Zeus

I concur with the underwhelming statement. "Remember the rain" is definitely not one of their best tracks by any stretch of the imagination, and the two remixes are not much to talk about either. This is basically for one new track.

The Official Review team is back with the perfect accompaniment to the avalanche of Halloween candy and pumpkin spice lattes you're about to destroy your body with: the best j-tunes of the summer! This quarter includes a great variety of visual kei, J-Rock, and whatever the heck genre you'd call that second track that @CAT5 wants us to listen to. Come discover some new music that we've curated for you, or re-listen to your favorites now enhanced by the critiques of your favorite Monochromians. Let us temporarily transport you away from your boring job (at least in spirit if not in reality). Agree with our picks? Think we're idiots and shouldn't even be allowed to listen to music much less act as taste makers for the community? Good! Tell us why below. @The Reverend's picks "くしゃみ" (Kushami) by まみれた (Mamireta) "Lemoned" by NITRO DAY "New Order" by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs @YuyoDrift's picks "Obliterator" by JILUKA "Knight of Sword" by Unlucky Morpheus "MAD [K]" by DIMLIM "絶縁体 (Zetsuentai)" by Dir en grey @Zeus's picks "Raununculus" by Dir en grey "今宵は飄逸なエゴイスト ～ Ego,Schizoid,Beat." by Demetori "make my story" by lenny code fiction "RED SWAN" by YOSHIKI feat. HYDE "GROTESQUE" by DIMLIM "Renatus" by lynch. @CAT5's picks "Etude of solitude" by toe "からかひ" (Karakai) by Sweet William と 青葉市子 (Ichiko Aoba) Thanks for reading!

They can start with the piss poor production on that song that makes Shinya sound like he's smacking tin cans

This is the kind of news I can always use more of! Glad to hear they are coming back. Wish more bands would do the same.

Feel free to give us the word @Ro plz. I will write a review of it.

By who? Kisaki, the police, or someone else? She said she can't contact him, so as much as it sounds like it was him, it's possible it might not be. The timeline here is hazy. Did Kisaki pay the settlement money before he changed his number? Is there two payments of settlement money here and the withdrawal request is part of the second one, or is this the same settlement and did she take the money and decide to sue anyway? And if this is really about the child (because the child was the impetus for her to bring this to law enforcement), what amount of money is "good enough" to satisfy the trauma done to your mentally unstable child? And if it's not Kisaki making this request, then this gets even more complicated.

I need to form one first.

If you like torturing yourself, listen to a few samples of songs from that album. The complete 180 in direction is what makes me think of that album as 12012's public apology for Wataru's behavior.

No, they decided to make MAR MAROON.

Having just caught up on this entire controversy, this is a very disturbing and disgusting thing to read. I'm not going to pass judgement on the man just yet, since this is still in its infancy and there are more facts to discover, and clarifying questions that I can ask for days to both parties, but my gut feeling says this incident isn't going to disappear (unlike the court case of a certain other band member who was the center of attention earlier this year). If the police escalate the situation - and I see no reason not to given the mountain of evidence provided - KISAKI is as good as done. This isn't his first brush with the law, but this may be the scandal that not only ends his career, but buries it so that no one will give him a second tenth shot. Whether you want to collect his remaining merchandise or burn it in a bonfire, this isn't a good thing for visual kei. We shook off another pedophile and a murderer in just this year alone, and now there's this. What a way to strip the glitz and foundation off of the scene in such an unceremonious way, especially from someone who has been seen as a pillar in the scene for almost two decades. It makes you really think about who else in the scene has skeletons in their closet.

At this point, X JAPAN is YOSHIKI and his not so subtle misuse of pronouns confirms it.

I saw a ten minute video and immediately lost interest. I don't need reasons not to hate YOSHIKI. I need this new album to come out so I can stop caring about this band in its entirety. How did LUNA SEA have a whole revival and YOSHIKI can't crank out a single album?

Someone's stomach was getting pumped with air near the end of the teaser...maybe they explode?

Welcome back!

artwork is creepy af ngl

All I know is watch out for Miya Records

See, this is the kind of quality content Monochrome Heaven always can use more of! Thanks for this awesome translation. Reading this does put a lot of their more recent activities into a better context, but unfortunately it doesn't make the album any better for me. It also doesn't make the album any worse. It's not enough for me to completely swear off the band, but if his idea of heavy music is anything like "Futsujanai III", then I have my doubts if that can happen. Making music like old DEZERT and old MUCC comes with a certain mindset, and once you lose that mindset it's hard to recapture that magic. I completely agree with @ghost that it would have been a better move to create an alter ego band (FOREZT or EROZION are two names that come to mind), just to enforce this separation. Not every band is capable of switching styles seamlessly like Boris, nor should every band really try. I wanted to work that into the review, but couldn't fit it in. I double checked my sources, and apparently Wataru was arrested in September of 2007, resolved the charges out of court, and issued an apology on his blog in October of 2007. DIAMONDS released in December of that year, but by the time this "incident" happened the album was already done recording. That's why mentally, I attribute this drama to their third album and not their second album, since the first materials they started freshly recording and releasing almost immediately in the beginning of 2008 reflected the tribulations the whole band had to go through when dealing with Wataru's misconduct. But you are right, and the change in direction did start with their materials after PLAY DOLLs and not obtain+1. Good on them for not completely ignoring their old material! I never got to see 12012 live, but it would have been nice to hear "incur..." or "icy~cold city~" at least once in my life.

