Peace Heavy mk II

.______. my insides feel weird.

I don't have time for halloween, so everyone pretend I'm wearing the same thing as Gackt in this please.

Yes, I do have a Portal 2 player.

They're back! Gosh, I can't believe how over dramatic everyone was about this. They don't even actually mean anything.

My life suddenly feels devoid of any meaning.

The visual terrorism has come to an end.

Ohhh yes, "Blurry Eyes" has great bass lines! Also, I forgot to mention that I have a great appreciation for La Feerie's bassist as well as Vice Risk / La'Miss Fairy's.

First off, "kei" actually has a meaning. Taken from a dictionary: That has nothing to do with whatever it is you're trying to argue since "kei" has nothing to do with dressing up. "Visual-kei" is simply an umbrella term used to group artists who dress up in a particular manner and, most importantly, associate themselves with that scene. Anyway, that's enough with word semantics: since Dir en Grey lightened up their visuals, changed their musical style to be completely different from how they originated, switched to a different (and non-visual) record label (or labels, I'm not sure since I am no expert on their history), and began to play shows in bigger and better arenas that had no association with anything visual-kei at all, it was more than clear that at one point the band, or someone else influencing them, decided that it was going to break all ties with the scene. You can use performance visuals, like makeup or wild stage antics, without being visual-kei. In fact, makeup and costumes are by no means native to just a small portion of the Japanese rock indies scene. We most absolutely cannot call every band that doesn't dress in street clothes "visual-kei." 女王蜂's members dress up in a style that is more true to older visual-kei than most modern bands do, but they have absolutely no relation to the scene at all. Same goes for Hystoic Vein. Please read up on these performance styles and genres and rethink that statement: -Glam Rock -Punk Cabaret -Corpsepaint -Gothic Rock -Shock Rock These, by all means, are not the only alternatives to "visual-kei" that use costumes. These all have influenced visual-kei and are still around today but have absolutely no relation to the movement. I've also seen the term "Visual" be used to describe Japanese punk and metal bands from the late 80's and early 90's (like X, Aion, etc) that are pretty much the quintessential proto-vk bands, but the only people I've seen use that are elitist douche-bags from Chile. I think that saying that they're "shock rock" would be more appropriate than saying they're "visual," since that doesn't really hold any connotations to anyone who doesn't know what visual-kei is (which is most people). However, that genre is often associated with genres that Dir en Grey does not play (as far as I am aware. When I hear "Shock Rock," I think Marilyn Manson, not nu-metal / sludge / post-rock / whatever metal), so that isn't a great description either. If you really need to say something about the fact that they used to dress up and are kind of stylized at the moment, you can just say that they're a metal band with heavy use of shock value. Also, I doubt they'd ever just start considering themselves VK again for a ~surprise~, especially since Visual-kei is often associated with poor music, horny musicians, and the current cash cows of the hour, as depicted here. /*Just a side-note: there are a few bands who dress highly similar to visual-kei bands, are on record labels often associated with VK projects, release material in a similar manner to VK bands, and insist that they aren't visual-kei at all. This is mostly directed at BLOOD, who swears that their 4th period isn't VK even though every member dresses up with the same vk hallmarks as most gawfy vk bands, is made up of members from other visual-kei bands, are on a VK label (or sister label. Not sure if Kiwi moved them to the label that actually does something), but swears that they aren't visual-kei. Then there are European bands who feel that they are VK even though there isn't a scene outside of Japan. The point of this blurb is to point out that there are a few random outliers.*/

Here's the cover art:

They look awesome in those two top pictures :V . The third one looks like where Megaromania got their inspiration for these two costume sets: 1 , 2; the second one is probably where Ru:natic's red-haired guitarist got his look from. Interesting how everything kind of stems back to something else, and even then this influence was influenced by something else before it. Also, Zess is good at persuasion.

AI NI KIZUITE KUDASAI BOKU GA DAKISHIMETE A-GE-RU Hopefully this will be like "Pray for the Sun." I feel like I say this every time he releases a new single.

Actually, while listening to the single again, track 2 does sound like something D would release, just without as much trying to be heavy D would do. So saying that you're getting Asagi vibes isn't too off base to me. And, as promised: http://ow.ly/6SPh1

That seems a bit narcissistic.

I like Aggy's part in "Hybrid Truth," but that isn't really a solo. Same goes for "The Farthest." Madeth Gray'll's "Parasite" is pretty much all bass, so I guess that counts as well. Matenrou Opera has an instrumental song with a really pretty bass solo...I think it's "Suna no Tsuki."

I was actually really surprised by this single. I wasn't expecting to hate it, but I was legitimately braced for a channeling D'espairsRay but with 2 guitarists attempt. However, it didn't sound like that at all and I really really liked "Reverse" and "Unseal." I still haven't listened to the single enough to do a track-by-track, but I plan on writing a blog post on the matter and will post a link here whenever that is completed. First time in a while where I've legitimately liked, and have a craving to listen to, more than the title track on an -OZ- single since BULK.

Kind of interested in this, although I didn't like anything signed to STORM except for Facizm.

> Maybe more people would show up to their lives if they actually sold their music to accessible locations. /bitter

Vior Gloire released on single 2 months ago and have been doing lives since. How does that make them dissolved? Also, E'm~Grief~ is still technically around and outlasted the stereotypical UCP 2 year shelf life.

Better news than Deluigi 2

Ughh that's sooo far away > .

Deluhi has some nice guitar solos, but to be honest, I wouldn't have thought of them if people here didn't mention them. I actually paid more attention to Aggy than Leda(?) on the handful of songs I enjoy by them. Versailles is another band whose guitar solos I enjoy, but I don't consider them to be the mecca of guitar virtuosos. Talented, yes, but I feel like they draw so much negativity because of how high a pedestal people place them on, and this is coming from someone who technically considers them his favorite band. In that same vein, Hizaki's "Mizerable" has a fantastic solo if you can get past the low-budget quality. Do we have to stick to Japanese bands? Avenged Sevenfold has a few solos I really enjoy, namely "Bat Country"'s, and Dream Theater's 6 minute wanking can also be very nice. Sort of off topic, but on topic at the same time: I prefer songs with elaborate guitar structures as a whole a lot more than a short 45 second flaunt-fest. I cannot tell you how many times I've reviewed an album and described a guitar solo as "obligatory." Doing a solo because you feel you need one, even if it's just for 10 seconds, is not something I enjoy. I'd rather there be no solo than a forced one. For example, Malice Mizer's first full-length album with Gackt had a lot of songs with awesome guitar parts, but not really any solos, like "追憶の破片" and "死の舞踏." Also, Hizaki's "Lunar Eclipse" is also a very nice song, but it doesn't really have a solo because it's an instrumental focused on just...well...him (a concerto, then?). However, when it comes to soloing, I'm a sucker for neo-classical shredding arpeggios and baroque-esque melodic structures.

He was in CalorZe? That would be a cool revival though, especially since Rita isn't doing ANYTHING >

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/special/artist/ucp.html They've also recently partnered with UCP, so you can buy some web-shop goods through CDJapan without having to use a shopping service!

I live in New York though . If you made a table for an NYC convention I'd help out.