Zeus

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

I actually went in the other direction. I think the problem with the way Westeros is run is that the monarchy is weak. I've always believed that the most efficient form of government is a benevolent dictatorship, and that is the cornerstone of Bran the Broken's unwritten rule after the end of the show. We already flirted with democracy via Sam's suggestion, and the other nobles laughed it off. I'll explain why this is important later, but basically Westeros is not ready for democracy. When the monarchy started 300 years ago, it was done by Aegon I Targaryen, his two sisters, and three dragons. That's the equivalent of bringing a tactical nuke to a medieval gun fight. The early Targs were able to consolidate power first with dragons, then with political and military alliances. The power of the Targaryens decreased when their dragons stopped becoming a threat, and of course when the issues of incest multiplied generation after generation.

Now look to the present in the show starting with the first books and look at who is really in charge. The "earliest" we can go is Aerys. Aery's successor was Bobby B, who earned the throne via right of conquest but was an ineffectual ruler that could command no one's respect. He was openly mocked by his wife, sired no legit heirs, spent the crown into debt, and died on the eve of war. Joffrey and Tommen weren't effectual rulers either, basically they were Cersei's mouth pieces and had no power on their own. Dany touches the throne for 3.5 seconds and dies 10 minutes later.

Now look to the people who had power; Aerys was king but it was Tywin, hand of the king, who was ruler in spirit. The High Septon had no problem forcing any of the rulers into following religious customs without even needing to be in the Red Keep. Cersei presided over the rule of two kings as regent before becoming Queen herself. She held onto power for so long because she was ruthless and a bit insane, creating a centralized power structure through fear, but once she became Queen proper her claims to power got more tenuous, not less, almost as if becoming ruler undermined her authority. Who instructed Jon to murder Dany? Tyrion in a prison cell. Who floated the idea of Bran as the new king? Tyrion, prisoner about to be executed and looking for a pardon. The recurring theme is twofold: one is that that the Iron Throne is not something that anyone actually wants to have, and the other is that the person who elects the king often has more power than the actual king!

Back to my original point: Bran himself is a weak king because he cannot sire heirs. Tyrion picking Bran as the new king is a power play for himself out of self-preservation. He's hoping either Bran accepts and pardons him, or Bran looks into the future and picks the ideal candidate. When he dies, the right to rule will be brought into question again. The whole idea that nobles will pick the right leader every time is absolutely laughable; you put powerful and self-interested people in the pilot seat, ask them all to pick one among them to rule, and expect all of them not to want to take the wheel? Self-interest will be the primary motivating factor, and remember I said that the country is not ready for democracy. Democracy is all about compromise, which is difficult when everyone wants to be king, but at least democracy has built-in checks and balances to promote compromise. War is only one king and one future disagreement between two groups of nobles away from returning to Westeros, and the nobles still don't know how to work together.

This idea of "electing a new king" puts more hands into the power of each of the kingdoms than it does into the central monarchy. That reminds me of the Articles of Confederation, which was a massive failure because the states could not/would not effectively coordinate with each other, and the federal government could only request action, not demand it. This is the situation Bran almost immediately finds him in, when Sansa turns around and declares the North free. That's a horrible precedent, because that sets up the monarchy for immediate weakness. There's little that Bran can do to command the rest of the kingdoms to stay, if they so choose to test him. They're basically staying put because they chose him, so their acceptance is implicit, but there's no saying the next ruler gets the same treatment. The next ruler probably will not. Where is his tactical nuke? His dragons? His standing army? Doesn't exist. The king is the most vulnerable person in the entire Seven Kingdoms, who basically rules for as long as his charisma lasts.

It's also a bit of an asspull to make a psychic Gary Stu the king, because there is no real world equivalent to the 3ER, so it cements the ending in the realm of feel good fantasy at odds with the gritty realism that defined this show. It also doesn't make a lot of sense if you dig into the political science behind it, about as much sense as
 
 

 
 

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

One of my friends committed suicide last night. The reality is still setting in.

