Zeus

New banner dimensions are 600 x 200

Good. Performance art or not it's a pretty stupid thing to do and if that's the only way you can keep people's attention that's terrible. There are plenty of ways to be visually shocking without slicing your wrists open. I hope they stop with it.

Tracklist:
1. 詩踏み (utafumi)
2. 空谷の跫音 (kuukoku no kyuuon) feat. SUGIZO
3. Revelation of mankind [REMIX]
 

| Just your standard Dir en grey single

Dir en grey should think hard about not including B-sides with their next single. I haven't heard a convincing original B-side since "腐海 (Fukai)" and that was back in the VULGAR era. I don't want Dir en grey taking great tracks and hiding them in the dark corners of their discography, but I hate feeling like their additional offerings are never worth listening to. Once in a blue moon the band will surprise you with something decent - like the "undecided" remix - only to turn around and punch you in the gut with something like the unplugged version of "AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS". A part of me wonders if they even put effort into the coupling tracks, knowing that only hardcore fans would even think of looking there. These complaints don't take away from "詩踏み" being a wonderful single track, but it's a fact that as far as Dir en grey singles are constructed, this is nothing revolutionary.

Sounding like a less restrained SUSTAIN THE UNTRUTH, "詩踏み (utafumi)" drops the nuanced groove and focus on atmosphere for pure aggression and it's absolutely amazing. Distilling all the best parts of their last three albums into a three minute songs is a herculean task, but Dir en grey do it right. The loose structure takes a few listens to digest, yet it still manages to create an engaging experience that captures feelings of solitude and anger the band was aiming for. This I attribute to the production; the mix feels full and the bottom end feels heavy and tight as it should, but with a memorable chorus and Kyo's performance overall I get claustrophobic, religious vibes. One thing is for sure is from the distortion laced opening to the creepy interlude, "詩踏み" keeps my attention effortlessly the whole time. The completely mental music video and their accompanying look has quickly become my favorite one of year, perfectly capturing the aggression, energy, and confusion of the song. It is also a clear sign that they're over their rebellious phase as they've taken their visuals back to new and shocking heights. This is one hell of a return to a scene they said they were done with all those years ago! As we approach their 20th anniversary, "詩踏み" is a bold statement that Dir en grey isn't done impressing us yet.

If only I had kind words for the rest of the single...

I can feel my attention span rapidly depleting as the dull "空谷の跫音 (kuukoku no kyuuon)" makes a reappearance featuring SUGIZO of LUNA SEA fame fiddling on the violin for extra ambience. This is what happens when a good idea hits too late. It's an improvement over the original, but it also doesn't differ by much. Whenever I think of SUGIZO making a guest appearance on a track he usually elevates it to another level. Unfortunately SUGIZO doesn't leave too a large impact on this track. Iit goes in one ear and out the other in five minutes. I'm content to throw out the original album version and slide this in its place because SUGIZO makes it infinitely better, but I'm not going bananas over this.

"Revelation of mankind [REMIX]" is very misleading and is the band's newest entry in "garbage remixes no one wanted or asked for". The original track was a passable second attempt at "流転の塔 (ruten no tou)". This sounds like nondescript trance step blasting from burnt out speakers in a seedy Manhattan club, and that's a sentence I never wanted to use to describe Dir en grey music. The upbeat tone, vocoder, and wubs stick out badly in sound and mood. It reminds me a lot of ゆらめき (yurameki) (S.N.Y. Remix) in the worst ways possible, especially in how little it resembles the original song save for some lyrics here and there. Even as the staunchest Dir en grey fan, I say you can do without this.

Take the first track and split.

Purchase:

cdjapan | itunes

45 minutes ago, Saishu said:

So while we all question the quality of Utafumi and the b-sides, the DVD that comes with it is pretty damn awesome! Like Arche Budokan quality. It's a smaller venue and Kyo gets super intimate during Rasetsukoku, actually jumping into the crowd. 

Questionable Dir en grey B-sides are the norm rather than the exception. Can't remember the last time I heard a Dir en grey B-side worth listening to whether it be remixes, new songs, live songs, etc. These guys just can't put together an engaging single to save their lives. They're lucky their singles are good. They're lucky Utafumi is good.

1 hour ago, nekkichi said:

I heard that Japanese ambassador for voices of tonsillitis and autism outreach nippon is also hustling as a Dir en grey and sukekiyo frontman part-time, so get your numbers from there I guess??

