ambivalentideal

Dimlim has generated some buzz from a selection of western React Youtubers reviewing their singles. So it wouldn’t be unheard of to try and get a showcase or two either in Europe or the US. 
 
It would be great if Japanese bands actually did multi-band tours to sweeten the deal for casuals on the fence. This whole business of one-man tours with only a 70 minute set list is only for die-hards, and people who just happen to be in the same city with nothing better to do.
 
But realistically, most Asia-obsessed people have moved on to K-pop, and the marginal base of casuals who would attend a multi-band event (but not a one-man) is probably not enough to justify the travel costs of additional bands. It could have worked in 2007-2009, but the hype fizzled out when bands couldn’t tour as far and wide as the fanbase wanted.

time to start a gofundme 

I have mates who put on metal shows, nobody massive or anything but have done some relatively large names in extreme metal, so would be amazing if this could happen. First problem, anyone have any idea how much it costs to fly a band and all their gear from Japan to their own country?? If I had the money to ship 5 + guys and all their gear over here for gigs I'd be in Japan all the time. haha. So yeah, probably not going to happen anytime soon.

+ Weird that they removed all their old videos from the YouTube channel, especially as Aharewata still is and probably always will be by far my favourite song of theirs and got me paying attention to them. Could be just that they feel their style has changed and those songs don't really represent their sound anymore. Or some Issei issues? But as far as I know he wasn't at all involved with the Silent Song? So probably not that.

+ + I understand how live limited releases work but I'm sure literally nobody likes the idea of live only releases, especially fans from overseas. Yes it's to support them at their shows because running a band really is difficult money wise and they're probably making next to nothing through the music (Trust me I know). And I'm also aware there are ways to get live limited releases without having to go to the shows, and have got a couple in the past but seriously when it's about £100 for a CD with like 3 tracks on it, you can't tell me that's not unreasonable? + Customs fees and all that you'll get charged on top of the actual CD price. I would love to support the band, I would 100% buy any CD DIMLIM put out if they did it through more mainstream means so it's easily accessible and at a reasonable price. Maybe if live limited versions came with exclusive artwork, chekis, dvds, posters, a t shirt, exclusive merch or anything else that'd be better, but when you miss out on the actual music which is the main thing when it comes to a band.... duhhh....  what do you expect people to do? lol. Of course they're going to download it if given the chance and I am 100% grateful to anyone who does upload live only releases so I can continue to enjoy the music by the bands I love.

Had to do a double take when I saw this one at the mall. I never found a 1:1 reference picture for it but it obviously takes very liberal inspiration from "No Pains No Gains" Mana
 

Look who I found in issue #84 (June 1999) of Spawn... McFarlane must've been really into X JAPAN those days, lol.
 

 

Hello, my name is meph and I'm from Brazil!
 
Started in VK around 2004 and after a long time away, I'm back!

wait what the fuck has anyone made this connection then since this is literally the  pronunciation of the new live limited release lmao

well idk if anyone here has any connections but i guess its worth getting the word out (especially since was only posted on fb and who tf uses that anymore) 

I hear you. There's an argument to be made there was always an assembly line attitude in the medium, there was always an adherence to or at least consciousness of trends and conventions... It's not like "moe" was invented in the 2000s or 2010s (Project A-ko anyone?). But the conventions were just handled so much better back then. Titles like "Is it Wrong to Pick Up Slime Girls in a Forklift Simulator?" or whatever just tell me they're not even trying anymore.

Just got back from vacation to find NUL.’s live-limited single and shirt waiting for me 💜

Just bought:
 
どく　「クイ」　
ザアザア　「破裂」(Regular Edition)　
NAZARE　「荊海 CODA」
 
Really happy with all three! I'm hoping to also buy Suibotsu soon as I really like what I heard in the album previews.
The NAZARE single was sold as used but was delivered as new instead; I'm happy about that too lol.
It was a pleasant surprise!

NAZARE - 荊海 CODA

i win
 

That's the same age old conversation that comes up with every live limited release I feel like~ 
 

But Kidoairaku isn’t accessible to anyone overseas. That’s the problem. 

