Zeus

I don't think changing the staff will change the state of the forum in itself, but I think it could be a step in the right direction and it's a visible change that will improve the forum's morale.
 
Speaking of visible changes, perhaps changing or improving the current forum theme and the forum banner would help to refresh MH and revive moral. (Personally, I've always been a fan of rotating banners).
 
 
However, we can sit here and talk about cosmetics all day, but visible changes aren't truly substantial changes. I think what this forum needs most of all is a solitary purpose. I feel as if everyone wants mh to change, but every seems to have different ideas (or no ideas at all) on what they want MH to be. If we establish a clear identity and singular goal, then we can proceed from there.
 
Ask yourselves this, what do you consider MH to be? A VK forum? A J-rock forum? A Japanese music forum? A forum for kpop and VK? What are we exactly?
 
 
Personally, I've always viewed MH as a Japanese rock forum. Sure, we've always had an abundance of visual kei fans here. So with that in mind, I've tried to do my part to share, discuss, and promote non-visual bands with the hopes of cultivating appreciation for Japanese rock as a whole and not just one scene in particular. That's what I've been trying to do personally, but to be completely honest, I have no idea if the rest of the staff shares my sentiments.
 
That's why I ask you all, before you jump and try to change the staff, I urge you all to come up with a goal, a singular purpose that you all can devote yourselves to as part of the staff. If you guys have no goal, then you're not going to get very far. I think that's the problem with the current staff. Everyone means well, but we've kind of lost sight of what our goal(s) should be.
 
When you guys come up with a purpose, a goal, or some kind of mission, then I will gladly abdicate my position to anyone you deem worthy. But as of now, with no goal in mind, we don't really have much of a standard to judge the current staff by other than their activity level - to which you guys have stated will take much more to be a mod.
 
So, once again. I'll charge you all with this task. Decide where you want to go with MH. Decide what you'd like MH to be. And from there, develop a criteria that you think the staff should be able to meet. If I don't meet the criteria, I will gladly step down.
 
I'm all for reconstruction. But before you guys start detaching pieces and putting them back together, have a clear vision of what you want to build first. Let's see a blueprint and then go from there.
 
At the end of the day, I'll do whatever is best for MH.

Score: | The Japanese noise rock titans are back!!


...although it's debatable if they ever went anywhere to begin with.

Fetch is a righteous kick in the ass. It has everything I've come to love about Melt-Banana - the chirpy vocals with unintelligible lyrics, the smorgasboard of guitar sounds that even Sigh would be jealous of, spastic drums, meaty bass, and songs that race by at a mile a minute. All has been quiet on the melty banana front for a while, and the three-piece is now a two-piece, but the band proves they still have what it takes to be considered noise rock titans.

Fetch isn't about the music; it's about the experience (much like how you probably don't want to be strapped to the top of a speeding car but the adrenaline rush is undeniable). It's pure energy pressed to disc and the production is acceptably lo-fi, which adds to the overall craziness Melt-Banana embodies. There is a definite improvement over Cell-Scape and Bambi's Dilemma here in that the songs fit together very well. Short songs and long songs work well together and the pace doesn't stop right up until the end, where it slows down just enough to speed right back up and end the album with a bang. Or bang#53, since there are about 52 other sound effects that did the same thing in all the previous tracks. On multiple listens, once you peel back the layers, you'll come to have an appreciation for how well the noise is integrated into the music. It's simple but complex at the same time.

Fetch isn't an easy album to listen to. It disregards a lot of what people have come to expect from their musical experience. It blends noise and music in a way that makes you either like it or hate it. There is no middle ground. If you don't mind high-pitched female vocals, evolving song structures and a lot of experimentation, Fetch may find a place in your heart. Stick with the title track Candy Gun, which serves as a composite for the entire album. If you like it, you'll like Fetch. If you don't, you won't.

Or if you've ever wondered what Pikachu sounds like fronting a metal band, that's cool too.

Well, I for one have no problem with reshuffling the staff team and adding more active people to it. We had several recruitments drives in the past. The main problem: many of those people that we thought would be best suited for the job simply didn't apply. And another recurring problem we had that we recruited mods we thought were good for the job - but after a few weeks they stopped doing stuff, so we had to look for new ones.
 
 
Let's face it: being a mod is not a glamorous task at all. It's actually very tedious, with most of the work done behind the scenes. For year after year I have been doing the jrock contests at the end of each year, which was a lot of work for relatively little results. There don't really seem to be that many people that want to do that kind of stuff for a longer time.
 
It can also be somewhat of a stressful task. You may have to piss off people. Maybe people you actually like. I know I pissed off a lot of people in all the years as staff here, by repremanding or banning them. Including people I used to get along well before.
 
