Zeus

I'm going to shape up this year and go back to my roots. I'll spend a week in isolation in Berlin and it'll be just me, strangers and adventures and total debauchery. I've been using my girlfriends spotify and I've noticed that it has both made me complacent and unwilling to explore the deeper reaches of my interests, and that's why I'm going to go old school; all the music on my computer will head straight to the bin and I'll soulseek the shit out of something unfamiliar that'll scare me back into taking control of my life and art. 
 
Speaking of taking control and complacency, it's some sad shit what happened to youtube and internet in general. Homogenised by corporate interest beyond repair. I remember when I could spend hours diving down the rabbit hole of related videos from vk pvs whereas now you'll only get videos of the same channel, videos you watched in the past and then videos popular that are vaguely "related." This really killed it for me as far as finding new bands, it's now all on the shoulders of that one guy who does these top pvs of every month. 
 
 

Tracklist:
1. "絶縁体" (Zetsuentai)
2. "人間を被る" (Ningen o Kaburu)
3. "Downfall"
4. "Devote My Life"
5. "Values of Madness"
6. "Celebrate Empty Howls"
7. "赫" (Aka)
8. "Merciless Cult"
9. "Rubbish Heap"
10. "軽蔑と始まり" (Keibetsu to Hajimari)
11. "谿壑の欲" (Keigaku no Yoku)
12. "Ranunculus"
13. "The World of Mercy"
 
Encore:
14. "Followers"
15. "朔-saku-"
16. "詩踏み" (Utafumi)
 
After an unceremonious dinner of two donuts, I trudged my way through the rain and darkness to Gramercy Theatre for Dir en grey's TOUR 19: THIS WAY TO SELF-DESTRUCTION stop at New York City. I had concerns about the weather since it was raining all week, but thankfully the rain eased up by the time I reached the back of the line. The line wasn't the sea of umbrellas I had anticipated; other Dir en grey fans were less fazed by the weather and relied on the scaffolding to shield them from the elements. I made quick friends in line with the fans around me and we got to shooting the clay about different visual kei bands, which really helped to pass the time.
 
Like I noted with my previous live experience at Playstation Theater, all types of fans rolled out to see the band; goth kings and queens, scene kids from high school and college, older metal heads, obvious netizens like myself, and everyone in between. One cosplayer impressed me with his "OBSCURE"-era Kyo outfit, while another gaggle of friends looked like shinobi. It's refreshing to know that Dir en grey's appeal is still universal. Unlike my experience in line at the GazettE, Dir en grey fans know their trivia.
 
The organization was impressive until I stepped inside the venue, at which point it looked like a bomb went off. For those not in the know, Gramercy Theatre has a max occupancy of 499 people. There felt like way more than 499 people in line and in the venue. The security check was much more extensive - the guy went through my bag twice to make sure I had no recording equipment before searching me for weapons - but that part was organized. The true chaos was differentiating the merchandise line from the coat check line from the alcohol line. Everything and everyone was one vibrant, pulsating mass the minute I made my way down the stairs to the basement level.
 
I fought my way to the merch line, which at this point was short because everyone was checking in their coats, and ten minutes I later I was greeted with disappointment. There were legit five pieces of merchandise available for sale, and the items I wanted were not in my size. Shirts were $40, the hoodie was $70. I spent enough money to pay down the karma debt on my years of downloading Dir en grey's music in one shot, and nabbed myself a sweet hoodie so big I could swim in it (as they only had small and extra large available). I'm shocked they didn't bring any copies of The Insulated World to sell, because I'm sure plenty of fans would have bought.
 
Shoved the goodies in my bag, checked in all my stuff for eight dollars (definitely recommend buying a ticket with guaranteed coat check to ease the process here), then fought my way upstairs and into the venue. It's pretty narrow at first, but quickly opens up to two sections, one for standing and one for sitting. There were easily 400 people here by the time I found the alcohol bar, and seats were disappearing fast. Copped a Bud Light for $14, then ended up sitting off to the left side for the entirety of the show. For sonic balance reasons I suggest you sit or stand as close to the center as you can; Die stood to the right side and I could barely hear him, but Toshiya and Kaoru stood to the left and I could hear them clearly.
 
BYSTS cancelled at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts, was no opening act for the New York show.  This was not communicated to us beforehand, so I sat around for what felt like an eternity before the show actually began. Once the lights dimmed the crowd came to life. As the band members strode onto stage one by one backed by an SE I've never heard before, all I could see were the instruments faintly coming into the light as the strobe lights moved so fast one could catch a seizure, and the crowd heads bobbing with the occasional camera capturing the live. 
 
It was time.
 