I remember someone writing on the forum that a lot of their old fans turned on them and probs didn't get any new ones to replace them either. also they ain't sellin' nuffin but tbh I can't decide if they already called it a day and just decided to play music til retirement like this to no ones interest since it's not like yuuki's VANS budget eats that much out of his salary at 7/11 unlike what they used to wear. 
 
https://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/448073/rank/album/ Essentially went from selling the best they ever did to the worst with interest still declining. I don't know how or why this happened but I'm just as puzzled as anyone else. It's not like the other guys bailing on the shimizuya yakuza had to retire from vkei 
 

fwiwi, here are their longest songs to date

short ver. now, longer ver. on itunes, longest ver. on 『average flatulence』 PV DVD/BR next year I guess

Born will release there live CD called "Mother Fucker" which will be available 2019.10.01 andwill include 26 songs + 2 reprints and 
BORN [Alternative Tarantula] TOUR FINAL 2015. 9. 6 Akasaka BLITZ performances. Will be available on PS company shop. (In which i have not seen yet) 

"Mother Fucker" 2019.10.01 RELEASE！
disc-1-
01 坩堝
02 オルタナ
03 鴉
04 MAD whistle
05 Rotten cherry
06 Son Of A Bitch
07 DAMNED
08 foxy foxy
09 LETTER
10 Spiral Lie
11 La Tarantella
12 RAGE OF FACT
13 RED DESIRE
14 零未来-zeroAsu-
15 BREAKTHROUGH
16 DISASTER
17 DEMONS
disc-2-
01 ENCORE MC
02 BLASTED ANIMALS
03 乱刺℃
04 Deep Affection
05 GOD COLLAPSE
06 黒蟻
07 DIRTY STACKER
08 BODY
09 ケミカルロマンス
10 RADICAL HYSTERIA
 
※『RED HOT COBRA』(Remastered tracks)
11 COBRA
12 RADICAL HYSTERIA
 
-DVD-
TOUR FINAL 2015. 9. 6 Akasaka BLITZ performance
 
 

Three things in life are inevitable as a visual kei fan: death, taxes, and your favorite band ending activities. If you are a fan of llll-Ligro- , then you experienced all three at the same time when they announced their second disbandment. I wasn't super into the band at the time of both of their disbandments, although they were on my radar and not on my shit list, so I can sympathize with fans who had to deal with heart break twice. Fans of yesteryear went through a similar phase with UnsraW's vocalist Yuuki, and depending on who you talk to he still hasn't gotten back to his prime ten years later. The similarities are so striking it's hard to resist the comparison. But this review isn't about UnsraW, it's about llll-Ligro- and their unreleased second album 弔 (Tomurai). The three tracks that managed to survive stand as a reminder for what could have been, and what should have been.

Before its cancellation, 弔 was announced for a 2018-05-30 release. Artwork and booklets were probably designed and pressed, but no scans other than the front exist. A track list was released but we don't know how many of the nine unreleased songs were finished. The album was delayed multiple times due to Hinata and Kazari's habit of postponing releases for the sake of quality, but Hinata's refusal to finish recording his parts due to acute chorditis implies that at least some of these songs were unfinished. As is, it will be impossible to give a full review of it, but there are several tracks we can reflect on. Those tracks are comeback single "INVICTA", live distributed single "basket case", and other promotional single "INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL". "深閑ガラス" (Shinkan Glass) is a track played at their last live but no recording of it exists.
 
 


弔 (Tomurai)
1. Blame me (SE)
2. INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL
3. basket case
4. Shinkan Glass (深閑ガラス)
5. Kuroneko wa Kaku Katariki (黒猫は斯く語りき)
6. Ratai Are Hateta Hyou (裸体荒れ果てた標)
7. DIRGE OF INFECTION
8. HIRAETH
9. INVICTA
10. Mist
11. DEEP SIX
12. Seija no Koushin (聖者の行進)
13. Kanransha wa Adabana to (観覧車は徒花と)
14. Isho (遺書)
 