While writing this review, it came to my attention by other ORZ members that some of my references are rather dated, and that I can't assume everyone knows what I mean when I reference certain things. Thus, I wrote this section as an extra bit to explain those references in detail, since I think it's important and gives my review and misgivings additional context. What follows is purely my opinion. It all starts with this sentence. To give you a quick history lesson for context: 12012 started out as a hard rock band. Vocalist Wataru ended up getting too drunk one night and beating up a female acquaintance of his, and for that they were dragged through the mud by the media. This was shortly after the release of their second album DIAMOND. As a response to his bad behavior the entire band switched directions completely and released MAR MAROON, a pop album, which I guess was supposed to serve was some sort of public apology and repentance. This marked the point the band would forever change their sound, drop their theme and concept, and not go back to hard rock. For a band whose name is a reference to "kyouki shouji", or illegal possession of a firearm, MAR MAROON flies in the face of that concept. There was a very violent backlash - similar to what's happening with DEZERT right now - and MAR MAROON was not received very well. 12012 backslid into their earlier style a bit with future releases such as SEVEN before going full metalcore with 12012, but they never truly returned to their old style. Eventually the band broke up because they lost their identity, their main composer, and couldn't get enough new fans to make future activities worth it. I've seen the same thing happen with D'espairsRay and REDEEMER. The change wasn't as drastic, but going from the pioneers of the dark and heavy goth sound in visual kei to a slightly heavier L'arc~en~ciel didn't sit well with fans. REDEEMER is by far their weakest album, redeeming absolutely nothing about their sound, and even when they backslid into their earlier sound a bit with MONSTERS, it wasn't a convincing effort. There was more going on under the surface with this band as well, with rumored label debts and Hizumi's illness sealing the deal on this band's legacy. I've also seen the same thing happen with Dir en grey, except these guys went in the opposite direction. It's a long time ago, but I do remember a time in the scene when going dark and heavy was seen as "American metal" and "selling out". Hard to think that was ever the case, eh? But yet again, there was more going on under the surface with Dir en grey that prompted them to switch styles with six Ugly and chase a more mainstream crowd: this time being the American metal scene. They themselves said that they thought they reached the pinnacle of their sound with Kisou, and that there was nowhere left for them to go, and that if they didn't find a way to grow they would have disbanded in a year or two. There was a fissure so loud in the scene that you could hear it crack all the way over here in America, with some fans embracing the change and many other fans denouncing the band and swearing them off entirely. Dir en grey also backslid a bit into their earlier style with single cuts such as OBSCURE and DRAIN AWAY designed to appeal to both the old and new crowds entirely, but once they abandoned their visual gimmicks and visual style after Kisou, they never really went back. I'm sure there are countless other bands that also are great examples of what I'm explaining here, but the point remains. When a band changes their style this drastically at the tip of the hat, there are things bubbling under the surface we can only speculate about, but past bands have shown that when they take this step, it's usually the beginning of the end. Dir en grey is the only exception to this rule AFAIK. That's why I end the review with this snippet: I'm basically saying without saying that I expect disbandment sooner rather than later.

