sai

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: MEJIBRAY Single: シアトリカル・ブルーブラック Score: Seriously?
I don't often listen to MEJIBRAY, but when I do it's a single because I can't take an entire album of this.

Listening to MEJIBRAY is like playing darts with a very skilled but drunk friend whose precision is impeccable but whose aim is off. Said friend would hit the bullseye more often than not if they took the time to aim before throwing. But in the spirit of keeping the game going as fast as possible, he tosses many darts at the board and hope that enough stick to get him the points he needs to win. The groupies watching who hype his skills overlook this fact. His fans are divided into two groups: one group that sees the potential and the other group which is concerned with the final result. One group hypes his abilities too much and the other underestimates them too much, and that leaves our friend MEJIBRAY in the no-man's land of slightly above average.

This friend knows that he has the talent to play much better - the company of expert-dart throwers he practices with is top-shelf - but he also knows that there is little incentive to play well, so he is satisfied with subpar performance because even if he doesn't win, he still "did well". It works out anyway, right?

No.

THEATRICAL BLUE BLACK is that type of performance that starts shaky and fizzles out before the end. Akin to watching a trainwreck in slo-mo, I can pinpoint the moment when the hype train goes off the side of a cliff. Inconsistency has always been MEJIBRAY's Achille's heel - except it's more like Achille's torso - and the only thing I can say in confidence about them is that they're consistently inconsistent. Even with the gigantic target on their chest that I can't resist taking shots at, MEJIBRAY is here to stay. So while they're still relevant and the Little Hype Train That Could struggles to stay on the track while moving at top speed, let's take a look at why it's good to know when to stop.

If you're interested as to when things get bad, the answer is before it begins. THEATRICAL BLUE BLACK is MEJIBRAY's current offering of a single. I've heard good things from many people about this single but I don't see it. I was expecting to be floored but instead I was bored. "Been here, done that" sums everything up. Yet another song with metalcore verses and a pop hook that by some arcane wizardry fits together better than it usually does, MEJIBRAY has covered no new ground. In my eyes, this is a regression of sorts! They've done better than this before.

Let's start with the tone of the guitars. They may be tuned low, but MiA left all the aggression and heaviness at home. These riffs sound djent-like brittle, neutered at the balls and leave no impact. They seem to be low because they have to maintain their cred as a metal band, but when the chorus is the more convincing musical effort the band isn't maintaining very well. The bass makes up makes up for the lack of low-end punch but it's not enough and often gets overpowered by the guitar. The biggest surprise is Tsuzuku, who has removed a lot of the vocal ticks that made him insufferable to listen to. It's evident in his vocal delivery early into the song - the way his singing morphs into an agitated outburst is the product of many hours of practice. His harsh vocals have not improved at the same rate. He is not at the level where he should attempt them, but no obvious pitch-shifting and the ability to maintain his pig squeals is a plus.

But what can I really say that's not me scraping for positive comments? Not much. Singles need X-Factors to draw me in. THEATRICAL BLUE BLACK doesn't have that. Yet another nameless, faceless single that I won't remember by next week, it could have been done by any other band with the same result. I fail to get a sense of what skills or inspirations MEJIBRAY possesses that separates them from their peers. If this is what they call a single, I'm not convinced the hype is warranted.

I'm even more convinced I'm right when I move onto the B-sides. BI"name"JIKA has an even more cryptic name and has it's own set of problems. First off, it sounds like two different tracks sandwiched together. The first part moves with a rhythm that sticks in your head like a harpoon but isn't catchy. An overreliance on electronic elements with barely any melody means MEJIBRAY is treading water until it switches gears halfway through. Once MEJIBRAY commits to the slow, building style of the chorus on the way out they start conjuring something that can keep my interest. But they don't sustain it for long and just when things get started the track begins to fade out. This irritates me, because the one time they stumble onto an idea not fully explored, it's treated as an afterthought.

HATE is MEJIBRAY's last attempt to get my attention, and they resorted to a two and a half minute number that isn't worth listening to. I have no positive comments about this song. Maybe this gets the crowds going when performing but it's a below-average track overall. I was bored faceless by this. Just needless screaming, a boring and simple set of riffs, and a lack of resolution coupled with no direction. They do this type of track now and again and every single time it just fails. I didn't even finish this song because once I knew where it was headed I knew I wouldn't like the destination.

