sai

I'm not even a GazettE fan but are we really going to blame GazettE for the fact that MEJIBRAY's previews are only 18 seconds long? What's next, we're going to blame GazettE because they release the full PV only after the release of the CD? There are plenty of bands who do this, so why blame "Gayzette" again (which I find a rather immature term to begin with). apologies for the off-topic, but I'm starting to get a bit tired of this whole "let's blame GazettE for everything"-attitude.

This whole "BUT HE/SHE DID IT FIRST"-argument is irrelevant. Threads usually go off-topic, there's nothing you nor the staff can do to prevent it. However, if a user goes a little off-topic once in a while there's nothing the staff will do to intervene, because if we're going to have to punish EVERYONE who goes a tiny bit off-topic in a thread, that would just kill the discussions all-together. However, with you both I and the other staff members have noticed a pattern. The fact you go on about how old visual kei is better than new VK is most of the time not just a little but COMPLETELY unrelated to the initial meaning of the thread and almost always ensues into arguments or people getting offended. If you're going to complain about it, at least do it in the appropriate thread, that's all I'm asking of you. Also, if you've read the MH guidelines you know that mod decisions are final and that you should not argue with them. I'm leaving it with a verbal warning this time because in this thread everyone ignored it/moved on, but should you feel like commenting on my decision again I will take more serious actions.

Jesus fucking Christ, do you have to bring up this debate in every thread you enter? We have a special thread for this whole New VK vs. Old VK-discussion, so I'm going to redirect you there now: http://www.monochrome-heaven.com/topic/21022-new-vk-vs-old-vk/ My apologies for sounding rude, but it doesn't help that you bring this up in every thread you post in, most of the time completely unrelated to the initial meaning of the thread.

Looks interesting. If the limited edition is nearly 5,000yen I really hope the bonus DVD has some cool live material or so.

This is the best song they've made in years. I'm really really impressed. Of course the English isn't good but apart from that I think it's a fantastic track. Really pumped for the mini now. This shows 12012 can actually still do it.

D played about 13 tracks last time they visited Europe, it's pretty standard nowadays for VK bands that visit to play 15 songs at max (encore included). They always play less in Europe than they do in their home country, judging from other examples. Also wow what a shitty setlist. Good thing I didn't go out of my way to get tickets for this because apart from LEECH and Ruder there's hardly any song in there that I like. Also lol they even skipped Ride with the Rockers.

I do not listen to DEG, yet I find that remotely odd. I didn't like DSS at all, yet these previews I do like. Then again, it has been two years since I listened to DSS and my taste has changed, so I guess that doesn't hold much power in the current case. The term left overs as I used it did not mean anything connected to the quality of the music. Yes, I did not like the mini nor the self-titled, but that's irrelevant for what I was trying to say. Everyone likes different things after all! What I meant was purely that the style of music on the mini was more in the direction of their self-titled than the new mini is shaping up to be (judging from these short samples I can only have a hunch, of course). I too have heard plenty of left-overs that didn't make the album just because they didn't fit the album as a theme, not because they weren't very good. 4U from Alice Nine is such an example. It didn't make the previous release, because Alice Nine figured it didn't fit the theme of the release. It was then later released on another record. Is 4U a good track? In my eyes it is, so left overs do not necessarily have to mean that the quality isn't good. About the same old same old thing, that too wasn't meant at the quality. I do have to agree that DEICIDA was better than the self-titled (better riffs, better progression, limited UGABOOGAWRAHHH sections etc.), but I hope you understand me now. Also, just because the general attitude of the board is that left overs mean bad songs, that doesn't mean that EVERYONE on the board means that when they're speaking of left overs, as in my case.

I know a few artists from that list, but none of them really fit my particular taste. 1. 승리 - 할말 있어요 (Gotta Talk to U) 2. school food punishment - ≠ 3. Alice Nine - 百花繚乱 4. DEAD END Tribute (Vocal:RYUICHI Guitar:咲人 Bass:SHUSE Drums:shuji) - I Can Hear The Rain 5. 凛として時雨 - Hysteric phase show 6. Alice Nine - ハロー、ワールド 7. D - BIRTH (Genetic World mix) 8. Gackt - Dispar 9. D - 断罪の銃士 10. G-Dragon - R.O.D. (feat. Lydia Paek) Going for Gotta Talk To U, probably one of my favourite pop tracks of 2013. I do like the Gackt song, the G-Dragon track and the A9 ones, but they're not the tracks by these artists that I enjoy the most.

yeah, that's what I meant (though I hadn't worded it well). PLAY DOLLs is from what I remember still their best selling album. In comparison to their poppy albums it sold really well (but only in comparison to those, lol), so when getting a band with general low sales I guess Dynamite Tommy applied the general method. Also, I wonder now that they're off FREE WILL, if they'll drop the DEG rip-off thing. I mean, DEICIDA OF SILENCE was generally all self-titled left-overs (I mean come on, at least 3 of the 5 were) while the previews for THE SWAN sound a lot more melodic. Either they used the left-overs do to a quick cash in or DEICIDA was just released because they weren't sure what direction to take yet now that they weren't forced to be the next DEG anymore. Yet, if this mini is similar to DEICIDA then forget everything I just said.