The fact that you have to go around pissing off people by locking their threads, giving them warning for breaking rules etc. also makes it increasingly difficult to use the site as a normal "user" - people will look at you differently. That is something potential staff members should be aware of - you will get hate for actually enforcing the rules. In my experience many people simply weren't willing to that. They wanted to be part of the community - not punish members from it.

I'm currently listening to COHOL.
 
COHOL describe themselves as a black hardcore death metal band from Tokyo, but black metal should do just fine. COHOL hit the spot for me because they mix black metal and hardcore in a way I haven't found any other band to do as successfully. They don't have too big of a discography yet but their one album, 空洞, is good enough for me to play it on repeat. The one thing this band nails above all other black metal bands is musicality - in an effort to be the blackest of the black too many bands forego music for pure aggression. What ends up happening is that
 
The music sounds like blackened death metal, deathcore, or some other genre that isn't black metal with some tremolo picking thrown in for kvltness The album sounds like one long, angry, tortured track. I like anger and forlorn despair in my black metal tracks as much as anyone else, but I also like dynamics. Setting your drum to play at 200 BPM in 4/4 while you repeat one riff over and over again Burzum-style is not kvlt. It's annoying.  
There's plenty of pig squeals, shrieks and growls to suit those that want to headbang, but they're not afraid to get cuddly with an acoustic guitar or turn up the ambience and forget about blast beats and tremolo picking for a track or two. Songs like desertion on the ground and 回廊 do a really great job of breaking up the monotony that many black metal bands bring to the table every time they put out an album. It also heightens the intensity of when they do decide to get heavy, because it's less expected.
 
Obvious influences for me are clearly Bathory and Burzum, for fearless incorporation of influences that the most ignorant of metalheads would turn their nose up at as well as constantly evolving song structures that revolve around a central motif. In a way though, they're truly just influences - I can't say that they borrow too much from any one band as much as they do their own thing. And they do it very, very well.
 
I also cannot forget to mention that their music doesn't sound like it was recorded in a sock. 空洞 was recorded with decent/good equipment and mastered very well. This goes way past the snobbery of the "lo-fi idon'twantyoulisteningtomymusicpleeb" sickness that plagued second-wave black metal. I actually enjoy listening to this band and I can get deep into the mix with my gear. I appreciate that a lot.
 
If I've intrigued you enough, check it out here:
 

This release is simply flawless. 
But then again, Melt Banana has always been consistent with amazing releases. This one in particular, is my favorite at the moment, with Bambi's Dilemma coming in as a close second. Which is kind of saying a lot, considering Bambi's Dilemma has been my No. 1 for quite some time. 
One thing that brought me to love Melt Banana was their vocalist and I'm glad she still has that same quirky, high-pitched sound that keeps bringing me back for more.
I had quite a hard time picking a favorite from this album, but I'd have to say "Infection Deflection" is my personal pick. The guitar-work is just fantastic. Not to mention the bass, which really brings out the best in this song. It really gives you this old Melt Banana "vibe",for lack of a better word.
 
Overall I believe this album really deserves a; 
 

Perhaps DIM? It feels cohesive, at the very least.

How cute, fotzkopp. Your very first post is such a great impression. /s
 
Allow me to pass on a bit of knowledge to you: if you want to stick around this forum much longer you'll apologize and cut the shit out. Monochrome Heaven does not tolerate unprovoked attacks on other members. This is your one and only warning.

madygrain, don't even bother responding to him.

How cute, fotzkopp. Your very first post is such a great impression. /s
 
Allow me to pass on a bit of knowledge to you: if you want to stick around this forum much longer you'll apologize and cut the shit out. Monochrome Heaven does not tolerate unprovoked attacks on other members. This is your one and only warning.

madygrain, don't even bother responding to him.

Music and memories? Well there's nothing better than THIS ALBUM RIGHT HERE:
 
 

 
 
If you were a kid growing up in the 90's and you had anyone even remotely cool in your life to put you on to anime, you should know why. I really do think Toonami was an integral part in forming my love for electronic music. Ignition is my theme song (no, not THAT Ignition) and Walking Stick is still my jam...16 years later. The music isn't that great. The album flew under the radar of many people due to poor advertising on Toonami's part which followed with their replacement with Miguzi. It's the memories that it digs up. When Gundams Are On Earth play, I just remember the CGI animation of The Absolution as TOM walks down to take his seat whilst clips of the show play. I remember small, excited me who rushed through 3 hours worth of homework just to catch my guilty pleasure Sailor Moon at 4. Dragonball Z itself could take up pages upon pages of my autobiography.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRmZgBYSO7s
 
Yeah, memories.

