Kabukichoatmidnight

Spot was alright, will probably wait until they release a full length to get anything from them though. Will keep an eye on them in the meantime.

Wow, you guys are a proper picky bunch aren't you? haha.

Really boring album. Hyde's voice just becomes very monotonous due to having hardly any real emotion in his voice and no variation at all and the musical compositions are also horrendously generic and boring too, I really want to listen to it again to see if it grows but after the initial listening I can't bring myself to since there is so much good music I could be listening to. haha. Who's gonna save us is nice and there were a couple of other slower songs on the album that stood out, but otherwise the album is a bit of a slog in my opinion. Though as it's made to appeal to western audiences none of this is really surprising I guess.

I also emailed them to ask about when this is going to come up for ordering but was told it wouldn't be available through them. Though I also asked about the RAZOR full length and got told the same thing and have seen that's on there to order now.... So who knows? I ordered both through HMV Japan, they ship overseas and you can view the site in English, so that may be your best bet.

Not really got a lot to say about the spot, too short. Sounds like a nice continuation from Chedoara and do agree the tapping parts are all starting to sound a bit samey at this point. Also a little bummed out that the single is only two tracks, especially after such a long wait and the venue limited single having four tracks.... Thanks guys... haha. Am a big fan of DIMLIMs stuff but tbh, the Issei era was their peak in my opinion and am still waiting for them to put out something that can top those tracks.

This is way too hard, in my opinion lots of different artists styles are way too different in their own bands to really compare... Like they would play differently to suit the band they're currently in. But a few standout guys in their respective projects have to be: Vocalists: Kyo - Sukekiyo, Dir en Grey, Sho - DIMLIM Guitar: Sena - Jiluka Drums: Issei (ex-DIMLIM, NAZARE) - No matter how much of a nob this guy may be, his drumming is actually super creative and interesting. Bass: Not really got anyone particularly standing out here, there are a lot of decent bassists I can think of but none that I personally feel really stand out from the crowd, but if I had to choose, Boogie from Jiluka deserves an honourable mention for being able to keep up with Sena and adding his own nice touches to the songs in general and B5 from CHOKE, because that tone is ridiculously amazing. haha.

Already got a pre-order for the album so not even bothered about samples right now. Will just listen to it as one coherent piece once it's in my hands.

And on top of that, yesterday Mari Yaguchi, TV Personality/Ex-Morning Musume member liked my comment on her post on instagram! Which was pretty sweet!

Anyone got photos of the merch? May get a shirt or something if there are any decent designs. But yeah, I got my ticket for London, seen a few of you dudes are going, so maybe we can get something together.

Hahaha yeah totally agree there, those drums in particular are VERY similar in places. But I'm kind of interested to hear the single as upto this point I feel like they've just been trying to discover "their sound" and evidentally from the first couple of releases there is a lot of different slightly more experimental stuff going on so guess these tracks are the first of "their style" which are down solidly. If that makes sense? So feel these few tracks will be pretty tight. There is a Retsu/Issei drama? Obviously I know that Issei used to be in DIMLIM but I thought he more or less was told to leave the band due to Issei generally being a bellpipe to the other band members/staff/fans/basically everyone....haha and as Issei wanted to control all the writing whereas the other members wanted to do some as well, (remember seeing somewhere Issei saying that he didn't feel he could have as much of a creative output in DIMLIM as he'd like) mainly Retsu for what I can gather. Didn't know it was exactly an on-going drama, but if there is something like that, feel free to fill me in on the details. haha.

It's weird actually, I used to get a fair few bits from them and never had any issues. Then all of a sudden they just went shit, one time I actually had to open a paypal dispute with them to get them to actually respond, they did send the stuff and it was all good in the end, but was seriously annoying. I thought this was a one off so gave them the benefit of the doubt and the order after that was an ordeal as well, not to the same extent but took ages to get a response and stuff. Think they're so expensive because they're basically doing some kind of proxy service and just buy the items from wherever they can when someone orders it so they're looking to cover their own costs. Would be very surprised if this isn't the case, don't really see any other way they could be stocking fan club only items... Nice, cheers for the link, had a look, very nice selection! But yeah, as expected, the harder to find items are reflected in the prices. haha.

japan-discoveries is what you want. You may have already heard of it if you've tracked down Dir's stuff so diligently! But I say "secret" as I haven't seen anyone else mention it on here before. + You got a link to this flower records page? Again, sounds interesting to check out.

