Mr Bacon

I took this picture in the walk in closet and the light in there made the image come out super yellow. Boyfriend was poopin in the bathroom and couldn't take a selfie in there.
 

Lookin silly. I hardly get any pictures taken of me lol.

I'm pretty much a lurker nowadays, so I'm really not one to speak haha, but I still agree with this topic.
 
If you're a staff member and you're thinking this topic could be hinting at you being one of the inactive mods/admins, please consider how much you still have to offer for this forum. Feelings of nostalgia or responsibility are not enough reason to keep being a staff member.

In order to motivate my ass to work on this, I've created the following DS category/suforums here on the forum. The intention behind this, at least for the moment, is to continuously post updates on the development of DS as well as get feedback from every one here.
 
I want this to be a fairly open project moving forward - and am even open to anyone actually helping me develop DS. I've moved from using a custom developed CMS to using PyroCMS - which frees me up from having to code out core features which was eating up most of my development time.
 
Some of you may ask "Why not just use WordPress or Wikimedia?", and the simple answer is - control. DS will be more than just a database of Japanese bands and music. It'll be a community that revolves around you - the user. There are a ton of features and ideas that I'd like to push out that would be very difficult to do with WordPress (and especially Wikimedia, which I honestly feel is a horribly outdated platform).
 
So, I'll keep this first post short. I'll post more threads going over DS, provide screenshots of its current progress, and so on and so forth.
 
See you in the next post!
 
Kai

I'm pretty much a lurker nowadays, so I'm really not one to speak haha, but I still agree with this topic.
 
If you're a staff member and you're thinking this topic could be hinting at you being one of the inactive mods/admins, please consider how much you still have to offer for this forum. Feelings of nostalgia or responsibility are not enough reason to keep being a staff member.

I'm pretty much a lurker nowadays, so I'm really not one to speak haha, but I still agree with this topic.
 
If you're a staff member and you're thinking this topic could be hinting at you being one of the inactive mods/admins, please consider how much you still have to offer for this forum. Feelings of nostalgia or responsibility are not enough reason to keep being a staff member.

Sai and champ brings up legitimate things, It's really important that one understands that being a moderator isn't just some kind of "status boost" and more of a job that needs doing. People need to be able to not consider personal relationships with the people involved, be able to put down lots of their time into the site and try their best to keep it vital, healthy, and constantly improving.
 
With that said, I'd like to announce my candidacy for the team, as I feel like I can do all of these things and have a lot to bring to the management of this site. If anyone on the admin or moderating team would like to discuss the application with me, feel free to PM.

why do you think anyone here needs to see this giant dumb list of bands w/o any further information whatsoever

This sounds better than anything girugamesh has done the past 5 years. 

Aww bummer
 
I hope Neil Peart gets a new band or goes solo, he's too much of a great drummer to stop

Terrible, TERRIBLE song titles.
They've lost everything that initially set them apart from others in their genre..

Exactly, so if I'm the only white person to bother buying something from some trashy no name indie band. I shouldn't talk about it because someone might get upset. Fuck those people and their butthurt. I know there's a difference between flaunting but I don't ever recall seeing anything like that on MH.
 
For the most part the only nasty responses I've received from people where on Last.fm and at one point good old Livejournal. MH most people aren't that bad and I'm fine with trading.
 
Basically my stance on downloading is, I do download but almost rarely these days but I still grab something here and there. I wouldn't even be a fan of the music I like today if it wasn't for downloading. However I am mature enough to know that music isn't free and I should do my part as a fan to support not just the artist but the industry as a whole. Sure label eats up a lot of the profit but that profit is usually then turn around into covering studio time, touring costs and so forth. If VK bands came to my city I would do what I do now with metal bands and just wait until they come through on a tour and buy their release then when they'll get the most back from my purchase, but since I can't do that with VK bands. At least my support helps keep the label, producers, distributors afloat so that they can sign and produce more artist.
 
With that said, my second stance on downloading is if it's a super duper poor man indies band, I don't feel comfortable sharing the material since it'll effect them the most as oppose to some major band or even successful indies artist like something from PS Company or even formerly UCP. Someone else will post that stuff anyway, so I don't bother sharing from those artists.
 
I prefer sharing music from inactive bands anyway, especially lesser known acts since their stuff is mostly long forgotten.
 
Anyway, I'm posting from the most annoying keyboard ever so if Im not clear on something, how about you try typing on this piece of shit tablet keyboard.

It's actually a collection of their live-distributed and VA songs, plus one new song... so Engrish, but it makes sense. The hard to obtain songs, plus a new one.
Band name that comes to mind is WERKMARE though, haha.
Album name: A counterfeit heart and my true intentions MOSQUITO by MaveRick.

I have to disagree with Arithmetica on the BABYMETAL not being metal. To me they are. Sure they may not be your typical metal band, and are on the poppy side, but they still are metal. 
 
Which brings me to my other point. Metal is metal. Djent is metal, VK is (can be) metal, progressive metal is metal, metalcore is metal, deathcore is metal,  alternative metal is metal, death metal is metal, industrial metal is metal, grindcore is metal, symphonic metal is metal, powermetal is metal, black metal is metal. Electronic-posthardcore-bleep-bloop-w/e is metal. 
 