Cut out all the fame and the hype G. Close any tabs that have a picture open of this band. Turn whatever you're listening to off. We're going to have a serious conversation.

I'll start with the fundamental question I want to pose: why?

Why are they at the forefront of the modern visual kei movement? This band is nothing special. Pardon my French, but this was bland as fuck. No immediate appeal, no lasting appeal, no noteworthy moments at all on this single. What was being hyped again, because I totally missed the train? Or rather, I should say the train missed the station. It never showed up!

Adamant on relying on the same bag of tricks that's been passed around the scene for the last few years, MEJIBRAY doesn't put their own spin on their influences. It's a direct copy-paste of the formula that never deviates from it's inspirations and this formula isn't a turn-key. If a successful product is the end goal, going through the motions isn't going to cut it. Bands can't just play metalcore riffs with pop choruses and come up with a hit single. Songs need soul! It's not only about composing the music, it's about feeling the music. Being the music, even! It's about putting your emotions, your heart, your everything into every track. Each track should communicate a message from artist to fan across language barriers the way only music can.

MEJIBRAY doesn't do this. MEJIBRAY is incapable of doing this. I've tried to get into them on multiple occasions and each time it leaves a worse taste in my mouth. I went back to their first single just to see if it's them or me and it's them. There were traces of promise on their first two singles that have been suppressed for a good while now. MEJIBRAY need to get back to their roots. DIE KUSSE was a step down from Karma & KILLING ME not only in terms of complexity, but delivery, energy, and passion. This is another step down from that. Where's the energy of the band? Everyone sounds so bored, like this has become a routine for them. The passion in the delivery of the choruses are so forced and unconvincing the songs never elevate. The thrill that only a great solo can instill in the listener; the type of solo to get your heart pumping and your feet tapping? It's not here.

At the beginning of the review, I said there were two groups: those that see potential and those that want results. I am in the latter group. Potential means jack shit if you can't deliver. Nobody will remember a band for their potential - only for what they delivered. As long as MEJIBRAY continues to not explore their potential and are content with substandard performances, they will never be deserving of all the hype or attention they get.

(buys every marvel t-shirt I come across)
 

I feel so good about this album, nice



good


is romantique literally metamorphose on purpose

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

Artist: KAMIJO
Album: Heart
Score:
 
The best Versailles album since Jubilee.
 
I basically stopped caring for Versailles after the mediocre album that was Holy Grail. Their next few releases weren't too impressive either and thus I found it no surprise they called it quits about a year later. While the other four moved on, recruited Zin and started Jupiter, Kamijo announced that he would be starting a solo project. My only thought at this time was "this solo project is going to be a fucking disaster". How wrong I was. I truly, really missed the musical efforts of "Japanese man pretending to be 16th century vampire from France singing in English". Actually, I'm daring to be as bold as to say that this is VK's best release so far this year.
 
Now before I go into the actual album review let's make clear what this album has that Jupiter sincerely lacks. It's character and charisma. Despite how ridiculous everything is, from the costumes to the incredibly bad PV intros, Kamijo knows how over the top it is but the best part of this is that it still brilliantly works. This was Versailles' charm before they started taking themselves seriously and I'm glad Kamijo never lost this touch for drama, it's what makes him stand out.
 
Kamijo was always my favourite Versailles member, mostly because all of my favourite Versailles songs were penned by him. Not to mention he wrote Versailles' best effort to date (God Palace -Method of Inheritance-). It's very clear Kamijo is a good songwriter, yet I was slightly worried how he would work out this solo without working together with say, Hizaki and Teru. Heart shows Kamijo does fine enough on his own.
 
Despite the fact that Kamijo chose to keep dabbling in power and symphonic metal, the songwriting on this album is far from stale. There are different influences in play here, both new ones and ones that can be recognized from his Lareine days. The synth use isn't always perfect, but it's done tastefully and moderately. Despite that it's clearly audible it isn't Versailles backing him up (though the lead guitar recordings were actually done by Hizaki!), their influence is still there. Death Parade is a song I can imagine that Teru could write.
 
The album switches up quite often, but never gets stale or boring. Despite it being a song not really fitting the rest of the album, Moulin Rouge is brilliantly placed after two more mellow songs and is the start of the album picking up pace again. Transitions are smooth despite all the different influences. There are a few filler tracks on the album that I had difficulty getting into, but in general almost each track offered something different, something that Versailles desperately lacked at the end. I wish some of the songs would've been more similar to stuff he did with SYMPHONY OF THE VAMPIRE, but it's quite possible that mini was so different because it consisted of stuff he had meant to write for Versailles.
 
