Seimeisen

...... ... interesting.

Artwork's pretty cool It'd be cool if they were distributed digitally as well, then I could just download orion.

I've heard the soundtrack for that game, and I agree that it's great! I actually quite like video game soundtracks ( ), it's just a force of habit to put the TV on mute and put on my iTunes library on album shuffle. When my sister and I were younger, we would play games like Yoshi's Island or the Donkey Kong Country trilogy games; I liked all the music, but she hated it, so we'd always put the TV on mute and listen to music from my computer. One time when we were playing through Yoshi's, we had her computer and she put on the soundtrack for Sweeney Todd (I think I was fighting the final boss Baby Bowser). At the time I didn't think much of it, but now looking back, I strangely find it funny. And actually, I think about these times whenever I hear certain albums like The Used's album "In Love And Death;" it was playing one time when we were playing Banjo-Kazooie (Click-Clock-Wood: Fall/Winter). This is actually an interesting memory to think about, because my sister and I have completely drifted apart since we moved into a different house a few years ago. Now I only put the TV on mute and put music on (to earbuds) so I don't wake my parents up at 3 AM! XD And yeah, I was exaggerating about the vapid misanthrope remark (XD); I don't hate people, I'm just screwed up!

I'm somewhat of a vapid misanthrope, so not many of my memories with music involve people or relationships... that I can immediately think of. A lot of my memories with music involve being on the road. For example, Katatonia's "Viva Emptiness:" it was November 2011, super early in the morning, I was on a trip with my family to Arizona, while this album was playing I was feeling all sorts of confusing emotions, thinking about how I haven't made the progress in life that I wanted to make, essentially feeling hopeless about the future, while masking it all with a blank face, and I watched the sun rise. It was pitch dark when the first song "Ghost of the Sun" began, and the sun was shining over the car on the freeway as the final song "Inside the City of Glass" faded out. I always remember that as I listen to this album, and the song "Rusted" from the band's later album "The Great Cold Distance" reminds me of the trip back, riding through the fog at 1 AM. I never usually have memories this vivid (not to say the memory above is all that vivid). But sometimes when I hear an album, I think about what was going through my head, what was around me when I heard that album for the first time. I also tend to use music and memories as a way of personal record-keeping. A lot of these memories are vague ones of being on a road trip, times of the year (like, semesters in school), or sometimes playing video games! One song, SUICIDE ALI's "燃ゆる炎," brings two separate events to mind - Playing the fire side of Hailfire Peaks (a level in Banjo-Tooie) - Taking an algebra test last year and bombing the life out of it. The weather was hot, I was nervous all day, and my failure on the test left me a bit depressed for a few more days. But more on video games: Super Mario Galaxy: for awhile, whenever I would play this, I'd always put on some "old-school" Dir en grey. So whenever I listen to MISSA or GAUZE, I'm reminded of this game. I hear the chorus of 霧と繭, and I see Mario soaring through a black sky full of star bits. And a few days ago, I listened to "TANATOS" by 9GOATS BLACK OUT (for the very first time) while playing SMG2. So, when I listen to that album in the future, I expect to think about Mario throwing fire at ice sculptures and manoeuvring around a carpet being chewed up by a skull-thingy. I expect 優しさの意味 to remind me of completing that infernal ghost galaxy (can't remember the name; too lazy to look it up) The Forest Temple of Zelda's Twilight Princess comes to mind when I listen to early '90s Opeth, especially Morningrise; whenever I hear Black Rose Immortal, I always think of saving monkeys and killing big ass spiders. There's much more for video games ( ), the list could go on...

I am a Photoshop amateur and even I could have done a better job with those covers. If I had access to the original PSD file, here's what I would do: - cut down on spatter brush layers (or deleted them all) - tone down the texture opacity (subtlety is more professional, IMO) - reduce saturation of yellows/greens; increase saturation of reds - (for the limited edition) cut down on the paper tear layers

I'm thinking it's the beginning of INSIDE BEAST? Faith restored. I need to hear more!