But would that even be accurate? Kyo has reached sempai-status and the rest of the members in his band aren't slouches. He could get a pass just off his chops with Diru.

I love this band so much. I can't wait for this.

Could all future posts that link to videos please place them in the spoilers? With so many YouTube links it takes forever to load the topic. Thanks!

14 hours ago, Uglymouth said:

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry. I forgot Valluna was on it too. I actually forgot Valluna was a thing...

2 hours ago, filth_y said:

On a sidenote, it would be interesting to list all J-Rock Songs with the typical/most common structure in 70% of all todays vk songs chorus with the guitar playing like this or a small alteration or which song/band started with that:

 

e-------------------------------------------------------

b-------------------------------------------------------

g-------------------------------------------------------

d---0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7-

a---0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7-

D---0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-0-1-8-8-8-8-7-7-7-7--

(anyone knows what i mean with the guitar tab here?)

Heavy parts in the low chord region going up to typically 8 followed by 7 power chord.

Like I said I know nothing about musical theory (or guitar tabs). If you can find an example that starts with that structure I would be able to understand better.

Ever listen to a song and think to yourself that you've heard that melody somewhere before, but you can never place it? Alternatively, have you ever gotten into or read an argument with someone who says "x band copied y melody from z band"? I'm sure all of us have been there at one point and this is a topic that personally interests me. I like knowing where my artists source their inspiration from, and where their inspirations got their inspiration from, etc., because I believe that no idea is original but the interpretation can be. The subjectivity in how different artists hear and play back certain melodies is what makes music beautiful!

...and then there are times when bands just steal melodies and put no effort into it.

Today we take a look at six songs that can go either way. I provide examples,  where I think their origins stem from, and my final judgement. Sometimes it's hero worship. Sometimes it's laziness. Sometimes I just don't know. A lot of this was sourced from the "Inspirations..." thread I started a few years ago, but I also did a bit of legwork the last few months to cobble together my own examples. If you see a track here you pointed out somewhere before, odds are you helped me make this list!

Remember, these are only my opinions and based off what I can hear between two songs. I am not classically trained in music theory and I'm going purely by ear. You won't see me drop music theory knowledge anywhere in this post.

"Diabolic edict" by Ha;qch

stems from "Black Valor" by The Black Dahlia Murder

"When The Last Grave Has Emptied" by The Black Dahlia Murder

"Elder Misanthropy" by The Black Dahlia Murder

Homage or Copy: Frankenstein lives!

Quote

 

Odds are, unless you're one of the five tsunagari that went to their lives, you found this band via "Hell's Drawing". Odds are, you also picked up that omnibus for the ALSDEAD track and ignored everything else, because other than ALSDEAD there was nothing of value to be found. And to call their contribution "Filthy human' a beautiful shit" metal is a large, large stretch, but stay with me here. The name is pronounced as hakuchi, but I find sneezing an acceptable substitute because either way no one will know who you are talking about. The way this band tried so hard to be The Black Dahlia Murder is absolutely hilarious, and the real treat is the live distributed CD "diabolic edict", which is nothing more than a compilation of The Black Dahlia Murder songs! It's pretty obvious too, from the opening of Black Valor to the chorus, which is a straight 1:1 copy.

What's even more depressing is that "diabolic edict" is by far Ha;qch's best song out of the four they pressed to disk. Apparently they were popular at their live shows and in particular their vocalist was berserk, but I attribute that to twenty Japanese metal fans who don't listen to The Black Dahlia Murder, which is quite conceivable. Who know show many other melodic death metal songs they covered and re-arranged...
 

Final Judgement: What a crock of shit.

"セラフ。" by KILLANETH

stems from "DECADANCE - Counting Goats ... if I can't be yours -" by MEJIBRAY

"go ahead" by girugämesh

Homage or Copy: c-c-c-COPY...but every band has to start somewhere

Quote

This is the type of derivative metalcore that fills out the base of the visual kei pyramid - and I am using "derivative" in the most literal sense possible here. girugämesh and MEJIBRAY should be flattered that their music has become influential enough to act as blueprints for a newer band, but one cannot simply rip one of the most badass girugämesh riffs in recent memory and get away with it. The chorus is a much more subtle example, but with enough listens one can hear echoes of the chorus from DECADANCE - Counting Goats ... if I can't be yours -. I'm more willing to forgive the second than the first, but both of their inclusions force me to conclude that this song is just a regurgitation of music we've literally already heard.  セラフ。is a cool and energetic song sure to gain them some quick fans...but only because girugäbray came up with the template first. For all of that, go listen to either one of those bands. I'm cool with KILLANETH becoming the next girugämesh of the scene, but only if they can come up with their own riffs.

