Spectralion

Exactly after I wrote that "first visual-kei band on the list", suddenly I somewhat remember that XI-NINE is kind of visual and googling how they look.
I must keep up with this list. Just finished 水曜日のカンパネラ and it was a pleasant. Going to try PELICAN FANCLUB and IX-NINE tomorrow~

Exactly after I wrote that "first visual-kei band on the list", suddenly I somewhat remember that XI-NINE is kind of visual and googling how they look.
I must keep up with this list. Just finished 水曜日のカンパネラ and it was a pleasant. Going to try PELICAN FANCLUB and IX-NINE tomorrow~

Day 7: グリーヴァ (Grieva) - 妄想主義者ノ背徳。(Mousou shugisha no haitoku.)

 



Release Date: 2015-07-01
Label: MadWinK /Ains
Genre: Alternative metal, metalcore, visual kei
 
 
Impressions from @Peace Heavy mk II:
 
Sample song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg3TkSRrXQs
 
Buy the album:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/DAKAMWK-20'>CDJapan

Wow, this thread is unbelievable quite. 
 
Looking at last year list, the number of visual-kei bands who appear there is really small. And I don't think it's gonna be different this year.
 
DOGMA is quite a pleasant listen for a while, but it's not that awesome to be included in AOTY-tier album.
 
Definitely agree with Sukekiyo's Vinitium. 
 
 
 
EDIT : Whoa, I didn't read the whole first post, just jump in :/

I think last year's 今日も生きたね single deserves a mention too. Definitely worth listening to if you're more into their poppier stuff. The b-side in particular is rather nice, although I can only find the a-side on Youtube.
 

 
Although their pre-2011 material isn't as consistently good as everything from To (melt into) & (Two) into holy onwards, I think some of their best catchy/poppy tracks come from that era. Songs like philia, dnim, こわれる, and アマレット.
 
EDIT: Come to think of it, this thread makes me realise how hard it is to suggest a single release to people interested in checking out this band. Although they don't seem as eclectic as a lot of other artists do at first glance, their sound is actually very varied between releases. If the person asking has no particular stylistic preferences, then the best suggestion I can come up with is simply to listen to Elegance and Rhapsody in beauty and then work your way backwards from there.

Paradise kiss looks fun

...and I curious how red, red crimson is.

Paradise kiss looks fun

...and I curious how red, red crimson is.

Nice but i wanted the family pv, bpr
Edit: i am blind



Its 2am im gonna talk about these when i wake up lol

I will upload their last live, after finished downloading, I don't know their live published on nico nico....

"UNPOPULAR" opinion: Frequent disbandment is not unique to Visual Kei
From what I've observed over the years, there seems to be a common notion that the VK scene is highly unstable and unhealthy, and thatVK bands disband at the speed of light. I completely understand why some people might feel this way, but I think perspective is very important here. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of passionate Visual Kei fans abroad - people like @Trombe who tirelessly deliver news from every nook and cranny of the scene, and people like our good MH users here (@Champ213, @Biopanda, @Mi'ihen, @Yuki No Sai, @robkun, @kyoselflove, too many to name) who have gone out of their way to purchase and share all kinds of indie and rare VK goodies with overseas fans, we tend to have a rather enlarged and distorted view of VK as a whole. The overwhelming fervor found in the overseas Visual Kei fanbase simply doesn't exist for most other areas of Japanese music, like Japanese Jazz or folk/ssw for instance (although I wish it did). Bands outside of VK disband all the time - we're just much less aware of them. Most of us are viewing visual kei under a microscope and ignoring the peripheries. Common sense dictates that not every 4 to 5 guys with instruments and a makeup kit will find success.

I prefer photosets over cheki. Photosets are at least professionally done, probably printed on better quality photo paper and sometimes bigger. I really dislike the cheap look of stupid blurry polaroid photos, where you often can't even see the outfit properly. I also see no point wasting so much money for a crappy photo instead of a well done one. Good, photosets don't have the uniqueness factor, but I am no collector anyway.
Do bands nowadays even sell photosets? VK groups used to sell a lot back in the day. But nowadays it seems all you get are chekis. Or sometimes a single photo as an extra bonus (at CDJapan for example).
 
 
Also agree with the opinion about the -core trend. There are a few I actually like (Nega, Mejibray to some extend), but overall I prefer even the mid 00s Nu Metal groups over that whole -core trend. The Nu Metal groups were already derivative with their chugga chugga beats and trashing the same chords on the guitar. But most Visual kei -core acts aren even worse.
 
