sai

The whole "they don't care about overseas"-thing doesn't really have anything to do with the initial purpose I had in mind when I made this thread. As far as I can read no one has really complained about CDs being hard to get and blaming it on the artist. I think most of us know we're not the people they're targeting, to be quite honest. What we're discussing is the way of marketing itself, not for who they meant it.

There are two things that annoy me the most, one being most limited editions, the second one the "multiple type with different songs"-releases. When I decide to buy a limited edition of an album or even a single, I expect something more for the 800-900yen price difference with the regular edition. However, most limited editions are packaged in regular jewel cases, the only difference being another cover and having a DVD with a PV on it. I find that robbery, even more when the regular edition has a "bonus track". The whole point of a limited edition is that it has the same content as the regular, but with more extras. It could also be that smaller bands don't have the cash to do such luxury packaging, but plenty of major bands are guilty of this too. I was fairly disappointed when I bought the LE of a D single only to find out it was in a regular jewel case. When I bought a LE of a B-T single however, I got a slip case, a DVD AND a photobook. For me, that's a limited edition. The second thing (as already stated) is the "multiple type with different songs"-thing. It's bad enough already bands release their CDs in 3 or more types, but (and this is mostly the case with singles) putting different B-sides on every type is just awful. In order to get all the songs you'd have to buy all three types, which is of course maximum profit for the band or the label or whatever (adding this because someone was being an ass about it).

I don't know many of those songs, but from the ones I do know I would probably go with the Queen song too. 1. A (エース) - SAKURA 2. A (エース) - 地の楽章 3. メガマソ - 花びら 4. Lycaon - Who's bad psycho party 5. D - Nightly Knights 6. LUNA SEA - Time Has Come 7. Lindsey Stirling - Anti-Gravity 8. Kagrra, - 愁(京MIX) 9. BUCK-TICK - くちづけ 10. BUCK-TICK - ORIENTAL LOVE STORY Shuffle made it kind of hard this time around! I love the Lindsey Stirling, Kagrra, A and BUCK-TICK songs. Though the Megamasso one isn't bad at all either. I'm therefore going to be a tad bit biased and go with BUCK-TICK because they're probably my favourite artist at this point. Plus, Kuchizuke was the first PV of theirs someone showed to me.

Oh, I nearly forgot about YOHIO's attempt to rip off Kagrra,'s Utakata. The intro on one of his ballads on that album of his sounds almost exactly like the intro for Utakata. He did screw that up though, but that's not relevant here.

Was secretly expecting artists with a closer relationship to hide. Will still be looking forward to THE KIDDIE, DaizyStripper, Matenrou Opera and of course A.

the GazettE's BEFORE I DECAY quite resembles lynch.' SHADOWZ. Not entirely sure which one came first, but I think SHADOWZ was released before BID. I seem to recall their release dates were very close to eachother, so I doubt there was any inspiration there considering BID was probably a DIM leftover. Then of course there's Unknown Despair a G (which beautifully ripped off the main riff). I vaguely recall hearing a VK song once that nearly had the exact same drumming pattern as Genesis' Driving The Last Spike, though the roll of the drums were less apparent in that one. I wish I remembered which one it was.

Knock it off. No need to act like an ass in a thread like this, even if you didn't like said person. Show some respect for each other, or do you want me to be immature and start handing out warnings?

I had that with Paypal once. They asked me this security question while I never set that question! They asked for my favourite restaurant or something, lol.

10/10 because that quote made me laugh a lot. Also tongue kitty is the best.

I'm not familiar with any of the songs, so no opinion from me. 1. 凛として時雨 - a symmetry 2. D - Pride 3. Lycaon - pAIN KILLER 4. Nightwish - Slow, Love, Slow 5. シド - マスカラ 6. BUCK-TICK - 空蝉-ウツセミ- 7. Lycaon - A Box In Beautiful 8. トクマルシューゴ - Gamma 9. ONE OK ROCK - Never Let This Go 10. BUCK-TICK - 細胞具ドリー:ソラミミ:PHANTOM iTunes shuffle is fucking terrible most of the time (pretty much always) but it picked two B-T tracks I really like. Even though ウツセミ is more generally loved, I'm still going with number 10, because it's from the first B-T album I listened to.

I really like the video itself but the song itself isn't too great. I mean it's not terribad, but there is just hardly anything going on...Shou is left to do all the work. No nice bass lines, no twin melodies from Tora and Hiroto, no drum interludes from Nao...Usually Saga ballads are way more impressive than this, so I'm really baffled at how this turned out the way it is. It sounds rushed and messy, the parts don't even blend in together nicely.

