haretsu)
 
Xaa-xaa is more of a hit or miss for me, but when they hit boy do they hit HARD. Out of the bajillion singles they released last year there was only one track that I really liked and that is "光" from their single Haretsu. A very lovely ballad that sort of makes me feel nostalgic for oshare kei from the 00s. I don't know, there's just something kind of familiar about it. 
 

ロマン急行 - 歪む太陽 (Roman Kyuko - Yugamu Taiyou)
from 人間失格 (Ningen Shikkaku)
 
Roman Kyuko was one of my most anticipated bands and although everything they released has been good, "歪む太陽" from their album might be my most favorite. I think I will miss hearing Yudai's voice in Toru's playing style though, but I'm glad that Izumi's voice works just as wonderfully.
 

仮病 - Yellow Tokyo
 
I was trying to avoid putting artists twice on the list but I just had to put Kebyou again here. They really showed their potential in 2019 and I'm hoping that this live-limited track of theirs, available to listen on Youtube, will show up in one of their future releases. The CD cover looks ugly and low-budget af but I promise you the song is good.
 

DADAROMA - 嫣然 (Enzen)
from Dadaism#5
 
Dadaism#5 was not bad overall, but "嫣然" blew me away right off the bat. Might be just me but it feels kind of close to Crazy☆shampoo. Always wanted to hear Yoshiatsu belting like that again.
 

蘭図 - ドグラ・マグラ (Rands - Dogra Magra)
from Leda Atomica
 
Can't express my joy to see Karma back and bringing the old-school sound back on top of that, not that I'm totally familiar with old-school bands but it feels very refreshing in the scene. I love how "Dogra Magra" starts with the fluttering of a fly/moth and kind of introduces a solitary and barren atmosphere to this lovely ballad.
 

nurié - モノローグ (Monologue)
from モノローグ
 
Can anybody tell me who these guys are 'cause they're amazing! Feeling such an art-kei vibe from this track. I hope more of their releases will be accessible because I seriously need to hear more!!
 

キズ - 夢 (Kizu - Yume)
from 平成 (Heisei)
 
It felt like 2019 was a bit weak for Kizu imo, but I'm happy that "夢" finally got a recording. If only it wasn't recorded in whatever special equipment they used, but it's still very listenable as it's one of my favorite songs of theirs.
 

ユメリープ - でっどばーすでー (Yumeleep - Dead Birthday)
from ばーすまたー (Birth Matter)
 
I will admit that Yumeleep got a bit boring and same-y for me, but "でっどばーすでー" caught my attention this time around. I might even say this is the best song they've done so far. It feels like the vocalist experimented more with his vocals instead of sounding monotone all the time, making this track much more interesting and even catchy.
 

DIMLIM - 離人 (Rijin)
from 離人
 
To be honest, this song took a few listens for it to grow on me. It's true that the instrumentals feel a bit mashed up in a few places but I'm not complaining because now I'm in love with it.
 

NITRODAY - ダイヤモンド・キッス (Diamond Kiss)
from 少年たちの予感 (Premonition of Kids)
 
The only non-vk band on the list, well other than MONO. NITRODAY are one of the few indie bands that I've been keeping a real close eye on. Their entire EP Premonition of Kids is great, but "Diamond Kiss" is such a sweet summer song. The addition of the bassist's back vocals work wonderfully and sometimes I'll easily find myself singing along. I didn't even realize how short the song was.
 
 
Well, that about sums up my favorites from 2019. And now I'm gonna head out and dig through the rest of the stuff I missed!

Important things to take from this:
1. Die shares that his fav fast riffs are from deg's debut album gauze
2. Toshiya describes their current sound as "psychobilly" lmao

love the two photos posted for 9gbo too! i went through my folder and dug out some favorites. unfortunately i didn't save everything, it's hard to find good quality pics of some of them now....
 

i think this is mostly the cover for their ep What is "Plastic Tree", but what the hey i love it. probably one of their most iconic photos. wish i could find it in better quality....
 

my favorite when i first got into them. the flowers add such a nice touch.
 

sou just looks too adorable here and i love his scarf ;u;
 

SCISSOR did the spooky theme so much better than Candy Spooky Theater music wise imho, and they got peculiar looks that wasn't just halloween-y
 

Guniw Tools have a number of weird photos but i love the composition in this one
 

so simple but very iconic at the time, i would say
 
i'm noticing that most people are posting older photos so here's a few from more recent bands

 

a real hard pick from the two, i had them both as my desktop wallpaper
 

 

 

a bit too much editing on this one but still a great photo
 

and one non-vk, from THE TEENAGE KISSERS
 
feel like i spammed a bit too much here, haha. might post more later~

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

This picture of 9GBO was my mobile phone wallpaper for like 2 years. Dunno why but I love every aspect about this shot.

MUCC new album (title not yet finalized) will be released at 2020 spring

Yeah they should take good care of that laptop with samples.. 🙃

Yeah they should take good care of that laptop with samples.. 🙃

So, that's how they punish us for pirating Kidoairaku?

Yeah they should take good care of that laptop with samples.. 🙃

„We‘ve changed.now it‘s your turn next“ - lol wtf Retsu

Yeah they should take good care of that laptop with samples.. 🙃