@R/O I feel this so much, Bara no seidou was one of the best discoveries this year for me, I love this album so much, it really feels like you’re captivated into another world, and thats a feeling I got with old Cradle of Filth albums the last time.
and Klahas voice is amazing (but I love Gackto 🥰). his vibrato is really something
 
 

Klaha's voice definitely conveys so many emotions, especially with the beautiful compositions it's layered over.
 
Klaha era delivers solitude and sorrow, Gackt era delivers joy and love, and Tetsu era delivers anxiety and uncertainty.
 
I'd never be able to pick a favorite era because each one conveys something different and does it exceptionally well.

Speaking of Whang! I'm really glad I showed him all those bands he showed off lol

I may be in the minority here... I love all eras, don’t get me wrong, but Klaha era is one of the best things to ever happen to VK  to music. Bara no Seidou, especially. That album is pure beauty. I remember when I first heard it... when it ended, I was like “where TF was I for the past 51 minutes and 42 seconds?” It just transports the listener in its own world. The picture it paints is second in vividness only to Dir en grey’s Dum Spiro Spero, and far more delicate. It’s like it’s a whole album-length song, honestly. I can’t even think of listening to the songs alone (with the exception of “Kyomu no Naka de no Yuugi”). 
 
Anyone here agree?
 

XA-VAT genre. And dark wave. So these metal stuffs are not so over saturated anymore.

I wish more songs had 10 seconds of church bells/footsteps/creaking door SFX thrown in the middle

Hello,
Just wanting to leave my introduction and hopefully greet some of you! 
 
First of all please feel welcome to talk to me anytime, I’m Jia. I’ll do my best to reply and we can talk about vkei, new releases and any other interests together.
 
As for me; I’ve been listening to vkei and various Japanese groups since around 2008, so a little over 11 years give or take! In actuality I started through my dad who casually would listen to X-Japan but I didn’t actively look for bands or music on my own until that 2008. My friend who already listened to groups like GazettE, Lolita23q and Malice Mizer and I would essentially just go around clicking on any recommendation on YouTube and go from there; naturally I found Dir en Grey, BLOOD, Buck-Tick, SID, ViViD and of course from my username you can tell my deep love of L’arc en ciel also so i’ll leave it at that as I assume you’ll get the point from those groups. 
Unfortunately, i’ll have to say that I’ve not been the most active in social media since the past few years back so I only really kept up with bands and vkei through directly listening, buying albums and keeping an eye out for concerts and lives, from the fact I live in London it’s not too uncommon for bands to have came here so I feel I’ve been very lucky for that although of course there’s still plenty of artists i’d love to see, be it here or it’ll have to be on my own travel. As for more recent active groups from Dadaroma, ACME, Dexcore, D=OUT, Dimlim and SHIN. I’m also anticipating the upcoming Ashmaze. Whilst my personal taste often leans more towards a heavier sound i’m always open to all kinds of sounds and flavours.  Finding monochrome-heaven for me means I can be much more informed and active in the community and hopefully it’ll mean I am able to support more artists as well as find people who share my interests. I guess for me that’s my main goal here. Really I’d love to make more friends who enjoy vkei still, most of mine have moved onto various other interests as a focal point so talking about vkei and j-rock with people has become less common for me these days sadly, but like I said I’m glad I found this place because I feel hopefully I can talk with some nice people! So again please don’t feel shy to approach me. 
 
If you've read until now, thank you. 
Let’s get along! ♡ 

9GOATS BLACK OUT: sink
EVE: Case;A
Zodia: IN THE DARK

Welp, I guess I'm going to enter the bidding wars for a copy of the live limited CD on Yahoo Auctions. Wish me luck lol. I wish the money could go to the band instead of the person who bought it profiting off of it but 🙃 What can you do I guess. I'm going to be buying all of their subsequent releases to support the band as best as I can from abroad. Hopefully I can go see them live sometime next year. If no one gets to it before me (given that I actually win a copy) I will probably upload it on here.

Dir en Grey - Sea of Retards
Girugamesh - The Foolish Mindcore
La:Sadie's - Rebirth