First the vocals totally suck. VK vocalists just can't growl. Give me late 90s to early 00s screams and harsh singing, those were fine. But the vocal chord disrupting mess that has been popular since ca 2004? No, thanks.
Guitar work has become even more stale. Now it's just breakdown after breakdown, a few misplaced solos, the rest is chugga chugga crap. Occasionally there is the totaly unfitting dubstep-techno-bloop shit and poppy vocals. I feel most modern VK songs are disjointed and sound like two or more songs mashed together.
 
Ulitmately, and this is my own subjective experience, I feel bands like Deviloof and Nocturnal Buttlust are erasing everything that made VK kind of unique and seperated it from other japanese rock music. Now I know the eternal dispute wether or not VK is really a musical genre (with most people saying it isn't), but to me Visual kei has (or had) it's own sound. Yes, it changed several times throughout it's almost 30 years timespan, but certain elements were always there. And you don't have to look at revival bands like Grieva or Sibilebashir to find them. Even in groups like Keel, emmurée or even (early) Nega and Ayabie you have/had elements that went as far back as into the 90s.
But the more we venture further into the future, the more VK moves away from its roots. Bands like deviloof are just like generic deathcore. There is nothing in those groups' sound that hints at any Visual kei connection at all. Even funnier, some of these bands started out as Metalcore and only got into VK because they probably want to have some extra bangyas. They could do just fine being a regular deathcore band. Same problem with those unbearable host kei groups and same tactic. VK was always a bangya magnet, but it's sad to see how it has become only that.

Not so much of an unpopular opinion, but an observation I had. I feel like pop music is so hard to define, because it's such an umbrella term, that I find it funny it's considered a genre; because it has been changing so much over the years, and seems to have very few common characteristics. In a sense it's a lot like Visual Kei.

孤島の彼女…
Kotou no kanojo...
The girl on the desert island...

忘却の世界を望み止まない身体
Boukyaku no sekai o nozomi yamanai karada
My body craving endlessly for a forgotten world
生かされてるだけの自分は僕ではない
Ikasareteru dake no jibun wa boku dewa nai
Only keeping it alive isn't like me at all
せめて希望だけは失いたくはないよ
Semete kibou dake wa ushinaitaku wa nai yo
Only hope is left and I don't want to lose it
触れる物だけが全てと口を揃えられた
Sawareru mono dake ga subete to kuchi o soroerareta
Only material things she could stuff into her mouth with everything else

冷めるだけの神経、もう眠りだけ望んだ
Sameru dake no shinkei,
Only getting colder, a nervous system that
mou nemuri dake nozonda
Only craved the end already
彼女は孤島でも独りで居れる　どうして
Kanojo wa kotou demo hitori de ireru
And yet she can stay on a desert island all by herself
Doushite
How

僕は羽を焼かれたまま
Boku wa hane o yakareta mama
Although with my wings burned like this
飛ぶ事も出来ないのに
Tobu koto mo dekinai no ni
I'm not even able to fly away
光も射さない場所から
Hikari mo sasanai basho kara
From here where no light shines
斜めの僕、独りは嫌だ　だけど
Naname no boku,
I'm ailing
hitori wa iya da
Can't stand being alone
Dakedo
And yet

彼女は生きる絶海の島で　欲は無く眺め
Kanojo wa ikiru zekkai no shima de
She is there on that island in the distant sea where she lives
Yoku wa naku nagame
No desire in her gaze
彼女は生きる世界を全て　飲み込んだから
Kanojo wa ikiru sekai o subete
Because she has swallowed the world were I live
Nomikonda kara
And everything in it completely
孤島で生きる彼女の姿　両手広げ強く
Kotou de ikiru kanojo no sugata
The figure of a girl living on a desert island
Ryoute hiroge tsuyoku
So strong with both arms extended
全ては絶望から生まれた　孤島の彼女…
Subete wa zetsubou kara umareta
Everything was born from despair
Kotou no kanojo...
The girl on the desert island...

僕は羽を焼かれたまま
Boku wa hane o yakareta mama
Although with my wings burned like this
飛ぶ事も出来ないのに
Tobu koto mo dekinai no ni
I'm not even able to fly away
光も射さない場所から
Hikari mo sasanai basho kara
From here where no light shines
斜めの僕、独りは嫌だ　だけど
Naname no boku,
I'm ailing
hitori wa iya da
Can't stand being alone
Dakedo
And yet

彼女が求める自由は　この場所だけで
Kanojo ga motomeru jiyuu wa
The freedom she had wished for
Kono basho dake de
Only to be found in this place
泪が止まらないままで　彼女は帰らない
Namida ga tomaranai mama de
Still my tears won't stop
Kanojo wa kaeranai
She won't return
何も無いこの島は華も　咲く事は無い
Nani mo nai kono shima wa hana mo
There is nothing here on this island, not even flowers
Saku koto wa nai
Will ever be in bloom
嵐にも負けない姿は　世界を見ている
Arashi ni mo makenai sugata wa
Yet her figure withstanding every storm
Sekai o miteiru
Gazes at the world