Final Judgement: You only get one "Get Out Of Jail Free" card and you already used it.

"The Summer Funeral" by SIGH

stems from "Opening Theme ~ Bombing Mission" by Nobuo Uematsu

Homage or Copy: Definitely a nod towards the veteran composer himself.

Quote

In what is possibly the most subtle case of hero worship in Japanese black metal, veterans SIGH are complete nerds for weaving in a classic Nobuo Uematsu theme to their song "The Summer Funeral" and I love it. Anyone that's played five minutes of FFVII will note the similarities of the organ interlude around the two minute mark. What makes this such an effective sample is how understated it is; for as similar as the two themes are, SIGH's interpretation was tweaked to fit the mood and interlude and Mirai's rasp at the crescendo is even more dramatic than the original! When I think of black metal and video game music, the first thing that jumps to mind is the infamous "Alt lys er svunnet hen" and "Sorgens kammer" fiasco involving Dimmu Borgir and a little-known side scroller shoot-em-up named Agony. In this case, the similarity is more of a homage rather than a blatant rip-off.

Final Judgment: Recycling melodies done right!

"道化ノ華" by アルルカン (ARLEQUIN)

stems from "zombie" by Versailles

Homage or Copy: Smells like a copy to me but can go either way

Quote

I like アルルカン a lot - they're probably one of the new visual kei bands I like the most - but this is inexcusable. The plagiarism in "道化ノ華" reminds me of that time when I forgot I had an earth science term paper due, so I paraphrased a few paragraphs from a few websites and an outdated encyclopedia in ten minutes. You can jumble around parts of songs all you want, but that doesn't mask those parts any better. Just because Aki moves the verse up eight measures doesn't mean that I'm deaf I own a copy of NOBLE too, guys. Ironically enough, the only parts of "道化ノ華" I like are all the parts influenced by "zombie" = the chorus is the literal definition of plateauing at the climax. There's enough nuance in the rhythm and strumming of the guitar to avoid accusations of a straight 1:1 copy, but I would be wrong to claim this isn't super suspicious.

Final Judgement: Sits in that Dir en grey area between paraphrasing and plagiarism

"Black Butterfly" by A

stems from "Enter the Sandman" by Metallica

Homage or Copy: Sounds like a copy to me.

Quote

I'm a Metallica fan. I have been since I was young and The Black Album is one of albums I grew up with. I also like A quite a lot and at one point they were my favorite band tearing up the scene. But I would be dishonest with myself if I said I couldn't hear "Enter the Sandman" in "Black Butterfly". The intro riff into the first eight bars sounds a littletoo Western, even for A. The evidence is the larger than life feeling I get from listening to A's rendition. Much like it's big brother song "Enter the Sandman", there's a grandiose feeling winding around the riffs metal enough to tear a stadium down. I'm willing to give "Black Butterfly" a pass because it's a legitimately good song when it decides to stand on its own legs, but they aren't fooling anyone by covering Metallica, least of all me.

Final Judgement: U. H. W: Unabashed Hero Worship

"Amentia" by E'm～grief～

stems from "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" by Dimmu Borgir

"The Promise of Fever" by Cradle of Filth

"Shat Out of Hell" by Cradle of Filth

"Honey and Sulphur" by Cradle of Filth

Homage or Copy: A shameless mix of three black metal riffs

Quote

This song is the most infamous example of blatant plagiarism in visual kei in the last decade and yet I can't find a suitable link on YouTube to display the fuckery. They were not a prolific band, having only released a total of 14 songs, their music is best described as a mix of industrial, gothic, and symphonic metal. I am 100% certain that "Amentia" got them into heaps of trouble and I personally believe this marked the start of E'm～grief～'s rapid decline. What makes this situation even more depressing is that E'm～grief～ is still one of the most interesting and creative indie visual kei bands of the last decade, and it's not like they were pushed as hard as other bands in the scene, so I don't know why they resorted to this.