I was expecting a preview of a song. I am disappointed.

i already wrote that in another thread, but one of the reasons is the cd price law. if you have any japanese cds you should look at the cds. the price is always inprinted into the cd case not just a price tag on the cd like in the US and europe. theres a law thats protecting cd prices.
so given the high cd prices they have right now, its really common that many japanese labels dont really want to put the stuff at amazon.co.jp, bandcamp , itunes etc. because the price between digital purchases and the real cd prices are so different.
in US thats not really important as albums are usually like 8,99 or 9,99 digitally and the physical copy just a bit more.
so as they cant change the price of digital purchases (250 at itunes for example) they would lose money if people (especially japanese people) only buy from amazon or itunes instead of buying the real copies. a album is usually around 2400 yen at itunes and more than 3000 physically

On top of all this, my friend and I were having a conversation about RWBY. We characterized the feeling behind this show as one of a man making his dreams come true. You can feel the passion in everything, including the extremely janky scenes that he didn't have time to fix up. And you can definitely tell the labor he put into the fight scenes, which I would say are done extremely well.
I can't even get to the story yet because it hasn't gotten started. It feels like there will be a lot going on once it does. Hopefully if it gets more funding it can get to the point where episodes are longer than a few minutes.
But yes I'm biased. Yes my wallpaper is RWBY. And my avatar is red like roses. I'm obsessed.

I just started and caught up on RWBY. Jesus fucking Christ my panties are wet. And I don't even own panties.

Score: | PINK MILK WITH DRUGS MY DRINK.

 
Faux-dubstep and synthetic orchestra hits on the intro tracks signals that while this "erotic" era isn't over, it's entering into uncharted waters. More specifically, Lycaon finally skinny-dipped off the deep end. If Lycaon's music were a bar, we've just entered the backroom for preferred customers only.  All I can think to myself is that I like whatever drugs this band started taking.
 
It's more of the neo-visual dubstep-influenced metal trend, so if you're expecting a follow-up to Royal Order stop here. What's attractive about this release is just how overdone it is. There's so much more going on than a few lazy riffs over cheap synth. Lots of ideas - maybe even too many - are thrown out of the speakers in every direction at once. I would go as far to say that this excursion is so bad it wraps around the end and becomes enjoyable on a level slightly above irony. What's different about Masochist Red Circus is that they've taken the sound I described earlier and stretched it as far as it would go. All the other trendy-kei bands have just been issued a challenge for their pink slips.
 
On the other side of that coin, this really isn't that good. No track blows me away. Some get a nod, others get a wave, but no track bores me either. It's a very average release dressed up in a style that doesn't often reach average. Masochist Red Circus doesn't scratch that itch that only a really novel visual kei release can scratch. I'll listen once in a while and have a bit of fun, but this doesn't have the chops to stick.

Thanks for trying though.

Score: | PINK MILK WITH DRUGS MY DRINK.

 
Faux-dubstep and synthetic orchestra hits on the intro tracks signals that while this "erotic" era isn't over, it's entering into uncharted waters. More specifically, Lycaon finally skinny-dipped off the deep end. If Lycaon's music were a bar, we've just entered the backroom for preferred customers only.  All I can think to myself is that I like whatever drugs this band started taking.
 
It's more of the neo-visual dubstep-influenced metal trend, so if you're expecting a follow-up to Royal Order stop here. What's attractive about this release is just how overdone it is. There's so much more going on than a few lazy riffs over cheap synth. Lots of ideas - maybe even too many - are thrown out of the speakers in every direction at once. I would go as far to say that this excursion is so bad it wraps around the end and becomes enjoyable on a level slightly above irony. What's different about Masochist Red Circus is that they've taken the sound I described earlier and stretched it as far as it would go. All the other trendy-kei bands have just been issued a challenge for their pink slips.
 
On the other side of that coin, this really isn't that good. No track blows me away. Some get a nod, others get a wave, but no track bores me either. It's a very average release dressed up in a style that doesn't often reach average. Masochist Red Circus doesn't scratch that itch that only a really novel visual kei release can scratch. I'll listen once in a while and have a bit of fun, but this doesn't have the chops to stick.

Thanks for trying though.

Your use of popular is inconsistent.