I've currently reached a point in my life that I think that just staying single for the rest of my life is a prospect I'm not opposed to. I can't miss dating if I don't have any experience with it after all. I'm currently too busy with university anyway and the idea of a nice job and a place of my own with a cat or two along with having a regular base of friends sounds fine enough for me. I don't see a man fitting in there at all (if I even had the slightest chance in getting one interested, I probably scare them all away).

I was going to say "VK-only" at first, because if there is one part within the Japanese rock scene that rips people off the best, it's Visual Kei. However, on request I broadened it to all Japanese rock music. Here's the idea: What would you call the biggest crime or rip-off within the Japanese rock scene? The way VK bands release tons of types and only give you the opportunity to get all songs when you buy all those types? The fact that most limited editions only contain a PV DVD and come in jewel cases without any sort of extras? The live-limited releases that are impossible to get? The tendency of some artists to fill half of their album with already released songs? Why do you think it's a shame and a financial crime? Rant to your heart's content!

This is a review thread, meaning that if you're going to post that it has to include a review. I'm just reminding everyone of that rule, before I'm going to have to be childish and delete posts like we did on the DIR EN GREY review thread. Please read the rules before you make a post in a review thread.

| Well at least you tried a little more. So after writing a rather positive review on Alice Nine's new single, a terribly unfunny review of a rather depressing release couldn't be left unpublished. I am very sceptical about the new 12012. I wasn't a big fan of their music before they lost their main composer, but when he was still around there were plenty of individual enjoyable songs that got a definite spot in my music library. When I heard the previews for this mini-album I slowly started to gain hope. The PV totally ruined that image, but that left aside, I had somewhat promising expectations when trying this mini after the shitfest that was their self-titled and CUNNING KILLER. Obviously, I was wrong. 身千切りの莟、奇しくも恍惚の桜 is a progressive track that sounds pretty nice up until the 2:40 mark, the rather annoying chugging left aside at some parts. However, when 2:40 kicks in, I just cringe. The heavier section did not match the feeling of the song, was completely unnecessary and Wataru still doesn't know how to properly use harsh vocals. Luckily this section is rather short, so I am able to forgive them for that. If you look past the few irritations this track has, it's fairly enjoyable. They actually seemed to have tried on this one. DEICIDA OF SILENCE was not much different from the average track on their self-titled, apart from the fact that they at least tried a little harder than on most of the formerly mentioned tracks. What I noticed in this mini-album is that the heavier sections always start at around the same point in the song, regardless of length. That falls more into the category of shitting out the same song five times in a row...not cool. Whatever happens at 2:00 I don't even know. Whether he's having a seizure or trying to summon the dramatic overlord Xenu I'm not sure of, but I do know for sure that even though it matches the song it just doesn't sound very healthy. That single section destroys anything slightly decent that the song had. CHABOO-CHABOO was one of my least favourite previews. I don't have much to say about it, it's a typical metalcore song with bad harsh vocals, countless chugging and the overly annoying CLICKCLICKCLICK. 夢喰い was my favourite when it came to the previews. It starts and ends very well. The focus is more on the melodic parts than on trying to sound overly heavy and brutal...until once again they think it's necessary to incorporate a heavy section into a song that doesn't NEED a section like that in order to sound good or give it a darker feeling. I get the feeling that 12012 is convinced that they can't make "heavy" songs without having to put in countless amounts of chugging, blastbeats and awful grunting. And with heavy I mean dark songs, strong guitars...like drone, basically. Correct me if I'm wrong, please, I'm not an expert. Anyway, this would've been a great track and probably the best one on the mini if only they would've let that heavy section out. But like with the first track it's fairly short, so I'm willing to forgive them and look past it...again. DOOR TO THE SKY has the same problem as 夢喰い has, misplaced metalcore elements. Overall it's decent with good parts here and there. The thing with these tracks is that you can hear on what parts they actually tried and on what parts they were like "how do we continue this? I don't know, let's just chug and abuse the bass pedals for around 30 seconds and then we'll be able to close it off without having to do anything remotely interesting." 12012 still hasn't found their way in their new direction and I don't think they will for the upcoming time. I just hope they realize they can also do the style they want to go for without overabusing the same elements time after time. It's not as bad as CUNNING KILLER or their self-titled, but in all honesty, that's not very hard. I hope at least some people will be able to enjoy this release though. -------- SILLINESS BEYOND THIS POINT, BEWARE! SO. I said this was going to be unfunny. As I'm still slightly torn on the fact I didn't get a flawless victory for my DIVISION review, I'm going to give a brief review of this mini-album in gifs. I am bored once again and my explanation on why I thought this mini wasn't very good has already been written down. 身千切りの莟、奇しくも恍惚の桜 DEICIDA OF SILENCE CHABOO-CHABOO 夢喰い DOOR TO THE SKY