Let's first examine the timeline so I can explain my conjecture about their disbandment. E'm～grief～ started in 2008 and had an aggressive release schedule...up until this single. 「In paradism」 was released a month after - probably because of a label deal worked out prior - but then we didn't hear from them for almost a year! Then they dropped one more single 「Atonality」, a collection album 「grief」, and disbanded. There's also a huge irony in that main composer Yuuze took one of the most iconic black metal melodies from Dimmu, who years ago got in trouble for stealing compositions of "Alt lys er svunnet hen" and "Sorgens kammer" from a video game and the song "Sacred Hour" respectively. No one kicked up much of a fuss outside of visual kei circles, but the situation plays out as if KISAKI quietly took the wind out of this band's sales by reducing their funding...which I actually don't blame him for.

I would chalk up the stolen Dimmu intro to ~influence~ if the rest of the song wasn't a mash of three Cradle of Filth songs. The only parts I would feel confident were written by E'm～grief～ would be the orchestral, frilly parts with the shitty compressed horns and the tin can drums that stitch the song together. I always felt that if you were going to steal any melody, at least steal one that fits with your aesthetic. For starters, the first fifteen seconds of the intro to "A Link To The Past" would have been a much better fit and easier to write off as a tribute.

Final Judgement:


 

On 7/26/2016 at 1:35 AM, blackdoll said:

ahahahahaha that part that was directed at me, if that wasnt an abuse of power idk what is. And honey that wasnt Key gettin attacked so im all good, just giving a different perspective, but that illegal right?  or just with some right. And  oh ya gotta love the hypocrisy, and dodging.

In all honesty, I can ban you whenever I desire for no reason whatsoever and none of the staff would stop me. I can ban you like I banned that third rate troll @Xetem the other day. He's banned to the ninth level of Monochrome Hell, which is a place so bad you can't even load the forum anymore. It's just a white screen.

But you are still here.

Think about that.

I derived endless amusement from the banter in this topic. The mental calisthenics some of you are going through to paint the staff in a bad light with absolutely no evidence to back it up really gives me a chortle. I don't know if you get your rocks off always being contrarian or if you just don't like us - and I don't really care - but now it's turning into personal vendettas against members who have beef with one another and who are using his departure as a cover. So now this ends.

@blackdoll, you in particular need to chill out. None of what you said has any basis in reality and @emmny is more on point than you are. Do not conflate the right to an opinion with being wrong. You shared your opinion and I am telling you that you are wrong. Enough already.

Thank you to everyone else in this topic who didn't jump to conclusions and who understands that this is a delicate, complex situation with no right answers. Trombe has been a vital part of Monochrome Heaven for a very long time but even long-lasting relationships don't always work out. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this didn't work out because the staff and Trombe no longer see eye to eye on how news should be posted and how the section should be moderated. The ban is a separate issue entirely from what everyone else in this topic is going on about and I'm reserving Trombe's right to privacy so don't ask or offer conjectures. Trombe will continue to post news in the form that he sees best and if that entails returning to MH at some point than so be it. Monochrome Heaven will continue to have a news section and you are all welcome to fill the void and post news.

In case you need me to make it extra clear for you: Trombe chose to leave Monochrome Heaven. He said so. We said so. If you don't believe either party, that's on you.

This topic will now return to wishing Trombe a farewell. Anyone who uses this topic as a platform for airing their own drama will have their posts deleted and receive a nice warning notification to go with it.

I came here to echo sentiments. 暁-aki- please coordinate with a vocal coach to improve your harsh vocals. You don't want to follow Kyo's struggle.

On 7/13/2016 at 3:46 AM, Atreides said:

Don't know if this has been mentined yet but I was checking out Arlequin's stuff (exploring newer vk) and I noticed something interesting.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMwzUZWE30I    

 

 

Seems to be directly inspired by Versailles song,

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_YERIyw794

 

 

Chords seem very similar to my uninitiated ears.

 

You are not the only one.

 

On 7/18/2015 at 10:50 AM, Zeus said:

I took a long break from this band after their disappointing debut but I'm pleased to find that this band isn't completely out of ideas yet. アルルカン needs a lot of help in understanding where the music they play and the way we perceive it intersect. This band would have much more effective singles if they focused on catchy, energetic rock or aggressive metalcore and less on power ballads with riffs that vaguely resemble Versailles' "zombie". If the track list were reversed, and "人形-ヒトガタ-" placed first and "道化ノ華" placed last, this would have easily gotten a whole star higher. It would have also signaled good things about their next full album.

