sai

| Whatever didn't fit in ELEMENTA ALCHEMICA we just threw on this single and it shows. As many of you have probably noticed, I've never said a bad word about A in as long as I've been listening to them. Their discography is flawless and even after Mucho left, they didn't show any decline whatsoever. Hell, they got better, the peak being ELEMENTA ALCHEMICA. This single however, is a major crack in their discography and could've been better left unreleased. 白い悪魔～Phantom of the Snow～ doesn't contain any of the A magic that makes their songs so great. Rookies violin lines are muddled in the background, the chorus is stale, the horns are obnoxious and don't fit the song at all and Toshi is not even audible. I blame that last one on the production, because God does A need better production. I hope they'll start making some more cash soon so that they'll be able to afford a better studio. Anyway, back to the song. The only thing that impressed me was Rookies violin solo just before the final chorus. It gave off a totally different atmosphere than the rest of the song and therefore was way more impressive. Overall, I'd dub this song the worst A song yet. Then SAKURA. SAKURA is actually pretty good. I liked this song on White Album too, though I'd have to say that it is the weakest track from the mini. They polished it well though, but from all songs, why SAKURA? I'd love A to remake White Album once they have better production though, since SAKURA shows they can remake their stuff without butchering it. It's more detailed, has more magic and charm to it and has made me like it more. SAKURA gets my seal of approval. Then the orchestral version of 白い悪魔～Phantom of the Snow～. As I don't like the original, I was hoping Rookie would go nuts on this and pretty much do a Lindsey Stirling here, as he has the technical skills to pull it off. For everyone who doesn't know who Lindsey Stirling is, here you go: Anyway, it was just lacking in that aspect that I think Rookie could've done a lot more with it. It didn't pack a punch and didn't have any memorable moments. The piano version of SAKURA is nothing spectacular either, it's a snoozefest, to be quite honest. So all in all, this one is going straight in to the trash can and I hope this'll be the last A release to which I have to do that. Very weak release from this otherwise great band.

There are quite a lot of us here on the forum, actually. We even have a special thread for our Dutch users in the International lounge: http://www.monochrome-heaven.com/topic/15377-dutch-nederlanders-verenigt-u-20/ Here you can speak with your fellow Dutch members, if you'd prefer to start interacting with other members this way

Personally, I think the best stuff HIZAKI wrote for Versailles was their major debut single and their major debut album, so ASCENDEAD MASTER and JUBILEE. If he could return to writing stuff like that, I'd be a very happy fan.

ER KOMT GEEN EINDE AAN. Soon it'll be a mash-up of Dutch people and Finns 8|

THE GOOD ONE OK ROCK - 人生x僕= (this album presents a more mature ONE OK ROCK, but still has that sound they excel in) Boris - Präparat (it's Boris, do you need me to explain?) lynch. - BALLAD (a standard lynch. single, but compared to IC and LIGHTNING this is definitely a lot better) SHINee - Dream Girl - The misconceptions of you (catchy pop-album with diverse tracks and great vocal work) 雅-MIYAVI- - Ahead of the Light (not sure what 雅-MIYAVI- has gotten into his mind when it comes to musical directions but it's awesome and I like it) THE BAD (or more like, disappointing) NoGoD - V (songs sounded too similar and didn't have any power whatsoever) A - 白い悪魔～Phantom of the Snow～ / SAKURA (first release by A that I just can't dig, it's like they didn't even try on 白い悪魔～Phantom of the Snow～. And of all songs from WHITE ALBUM they could choose to re-record, they picked the weakest track of the mini?) ナイトメア - SCUMS (see the review thread for a more elaborate explanation on this one) U-KISS - 3집 COLLAGE (I know you're not popular in Korea and I know you want to spend more time on Japanese music but don't half-ass an album merely for that, thank you very much) T.M.Revolution - UNDER:COVER2 (for butchering all of the awesome originals. Also the GazettE's barking dogs vocals in SHAKIN' LOVE made me cringe) 摩天楼オペラ - 喝采と激情のグロリア (I expected a lot more out of this, too many filler tracks) THE WTF 東方神起 - TIME (it wasn't really BAD, it was just...I don't know. I kind of enjoyed it but at the same time it had too many old tracks and too many of the new songs were ballads. I know SM wants to make them do that "epic" sort of pop music but it doesn't suit the guys at all) Girls' Generation - I GOT A BOY (should we do hip-hop or cute stuff let's mash it up! No wait it doesn't work and it sounds terrible. SM no. No no no. I wasn't sure whether it should classify under bad or under WTF, but it's more WTF than bad I guess) All in all, not much that I like yet. I hope the rest of the year gives me more music that I'll enjoy. 2012 really wasn't my year