Despite Dir en grey performing both "絶縁体" (Zetsuentai) and "The World of Mercy", the show felt as if it passed even faster than the GazettE. Dir en grey gave a great show overall and performing the album songs live has changed my perspective on them. Kyo's Joker-lite face paint was a nice surprise for sure; I wonder how influenced he was by the eponymous movie released earlier this year. He tried to get us to sing along a few times and was obviously pissed when we didn't know the words, but what can you expect from a crowd whose first language isn't Japanese? I can recall he tried during "Rubbish Heap" and "The World of Mercy", and the second attempt was much more successful than the first. 
 

Photos courtesy of u/ raggedypan from Reddit.
 
The biggest change are my opinions on "絶縁体" and "Devote my Life", tracks I didn't enjoy on disc but enjoyed greatly live. Unfortunately, "The World of Mercy" is still a big miss for me. Even understanding that the song is the thematic end to The Insulated World didn't shake my convictions, although I must admit that the music video for this song is unapologetically brutal, even for Dir en grey. It is hard to describe what I saw since the video was censored with a triangle overlay, but there was a bloody rampage that starts about halfway through. I don't understand what's so shocking that it needs to be censored live, considering they played the uncensored versions of the "朔-saku-" and "人間" PV's. Having said that, Kyo pantomiming disembowelment during "The World of Mercy" is one of the highlights of the show for sure.
 
Aside from "赫" (Aka), most of the time the projects were little more than a lyrics video. "赫" (Aka) has a beautiful music video of burning baby dolls and piano with a red filter over all of it accompanied by some lyrics. It's tame so I hope they officially release it after the tour's conclusion. In comparison, "絶縁体"'s video is a more cryptic affair of flashing imagery, one that works better live than as a standalone music video. The way "絶縁体" ends stuck with me far after the show is over. At the end, the music video was revealed to be within the mind of a human, so thematically  "絶縁体" and "人間を被る" are much more connected than I thought. It also ends on same "human slicing" technique that we saw in "人間"'s PV. The heavy use of projection imagery also explains why the set lists for each stop on the North American tour are almost identical, save for one song in the encore.
 
I hope all of the visualizations and more come our way via the next installment of the AVERAGE collection of uncensored music videos (AVERAGE INCEL?).
 
This was an album-heavy show, but we still got some throw backs in the form of "Merciless Cult" and "朔-saku-". The former came on halfway through the show where as the latter was part of the encore. The new version of "朔-saku-" - which is basically the studio version with gutturals replacing the  screams - was pretty dope, but I felt that the new version of "Merciless Cult" live hit so much harder. "詩踏み", the encore closer, was also much better than the studio version. The extended distortion was the perfect way to end the encore. I'm jealous that Denver got "腐海" (Fukai 2018) and that Dallas got "理由" (Wake), but that's how it is sometimes.
 
The New York crowd was a rough one. I sat in the back like the old rock geezer I am, but at one point during the show I saw security pull one person out from the crowd who was getting crushed. There was also a crowd surfer at another point during the show, which was also wild. I actually got to spoke to him after and he was a pretty chill dude. If you are of a smaller frame or have doubts about the ferocity of the pit, I would find a seat before the show begins.

As the show winded down to a close, the band members disappeared one by one. Shinya and Kyo were the first to go, leaving the stage almost immediately after the encore. Shinya threw his drum sticks into the crowd and disappeared second; Kyo was first. Toshiya hung around for a bit but didn't engage the crowd much and left soon after. It was the two guitarists, Die and Kaoru, that entertained the crowd the most. They waved at the fans, threw picks and water bottles at the crowd, and took their leave after two minutes. We were treated to a bit more darkness before the lights cut on and reality came crawling back. The show was over and it was time to go home.

If getting inside the venue was a pain in the ass, getting out was an even bigger one. I played my cards right and still had trouble getting around. The downstairs area was simply too small to contain all of us. I heavily advise buying merchandise before coat check. There's a wider assortment of goodies available before the show and a lot of people wait until after the show to buy, so more likely than not you will always be on the shorter line. I was on line long enough to meet up with @Ro plz and chat about our experiences for a bit, but the scene was too chaotic and we were quickly separated. I tried to wait outside, but there was another show for SURFACES lined up and the security were motioning for us to disperse. I stuck around for ten minutes, chatted with some random fans, and bounced.
 
I had a blast and can definitely recommend seeing Dir en grey live if you have the money or can snag the tickets for a reasonable price. Money was the biggest contributing factor on my decision to go; buying the tickets from a scalper ran me almost $200!  This was one of their better live performances judged solely off of all the live recordings I have seen and heard of the band, and Kyo is in good shape vocally for this tour. Go with friends if you can, and if not try to arrange to meet up with people from here! Fans are really friendly to talk to considering none of us knew anything about each other other than that we were fans of the same band, but that speaks to how deeply music can connect people.
 
