The Reverend

On 12/23/2019 at 4:33 PM, Zeus said:

 

For like half a second I thought this was going to be footage of a Motorhead cover... but quickly realized it was probably the name of a venue.

 

I don't know who that opener that wasn't is... but a one-man show sounds better anyway.

 

I've never had $14 worth of desire for a Bud Light 

Sounds like an awesome show! The energy in AREA always seems to be really good.

 

On 11/14/2019 at 10:23 AM, nomemorial said:

MAMIRETA is hands down one of the best live bands I have ever seen

Definitely. Batsu's antics are immensely enjoyable. (Weirdly, I too dragged a couple friends that had no interest in VK to a Mamireta show when I was in Tokyo last year.... and Batsu singled me out as well, dapping me up before his breakdancing in the crowd bit. ) An interactive frontman goes a long way in making a band 'good' live.

 

On 11/14/2019 at 10:23 AM, nomemorial said:

I'll admit that I was pretty exhausted at this point

These event lives that start at 4 in the afternoon are kind of a slog even when you like all the bands right??

4 hours ago, mothhe said:

(tetsu era is AMAZING)

That tetsu era *is* amazing! Welcome.

On 10/30/2019 at 3:20 PM, Disposable said:

He played mostly new material with the added bonus of God Damn the Sun and New Mind of all things. It was only 10 euros and honestly in retrospect, it was better than a lot of gigs I've payed +30 euro for. Unfortunately I saw not a single person with their phone up ( !!! ) so the footage from this will be unlikely to surface anywhere soon

God Damn the Sun acoustic in a tiny cafe sounds like a pretty awesome show! 

 

I'm old and jaded and "back in my day we didn't have cell phones" enough to count not seeing anyone taking lo-res video at a concert as a serious blessing.

Glad they brought back the museum label cover art... the covers they've done with those are infinitely cooler than the art for the two singles.

Damn, we never got a full album from them.

 

 

Someone had to.

Alright another (awesome) example comes from this Madeth gray'll song. (shoutout to @hyura's amazing Madeth gray'll lyrics thread... without which I never would have noticed this. And obviously where I stole the lyrics transliteration from.)

 

At the 1:45 mark of this song Hisui sings:

剥き出しの愛し×××
Muki dashi no aishi xxx

 

There's no censored beep, there's no silence... he literally says XXX ("ecks, ecks, ecks!"). That's next-level.

I like this cover art.

 

Especially that panel with a lush of a sloth playing beer pong.

I don't even recognize Danny Brown without that big gap in his teeth.

 

Good track either way. Looking forward to that album (produced by Q-tip!)

3 hours ago, robkun said:

Ohh yeah, and I, for the life of me, cannot understand the appeal of Kate Bush.

 

Damn I thought Rob was one of the good ones.

This is amazing.

 

(How do you even *get* food at McDonald's without paying?? Don't you pay first? Sad to see someone deported because they asked for a water then filled their cup with Coke haha)

 

Edit: @anadentone are on the same wavelength here

No need to remake Flare, it’s already perfect.

1 hour ago, saishuu said:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!

Cool I haven't heard Akito in a while (I ride for anyone who was in Hated.)

 

Who is out here sharing their music through *dropbox*??

Great live report! Sounds like a good show and a good time!

8 hours ago, nomemorial said:

It was one of my first nights in Tokyo and I am a bit, uh, directionally challenged without the aid of a map in larger city settings, so despite leaving quite early I missed my first train changeover and ended up turning a 15 minute trek into a 45 minute anxious train ride, landing me at the show 15 minutes late and a few songs into eStrial's set.

Haha.

 

What would you say the ratio of boys/girls in the crowd was for this show? I imagine it would be more than the ~5% boys I've seen at some VK shows.

I actually really like the chorus in the first song (and their name obviously).... one to keep an eye on.

 

The back of my big head is in the way of the rear-of-the-club shots from this Deathgaze/Gotcharocka show, haha.

"Houyoku era" is enough to make me want to check this out.

 

Also this is a cool concept for a split single.