I’m so tired of metal fans bashing other sub-genres of metal and refusing to acknowledge them as metal simply because they don’t fit their own personal description of the genre, or because they don’t like a certain band. I see people bashing any type of metal that has clean vocals as utter crap simply because the band chooses not to use BROOTAL growled vocals all the time. Likewise I see death metal gets flak for “generic,” or “indistinguishable” growled vocals. Technical/progressive metal bands with crazy instrumental and composition skills get crap for “useless instrumental wankery”, symphonic for lack of heaviness, metalcore for breakdowns/pedal point riffs, and metal fusion bands for using other genres of music that aren’t metal, electronica, post-hardcore, pop etc.
 
This type of narrow mindedness is even present in the Japanese music scene. More traditional heavy metal acts from Japan don’t consider VK bands who actually play a style of metal (usually a variation on metalcore) metal simply because said VK band may use poppy choruses or dress in colorful visually striking attire. It might not be traditional metal, but VK can certainly still be metal, as can any other sub-genre can. 
 
The numerous incarnations metal has taken is actually what I love about the genre. The crazy amount of sub-genres it has and how each sub-genre has its own awesome interpretation and take on metal. Sure there are crap bands in each scene, but that goes for any genre. More importantly, there are plenty of amazing bands from each sub-genre. And I don’t except everyone to like every sub-genre of metal there is, or every metal band out there, but to be open minded enough to respect and accept other sub-genres. 
 
I will never understand when people say “that’s not metal”, when clearly the band is, or “that’s fake/poser metal", There’s no such thing as fake metal. It’s either metal or it’s not. So yeah, that’s my opinion. Metal is metal.     

I actually do like the first release(s) of many bands. Note the -s, its not always the first release, but often the first releases.
I actually think the reason behind that is that bands have all the time in the world to write/work out their debut- but only 2 months to write the follow-up. Or whatever, their third or fourth, when they get signed.
Don't get me wrong as this isn't always the case, but there's so many bands of which I prefer the earlier stuff to the later stuff. That's not because I want to be a hipster or vndergrovnd, but because that's the sound I fell in love with, and sometimes bands change their sounds to something I personally don't like at all, sadly(here's to Mucc and all those others).

I actually like this song more than the other recent stuff. Looking forward to the album.

Visual kei gets a bad reputation because visual kei fans can't talk music
Elaboration is the cornerstone of great conversation and great writing. Talking about music and bands is an exercise in persuasive writing. You're giving your audience - anyone that took the time to read what you have to write - very good reasons to consider why your position is correct. Now let's say I just left this topic with that one sentence in bold. I may have a good point. If I explain, I very well may change your view. But since I don't, you won't take me seriously. If I do this over and over again very soon I'm going to build up a reputation as someone not worth listening to because I don't explain the "why's" behind my beliefs.
Expand this out to the entire visual kei scene.
One of our largest problems isn't that we don't have a lot to say about our favorite artists. We do. We just never get around to ever saying it. This extends out beyond Monochrome Heaven. I find I can't take people's opinions or reviews seriously because they'll just say something is great or something is shit and leave it at that. Most of the time I'm convinced that subsequent people just parrot the first person to say something different, and it continues in that direction from there. There is hardly ever details and when there is it is at the most basic level possible. As fans, we should continue to promote our favorite bands and our favorite releases, but then couple that with reasons. Why do I like this album? Why don't I like this band?
And let's keep it strictly about the music, because believe it or not saying "the vocals are good and the guitars are awesome!" tells a potential interested reader nothing. What exactly does awesome sound like? Right...
Now if you are not confident in your writing and explanation abilities, don't let it stop you. Read up on professional reviews on other websites. Take tips from them. Continue to work on it. You can't become better at reviewing if you never try. But if we all begin to discuss the actual music behind visual kei when we make our claims, I believe that people in other scenes will stop dismissing us outright as wankers who only listen for the pretty boys.

"I don't like the GazettE because of the fans."
Response of the Zess: You're stupid. Anyone that lets the actions of other people determine whether or not they can enjoy a band isn't focusing on the music. Bonding over liking a similar artist is an attractive draw to liking a certain band but it shouldn't be the only reason why you like a band. It's entirely possible to like the GazettE and not step foot in the shoutbox or a GazettE tumblr ever. I do. As of this writing, they are the fifth most played band on my last.fm. Separate the fans from the music.
This also goes out to the people that act like the GazettE never has made good music and is the symptom of decay in the visual kei scene. Shut up. I know you listen to them with the scrobbler off so don't front.
Oh and if for whatever reason you feel like somebody will judge you for liking the GazettE (or any band) get off last.fm and dismount from your high horse. That's a sign of neurosis. If you actually knew how few people looked at your last.fm or cared about what you listen to, you wouldn't care at all. If anyone ever DOES judge you for listening to a band you like, tell them to go play in traffic.

Somewhat different than everything that has been suggested before but you should try it out.

accidentally burned down a rainforest

They're not doing it right. They're only allowed to cite "musical differences" if it's for anything but musical differences!
 
But in all seriousness, everyone saw this coming the minute YOHIO realized they needed him more than he needed them and struck out on his own.

Vocals: Naoki (otoiro, ?GIRL, yazzmad)
Guitar&Vocals: Linda (???????)
Lead guitar: Junya (Scar.)
Bass: avil (???????)
Drums: Sho (UnsraW)
Fuck yea vocal harmonies by Naoki and Linda would be epic shit.

No news on Kouta.
Kyotaro changed his name to Kyo and is now the singer of Cockroach, non-visual band.