彼女は生きる絶海の島で　欲は無く眺め
Kanojo wa ikiru zekkai no shima de
She is there on that island in the distant sea where she lives
Yoku wa naku nagame
No desire in her gaze
彼女は生きる世界を全て　飲み込んだから
Kanojo wa ikiru sekai o subete
Because she has swallowed the world were I live
Nomikonda kara
And everything in it completely
孤島で生きる彼女の姿　両手広げ強く
Kotou de ikiru kanojo no sugata
The figure of a girl living on a desert island
Ryoute hiroge tsuyoku
So strong with both arms extended
全ては絶望から生まれた　孤島の彼女…
Subete wa zetsubou kara umareta
Everything was born from despair
Kotou no kanojo...
The girl on the desert island...

Artist: 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) Single: BURNING SOUL 1. BURNING SOUL 2. EMPEROR 3. アブサン (Absinthe)
Rating: | Matenrou Opera is set to burn the competition up!
 
This year has been an interesting one for our boys in 摩天楼オペラ. Starting off strong with the incredible "Ether", they set high expectations for their new elemental-themed album era. However, their following three singles of the elements wind, water, and earth fell short of those expectations. It was quite a let down as they are among my favorite active bands today and typically rock the longer songs without losing my interest, but these elemental singles just felt half-hearted and long for the sake of being long.

Wrapping up this consecutive single quintet with the fire element was an astounding idea. "Burning Soul" brings to life the passion that the band so clearly had in their last few eras. The title track has several different movements that all make sense in the context of a song of average length. The only questionable aspect of the song is Sono　yelling towards the beginning and the end. I find him to be an excellent singer, but not particularly good at anything even close to harsh vocals.

That being said, the rest of the single continues to live up to the expectations set by the previews. Sono's vocals are pretty consistent whether they're screamed or not, which is refreshing. "Emperor" has a twinge more edge to it, with a pretty decent guitar solo, which in comparison to what we know Anzi can do is a bit understated. However, it flows well with the energy of the song. Additionally, there's more electronic influences in this song which is anticipated due to the fact they have a keyboard player, but we rarely ever hear him use actual electronic music in lieu of the kinds of synths we hear in the final track, "アブサン" (Absinthe).

Instead of providing energy to the track, the keyboards set the mood. "アブサン" has an immense presence; the intro is rather foreboding leading into one of the catchier visual rock songs I've heard in recent memory. Again, the only complaint is with Sono's "yelling". Yelling is really the only word to describe it. It's less of a harsh, threatening scream and more of an attempt to yell. Otherwise, the song's mood fits in well with the single as a whole. All very hard rock and appropriately heavy when needed, melodic and catchy, but most importantly: memorable.


Support the band! Purchase BURNING SOUL maxi-single here and support the band!

I never really paid my attention to them.

New Look

I'm in love and hate relationship with BPRecords. They got Kiryu, Royz, and Codomo Dragon in their management and they generous enough to put every music videos of their bands in YT. Also, I love them because they released the instrumental version of their bands songs.
 
...but, their multiple CD versions scam are just too hilarious.

for maximum fun the bats should fly away whenever a mouse cursor comes near it so you can just chase bats around the screen the whole day and be an useless piece of shit to society as a whole that would be 10/10

I feel strangely happy with those Sailor Moon's avi and siggi \o/
 
I'm curious what is the meaning of those usernames

This is literally the only scene that I remembered from the first few episodes of Attack on Potatoes. Everything else I just kind of slept through.

Gaze members be lookin old. ? We're getting older, guys. It's inevitable.

I am trying to make this as serious as possible, no trolling or joking.
 
Any members have any physical or mental disabilities that they are comfortable with sharing or talking about?
 
The reason I post this is because earlier last week I was diagnosed SSD (single sided deafness). It was sudden. For the past two to three weeks I could not hear out of my left ear. It was bothering me. I went along with it for a while but finally decided to make doctor appointments. They flushed out both of my ears maybe due to blockage but everything was normal. Finally, I talked to an audiologist and they tested both of my ears. They diagnosed me as a case of sudden single ear deafness. I have a few more appointments next month to go over other options.

http://www.peanutizeme.com/
 

 
yay for the lack of afrocentric hairstyles! 
 
You may want to resize your image as the downloads are quite big.

MH POLL OF THE WEEK #29: When discovering a new artist, what types of releases do you gravitate towards first?
Poll suggested by @Zeus!
 

 
To submit a poll for the MH POLL OF THE WEEK, P.M. either @CAT5 or @beni with your poll question, choices, and state whether it's multiple choice or not.

I have 2 to share today.
 
 
Seattle light show
 
 
 
Fire Girl