 
Despite all the material released as a part of llll-Ligro- 's first phase, "INVICTA" isn't the ball scorching metalcore banger I was expecting. The unassuming opening does a lot to disarm the listener, and on the first listen I thought this was going to be a ballad, but before long the song ratchets up the complexity and the aggression. The band dips their toes into the progressive metal waters with this one, as everything from synthesized piano keys to acoustic guitars and a generous amount of toms and cymbal crashes makes an appearance. Hinata's vocals are one of the most striking elements of the track, featuring his signature skill of deftly switching between harsh growls and pig squeals. Sometimes the transitions are so fast I'm not sure if it's all natural or studio magic, but having to perform that live is absolutely killer. It's a seven minute trip far more realized than most of their contemporaries. If every band has their magnum opus, "INVICTA" could be theirs. This must have been a product of their time as 時限式:uadjet (jigenshiki:uadjet).
 

"INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL" is a much more straightforward track, and would have been the first track on the album after "Blame me", which is an SE so I don't count it. There are a lot of cool ideas here. I think my ultimate favorite part is around 3 minutes, where Hinata's clean singing is laid over his screaming, creating a great dynamic tension to push the song into it's last section. The piano motif returns again, which makes me suspect that we would have gotten at least one piano ballad on the album. There's also some pretty dope bass slaps before the eagle scream halfway through where I expected a breakdown to appear, which is what cemented my opinion of this track as an above average metalcore dirge. 



The last track that was released was "basket case", a live distributed teaser that ended up becoming their last official release. This would have followed "INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL" and does a good job providing contrast to the first track. This wasn't uploaded anywhere else, so I'll try to give a good description of how the track sounds. "basket case" opens up with a short, distorted riff into a chorus with clean vocals with a straightforward, 'four to the floor' drum beat. The main guitar riff of the song sounds mental and the song moves at a frantic yet restrained pace, alluding to the title. Most of the singing is clean and takes place with Hinata's higher register, but mid range barks, growls, and a pig squeal makes an appearance shortly after the second verse. There's a strong emphasis on twin guitar melody for this song. The chorus has a very stereotypical visual kei melodic progression, so much so that I feel like I can place at least the first few notes of "basket case" from another song, but I can't figure out which one it is yet.

"basket case" descends into thirty seconds of noise as the track winds down to an end, and I find myself feeling saddened that the album will never be released in its entirety, and that I'll never get to hear "深閑ガラス" (Shinkan Glass). llll-Ligro-  hold the crown for visual kei bands with one of the most promising yet unfulfilled musical development arcs of all time, and that's not a title I'm keen on reassigning any time soon. Based on what I've heard, 弔 would have been the album that made a fan out of me. I just know there's a copy of the unfinished masters sitting in a vault in Japan somewhere, and perhaps a second or third copy on a hard drive, but the odds that we'll ever get to see or hear any more of this album are slim to none. At this point, I'd even take a mini-album of whatever is fit enough to be released.

A lot of unknowns remain around the members and the state of the band. Can Hinata ever sing again? Is the relationship between Hinata and Kazari too strained to imagine a third reunion? Do they even want to try or will they both move on to new, separate projects? I am reluctant to stoke the fires of hope for the remaining llll-Ligro-  fans out there, because that's just cruel, but the scene has shown with both HIZUMI (D'espairsRay) and Yuuki (UnsraW) that there's always a chance for Hinata to return.

I've had them for a few years. I've got the HD 600, the Corsair VOID RGB headset, ATH M50xs, the HD 518's and the HiFiMan HE 400, and the 600s are my favorite pair to use. They sound just as good as the planars and they're a lot lighter on the head. Velour pads are a god send for long listening sessions in humid weather. That's why I ended up modding those headphones and not a different pair that I barely use. Never had the pleasure of owning a tube amp, so I can't say how they sound with those, but the Magni/Modi 1 drive them just fine. Sound very neutral and that can either be an excellent thing or a bad thing, depends on if you like flavor in your  music. But honestly that's something a bit of EQ can fix. I like the neutral sound, even if it can be a bit revealing at times.