"also our sales plummeted immensely and Dynamite Tommy didn't want to lose money so he turned us into the second DIR EN GREY"

Also what I forgot to add to the whole "50 bands ripping off the same artists thing", is that this is not specified to western VK either. VK nowadays is mostly either sparkly synthy pop-rock or metalcore bands all playing the exact same types of songs (I mean really, why listen to MEJIBRAY when I can listen to any other random VK metalcore band, they all sound the same anyway). My opinion on current VK is not going to change either, and neither will VK if all new bands keep doing the same thing. Then again, VK has changed many times, so I don't doubt western VK will be able to make this change too. I agree with Seiji, the fun in music is also to use inspiration to create something of your OWN. Ripping off the same thing new VK bands do is not going to work because VK fans are rather close-minded for reasons I stated in my previous post. If western VK bands managed to actually get out of that pattern and make good songs, then I would have no objection listening to them.

I've always believed that if most western VK bands had been actually Japanese then they wouldn't get most of the hate they're getting now. VK fans who are talking bad about artists like Seremedy, YOHIO himself and other examples I can't think of but do themselves listen to artists like MEJIBRAY, D.I.D or any other metalcore inspired VK bands are just hypocrites. When I say I don't like Seremedy that is for the same reason that I don't like MEJIBRAY, regardless of nationality. I doubt YOHIO would've gotten all that negative feedback on his album if he had been Japanese. There would've been plenty of VK fans who would've said it was one of the best albums of the year. Further than that, I dislike western VK because the music just isn't good. If they play the same stuff as Japanese bands I don't like then that only makes sense. Like Dispo said, they need to get their inspiration from more artists or different artists, if not it will remain as static as always. If you've got 50 gaijin-bands ripping off GazettE or DEG or MEJIBRAY (as seems to be popular now) nothing's going to change.

This I find particularly annoying. As recently is also happening with Korean music, record companies blocking videos on YouTube for people outside of Japan/Korea is something that really bugs me. I know foreigners aren't their targeted audience, but actually giving your bands exposure so that foreigners will buy your stuff isn't THAT bad, is it? I don't have the cash to buy every single release from all my favourite artists, but I try to chip in when I can. I also like having a physical copy in my hands, especially when they have fancy packaging.

I sort of like how they toned down the hurr durr-core visuals. They/the PV sort of looked too try-hard (and especially Miyawaki) for their self-titled and their last mini.

Seeing the HIZAKI/Yo/HIROKI line-up is making me think that Dress Burning is going to get a power metal version 8|

To be quite honest, I think we're going way off-topic from the original purpose of this thread. To stay on topic: I feel like most blogspots keep potential forum members away, that could actually participate in potential discussion threads (because I do agree with Arithmetica, I do miss the fact that there aren't many people here that I can have a serious music discussion with). Anyway, this thread is about the blogspots. If you feel like continuing this discussion you're very welcome to make a thread about it here, so we do have more stuff to discuss

I guess many people who ignore the reupload requests don't understand (or try to understand) why the uploaders want their stuff reuploaded. Some want to spread the file further to make sure it stays online, others don't want their name plastered all over it. I've spoken to someone from edohsama who is registered here about this reposting/reuploading issue and she told me that "nobody has time for reuploading, takes too much time and effort. Reposting is easier." So it's also laziness to some extent. Perhaps if the admins/mods of those blogspots knew why people want their stuff reuploaded, that might possibly help. Or people still won't care and stay lazy anyway...there's no way to predict that, after all.

Making a new list (I'm too lazy to write down the releases I enjoyed for threads like these, lol). Alice Nine - DAYBREAK Alice Nine - SHADOWPLAY AI - Voice Boris - Präparat EXO - The 1st Album 'XOXO' (Repackage) f(x) - Pink Tape (Vol. 2) LAGITAGIDA - TUTELA!! LUNA SEA - Thoughts lynch. - Ballad M-Koda - Generating Arrow Diagram MERRY - 梟 THE NOVEMBERS - Fourth Wall ONE OK ROCK - 人生x僕= SHINee - BOYS MEET U SHINee -Dream Girl - The misconceptions of you 凛として時雨 - i'mperfect 雅-MIYAVI- - MIYAVI 9GOATS BLACK OUT - Archives (it counts in my book ok)

I'm not too familiar with ROTTENGRAFFTY, but CAT put me onto them so I'll be giving them a listen soon

Fukurou was a really nice single, hope they'll keep this up!