Until next time! 
 
 

Moran is a very special band to me - in my opinion, they developed their particular brand of VK into something that felt genuinely elevated. There's plenty of cheese, but they were very particular in how they applied VK cliches into their own brand. Like Dolly and amber gris, every Moran song has an incredibly unique atmosphere. Hitomi is a fantastic poet, but his lyrics can be difficult:  I really think that while Moran had plenty of hard-hitting tracks that could resonate with anyone, their main strength was in subtlety, and lyrics play a big part of that. The problem was that the majority of the overseas Fatima/Moran fandom was already Japanese literate or close to it, so while I did my best to promote the band, I knew that unless you spoke Japanese, a huge part of their appeal was going to be lost. Moran songs are very lyrical, with many changing keys or reaching climaxes in tune with the lyrics, and while I know that many bands do that also, in Moran's case, it was done in a much more "quieter" way, if that makes sense.
 
I also think that songs that are heavy on the atmosphere, without loud breakdowns or super-poppy choruses are not going to resonate with the majority of overseas fans, which is a shame, because mid-tempo tracks with emotive instrumentals are where Moran truly shines. Bulbs and Wing or Tail are good examples of this, not to mention their dark EP, which is one of my favorite VK albums of all time. I think dark is an absolute classic, an equal to albums like Merveilles by Malice Mizer and GAUZE  by Dir en grey. The whole EP reads like an exploration of sorrow: there are songs that deal with loneliness, of being abandoned, of losing a loved one, of longing for an impossible ideal. Even though there's plenty of drama, the whole album feels raw, and human. 

I read an interview once, where the band explained that their name came from a particular character in the Moomin comic series, named Mårran. From Wikipedia:
 
 
This is Moran's essence. No matter the song, there's always an element of lacking connection, of wanting something but being unable to achieve it - a longing. To listen to Moran is to is yearn for something that is unattainable.
 

I think a big reason why some people would like VK to get more traction again is so that the younger bands can start to play overseas. Sure, there are still some bands coming over but not as many as it used to be during the hype-phase. For many people, me included, it has been the only chance to see my favorite bands live and not just through a screen. I'm very grateful for that and I hope other vk-fans that are young now can make the same experiences. 

The promotion amounts to an eighth baggie of weed being the album cover. I'm pretty sure it'll be loud and dank as fuck.

Except the implication that they are all sold out implies they are selling well, and that selling more isn't going to fix deep seated issues within the band. Other bands would kill to sell like DIMLIM. Money is a blocker up to a point. Now I can't say that DIMLIM is past that point, but I've been in the scene too long to think that piracy and money are their only troubles.

In life? No. On Monochrome Heaven? Sure. You've already made 26 posts; that's larger than the majority of the user base tbh.
 
Posting is the easiest thing you can do. You want to see topics about your favorite bands? Make them! Start discussion topics and write reviews. I can't read your mind and do it for you (although I really do try). When you put in genuine effort, you will be surprised by the response that you get. Maybe that response won't be immediate, and that response won't be what you thought it was or in the way you thought it would be, but it will be there. A lot of people lurk on this forum, so eye ball real estate is just as important as text responses. 

In life? No. On Monochrome Heaven? Sure. You've already made 26 posts; that's larger than the majority of the user base tbh.
 
Posting is the easiest thing you can do. You want to see topics about your favorite bands? Make them! Start discussion topics and write reviews. I can't read your mind and do it for you (although I really do try). When you put in genuine effort, you will be surprised by the response that you get. Maybe that response won't be immediate, and that response won't be what you thought it was or in the way you thought it would be, but it will be there. A lot of people lurk on this forum, so eye ball real estate is just as important as text responses. 

Except the implication that they are all sold out implies they are selling well, and that selling more isn't going to fix deep seated issues within the band. Other bands would kill to sell like DIMLIM. Money is a blocker up to a point. Now I can't say that DIMLIM is past that point, but I've been in the scene too long to think that piracy and money are their only troubles.

In life? No. On Monochrome Heaven? Sure. You've already made 26 posts; that's larger than the majority of the user base tbh.
 
Posting is the easiest thing you can do. You want to see topics about your favorite bands? Make them! Start discussion topics and write reviews. I can't read your mind and do it for you (although I really do try). When you put in genuine effort, you will be surprised by the response that you get. Maybe that response won't be immediate, and that response won't be what you thought it was or in the way you thought it would be, but it will be there. A lot of people lurk on this forum, so eye ball real estate is just as important as text responses. 