 

5 hours ago, Pho said:

That's really interesting. I have to admit that I don't know anywhere near enough about this topic to be able to say whether that counts as synaesthesia or not. I only recently discovered that it's considered abnormal to experience this sort of thing at all. From my basic understanding though, it's not a learned process but something that comes instinctively/naturally. Is that something you taught yourself to do or is it just something that naturally started occurring? If it's the latter then it might be an example of synaesthesia.

 

It's different from person to person. For example, this person associates a completely different set of colours with the different days of the week to me. I have no experience with synaesthetsia relating to other senses other than the perception of colour being associated with certain word or letters (not that I'm aware of at least), nor do I know anybody that does, but I'd assume it's the same for those too.

I've always been able to do it for as long as I've been messing around with theoretical maths. That wasn't until 6 or 7 years ago. I'm not as nice as S. Ramanujan though

EDIT: I suddenly remember the first time it ever happened to me and what I was doing at the time.

5 hours ago, Waru Chibi said:

For all who saw the news

I am fine - IN munich is still chaos

Hope everyone else close to this city is fine too!

I am glad you are fine~ Thanks for letting us know!

A nice rule of thumb for visual kei bands is to use the estimated cost of their wardrobe as the lower bound for their net worth. As in, they have to have at least enough money in their pockets to buy their outfit, or someone has to think they are worth it enough to invest.

But then when you get into comparing the different members of a band to see how the 100% is split between them all, it would be hard to say without knowing more information. To me, a band's main composer would clearly have a higher net value. But then another member could handle business and money which is essential but also invisible to us as fans so his value to the band is invisible too. No way to measure that. You can have a unique vocalist that isn't the best but then there's no one like him and he gives your band identity, so he has value too. Then there's the excuse that the band breaks up because someone left and it doesn't "feel the same anymore", so that's an indirect way of saying the band member was so valuable they couldn't buy someone else to replace him!

So really it defines on what you want to measure.

I split this topic out of the random topics thread because I thought it was interesting enough to be it's own thing. Yay \o/

I think I experience this phenomenon with computer science concepts but I've never gotten professionally evaluated for it. I think in colors and shapes. Problems have their own individual shapes and I see the solutions to the problems as jigsaw pieces on top of the shape, color coded to denote how long it would take and brightness how hard it would be for me to do. It happened today in the office when I was trying to explain how to take unstructured data and force structure on it; I took as many markers to the board as I could and started drawing colors and shapes and creating a key so everyone knew what everything meant. There were also words and numbers in the steps written with a totally neutral color so I could read it at a glance. It was a colorful explosion of abstract shapes no one but me could follow but when I was done I could actually see on the board what I was thinking in my head.

I don't get any special reaction when I think of numbers, letters, or days of the week. But start throwing mathematical problems at me and my brain just goes.

sorry about the low effort troll in the dir en grey topic yesterday. he showed me a pic of an asshole (literally) so i showed him the door back to 2006 batsu. if you see him again immediately report his profile so that the mod team can ban him again. he is no longer allowed to step foot here

So as far as you can remember, this is an indies visual kei band right? This sounds like it but I don't want to make any assumptions.

Valve has actually decided to save face and throw these guys under the bus indirectly...not like I Expected them to do anything else.

http://kotaku.com/valve-issues-cease-and-desist-letter-to-23-counter-stri-1783975845

Counter-Strike gambling sites may not be long for this world, as Valve has sent a letter demanding they change practices in the next 10 days or the company will “pursue all available remedies including without limitation terminating your accounts.”

 

The letter in question first appeared last night, though its validity was questioned. Soon after, one of the most popular Counter-Strike gambling sites, CS:GO Big, uploaded a high-resolution version of the letter andannounced it would be disabling deposits and temporarily shutting down.

http://www.theverge.com/tldr/2016/7/19/12226958/pokemon-go-google-map-display
 

Someone found out a way to find Pokemon near your current location outside the app. Pretty cool.

If we're linking more videos about the CS:GOGate then here's The Jimquisition's take on it. Ten minutes of gold worth your time and explains the situation very well.

I haven't gotten further updates on the situation yet but last I heard the two pro streamers are in hot water. If they have any contract endorsements those might be in jeopardy.

Overwatch patch 1.1.0 just hit! And with it comes Ana. I'm so excited to play as her @Valicious when are we doing competitive again?

I'm gonna need some previews sooner rather than later.