I secretly expected this thread to have popped up already (because Augie usually starts Alice Nine review threads), but since it hasn't, I figured I'd open up a review thread for the second instalment of Alice Nine's 3 month-consecutive single releases. I liked DAYBREAK for what it was, a more mellow side of Alice Nine that successfully showed their progress as musicians. It wasn't their best, but it was a nice single. When I heard Shou would be the one composing the A-side for SHADOWPLAY, I was a bit worried. Shou has only composed one track for the band so far and that one is one of my least favourite Alice Nine A-sides of the past few years. Needless to say, Shou really outdid himself on this one. SHADOWPLAY is a song that I'd put in line with their GEMINI album. It's a bit difficult to get into at first, but when it hits, it HITS. The piano in the background was a nice add to the general feeling of the song and doesn't mindlessly play in the background as some songs usually tend to have. It's a vital part of the song and I love how they incorporated it. The guitar solo is probably one of the best solos of theirs I heard since GEMINI and the general atmosphere of the song is just very epic and powerful. Scarlet is a song I hadn't heard before but apparently has been played live before the release. Scarlet matches the atmosphere of the A-side. It's dark, more distorted and overall rather powerful. The bass shines in this song, and listening to it really gives you the idea that they really thought this through. I personally prefer SHADOWPLAY over Scarlet, but Scarlet is still a good song. The guitarwork after the solo is the best part of the song in my opinion, it really shows how well Hiroto and Tora can blend together. My final rating for the single: I prefer it over DAYBREAK, and I'm really excited for their third single now!

First post in this thread, blame CAT5 for sort of bringing me here I'm basically trying to find what I like within non-VK, but there's so much to try that I've gotten a bit lost and gave up altogether. I'm secretly hoping you guys can help me find some nice stuff, because I like getting different recommendations from different people! Here's a list of artist I've discovered already and what I liked, to help you a bit in your recommendations. I highlighted my favourites: - Ametsub - Boris - ESNO - LAGITAGIDA - M-Koda - nego - ONE OK ROCK - school food punishment - アルカラ - 凛として時雨 I know, still a very short list...but I'm working on it! I hope you guys will be able to help!

I'm familiar with most artists on your list, but I only like 東方神起, Versailles and Kagrra, from those artists. I've heard better Versailles and 東方神起 tracks than the ones listed, so I'm going to have to be a bit biased and go with the Kagrra, track just like you did. 1. lynch. - SCARLET 2. LUNA SEA - The End of the Dream 3. Kagrra, - 螺旋 4. 東方神起 - BLINK 5. ナイトメア - ジェネラル 6. Boris - Just Abandoned My-Self 7. BUCK-TICK - REVOLVER 8. Lindsey Stirling - On The Floor 9. DaizyStripper - 白蝶乱舞～White Butterfly～ 10. Lindsey Stirling - Stars Align I really like most of the tracks that popped up, especially the BUCK-TICK track, the Lindsey Stirling tracks and the LUNA SEA one. Even though I really enjoy REVOLVER (though it isn't in my top all-time favourite B-T tracks), I'm going to go with Lindsey Stirling's Stars Align. It's a perfect closure to her album and very special one if you look at her discography. It's pretty much the only track on her album that actually mixes the violin with electronic elements instead of just having the standard violin playing its melody on top of the beat, which creates a very unique sound to the violin lines and makes it blend more into the background beat. Excellent track.

I just checked a couple of their videos to see what they're like and I think they're pretty nice. Mellow songs with some nice electronic elements, but not too much synth or auto-tune at all. Reminds me of a few later D'espa tracks without the heavier edge, actually.

I guess Kagrra, comes to mind? I only got really into them around 2-3 months after they disbanded, though I was familiar with some of their stuff beforehand. Otherwise I can't think of any prime examples, as I never was a big fan of RENTRER EN SOI.

SHINee - Sherlock.셜록 (Clue+Note) So hyped for the second chapter of their album releasing this week!

Also what is he trying to do at around 2:00? Are those screams or...? Anyway, it sounds awful

Well that was...disappointing. It's not as bad as their self-titled (but honestly, it's really hard to top that), but nothing outstanding either. Wataru's screaming is still awful. I had pretty high hopes judging from the previews. I won't be surprised if all previews turn out to have only melodic choruses and for the rest nothing but atrocious grunting and screaming.