| What do we say to the god of death? I'm listening to history repeat itself. A heavy visual kei band is a dime a dozen, but one that can do the gritty D'espairsRay x MUCC x KoЯn sound justice is rare. DEZERT was one of those bands I kept in my rotation off the strength of how well they paid homage to what's becoming an increasingly rare style, but I also felt that there was more room to evolve. DEZERT hasn't really innovated on their previous style since 2011, and if they were going to stamp their legacy on the scene they needed to create a groove all their own. My guess is that they suspected this, and took a huge gamble in changing their sound. The risk in changing your sound is threefold. The first is that you always risk alienating some of your fans. The second is that once the direction changes, bands rarely course correct. The third is that preserving the identity of the band - or the identity the scene has ascribed to you - is nigh impossible, so in some respects it's like starting over. TODAY is the day I relive the nightmare that was 12012's MAR MAROON, when a core band decides to go pop rock. This sudden stylistic shift swings in out of nowhere to blindside even the most ardent fan. I suppose we should have seen it coming since they've been going soft since their second album 最高の食卓 (Saikou no Shokutaku), but it's one of the few times the virulent outrage of the international scene has some merit. The fact that it came without warning adds insult to injury, although one can argue if a band actually owes their fans an explanation for the type of music they want to create. This is the textbook definition of "gunning for the charts", a switch in direction more drastic than D'espairsRay's REDEEMER, and while listening to this album I find myself traveling down a familiar road once more. Notice that I haven't talked about the music yet; that's because, at a primal level, it doesn't really matter.TODAY is musically competent, coherent, and well put together when taken at face value, but I do not find it compelling, interesting, or memorable. I simultaneously respect their musical chops and ability to compose music in a new style while rejecting this style entirely. I am not able to separate old DEZERT from new DEZERT. If I want pop rock, I'll find a pop rock band. If I want metal, I'll find a metal band. When I want messy metalcore, I come to DEZERT. With how fragmented the scene is, there's very little overlap between the fans who would enjoy タイトルなし (Title Nashi) and the fans who would enjoy TODAY. There are songs that hearken back to the old days, such as "普通じゃないIII" (Futsuujanai Ⅲ) and "蛙とバットと機関銃" (Kawasu to BAT to Kikanjuu), but they feel halfhearted, and they are nowhere near as heavy as many fans would want. There's not even a single use of harsh vocals on the entire album! Seeing them leaving their roots, substituting harsh growls and vocal fry for oohs and aahs and abandoning the low end almost entirely, hurts at a deeper level than I'd like to admit. Who is to say if this is the music that DEZERT wants to make, or if they feel pressured to find success, but I'm certain they just lost a lot of fans with this move. I won't be surprised if they drop the visuals entirely, or at least tone it down, since they sound like a totally different band. Perhaps they can come out of this with more fans when they lost and end up better off for it, but with how many times I've seen this scenario play out, I can verify that it rarely ever works. TODAY marks the day that DEZERT disbands for a lot of fans, as they retreat into their back log and stick with cuts such as 「特製・脳味噌絶倫スープ〜生クリーム仕立て〜」 (「Tokusei・Noumiso Zetsurin SOUP~Sei CREAM Shitate~」) and 精神科医（拒食症）のスナッフフィルム集 (Seishinkai (Kyoshokushou) no SNUFF FILM Shuu). It's an incredibly difficult pill to swallow, but that's probably for the best. They aren't going back, and to hold out hope for otherwise is foolish. For those that found a new band to love, I hope they find enough success to deliver more. Even if I take it for what it is, TODAY doesn't do anything for me, and it's a shame because I can sense the band put a lot of energy into this. From now on, I'll be watching out of pure interest, but from a very, very far distance. If this marks even the halfway point of their career, I'll be impressed. All I can say is that it's a blessing in disguise that I never got more invested into this band.

I didn't expect such in depth responses! I can see/hear this. Shinya's drums have sounded shite for a while, so that's nothing new to me. The guitars overpowering the bass is the only thing that stood out to me before I asked my question. The "loudness war" is also something that I've come across so much that I'm desensitized to it, but even if there were dynamics I don't think it matters much if the guitars and bassist are dueling for the same frequency. It's not like Dir en grey's music has been all that dynamic since GAUZE anyway... My beef with Kyo's vocals stems all the way from DUM SPIRO SPERO. What annoyed/annoys me about that album to this day is that he jumps from death growl to pig squeals back to death growls so much the impact of his range wears off by the halfway mark of the album. This is the inverse - Kyo is using purely mid range vocal fry and that brings its own style of monotony. I don't even hear any growls, definitely not any that were on the level of DUM SPIRO SPERO. Are the drums as stale live? I haven't listened to the live version of Utafumi enough to tell. Isn't it Shinya's job to, I don't know, play the drums? If you are hypothesizing that all of these elements are sampled, then what is he doing in the studio? Well that's a blessing in disguise, since I listened to the song again today and he's not doing anything interesting enough to stand out. That little segment in the chorus isn't enough for me. So I'm guessing that this is a minor improvement then? The guitars don't bother me too much, but the bass could use more presence. But like I said, Toshiya isn't doing much interesting in this song so even if I could hear it, there wouldn't be much to get excited about. You can't make something amazing out of shit parts. The remastering of UROBOROS comes to mind here. They got a veteran engineer to do a second pass of the album, and somehow it came out worse than the first pass! And part of the reason why is because Tue Madsen does what he normally does, but the more he follows "proper practice", the more flaws come out of the mix. I have a hunch that the original version of UROBOROS was mixed the way it was to hide as many flaws as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened again. I've heard this same sentiment since Kisou. I think they like it this way; it's the only way to explain nearly a decade of bad mixes.

So what is it about the Ningen mix that none of you like? Once again, I don't hear anything.

I think that actually might be it. I can check in a bit. EDIT: You need 30 posts in order to be able to add a cover photo.

Used to? I still kinda do. LEDA come back and realize the potential DELUHI had all along.

I wouldn't judge the album based on the singles. Their singles are always misleading.