Asakusa

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Great I'll remake. I almost didn't recognize the song.

I wonder what they have thought when they've decided to bury everything and let Shinya take over with his TACKTACKTACKTACKTACKTACKTACK...
 
Totally seconding Furik too - I still don't get the hate surrounding THE DEEPER VILENESS either (okay, lyrics are a bit of here and there but we have seen worse, right?). One of the most prominent and memorable drumlines by courtesy of Shinya in some parts (especially chorus + outro).
 
'The Inferno' is definitely their worst song right there - sure, less is more but in this case it doesn't compute: they have far better "hell-bent" songs with bouncy riffage. This, on the other hand, literally has nothing you could memorize or pinpoint - instant throwaway.
 
Judging @Stallion really hard right now 
 
Decayed Crow is muuuch better live (especially when you've experienced it personally), Jesus Christ R'n'R is one of their most fun songs along with Machiavellism (you guys ain't fun, huh), Beautiful Dirt was "funny" (positively or negatively? Be the judge) and S is still one of their most annoying songs (Tonberry-era elitist like me won't give up ).
 
Let's make this harder: what are Dir's best songs in your opinion? Enough with silly Batsu-ian "this song baaad you sucker" debates
 
P.S.S: how do you guys feel about Arche being stuck up with "nu metal"-tag almost everywhere? (incl. certain semi-prominent Japanese web meccas of metal)
 
(is anti-nu metal bias still alive?)

NESS new album "NESS 3" will be released at 2015/11/11 (10 songs, 2,592yen), which will be sold in advance at their one-man live at Kouenji HIGH at 2015/11/07

I'm going for Pacquiao, screw that arrogant bastard of Mayweather

FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT - FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT
 

 
Reason: This one has been my favorite since years ago, I don't have an specific reason actually, the thing is simple... it's gorgeous, mysterious, pretty well made... I don't know, it amazes me every time I stare at this piece of art.

Honestly there's no way in hell that I could ever take this review seriously when you gave all 18 songs a perfect 10/10.... is anyone planning on writing up an objective review for this album?

no "Roaring in the dark" on that set-list?
pfft meh

DIR EN GREY with Merzbow
 
I'd kill for this to happen.

Dude, I don't have nothing to do here, I loved the review and I respect every point of view, but I think I don't understand when you say (in general on your last post) that you can say and do what you want and having such power is not gonna change you from being what you've been this 8 years. I understand, I respect that, everyone is free to speak what they think about random stuff and so is DogManX...
To make things clear I'm not defending anyone since I really have nothing to do here lol but I couldn't stay quiet when I noticed that you disagree with the user.
You can post what you want and so this user, the difference when you have power is that you can tell him to shut up if you got pissed off...
Maybe I didn't understand pretty well but I think is a little bit unfair since we all (maybe) are limited to say some stuff.
This is all in good terms, I don't wanna cause any trouble.
(I really hope you get my point, I'm not that good at english, sorry)

Singles since their comeback have been nothing short of excellent (talk about a huge step up from late PSC days), so color me intrigued

Easy for me. Best performance

Day 22 - sukekiyo - IMMORTALIS
 

 
Release Date: 2014-05-01
Label: Firewall Div.
Genre: Visual Kei/Experimental
 
 
Impressions from @Jigsaw9:

  Impressions from @Peace Heavy mk II:

  Impressions from :

  Impressions from @Zeus:

  Sample song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnH29YO_h5w
 
Buy the album:
CDJapan | Amazon | iTunes

Artist: Dir en grey Album: ARCHE Score: Diru's ARCHE has two of everything.
It's not at Uroboros levels of good, but ARCHE can go toe to toe with Withering to death. for third best Dir en grey album.

Dir en grey learned a very important lesson with Dum Spiro Spero, which is that sometimes less is more. Nuance and Dum Spiro Spero went together like an axe to the face. Dir en grey have been a constantly evolving band ever since their formation in 1997, but 2011's Dum Spiro Spero was an almost clean break from everything they've done up to that point. While it was an interesting experiment, listening to the band buckle under the weight of their own creative ambitions was an overbearing, unrelenting, suffocating experience. It's a positive sign that Dir en grey have stopped trying so hard to mix progressive metal with deathcore while retaining an ethereal atmosphere and complementing it with well-thought out melodies (for the most part), because the result is pretty damn pleasant to listen to.

ARCHE is their most focused effort in years. It may not be as unrestrained as Dum Spiro Spero, but it is an infinitely more listenable experience. By not trying as hard to replicate the progressive atmosphere they farted out with Uroboros in 2008, they nailed it again and perpetuated their cycle of good album/bad album. ARCHE has hints of the atmosphere explored by Kyo's side project sukekiyo with nods to styles from previous albums now and again. It's no easier to take in all at once, but I can see how Diru's interpretation goes down better with some than the abstract and sometimes plain strange vibes of sukekiyo. Songs like "phenomenon", "懐春"(kaishun) and "禍夜想" (magayasou) are great examples of when the band excels at this sound, being amongst the top tracks on the album.