And not to mention the lyrics are absolutely whack. Like they actually have been written by a 14 year old.... haha.

Nope but I'll look into it unless you have also had frustrating experiences with them?

I actually really dig this release from them, probably one of my favourite things they've put out. Just feel that there's a lot of variation and good balance between melodious moments and just straight up heavy and crazy with the odd addition of some electronics or whatever to accompany it. This has had a lot of listens from me since purchasing so feel it's pretty strong, especially for a mini-album. Compared to Knot Invisible which in my opinion only had one really strong track and the rest were all give or take really, still enjoyable, but feel the Core was much stronger. 7/10.

Being a newer member around here am a bit late to the party here, but am surprised at how negative a lot of people's opinions are on this album. The Gazette are good at what they do, I'll be surprised the day they produce an album as dynamic as Dir En Grey's - ARCHE for example so for me guess I didn't expect anything more than what we got, which in my opinion is a decent offering from the Gazette, personally there aren't really any songs I really like or dislike many more than others and enjoy it overall. I personally prefer the more aggressive approach that they've taken in the more recent years and some of the riffs and overall composition in my opinion is pretty easy to follow, again, not super dynamic, but it doesn't sound all over the place or hard to follow at all. I don't have an issue with the production in complete honesty, I've always been able to hear everything pretty clearly and never really thought too much gets lost in the mix or whatever. That's one thing with the Gazette is that they do keep it simple and don't have crazy amounts of stuff going on at once so again, is easy to follow what's happening all at once. I am curious to know how many people here do play or produce music themselves? I'm new so not sure who does this kind of thing. I'm not saying I know better than anyone else, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and have their own thoughts but as a musician/ex-producer (decided to focus on playing, production is a pain in the arse...haha) I really can't agree with a lot of the opinions here but each to their own. : ) So overall I guess I'd say I do enjoy this album and have listened to it a good handful of times since it's release, so for me 7/10, losing points for just generally being a bit too straight forward and not having enough dynamics going on (Which Dogma did have more of) but a pretty solid effort from them I think, definitely looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Considering I have bugger all activity on twitter I have had a few artists tweet/re-tweet me and got a handful of likes on stuff. Never really thought anything of it until reading this thread and about how bangya get crazy if certain people get attention and they aren't. But considering I play music and one day hope to move to Japan, figured it'd be good to put the feelers out and get making friends if possible, at least letting people know I exist anyway. haha. Not a musician but I did have Rina Takeda like one of my pics on instagram once, which was pretty amazing. haha. As for western artists, I have played in a good handful of bands so met loads of people and have friends in some pretty well known bands, some which I have played with in other bands in the past and such. More in the "extreme" side of the UK metal scene (death/black metal/grind etc...), but that's not quite as exciting I don't think. 😛

Haha seen you on discogs commenting on Dir's stuff! Dir's stuff generally isn't that hard to find so not sure what the problem is. Plenty of stuff as people have said on ebay/amazon etc....But CDJapan, HMV Japan are safe bets if you want it from Japan for any particular reason. Also for any second hand "rarities" closetchild has some stuff pop-up here and there, even seen some La:Sadie's stuff come up for sale before. I also have a secret source for almost anything Dir you want, from A Knot exclusive releases, tour merch, replica/signature instruments, basically every CD/DVD release ever but that does get VERYYYYYY pricey so probably not worth mentioning. I have only used it a couple of times, they're also pretty slow and shit at replying to emails chasing them up on orders, have always got everything eventually but not sure I'd exactly recommend this site.

