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platanity

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Posts posted by platanity

  1. Posted

    i found the single "stylish" but then again,

    it sounded much more "shallow" and "lighter" than 'now' or of course 'girugamesh'

    i think this single fits into 'go' album (with less the electro fx) -

    'go' album was 'ok' with good choruses but since i REALLY loved "now" album ...

    (its ok that satoshi doesnt scream anymore but he does push the mellow vocals too much these days)

     

    but all in all, 

    not like a "come back" or "redemption" but i would say "safe" - good music

     

    1. incomplete : 3/5

    2. limit break : 2/5

    3. takt : 4/5

    nullmoon reacted to this

  3. Posted

    12012 were much more raw and aggressive in the indies to post-indies

    until the merry go world style took over (altho i did like few singles from seven, 薄紅と雨 and the pain of catastrophe, etc)

    i was always intrigued by this band from the name itself, 

    besides, wataru's got a great voice tone, lots of potentials -

     

    and like the post above, altho i did like album 'seven',

    but the self-titled is the one which really hooked me up, contrary to the popular votes upon them .

     

    i personally think 12012 is one of those bands that will linger (or maybe "sustained" will be the best description)

    for a relatively long time in japanese rock scene .

    tho, again, i personally think that 12012 is HIGHLY underrated band (such as the underneath/defspiral)

    despite its long history and their abilities (maybe im wrong, but i dont see that much 'constant interest' from the public)

    hyura reacted to this

  4. Posted

    i think "upload & download"s do both gain and harm .

    but as for the case of japanese music ,

    i find it incredibly "intimidated (?)" somehow by the fact that i need

    to go through the hassle of buying it off from some import website (cdjapan etc)

    EVEN THO it is almost the same process for everything else from everywhere else .

    dont know why, maybe it's something psychological that i need to buy it off with patience .

    when i am in korea, it makes much more easier and faster process (they even have japanese cd shops in seoul),

    but once im in uk ... its a whole lot different story (british idiotic parcel services, no racial pun intended)-

    and japanese music cds ARE much more expensive than other territories' music (unless it's licensed import) .

    besides , considering that japanese bands tend to release frequent singles and albums 

    (need not mention that american bands dont release singles that often), it costs x1.5~x2.0

    but i do buy physical materials for specific bands that im into ,no matter what the quality and quantity is -

    loyalty -

     

    but all in all, if it werent the downloads' , i wouldnt even be here talking about it in the first place ,

    cause when i heard japanese rock before i got into it, i always thought they were clowns

    and neo-barbie dolls with weird vibratos .

    and besides, 'we' can never be stopped and will always somehow find a way to get (upload&download) it -

  5. Posted

    actually i really like this -

    especially their visual concept , its good to have them back with more of a "street" style

    (god i loved their style in utagoe era, maybe jrock tends to be 'overdone')

    altho i have undivided loyalty upon miya ,

    but i do sense a little "heidi" , maybe because of the guitar tone and the upbeat's -

    the chorus feels a little 'too familiar' but all in all , looking forward to this !

  6. Posted

     

    previews for the new album came up through their youtube site !

     

    i know its ridiculous to "judge" on abilities upon professionals (considering 12012 HAVE been performing more than a decade)

    but wataru's screams ARE becoming more balanced and subtle !

     

    and ive noticed there's a 5th man ? ? 

     

    anyhow , sounds intriguing as always , looking forward to !

  8. Posted

    The riff is about as exciting as drinking water. 

     

    hehe dont under estimate how wondrous and inspirational drinking water could be 

    but ive got to say i sprayed my water on my laptop when i burst in to laughs when i saw this hehe

    nah but i do agree to all above comments - the intro riff doesnt even sound like a studio record (but then again it should be really different when heard with mp3) and the female vocal sampling is distracting the rest of the song . imo.

  10. Posted

    i always thought screw had potentials , talented sessions .

    but its just one of those bands that are shadowed by vocalists' performance and style (like nightmare, born, etc) .

    they all have excellent technique and style but once the vocals come out ... all i could think of is "oh right im listening to japanese music"

    i cant really say the vocalists' singing style is 'wrong', but i always feel frustrated whenever i hear

    him sing . a little "out-of-breath-im choking" feeling ? just like nightmare's vocalist is always

    carrying on with his ridiculous vibrato .

    simply put, my personal interest in screw has been deceased as soon as racial mixture came out

    (i loved gather roses) .

     

    but then again, ive got to say "enduring memoris" track is really nice . that chorus cant be made

    much better than this . 

     

    3/5 

  11. Posted

    i love it .

    i have blind loyalty toward kiyoharu and his involved-projects . 

    but im just still a little anxious that its live limited.

     

    oh this year's going to be great with coming back's of kuroyume and sads !

     

    tho i do really hope that handful of major bands (mucc, lynch, merry, etc) would 

    participate the sads' cover album altho they are much more inclined to kuroyume (which the cover album

    already happened 2 years ago...)