Welcome to the forum! Enjoy your time here Another Dutch person, they're invading the forum like wildfire!

I'm familiar with most artists on your list, but I have only really actively listened to around three of them. My personal favourite from that list would be Kaya's Addict. 1. Alice Nine - Heavenly Tale 2. Lycaon - Royal Order 3. BIG BANG - SOMEBODY TO LOVE 4. NoGoD - 感情 5. 12012 - JUST THE WAY YOU ARE... 6.신화 - VENUS 7. UVERworld - THE OVER 8. SCREW - Ancient Rain 9. THE KIDDIE - MA★PIECE 10. You Me At Six - Jaws on the Floor Interesting list. I'm not a big listener on most of the songs that came up, but if I had to pick a favourite then it's of course Alice Nine's Heavenly Tale.

Ik hoop in ieder geval dat A nog eens terugkomt. Ik kon vorig jaar niet gaan omdat ze net in de week van mijn eindtentamens kwamen (zo'n toets die ik moest halen voor genoeg studiepunten te krijgen, dus ik had niet echt veel keuze 8| )

Aaaaaand chance for a date failed /forever alone to eternity.

I never really got into D'espairsRay, actually. Or well...never actually bothered to try them decently. I was speaking with Zess and SUBLIMINAL about it yesterday and both recommended me Coll:set. Anything else I should try in the early stages, or maybe stuff I should skip?

Nice to meet you, and welcome to the forum! As far as school food punishment goes, you should ask CAT5. I'm sure he'd be willing to help As far as I can say, the vocalist's new project pretty much sounds exactly the same as school food punishment. Their keys has joined a new band now as well (LAGITAGIDA), which sounds like a heavier instrumental version of SFP. I hope that helped!

I think that 6,000yen for nearly their entire discography is a great deal, considering you already pay like 6,000yen if you buy both ROUGE and VERSUS as a regular edition. Seeing as some live-distributed ones are hard to come by as well, this is a pretty nice price. I'm not interested in owning it, but I guess that if people are wondering if they should buy it, I'd say: go for it.

Raise your hand if you saw it coming after the announcement of that complete best CD 8|

I'm actually interested in B-T's darker than darkness -style93- album, but I still need to make a Paypal and figure out how that works, lol.

M-Koda - Koh

8/10, that's a great photo of Hazuki

Oh fuck I completely forgot about Morrie. DEAD END's releasing a new album this year if all is well, Morrie will make a solo comeback as well + there will be a DEAD END tribute album. ALL THE MORRIE.

I wish I had something to look forward to...alas, I have nothing to be excited about musically, actually. I'll see what comes my way, I guess.

This, sadly. Discussion and conversations are welcome as long as it doesn't result into public fighting. Also, if you're directing this message at the staff, don't tell me you're still mad about that warning we gave you three months ago. Anyway, back on track: I don't like BFN, never have. BFN falls into that category of new, modern VK bands that I do not care for musically, but I'm not going to complain about the new wave of VK not being to my preference here in this thread. That's just how it is, and that's how it will be in a few years for the fans of the current new movement. They too will complain about how much it has changed and how they don't like it. I will just leave their fans be and people who want to enjoy their music should do just that. I agree with Arithmetica, this is what's "in" and popular now, so it's only logical newer bands like BFN will try to incorporate it into their music. If it's popular, they might actually get some fans and publicity, it makes sense to me. I don't like it personally (as in, the direction of the music, not the selling out-part), and well...too bad.

Alice Nine - Daybreak

My new one, I preferred it over the live photo I had earlier (not to mention Imai's hair looks way better when it's not blue lol)

Can't wait to see Herpes stanning them.