Just had chance to listen to this "Beyond" EP and overall impressions are that it's not terribly special, maybe it'll take some re-listens to get fully into it. Firstly I really enjoyed the original/instrumental version Issei released of "Beyond the lost happiness" a lot more, a lot of the best parts about it have been taken out or simplified.... Also there were a few other songs that at times just got me thinking "what the hell are they doing? How did they even think this was cool?" haha. + The SE mid-way through is pretty bad. I know that probably sounds like I have a really negative opinion of it, but actually I didn't NOT enjoy it, just didn't think it's anything worth raving about and 100% glad I didn't spend the 10,000 yen to get the physical copy. But will give it a couple more listens at some point and see if it grows at all. I'll also admit now I did pre-order the IDEAL single... So yeah, don't totally hate the band or anything obviously. 😛

Haha I like how this is top "20" as it would probably be harder to do this in less. There are more songs of course I'd consider favourites but I guess for me, in 20, not in any particular order mine would be: 1. Tousei 2. Phenomenon 3. Obscure (Vulgar version) 4. Yurameki 5. Bottom Of Death Valley (Kisou Version) 6. Toguro 7. The Pledge 8. Tsumi to Kisei 9. The Blossoming Beelzebub 10. 'Yokusou Ni Dreambox' Aruiwa Seijuku No Rinen To Tsumetai Ame 11. Embryo 12. Zakuro 13. Increase Blue 14. Umbrella 15. Saku 16. Rinkaku 17. Kuukoku no Kyouon 18. Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai ni Hohoemi 19. Higeki wa Mabuta o Oroshita Yasashiki Utsu 20. The Deeper Vileness (Marrow Of A Bone Version)

I may be a little off in places but have tried my best, at least you have a good gist of what it means but he's saying something like: "Especially because this information has come late, I'm very sorry. As usual Kiryu's takemasa is here, but I don't expect to receive understanding/sympathy immediately but from now on throughout Kiryu's activities, things such as our words and behaviour, I think the only option is, from now, to report/show my sincerity the best I can." Some parts are difficult to make sense of as a direct translation into English so have basically given the "idea" of what he's saying instead of putting something that makes no sense whatsoever. haha. But if anyone else can give it a better shot then go for it. Hope this helps anyway.

Haha, did wonder about this myself, know some people like an extra copy to keep wrapped and of course one to listen to, thought this was the case here but guess not.

Forgot to mention HMV Japan is a pretty good shout really as they ship overseas as well. Usually they don't have much Vkei that's not on CDJapan but sometimes they do so it's worth checking out if you're after something particular.

Haha same, main time sink was Kiryu's real-estate mission, still pretty awesome. Yeah I agree, not many games (at least in the west) like it, it's basically the game I expected GTA to be after hearing it hyped so much. Never a fan of GTA but yeah Yakuza is amazing. Combat is more or less the same to be fair. Only have a couple of small things I find a little irritating about how it's changed compared to the 0 and Kiwami, but not really anything worth making a big deal out of, but can go into it if you prefer? Not sure how you'd feel about it but there is one thing called something like "Extreme heat mode" or something, which is an upgrade and you can use it to basically win any battle, so does take the challenge out of some fights, but does make the Amon battles for example much less painful. EXP system is a bit weird yeah, different to what we've gotten used to. Specially as you basically only have one fighting style on this one instead of multiple ones. I'm actually near the end of the game and still can't fully explain the experience system.....haha. But you basically get certain amounts of each one, or combinations of, for doing different things, like usually fights and completing substories/parts of the main story reward for all of them. But some things like eating food, drinking and completing mini games will give you more of one or two different areas of exp. But basically, complete missions, fight and eat/drink alot and it'll build up in time. Which if you could complete the game without doing any of that I'd be super impressed. haha.

Playing Yakuza Kiwami 2 at the moment! Totally wont disappoint! Did you play "0" as well? Kiwami 2 has a lot more in common with 0 that the original Kiwami game.