  13. Posted

    From the previews, the self-taken photography looks especially bad. Seems like looking at an amateur just learning and trying to figure stuff out, 

     

    not that im implying anything ,

    but how you calmly mocked it ,

    this was really funny to me especially when you said 'especially' :)

     

    i am not a big fan of all those dslr photo junkies

    and their way of talking "professional photographies"

    with their bigass cameras -

    cause i end up editing photos with ps after i take them ,

    so i like the previews -

    its just that i wouldnt spend money on something 

    that isnt a direct music material .

    but i highly respect his personal 'hobby' or some sort

    (by means his own website and contents) ...

    and especially how he slowly and bit by bit starting to interact with the public

  14. Posted

    1. 身千切りの莟、奇しくも恍惚の桜 : 1/5 - 'conceived sorrow'-esque songs are not good opening songs .. it reminded me heavily of hyde's jesus christ or some other song of his .


    2. DEICIDA OF SILENCE : 4/5 - my favorable style of chorus


    3. CHABOO-CHABOO : 3/5  - good start offs , few catchy riffs


    4. 夢食い : 3/5 - nice few starting seconds but it gets messy afterwards  


    5. DOOR TO THE SKY : 3/5 - nice ending chorus 


     


    i was skeptical with the drums when i first listened to the previews


    but the real deal sound really nice .


    i still think that vocals high pitch screams need to be carved a little ,


    but i see improvements -


    except these few points , wataru's got good high note vocals (altho at times it sounds squealing)

  17. Posted

    It's clear Zess doesn't understand what "melody" is; that or we didn't listen to the same album.

     

     

    Dir en grey's heightened attention to melody is one of the driving forces of the album. Every track contains melodic passages that string the more overwhelmingly heavy parts together. There is also the change in song structure for the band, where they have pulled away from the typical "Rock" format and have embraced a more unique style of progressive. Dir en grey, the band, is far better than they have ever been.

     

    The main problem I have is there are two remakes in particular that don't measure up to their original counterparts (kasumi and Bottom of the Death Valley). It's not that they're BAD (they're not), it's that the remakes don't measure up to the originals. The rest of the tracks are very solid, which leads to a great release and one worth looking into if only for the unique sound the band has crafted through typical elements. It's the contrast of lighter pop elements with crushing metal as well as the incredible mind for song writing which makes this release stand out.

     

     

    i think this is the most intellectual and systematical review by far ive seen in this page .

     

    i tend to lurk around and see people's opinions pretty often and recoil myself from writing such opinions

    because ill end up throwing comments that would potentially trigger controversies but whatevs .

     

    bottom line is , tho i do acknowledge the fact that we are living in a speech freedom phase but

    i keep on wondering what are the standards of being 'progressive', 'bland', and "generic" ,

    and most of the people wouldnt 'move on' , but what do i know .

     

    but i think there is a big difference between a perspective from who actually plays music and listens to them -

    as being a person of the former category , id like to appreciate the fact that the band dir en grey

    did sound 'sequential' for the past 3 big portion materials (including this one), but as far as im concerned ,

    it's the instrumental 'sound' that makes such resemblance but the whole concept and ambience is

    far different from each albums . tho they seemed to have heavily influenced by 'western' sound since 

    'uroboros' (especially when i found toshiya started using slap-bass almost all the time, and

    both side guitars are using palm mutes more than the previous albums), but the core of the sound

    itself have became some sort of 'archtype' to many japanese bands and music (i noticeably recall

    the gazette altho not many will agree). 

     

    this album , like 'relentless' has mentioned, i think the band experimented a lot with the song structuring .

    ive noticed heavily when i listened to "unraveling" and "karasu". the tempo and the way intentionally

    misplaced/mixed/added few phrases in their song, it was just more than clever and eccentric -

    but i do agree that they did heavily lose the 'easier-to-hum/sing-a long-type' melody from

    predecessors , but they have matured since that period like every bands out there should/would do .

    the best key track id easily say is "the final(unplugged ver.)". ive got a long reason behind this but

    long story short , the subtle way they played the emotional groove in a rather 'raw' way is

    done very 'professional' (cause i really despise those sparkling bullsht type pop songs) .

     

    therefore - 4/5

     

    ps : and no i am not that kind of person who irrationally worship dir en grey . i lost the love once kyo

    started doing the mouth-scractch-i have blood in my face thing . i think that's too much heh .

    tho i didnt mind the fake vomiting and egg splatter performance , :/

  18. Posted

    as much i loved and grew up with the 90's kuroyume and dir en grey

    (i was there when direngrey released 'gauze'),

    and contrary to the fact that the old "visual rock" scene is what hooked me up with japanese rock ,

    i wish they both never go back to old school visuals - 

    id shoot myself if they started to go all pink and purple all over again with weird vibratos 

    (but again , i did love them like that when i was young) -

     

    maybe i grew up too old and started to lean onto more "contemporary sound" ...

    i loved 'headache dub reel inch' and i hope they make 'kuro to kage' 

    like an extension to the predecessor with a different 'theme' -

    but im happy if they bring up again the old hardcore / punk sounds like "bad speed play", "sick" , or "barter"

     

    it seems that everybody 'dislikes' the new kuroyume and sads ,

    but i like their 'mature' sound . melodies and how they 

    handle instruments and song structures , even tho some song might sound completely 'mirrored each other' .

  20. Posted

    "Nobady" lol

     

    no-bade-ee ? .............

     

    i usually ignore a lot of stuffs despite the fact many things get on my nerves ,

    and not to forget to mention the respect of mine i have upon japanese culture and music ,

    but i had to stop by and say this , heh .

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