For how shit he sounded at the end of Versailles, he really seems to have found a way to work his deep voice the best at this point. Tracks like Heart showcase a huge improval from Versailles' last releases, he hits the right notes at just the right time and it's just a huge pleasure to listen to.
 
At this moment I don't really know what else I could name. I mean of course I'm going to make you want to try this album when I say even Zeus enjoyed it. We have officially boarded the Kamijo hype train.
 
Never change Kamijo, never change. Stay classy.
 

 
Final score: and two big middle fingers towards jupiter, probably. good luck beating this hizaki, you're going to need it.

SENEDJEM SHARES AN INTERESTING STORY:
 

 
 
BIOPANDA GETS DEEP (IN BOTH SENSES OF THE WORD):
 

 
 
PEACE HEAVY MK II PRESENTS "VERSAILLES ABRIDGED"
 

 
 
MHCHAT PICTURE UPVOTING SQUAD CONFUSES STANS IN DEGBOX
 

 
 
TOKAGE GIVES DATING ADVICE:
 

 
 
CAT5 FINALLY REVEALS HIS TRUE SELF:
 

 
EEH
 

 
 
ZESS BEING ZESS
 

 
 
CAT5'S  CAREER PLANS
 

 
THIS IS ALL I COULD FIND SORRY

jupiter could never

jupiter could never

jupiter could never

jupiter could never

jupiter could never

the radiant prince of night burying asagi alive

To me, DogManX was merely stating what the word meant and referring how it linked to your earlier discussion of "progress is just a matter of opinion", don't take anything as an attack against your persona. I'd also advice you to read a person's post again if you don't understand it at first, and if you still don't understand what they're trying to say afterwards, don't reply to it. This will only lead to misunderstandings and misunderstandings are the main cause of a lot of foul discussions and unnecessary insults. If you do not understand someone at first (or if you have trouble understanding English), do not immediately think they're trying to offend you and start calling them names. This is highly unprofessional, immature and I doubt many would feel encouraged to have a good discussion with you in the future.
 
As was stated in the first post of this thread:
 
"Also, feel free to discuss the opions that others post!"
 
If you're going to have to be offensive to everyone who doesn't agree with you I'd suggest you'd further not participate in this thread.

Wow. My opinion already makes people mad. I definitely did a hit here.
 
@ miyuu You don't seem to understand the very topic we talk about. In real life you may make understandable points about the "progress" of technique and social issues, but music is art. It is completely subject to individual perception. As is your opinion on the value of change in music. And this is not about "blocking change". You totally missed the point here. This is about people valuating change in music artists based on their personal interests, putting labels like "progress", "regress" or "development" or "maturity" on it. And about me saying these statements cannot be made reasonably, because they merely reflect the personal favor of the one making them, as you f.e. demonstrated multiple times now.

No, what DogManX is simply saying is that there is no "good" or "bad" change independent of the person making the judgement, i.e. you, another fan of the band, or whoever else.
Let me break it down. To say that a band's music has "changed" is to be making an objective, factual statement - namely, you listen to the band's music and point out how certain aspects of it are now different from before. No one is even going to dispute these factual claims unless they're deaf or you're plain wrong. But to say that the music has "progressed" (or regressed) is to add a normative spin on whatever it is that has changed - you are making a value judgment, and this claim being made is only specific to you, and anyone else who (happens to) agree with you.
I'm in complete agreement with DogManX here, even if it may be an unpopular opinion. You said that "without a degree of change there is no progress". Implicit in this is the presupposition that there is such a thing as "progress" that is separable from whoever it is that decides what "progress" means, and which everyone ought to strive towards regardless. This is already a very dubious claim in politics, but even more so when we find ourselves in the sphere of art and aesthetics (which music is part of). Does abstract art represent "progress" from Renaissance painting? How about Prokofiev over Bach? 20th-century stream-of-consciousness literature over Charles Dickens? Who decides?

Sounds good to me so far.

There's nohing bad with being stuck in a loop as long as what you're doing are of high quaity. As long as the quality of the music (or your art in general, be it music, film, comics, books or whatever) doesn't drop there's not a single need of change to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind bands changing their sound, but I don't mind bands staying the same either.