It wouldn't be a Dir en grey opening without an engaging opener, and "un deux" is exactly that. It's not the tribal acoustic source field intros of previous albums but I find the more direct approach refreshing. With ARCHE clocking in at 68 minutes, unnecessary pretentious intros are not needed. The first four tracks are pretty damn good, remaining consistent in quality and mood while watching Dir en grey alternate between experimentation and straightforward melodies. It's a sound we always knew they were capable of, but only surfaced once in a blue moon with songs like "腐海" (fukai) and "蜷局" (toguro). If the album stayed this course, it would have been one killer record.

But it isn't a true Dir en grey album without some tracks that should have never made it onto the album. The first is "cause of fickleness", which tried to combine the 90's visual kei mental instability antics with the nu-sukekiyo atmosphere and failed. The result is a lame chorus, uninteresting guitar melody and a total departure from the atmosphere that was built up by the first four tracks. To make it worse, the song that follows, "濤声"(tousei), picks up right where "phenomenon" left off, which makes me question why "cause of fickleness" is here. It's the kind of basic error that should not be made after eighteen years of making music. They repeat this mistake later with "The inferno" sandwiched between promotional ballad "空谷の跫音" (kuukoku no kyouon) and album ender "Revelation of Mankind". "The inferno" is junk not worthy of further elaboration but the ballad is a nice melodic break after all the metal. It wasn't the best choice to get people excited for the album though - "Un deux", "咀嚼" (soshaku), or "鱗" (uroko) would have been better choices. "Revelation of mankind" feels like a re-interpration of Dum Spiro Spero's "流転の塔" (ruten no tou). It doesn't get quite as good as "流転の塔", but it's a solid song and ends the album on a high note.

ARCHE's biggest issue is that after two years "輪郭" (rinkaku) is still the best song, even though several contend for second place. "Sustain the untruth" slides unnoticed into the latter half of the album, remaining the most straightforward metal song on the album. It also doesn't fit in all that well but the second half of ARCHE is an identity crisis anyway. All consistency goes out the window as Diru can't decide if they want to be mysterious, straightforward, reserved, or aggressive. It hurts more than it helps and with long albums consistency is important. The silver lining in all of this is that there is no progressive behemoth like Vinushka or Diabolos to inflate the running time further and make ARCHE unbearable to sit through.

The ideas don't work as well if the execution isn't top notch, and with the removal of some tracks and rearrangement of the rest ARCHE could have been in the same league as magnum opuses Uroboros or Macabre. But for a band that's been continuously reinventing themselves for the better part of a decade to be taken as a legitimate metal band, seeing them finally embrace melody and compose without pressure to conform to "metal ideals" is great. All aspects of Dir en grey that fans adore are still here, just devoid of the sprawling, unfocused attempts of albums past.

In the future, I could see ARCHE mentioned in the same breath as VULGAR and Withering to death. as generally good Dir en grey albums, and it is definitely an album I will find myself revisiting again and again. It's just something that could have been a legendary release with a bit more time and care.

Day 4 - アルカラ - CAO (Arukara - CAO)

Release Date: 2014-09-24
Label: Victor Entertainment
Genre: Rock/Indie
Impressions by @Original Saku

Impressions by @CAT5

Sample song:

Buy the album:
CDJapan | YesAsia

Day 15 - FACT - Witness

Release Date: 2014-03-04
Label: Maximum10
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Impressions from :

  Impressions from :

Sample song:

 
Buy the album:
CDJapan | YesAsia | iTunes (Japan)

LMC....
 
I'm gonna pretend I didn't see this.

Here's a gameplay of Metal Gear Online (60 FPS!!).
 
http://youtu.be/61cqE53jbOc
 
Looks to be so fucking awesome, can't wait anymore. I've been missing playing MGO since they turned off the servers of MGO on MGS4. My hype level is over 9000.
 
Btw, that selfie tho. 
 

Day 6 - TK from 凛として時雨 - Fantastic Magic (TK from Ling Tosite Sigure - Fantastic Magic)



Release Date: 2014-08-27
Label: Sony Music Entertainment
Genre: Rock/Indie


Impressions from @Original Saku:
 
 
Impressions from @Zeus: 
 
 
Impressions from
 

Sample song:



Buy the album:
CDJapan | YesASia | iTunes Japan

To me Reason for Crying is still the best thing Girugamesh produced to date, sorry. But I guess Music comes second.

Have to admit.. the DSS version of Hage sucked all the life out of it...

Another theory about his absence:
He actually just got into League of Legends.

Zakuro by DIR EN GREY

I cry everytime I listen to it, seriously
I'm not gonna tell the story behind all of it but it has been like this since "that" happened back in 2004...

Yeah, I noticed Mugen Souls Z at the store. I thought about buying them both but I decided to wait until I finish the first one.
I'm not a big fan of that kind of strategy based battle system but if I enjoyed Disgaea I think I'm gonna like this one.
Thanks for the quick response, saku. I really appreciate it

About Mugen Souls it really just depends on whether your're into those types of niche games along the lines of disgaea and other similar titles. There is nothing particularly bad about the game gameplay wise, It's just about if you're into those types of games which I assume you are since you bought it in the first place otherwise the game is fun and the sequel just came out here Mugen Souls Z so you have something to look forward to once you finish the first.