Writing songs for the other band to perform> Covering each other's songs>>> Vocalists singing karaoke over the other bands track

 

 

 

Deathcore-by-way-of-VK youngsters Deviloof are back after some member changes with the first of three new music video singles to build anticipation for their latest album set to be released in May. How does the first chapter stack up?

 

I don't really like the name "Deviloof". "Oof" is just not a pleasing syllable to my ears. Logo isn't bad though; very directly implies this is a metal band while still being legible. 

 

Yes! The very best place to film an indies VK video is obviously the woods. 

 

*Dark*. (Excellent lighting though, I'm encouraged they dragged some real lights to the woods.)

 

I like the dutch angle sprinkled throughout the video. Helps foster the sense of unease.

 

Oh shit they're still alive! (I know you can't tell from the still screenshot necessarily, but take my word for it they all start thrashing.)

 

I'm happy to see someone responsible for making a Visual Kei music video has some familiarity with the rule of thirds.

 

The kick drums in this song have a bad case of 'typewriter-itis'. A shame really because the toms sound really good.

 

Also, how many VK videos have been shot in 4k so far??

 

The group performance shots in this video are mostly pretty staid, and I will defend to my death my stance that vocalists in music videos need a fucking microphone, but...

 

...basically every shot of a guitarist kneeling in this video is gorgeous. Full of pleasing angles and rockstar poses.

 

Didn't the bad vampire guy in the first Blade look a lot like this when he was transforming into some demon thing??

 

There's a scream at 2:21 right after the short harp(??) section that is absolutely disgusting. It's a literal 'blargh' like the vocalist is dry heaving.

 

Someone will need to fill me in on if or why this book is important.

 

I appreciate the precision of dousing a person you're about to burn alive in gasoline from a turkey baster. You wouldn't want to just splash that gas all over the place straight from the can, that's how forest fires start.

 

I really like the staccato delivery of the "adjective adjective motherfucker" lines, but I hate the repetition of the word motherfucker. I know some people like to know the lyrics in VK... but I am staunchly of the mindset that not being able to understand anything is one of my favorite things about Visual Kei. The less I can understand in heavy music from any country about how crazy you are or how heartbroken you are the better.

 

Thankfully they don't show many details of the body burning portions. I don't actually want to see charred body parts like this is some sort of snuff film.

 

I know I've highlighted some lowlights of the vocals so far, but mostly I enjoy them. The emphasis and delivery on "swallowed" at 4:22 has made me repeat that part like ten times.

 

The dissolve transitions with the fire aren't necessary, but I don't hate 'em. There aren't too many editing tricks in this video and I appreciate that immensely. 

 

How many members quit the band last year??

 

Overall I think this video is a win for Deviloof. The current crop of deathcore-with-makeup bands in VK can sometimes sound like caricatures of the genre but there are more parts of this song that I genuinely enjoy than make me cringe.

17 hours ago, CAT5 said:

Tobe is KILLEM EM!!!

 

 

"Not see, like Germans" took me a second but made me smile.

 

Welcome to the 3rd annual most notable VK looks presented by yours truly, The Reverend.

 

As usual, we're here to celebrate the 'Visual' in Visual Kei. Suggest your favorite or least favorite or weirdest looks from the past year in the comments below!

 

Thanks to the ORZ team for helping out and contributing, and especially @platy for making like five banners for me and letting me choose which one I liked best.

 

マーブルヘッド (Marblehead)

 

 

ユメリープ (Yumeleep)

 

 

キズ (Kizu)

 

 

lynch.

 

 

BRATBAX

 

 

the Raid. vocalist 星七 (Sena)

 

 

SHiSHi guitarist お花 (Ohana)

 

 

MEIDARA

 

 

Virge

 

 

Dillinger

 

 

Jin has never met a song he couldn't ask "but can we make it 7 minutes long though?" about.

 

(And I loved that about Nega, so this gives me more hope than the first track they dropped did.)

At first I thought 'wow, the song isn't halfway over and I've heard the chorus 3 times'

 

Then I realized these MFers made a music video that is 40.2% credits. 

This lineup is solid. Good to see Karin back too!