Considering that this has been a rather big issue within the online VK community, both on forums as on other websites like livejournal, tumblr etc. I thought it would be interesting to try and get some opinions on the matter. If you decide to share VK music online, this usually gets reposted on a lot of visual kei blogspots. Now my question is, would you rather have it that blogspots repost your links and credit you/don't credit you (the way it mostly goes now), reupload your files and credit you/don't credit you, or would you prefer that they just keep their hands off? I personally have never really shared anything I got (slow shipping times, lol), but if it came to it, I guess I'd prefer reuploading over reposting. You can't really stop the blogs from taking "your stuff" (though that is a entirely other debate) anyway, it comes with the territory if you put it on the net. Reuploading at least keeps the links alive. What I dislike about reposting links (especially with bigger artists that get deleted quicker) is that when the file gets removed for violation (like what happened with GazettE's DIVISION) the file is nowhere left to be found because everyone just blatantly reposted the link. Reuploading keeps the files alive and easier to access. Plenty of uploaders request for their files to be reuploaded instead of reposted, though I don't get why blogs (I'm looking at you edohsama and visual scandal) don't take 5 extra minutes to reupload the file if the uploader wishes so. Credits I don't care about at all, like you'd want your name all over the net being associated with sharing stuff online anyway. So what is your opinion on the matter? Also, feel free to discuss the opinions of others!

My VK collection has shrunken considerably, but here we go (mostly random order): 1. BUCK-TICK (I mean, they're not ACTUALLY really VK but they're one of the founding fathers so I'm counting them in anyway) 2. Alice Nine 3. A 4. 9GOATS BLACK OUT (disbanded, but eh, they count) 5. LUNA SEA 6. Kagrra, (also disbanded, but otherwise I'll never complete this list lol) 7. lynch. (I also named them in the non-VK thread, but they're a bit in-between for me) 8. DEAD END 9. Plastic Tree 10. Versailles (though on hiatus)

#cry4herpes

Agreeing with Saku, tbqh I don't hear what you guys are all complaining about. You act like this stuff was recorded with a toilet but apart from the guitars being a bit muddled in the mix I don't think it's really THAT bad. I've heard way worse mixing with bands that had an even higher budget, so this is hardly unlistenable. Overall I didn't really like this EP. I'm going to explain why but you probably won't be able to follow my logic but gomen i only slept 3 hours lol. lynch.' main problem is that they don't know what direction they want to go in. Or perhaps they do know, but they aren't pulling it off properly yet. Inferiority Complex and EXODUS are both releases that showed the more "metal-like" direction of lynch., in comparison to I BELIEVE IN ME, LIGHTNING and BALLAD. The main problem of EXODUS is that they're trying to advance from Inferiority Complex, yet the poppy hooks they incorporate in their music are ALWAYS there. I doubt they keep them in for the sake of commercialism (seeing how EXODUS as a whole is not commercial at all), but the feeling I get is that lynch. doesn't know or understand yet how they can take the step to a full metal band. Not sure if that's what they want themselves or if it's the direction King Records is pushing them in, but they haven't mastered it yet and that's why I didn't like EXODUS. The main problem is how disjointed the songs sound. I'm going to take ASHES as an example. ASHES starts with a really melodic, light intro that reminds me of their BALLAD single, then progresses into heavier sections with lots of metal elements. The chorus is more sped up, yet is too poppy to really fit in with the rest of the metal elements. However, in the middle of the song the light melodic riffs come back followed by the chorus once again, and in an instant the chorus sounds so much better when mixed with these lighter parts! It's like listening to two separate songs that don't flow well together. You can hate on BE STRONG, but it's the only song on the EP that has one tempo and no aggressive parts, which actually makes it one of the better songs on the EP (not that I really like it THAT much, but I enjoyed listening to it more than the other songs). NIGHT is the song where lynch. does it right. The metal-like parts and the poppy hooks flow into eachother nicely and it's a track I would've seen on I BELIEVE IN ME. NIGHT therefore is the only track on this EP that I really enjoy. Imo lynch. is at their best when it comes to songs like NIGHT, MIRRORS, I BELIEVE IN ME, BALLAD etc. I can understand people want to see them go a more metal-direction, but I'd prefer them not to, because they obviously haven't mastered it yet (and I don't like those songs anyway so I have no objections against another I BELIEVE IN ME).