Speaking of Schiit stacks, @colorful人生 inspired me to get my own Magni/Modi set up. I was having trouble getting Windows 10 to recognize the device as something that plugs in but doesn't communicate with it. I think I need to avoid USB 3.0 ports or something because the Magni/Modi 1 doesn't play nice with them.


 
And here's what it's attached to, Sennheiser HD 600 with a Modmic Wireless attached.

The Mad Dogs are still really nice, but the stickers on the side have peeled off so they just look like the MK2s on the outside. I actually bought the last pair Dan sold on the site, so hopefully mine last for a long time. I thought about the Alpha upgrade, but I heard the mod made the cans slightly too sibilant, which I'm a bit sensitive to. The stack is nice, but the Magni 2 doesn't drive enough power to my liking for the MDs which I have it go out to the Panasonic (so it functions as a pre-amp.)
 
How do the MK3s compare to the Mad Dog mod? I heard the MK3s were a marked improvement over the MK2s, but I wasn't sure how they compared to the MDs.
 
Also have to mention that your setup reminds me of Zeos' (Z Reviews), who's influenced most of my audio-related purchases.
 
 
Nice :D. Oh yea, none of them play nice with USB 3.0. I have a USB 2.0 switcher that my Modi is plugged in to.
 
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Forgot to mention on the portable end I have LG Tone Platinums (I bought refurb), Jaybird X3s (that need repairing), Tin Audio T2s, and Koss KSC75s (rip etika). Since adapters/dongles are dogshit and bluetooth eats my battery, I have my iPod Classic 6g w/ Rockbox as my backup device once the phone battery gets low. Also my Vita can't do newer gen bluetooth, so I'm forced to go wired anyway.

Speaking of Schiit stacks, @colorful人生 inspired me to get my own Magni/Modi set up. I was having trouble getting Windows 10 to recognize the device as something that plugs in but doesn't communicate with it. I think I need to avoid USB 3.0 ports or something because the Magni/Modi 1 doesn't play nice with them.


 
And here's what it's attached to, Sennheiser HD 600 with a Modmic Wireless attached.

That whole album was recorded on $10 earplugs Die picked up at the corner store.

Someone passed me a copy of The Insulated World that they did where they adjusted a few things and the end result was so much better. Not good enough to fundamentally change opinions on the album, but enough to make me wonder why that wasn't done before the album was pressed. It only took ten minutes! For fuck's sake, if I can sit down and take a compressed MP3 version of the track and make it sound better than the studio master, there's a problem with the production part of the pipeline. Do any of their ears work? I haven't revisited the album since I got this copy, since tracks like "Devote my Life" hurt to listen to, and I still think the second half of the album is stronger than the first half, so in essence I guess I agree with your hot take???

Despite my high end equipment, I'm also terrible at noticing these problems in the moment, but I can very easily A-B them if someone gives me a cleaned up version, so if I start noticing issues almost instantly then that's real bad. Real good example of how ignorance is bliss.

That whole album was recorded on $10 earplugs Die picked up at the corner store.

Someone passed me a copy of The Insulated World that they did where they adjusted a few things and the end result was so much better. Not good enough to fundamentally change opinions on the album, but enough to make me wonder why that wasn't done before the album was pressed. It only took ten minutes! For fuck's sake, if I can sit down and take a compressed MP3 version of the track and make it sound better than the studio master, there's a problem with the production part of the pipeline. Do any of their ears work? I haven't revisited the album since I got this copy, since tracks like "Devote my Life" hurt to listen to, and I still think the second half of the album is stronger than the first half, so in essence I guess I agree with your hot take???

Despite my high end equipment, I'm also terrible at noticing these problems in the moment, but I can very easily A-B them if someone gives me a cleaned up version, so if I start noticing issues almost instantly then that's real bad. Real good example of how ignorance is bliss.

85% chance they was fucking while you were in high school

gotta ask how that extra credit tastes

85% chance they was fucking while you were in high school

85% chance they was fucking while you were in high school

gotta ask how that extra credit tastes

85% chance they was fucking while you were in high school