.,...this might explain why i've gained so much weight recently

In life? No. On Monochrome Heaven? Sure. You've already made 26 posts; that's larger than the majority of the user base tbh.
 
Posting is the easiest thing you can do. You want to see topics about your favorite bands? Make them! Start discussion topics and write reviews. I can't read your mind and do it for you (although I really do try). When you put in genuine effort, you will be surprised by the response that you get. Maybe that response won't be immediate, and that response won't be what you thought it was or in the way you thought it would be, but it will be there. A lot of people lurk on this forum, so eye ball real estate is just as important as text responses. 

> please stop stealing and buy more albums
> tfw all your albums are out of stock or on 2-4 week back order
 
Like I get it. Piracy is a net loss leader for DIMLIM. But when all your albums are sold out and you (Retsu, not you) keep bitching about piracy, you look completely unaware to what the real problems plaguing the band are. We can't buy your music even if we wanted to, and I'd love a copy of CHE DO A RA tbh.

In life? No. On Monochrome Heaven? Sure. You've already made 26 posts; that's larger than the majority of the user base tbh.
 
Posting is the easiest thing you can do. You want to see topics about your favorite bands? Make them! Start discussion topics and write reviews. I can't read your mind and do it for you (although I really do try). When you put in genuine effort, you will be surprised by the response that you get. Maybe that response won't be immediate, and that response won't be what you thought it was or in the way you thought it would be, but it will be there. A lot of people lurk on this forum, so eye ball real estate is just as important as text responses. 

In life? No. On Monochrome Heaven? Sure. You've already made 26 posts; that's larger than the majority of the user base tbh.
 
Posting is the easiest thing you can do. You want to see topics about your favorite bands? Make them! Start discussion topics and write reviews. I can't read your mind and do it for you (although I really do try). When you put in genuine effort, you will be surprised by the response that you get. Maybe that response won't be immediate, and that response won't be what you thought it was or in the way you thought it would be, but it will be there. A lot of people lurk on this forum, so eye ball real estate is just as important as text responses. 

> please stop stealing and buy more albums
> tfw all your albums are out of stock or on 2-4 week back order
 
Like I get it. Piracy is a net loss leader for DIMLIM. But when all your albums are sold out and you (Retsu, not you) keep bitching about piracy, you look completely unaware to what the real problems plaguing the band are. We can't buy your music even if we wanted to, and I'd love a copy of CHE DO A RA tbh.

Tbf piracy is a digital thing and you can buy their stuff digitally. Not being able to buy a copy physically sucks but it shouldn't be a reason you resort to pirating (doesnt apply to their live limited stuff)

You have to be the change you want to see.

> please stop stealing and buy more albums
> tfw all your albums are out of stock or on 2-4 week back order
 
Like I get it. Piracy is a net loss leader for DIMLIM. But when all your albums are sold out and you (Retsu, not you) keep bitching about piracy, you look completely unaware to what the real problems plaguing the band are. We can't buy your music even if we wanted to, and I'd love a copy of CHE DO A RA tbh.

The promotion amounts to an eighth baggie of weed being the album cover. I'm pretty sure it'll be loud and dank as fuck.

The promotion amounts to an eighth baggie of weed being the album cover. I'm pretty sure it'll be loud and dank as fuck.

The promotion amounts to an eighth baggie of weed being the album cover. I'm pretty sure it'll be loud and dank as fuck.

The promotion amounts to an eighth baggie of weed being the album cover. I'm pretty sure it'll be loud and dank as fuck.

You have to be the change you want to see.

I'm not exactly sure what people are sad about, there's plenty of good jrock music out there, vkei too, there are some decent bands, newer and older that still remains. In regards to Japan making things popular, as some people mentioned before, the Japanese artists are starting to take advantage of twitter, youtube, instagram, spotify, apple music etc. that is recent, I mean, even Arashi did history last month I think (or november) with the opening of all the SNS accounts, they even have a Netflix documentary with subtitles in all language. As Japan opens more to the new ways SNS works, the artists will have more reach to overseas audiences, big acts like Arashi will be the ones to create interest in global audiences to look at what Japan is doing.
 
Our generation back in the 90's were used to investigate/dig more, but young people nowadays do not investigate.. they just consume what's in front of them in the SNS, so it's important for Japan to follow that transition, even if it's a bit late. But the bands are still there doing good music, so we can just enjoy it while it exists the major income for bands is concerts, and all the active bands do a lot of touring around Japan, that is enough for have sufficient earnings and continue their music activities.
 
Also, Japan is the 2nd biggest music market, they really don't need the global market that much, so it's still a good thing to see what they are doing to penetrate SNS more, even when they don't need it.