That's all hindsight. The music has and always will continue to come from only a few places. Everyone else on the internet reposts those new releases. All the "blogs" and "communities" that you saw shared a lot of the same fans, and were all redundant because there was nothing you could do on a blog or another forum that you couldn't already do (with more people) on MH, last.fm, Jpopsuki, Otonomai, etc.
2012 put an end to stuff like visual kei blogs, and communities centered around those blogs died. What put the nail in the coffin was the death of MegaUpload and the resulting backlash from other cyberlockers. This pretty much wiped out entire archives of VK. People with blogs that got hit hard decided to stop updating. New fans figured it would be a waste of time to start one up because now these sites are getting more aggressive with taking infringing links down. The age of VK blogs came to a pretty swift end by the end of 2012/beginning of 2013.
When you look at the DL section and see "less VK", that doesn't necessarily mean that VK fandom is decreasing. What you're actually seeing is more "not VK", because the entire landscape has changed so that redundant communities no longer exist and there are a few centralized hubs to go look for all things Japanese now. MH has had to grow to keep all types of the Japanese fandom alive - and it evolved of the will of the members here. Isn't that just awesome?
 
 
 
Which is why Nyasagi is right, even though the second part of that statement is opinion that I can't support as fact (even though I agree). There's a lot of stuff being shared. A lot of stuff. It may be music you aren't interested in but that doesn't mean that there aren't things being shared. Sharing here had to explode because as I said before, there aren't many other well-established places to do it. I can only think of one, actually, and they're about as lowkey as we are.

Bo Ningen are the band I've been constantly dry humping lately.
 
Noisy. Psychedelic. Real dank kush. They'll will make you want to throw up and cry and and scream and pee blood at the same time.
 

 


  

I've been in a Sigh mood lately, if you like experimental black metal. I prefer their more symphonic / baroque influenced stuff than their trippier songs, but that's just my personal preference.
 
More symphonic:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lT3MVwnnsc
 
More trippy:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DhSjx_D0lI
 
In between:
 

女王蜂 (Ziyoou-vachi)
Rockin' punk band with a black/japanese transgender female vocalist. Do yourself a favor and listen to one of the coolest bands around right now (they're on hiatus now, but vo. Avu-chan is in a new project band with ex. Tokyo Jihen guitarist Ukigumo). All 3 of their albums are perfection and in the DL section <3
 
凛として時雨 (Rin Toshite Shigure)
Rad indie rock band with male and female vocalists. They play a unique blend of prog rock, math rock, and post-rock that's constantly changing tempo and focused around complex guitar melodies. My personal fave and appropriately titled album still a Sigure virgin? is a great place to start; all of their albums should be in the DL section too.

Limited edition best come with a handy j.
 
I am just not here for artists charging so much for their albums. It tasted like acid when I bought Versailles's albums for like 40$ a pop. Bought Hora's for about that too..... It's just like... Unreal. Seriously, is there some really awesome bonus to the Limited and that's what it's like 85$

Not really sure where to post this, but time is running out and I'm in an unfortunate situation.

 

Signal have been one of my favourite new bands in recent memory, and I'm gutted they're disbanding this month. I've followed them since their formation and bought everything they've put out that I could get hold of.

 

Even worse though, I can't attend their last ever one man because I don't arrive in Japan until just 3 days afterwards!

 

I need someone who is going/willing to go to it and get a copy of their final single Crossing fate for me. I will of course pay for the CD, and the service too if necessary.

 

The live will be held on 9/14 at Meguru Live Station, and attendance is based on the 'promise' method - the link to contact the venue about it is on Signal's page here.

 

Thanks so much if you can help me out. I believe the single is actually an attendance gift rather than a purchase-able item, so if you're willing to do this you would probably have to forfeit your own copy ^^;

Anything regarding SOPA is still relevant but it may not all still be true. Big businesses are still trying to find ways to crack down on piracy and that won't change until strict anti-piracy laws pass or these companies die out/move towards models that provide that consumer what they want easily at a reasonable price. Which way it will go is still up in the air.
 
 
When it comes to "earning money", it's really hard to say who is losing how much money, since we really don't know how much the artist makes versus how much the label makes versus how much it cost to make and produce music. Since we don't know that, we can't talk about the absolute cost of piracy. We just know that piracy relatively trades money for exposure.

did i hear touhou?
 
you need some demetori in your life! fast super-cheesy fistpumping guitarwank-shred-powermetal
 

Jesus dude, I am not talking about them being an experimental genre breaking band or anything like that. I just mean doing something other than their usual Hizaki power metal. For example I would consider the song Libido to be experimental. It still fits Versaille's typical style but it's definitely something different and refreshing from the usual Hizaki guitar wankery. Well...it's still full of guitar wankery but it's taking on some cool influences to stand out from their usual songs. Too bad it was slated as a b-side for one of their singles and that was it.
 
So, rephrasing myself I hope the other tracks are more experimental CREATIVE now that they aren't confined to the aristocratic vampire theme. As in, less Hizaki metal and more interesting shit.