My god, it's like a mixture of 斑, face to face, and maybe a little bit of アヲイ's bastard...... and I'm actually liking it so far. Artwork Time:

Damn, all these cat pictures here are making me want a cat! Especially Fina's:

Feeling iffy about this. All the songs are shorter than five minutes, first and last are SEs... but there is only one single track, unlike TOXIC, that had 4. I was kind of hoping that FADELESS would be one of those non-album singles like REMEMBER THE URGE and BEFORE I DECAY. Not that I don't like FADELESS, I was just hoping the rest of the album would sound different. The artwork does look cool, though. If I had the money, I'd definitely get the limited version. I'll probably just buy the album from iTunes, though. Higher quality covers from Barks: Limited edition Standard edition

I know this topic is not exclusively about Visual Kei, but I'm still going to answer from a non-Japanese VK fan perspective. When it comes to the overseas fans, I believe the most common argument on MH is this: "VK bands have little to no concern about their overseas fans" -- their primary focus is the Japanese fans, who I'm sure mostly buy physical copies of CDs. Domestic VK fans do buy digitally as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if physical CD sales brought in the most revenue. Also, I get the feeling that Japanese bands who know about overseas fans probably think "oh, if they're resourceful enough to discover our music, they're resourceful enough to obtain it all, as well!" which is not always true. I did not know that it costed money to distribute music on iTunes or similar sites. But I still think that it is ridiculous for bands to not even bother with distributing music digitally. Especially when bands live distribute their releases; even more especially when they give those songs away for FREE! It's like, you're going to pay for all the distribution and production costs for a CD and give it away at a live show for free? And not make it accessible outside of the venue at any point ever? That's pretty stupid. An example: DIAURA has given out at least four free songs (at venues, as bonuses, magazine freebies, whatever): If, Judgement, melt, and DOGMA. The band's official Facebook page has 4,743 likes. Let's assume they will all buy these four songs if they were put up on iTunes for ¥200. That's about ¥3.8 million ($38,000). Even if only 1,000 people downloaded each song, that would still yield ¥800,000 ($8,000). But I think another reason digital downloads in Japan aren't as popular as they are in Europe or North America is stubbornness, or insane fear of piracy, from the Japanese music industry.

It's not as disappointing as BRAINSTORM or Teardrop, but it's no Cursed Hurricane. I usually have low expectations for A-side tracks, so this is okay. I still have hope for the b-sides.

I kinda know how you feel. My sister got engaged last week and on the outside I'm all "oohhhh congraaats!!," but on the inside...

iPhone 5s (64GB, Space Grey)

Thought ずっと、ともだち was funny, and I really like the title track. I also like that someone called it beep-boop-core. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is how セカイノオワリ will abruptly "end" the album. Doesn't sound like a last song IMO.

Artwork update: 【初回限定盤】 【通常盤】

I've wondered if dumbass uploaders do this transcoding to create the illusion of quality. I think that's what meeyuxity did (who transcoded many VK releases to 320). Do these transcoders think that the downloaders are fucking stupid and won't notice or even check spectral views for the files? Sure seems that way! Unrelated to why transcoders do what they do, but 320kbps Windows Media Player rips look a lot like they've been transcoded from 128kbps. So a lot of people report these rips as transcodes. What I do (for files with a 16khz cut-off) is take the file that looks transcoded and convert it to 128kbps AAC; if the spectral views match, then the file is a transcode.

The track list is updated.

Mystery countdown on the OHP!! And the band's profile pics are gone.

I wasn't too fond of "face to face," but I'm curious to hear the unplugged version. And 雪月花 being the penultimate track? IMO, it doesn't really sound like a near-the-end-of-the-album kind of song... Can't wait to hear the new songs, though!

I am in love with this song! I need the full mini-album ASAP.

Thanks for answering! I figured that's what the apples saying on the OHP meant; my Japanese grammar is just awful. Maybe there's multiple concepts for this album? Nostalgia, ironic cheeriness, and VK abandonment?? I also find it quite amusing that the album hits shelves in less than three weeks and they are still deciding on the tracklist ordering. I still have a feeling the album will end with セカイノオワリ (kind of hope not).

Love and Peace LOL, was that on a blog post? Leaving Visual Kei, huh? That would be a...... Bold move. Also, one more thing, do you know anything about the apples? I saw this on the OHP, but I couldn't translate it well... ～あの頃の俺達は未熟な林檎だった…～

Super Giant Artwork time!! apples...... interesting. (Haha)

Big covers on Amazon: TYPE A TYPE B TYPE C

I wonder how long it will take for them to reveal the tracklist and artwork. And I hope the new material sounds nothing like the two songs on セカイノオワリ. They were terrible. I want some heavy stuff. I do not want R指定 to turn into another shitty AYABIE copy band. Also, new look: