Pandabear

Found out about Slaughter To Prevail the other day only because lucas munn posted about them on his facebook. Speaking of which, I can't wait for the new Rings Of Saturn album to drop. More insane double bass, blast beats, technical guitar riffage, brutal vocals and alien themed songs.
 

Unpopular opinion #457 I don’t think Deluhi is/was that great of a band. I don’t get all the hype surrounding their music. I think they had some okay/good songs which I enjoyed, I just don’t get all the praise the band gets, especially on this forum. Is it because they were a fairly decent vk band and the majority of other vk bands were so crappy that they made Deluhi sound amazing by comparison and lead to their music being overhyped? I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case, which I believe also happened when Mejibary came along. Although Mejibary have been getting better. 
 
Anyway,  Leda was probably the best part of Deluhi and he definitely raised the bar for other vk guitarists, but I find the band to just be decent. They never put out anything amazing or what I would expect from advanced players/composers to put out. I feel the parts were greater than its sum when it comes to this band. So yeah, I can’t share the OMG Deluhi was so amazing they should get back together mentality.

From Last F.M
One of my all time favorite J-rock Bands. Nega to Poji, Parade, Chandelier, and Shiro Chronicle are my fav albums of theirs. And just to add, I disagree with the whole Ryutaro having a generic Vk vocal style from the quote. I believe it's unique and far better. It really suits their musical style.

I totally feel the same way. I think this is true of any great band. The ones whose music you never get tired of listening, despite the number of times you play them, or how much time passes. I think another great characteristic of a great band like pura, are the feelings they evoke. IMO all great music stirs something deep inside us.
Speaking of which, I haven't heard their new albums or recent releases, except moonlight - which I loved. Rusty was pure awesomeness.

From Last F.M
One of my all time favorite J-rock Bands. Nega to Poji, Parade, Chandelier, and Shiro Chronicle are my fav albums of theirs. And just to add, I disagree with the whole Ryutaro having a generic Vk vocal style from the quote. I believe it's unique and far better. It really suits their musical style.

I’m not getting all the bashing this release is taking. I’ve never really been a fan of the band but I do like some of their albums. This being another one of them.
 
It’s a good enjoyable listen if your into alternative metal or a Japanese metalcore derivative. This album does have a major metalcore inspired influence. The drumming, guitars and gang yells all pretty much are giving huge nods to the genre. That being said, the band still does manages to compromise with their new found influence and their signature sound, so the songs do sound and have that lynch vibe.
 
There are a lot of songs I enjoy and moments within those songs that stand out to me. The signature lynch time delayed guitar lines, the drumming, or some of the melodies and choruses.
 
 The biggest problem with this release is undoubtedly its length. Making an album of long duration takes skill and careful execution otherwise you risk dragging out the album, boring the listener and recycling material. The aforementioned problems are all present in Gallows. It’s not even that the album is too long, it’s that there's not enough variation. There’s too much repetition and as a result too much stagnation. The band could have created a much better release by streamlining, get rid of the weak tracks, keep the great ones and work on improving the tracks that are just good.
 
I would have taken a consistent and powerful 30 - 35 minute album over a 43 minute album of varying high and low points. Or if the band was deadset on making a 43 minute long album, at least put in more experimental or creative songs to avoid dragging out the album and boring the listener. I’ll take quality over quantity any day. 
 
To touch upon the production issue raised by others, I feel it’s been exaggerated. The way the production has been criticized is akin to hinting the album was recorded in someone’s basement and recorded with a potato. This might be the actual case with some indie brootalz vk band somewhere, but the production on this album is good and passable. Separation of frequencies is there and the instruments all have their place and are listenable. The production is not the greatest ever or without flaws but it’s listenable and doesn’t distract too much from the actual music.
 
 I will say the weakest point of the production are the vocals. Between the growls and cleans, there’s not much mids and I’m not particularly fond of how they sit in the actual mix at times. This occurs more in the heavier songs.  The instruments do seem scooped, it’s actually common in this type of genre, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did go overboard and considering how the cleans vocals are more trebly, they probably could have gotten away with leaving more mids on the guitars or the vocals. Someone did mess up on the EQ.
 
It’s not a great album or a bad album, but a fairly decent one with good and meh songs. You can listen to it in it’s entirety, or just hack it down it and get rid of the all of the weaker songs and enjoy what’s left. 
 
6.5/10 in it’s entirety
 
7/10 hacked down to only the best songs.

I’m not getting all the bashing this release is taking. I’ve never really been a fan of the band but I do like some of their albums. This being another one of them.
 
It’s a good enjoyable listen if your into alternative metal or a Japanese metalcore derivative. This album does have a major metalcore inspired influence. The drumming, guitars and gang yells all pretty much are giving huge nods to the genre. That being said, the band still does manages to compromise with their new found influence and their signature sound, so the songs do sound and have that lynch vibe.
 
There are a lot of songs I enjoy and moments within those songs that stand out to me. The signature lynch time delayed guitar lines, the drumming, or some of the melodies and choruses.
 
 The biggest problem with this release is undoubtedly its length. Making an album of long duration takes skill and careful execution otherwise you risk dragging out the album, boring the listener and recycling material. The aforementioned problems are all present in Gallows. It’s not even that the album is too long, it’s that there's not enough variation. There’s too much repetition and as a result too much stagnation. The band could have created a much better release by streamlining, get rid of the weak tracks, keep the great ones and work on improving the tracks that are just good.
 
I would have taken a consistent and powerful 30 - 35 minute album over a 43 minute album of varying high and low points. Or if the band was deadset on making a 43 minute long album, at least put in more experimental or creative songs to avoid dragging out the album and boring the listener. I’ll take quality over quantity any day. 
 
To touch upon the production issue raised by others, I feel it’s been exaggerated. The way the production has been criticized is akin to hinting the album was recorded in someone’s basement and recorded with a potato. This might be the actual case with some indie brootalz vk band somewhere, but the production on this album is good and passable. Separation of frequencies is there and the instruments all have their place and are listenable. The production is not the greatest ever or without flaws but it’s listenable and doesn’t distract too much from the actual music.
 
 I will say the weakest point of the production are the vocals. Between the growls and cleans, there’s not much mids and I’m not particularly fond of how they sit in the actual mix at times. This occurs more in the heavier songs.  The instruments do seem scooped, it’s actually common in this type of genre, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did go overboard and considering how the cleans vocals are more trebly, they probably could have gotten away with leaving more mids on the guitars or the vocals. Someone did mess up on the EQ.
 
It’s not a great album or a bad album, but a fairly decent one with good and meh songs. You can listen to it in it’s entirety, or just hack it down it and get rid of the all of the weaker songs and enjoy what’s left. 
 
6.5/10 in it’s entirety
 
7/10 hacked down to only the best songs.

I’m not getting all the bashing this release is taking. I’ve never really been a fan of the band but I do like some of their albums. This being another one of them.
 
It’s a good enjoyable listen if your into alternative metal or a Japanese metalcore derivative. This album does have a major metalcore inspired influence. The drumming, guitars and gang yells all pretty much are giving huge nods to the genre. That being said, the band still does manages to compromise with their new found influence and their signature sound, so the songs do sound and have that lynch vibe.
 
There are a lot of songs I enjoy and moments within those songs that stand out to me. The signature lynch time delayed guitar lines, the drumming, or some of the melodies and choruses.
 
 The biggest problem with this release is undoubtedly its length. Making an album of long duration takes skill and careful execution otherwise you risk dragging out the album, boring the listener and recycling material. The aforementioned problems are all present in Gallows. It’s not even that the album is too long, it’s that there's not enough variation. There’s too much repetition and as a result too much stagnation. The band could have created a much better release by streamlining, get rid of the weak tracks, keep the great ones and work on improving the tracks that are just good.
 
I would have taken a consistent and powerful 30 - 35 minute album over a 43 minute album of varying high and low points. Or if the band was deadset on making a 43 minute long album, at least put in more experimental or creative songs to avoid dragging out the album and boring the listener. I’ll take quality over quantity any day. 
 
To touch upon the production issue raised by others, I feel it’s been exaggerated. The way the production has been criticized is akin to hinting the album was recorded in someone’s basement and recorded with a potato. This might be the actual case with some indie brootalz vk band somewhere, but the production on this album is good and passable. Separation of frequencies is there and the instruments all have their place and are listenable. The production is not the greatest ever or without flaws but it’s listenable and doesn’t distract too much from the actual music.
 
 I will say the weakest point of the production are the vocals. Between the growls and cleans, there’s not much mids and I’m not particularly fond of how they sit in the actual mix at times. This occurs more in the heavier songs.  The instruments do seem scooped, it’s actually common in this type of genre, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did go overboard and considering how the cleans vocals are more trebly, they probably could have gotten away with leaving more mids on the guitars or the vocals. Someone did mess up on the EQ.
 
It’s not a great album or a bad album, but a fairly decent one with good and meh songs. You can listen to it in it’s entirety, or just hack it down it and get rid of the all of the weaker songs and enjoy what’s left. 
 
6.5/10 in it’s entirety
 
7/10 hacked down to only the best songs.

OMG I saw her in chicago xD It was amazing! lol I even filmed some of it!
She had albums available in chicago though...huh. I picked up the pamyupamyu revolution album and her nanda collection album.......I also got a super big tshirt that I can wear as a dress XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n-DUdpCFWoQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XftibcXJ_1g

Both are important for me. Can't have an amazing instrumental without equally quality vocals. It works the other way around too. Can't have amazing vocals without a proper instrumental backing it up. It does no good if you have an awesome vocalist when the rest of the music is crap/boring or vice versa. 
 
I think most bands can get away without having a great vocalist, or maybe even having a crappy one, if the rest of the members are great composers/players, but even if you have  a god like vocalist, it won't be enough to save a horribly performed/written track.
 
I'm a huge guitar/music nerd so with me, all the components ( great vocals, great instrumental, great composition, great production) have to be there for me.

A professional vocalist most of the time will have vocal training to minimize singing's impact on their vocal cords. It's exactly the same way with gutturals and high screams -- there is legitimate technique that is employed to minimize said impact. It also allows the greatest use of the voice to not only protect the vocal cords; but to maximize the sound as well.
 
Many VK vocalists go into screaming from copying other bands (Sadie and 12012 in regards to Dir en grey, even Dir en grey in regards to many Western metal bands) without ever considering the legitimate impact that improper screams can have. Kyo has had a history of vocal problems, and now Wataru from 12012 is experiencing difficulties. Kyo doesn't take vocal lessons, and from the way Wataru sounds, he doesn't either.
 
Finally, it's more or less expected that a musician knows what they're doing before they start doing something. You would expect a guitarist in a death metal band to be able to play that kind of music (or even on its most basic level, you'd expect that musician to be competent in performance and theory). The same standard is applied to vocalists: There are techniques for singing, falsetto's, and screams. If a vocalist does not employ those techniques, or they simply do not have proper training to be doing what they're trying to make their voice do, it becomes an absolute mess.
 
The likes of Wataru are competent when it comes to growls and any other extra ordinary thing they're trying to do; but a majority of the time it's not very good.

My problem with VK trying to do numetalcorelawl vocals is that it's just a bad imitation of establish genres that have set the standard for that style.
I agree that being used to is one way to look at it. When you've been listening to actual death metal bands or black metal bands and harsh vocals is pretty much the trademark of those genres, the poorly imitated VK take on it is going to just not sound good at all. You're used to just hearing the better use of that style.
 
 
Wow, very descriptive.....

I am 85% sure that vkei drummers use this video as a tutorial to learn how to play drums for the 15 seconds drumming is covered.

Awesome cover.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kNetd_lISI

Wrapping up the last few days...
 
Boris - You can never go wrong with Boris
M-Koda - I loved Drawing Arrow Diagram. It's one of my fav electronic albums of 2013. Glad to see it made it on the list.
Nocturnal Bloodlust - Grimoire was great, even though I liked their other 2013 releases better. Still, Nocturnal Bloodlust is one of the only Japanese bands that does the core genre any justice. They have the creativity, technicality and brutality so many other wannabe core vk bands lack. 
Ling Tosite Sigure - Good to see I'mperfect didn't get overlooked either. Fantastic album. This should make an appearance on everyone's list.
 
Overall I highly enjoyed this 25 days of xmas music review stint. I have yet to check out all the bands but I already have discovered quite a few jems. I know lists can subjective for everyone, but I agree with 98% of the bands that were chosen for this. The staff reviews were also fun to read. So to everyone involved in this I will say good job.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wrapping up the last few days...
 
Boris - You can never go wrong with Boris
M-Koda - I loved Drawing Arrow Diagram. It's one of my fav electronic albums of 2013. Glad to see it made it on the list.
Nocturnal Bloodlust - Grimoire was great, even though I liked their other 2013 releases better. Still, Nocturnal Bloodlust is one of the only Japanese bands that does the core genre any justice. They have the creativity, technicality and brutality so many other wannabe core vk bands lack. 
Ling Tosite Sigure - Good to see I'mperfect didn't get overlooked either. Fantastic album. This should make an appearance on everyone's list.
 
Overall I highly enjoyed this 25 days of xmas music review stint. I have yet to check out all the bands but I already have discovered quite a few jems. I know lists can subjective for everyone, but I agree with 98% of the bands that were chosen for this. The staff reviews were also fun to read. So to everyone involved in this I will say good job.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Checked out Div and I was highly impressed. Finally a VK band that does the electronic thing right! Not only is the production great but so is the music. I really enjoyed their rock style and the electronic flourishes. The vocalist actually knows how to sing and the guitar riffs and drumming is great. You can tell the effort that went into this release. If only other vk bands could strive and achieve this level of quality. 2nd best vk album of the year behind Jupiter imo.
 
My 2 other discoveries from this list was Kinoko Teikoku and Tam Tam. Loved eureka by Kinoko Teiku. That release is just amazing and so is this band. I have to go check out there other releases now. Also really enjoyed the eccentric sound of Tam Tam. I'm glad Yōsei Teikoku's PAX VESANIA was included on this list. It's the best album they've done so far.
 
I need to check out the other releases but there's lots of quality awesome stuff here. 

I agree that in order to properly listen and give an unbiased review of this release you can’t compare it with Deluhi. Unfortunately the only appeal this release has is the fact that it's from their former vocalist. There is nothing special or unique about any of these tracks. It’s not bad, but at its bare bones it’s mediocre pop. There’s not enough diversity, originality or melodic hooks. They’re nice tracks, but nothing that could properly hold someone’s attention or have them coming back for another listen. In essence it’s just nice background music. 
 
I bet if someone were to listen to this and not know who Deluhi was or Juri is, they would think this release is just another run of the mill J-pop release by some no name artist.
 
Although I think it’s cool Juri expanded into the pop scene given his metal background, Blanche is missing crucial elements that make it a rather weak and forgettable pop release.
 
4/10
 

It's funny because I was disappointed by dir en grey's Unraveling, but yet I still enjoyed it. For me it's missing all the power the originals had and it made no sense to remake songs that were good to begin with. 
 
Yet the way the band remade their songs, with layers, improved production, and their now matured musicianship, it's a release that's  hard not to applaud. 

I checked out a picture of her and I really enjoyed them. Great instrumental post-rock. I hand't heard of them before so it's great to find a new band. They've got enough going on to keep you engaged in or simply lay back and relax 
 
Already know Cyclamen and I'm a fan of the band. 
 
Keep the good stuff coming.

I checked out a picture of her and I really enjoyed them. Great instrumental post-rock. I hand't heard of them before so it's great to find a new band. They've got enough going on to keep you engaged in or simply lay back and relax 
 
Already know Cyclamen and I'm a fan of the band. 
 
Keep the good stuff coming.

I checked out a picture of her and I really enjoyed them. Great instrumental post-rock. I hand't heard of them before so it's great to find a new band. They've got enough going on to keep you engaged in or simply lay back and relax 
 
Already know Cyclamen and I'm a fan of the band. 
 
Keep the good stuff coming.

So, this is my band, L'ucibel. 
We started about five months ago and since then we've been rehearsing and writting songs, we just had our first live and this is a video of a original song of ours:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBgbRqVBiWw

Song is called "死亡暗黒仮面劇場" (shibou ankoku kamen gekijou) and for this one we had MALICE MIZER and Deshabillz influences, but you may also feel some jazz fusion vibes on it. xD

I don't know if we can be called a visual kei band *lol* we don't really care for the looks but I think our songs are very close to what bands used to do at the 90's, but we have a lot of other influences and we want to use then at our songs.
Our main goal is to have some fun playing the kind of song we like ^^


I'd love to know what you people think about our song!

Thanks ~

^ you might be overreacting there a little. 
 
And I read the link you posted and I'll have to disagree with you on the reason western vk bands fail. It's not because of how the Japanese music industry works. I don't know how authentic that interview is you posted, but even if everything in it was 100% true, which I'm sure isn't, it wouldn't explain why western vk bands don't work out.
 
Vk western bands not working out is not due to the connections to business people they lack, access to studios, producers, marketing or because they don't have a pimp label to get them out there. It's because of the reasons people have already mentioned here. They're young, inexperienced, sing in Japanese, don't know to dress VK, and lack any originality, basically knocking off bands like the gazette. When you can't sing/play your instrument properly, have a unpleasant image, don't appeal to your native speaking audience, and are a near carbon copy of some foreign band, how can you not expect disastrous results? 
 
Added to this is the fact that most western vk bands will further comes across as trying to hard or "weebos" to people who are familiar with the Japanese music scene and do low budget production studio recordings or cheaply made music videos. Plus if they only listen to horrible indie vk bands, then how can you expect something good to come out?
 
When you put out subpar or crappy music regardless of what genre you play (vk or not), you better expect to have people call you on it and be prepared for all the criticism. 
 
I'm not saying it's impossible for there to be a good western vk band, it's just no one has done it properly. You would need people who know their instruments, have some basic knowledge of theory and composition, actually write lyrics in their native tongue and have a good sense of how to dress. And they would also have have to some originality and not just sound like X vk band. I know bands/musician who listen to j-music in general and are inspired by it, but they don't blatantly rip off the sound/image of another band. They do their own thing in their own original band/project.
 
So far, I only know of 2 western vk bands that actually are decent. And the reason they more or less have succeeded where others have failed is because they avoided the common pitafils other western vk bands have fallen into.

^ You need denkitribe. He uses a lot chiptune influence in his songs that have that videogame feel.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQptaAovyIs
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt-idiJGcNg
 
Or how about some Dirty Androids?
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTHLmGeGvo
 
Maybe some TyDi?


 
Yoko Kanno may not me be an EM but this song is pretty awesome.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJVnX8EE3Q8
 
As is this one