Jump to content
Monochrome Heaven is closed. We have moved to JROCK ONE.

The Reverend

Iconic Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    1193

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    23

Posts posted by The Reverend

  5. Posted · Edited by The Reverend

    CuEj9FC.png

     

    Mushi_A.png?dl=1

     

    Tracklist:

    1. 蟲聲

    2. デルタ (Type-A only)

    2. 六花の歔欷 (Type-B only)

     

    :_5.5/10_: - Love them or hate them; but don't do either based on this single

     

    I was able to put into words the biggest reason why I’ve liked 儿 (Jin) ( The Black Swan/ Nega) while attending The Black Swan’s one-man live in June of last year. I realized while Jin was pouring his heart into one of their trademark overwrought, overlong ballads that no one else is able to tread the line between embracing the tropes of Visual Kei and mocking them like Jin has. He doesn’t just tow that line, he and his bands have taken up permanent residence there for some time now. Take 2015’s “I’m Shit Noodle, But…” off The Black Swan’s 失愛と依存、その感触 single as a prime example of this ability to live the VK lifestyle, tongues firmly in cheek. VK is a genre so built on the idolization of characters that it is downright scandalous when it’s publicly revealed that band members have engaged in mostly innocuous activities like having girlfriends or smoking some weed. The Black Swan wrote a banger turning this image of the impossibly virtuous band member on its head by shouting about their enjoyment of sex, drugs and money; a value system that is traditionally accepted in rock’n’roll but rarely espoused by people in the VK community.

     

    I enjoy Jin’s nasal warble; I appreciate uniqueness and passion more than a traditionally ‘good’ singing voice…which Jin certainly does not have. I think it’s often unnecessary to have two guitarists playing downtuned/seven+ string guitars and a bassist basically occupying the same sonic space, but all the guitarists are competent. I also thoroughly enjoy that the drummer has achieved a slight amount of separate-from-the-band fame by being a scary looking VK dude who adopted a tiny, stray kitten.

     

    With all that being said, I was disappointed when The Black Swan announced recently that they’d be disbanding next May after more than three years together as a band. They have not announced any other releases, though this being VK, I assume we’ll get a best-of release with a new warmed-over B-side or two, so 蟲聲 might be the last gasp of this particular band of VK provocateurs.

     

    The title track “蟲聲”--after it gets the acoustic intro from “Chop Suey!” out of the way--is the kind of song that Jin and The Black Swan will be remembered for; a little all-over-the-place compositionally, a riff that sounds like the guitarist would be walking toward the camera in the video, a plethora of vocal styles (some squeals, slightly flat singing, deathcore-inspired growling, some gang shouting), there's slightly haunting piano to highlight the sombre mood, the chorus that Jin uses for about 30% of his songs. All-in-all this is probably the least interesting track on this single.

     

    This being a VK single, of course there are multiple versions to buy to get all the songs. The A-Type version of 蟲聲 contains “デルタ (Delta)”. Critics would say this song sounds a lot like someone took a solid Dezert song and sprinkled some fart-sounding drop-A riffs and strained vocals throughout; to which I couldn’t make much of an argument except to say the chorus is deliciously catchy no matter if someone else would’ve done it better or not. I like the gravelly whisper in one channel under the singing that Jin does to end the song too. The B-Type song "六花の歔欷" would seem to be a very lengthy track by VK standards, but Jin fans will be unfazed after epic-length experiments like “虚しき「生」の寓意≒「死」の真意” and “Ousia”. This track pales in comparison to those other 7+ minute songs, mostly by not differentiating itself enough (all the usual ingredients are there: piano, acoustic guitar, etc.), but it does have a pretty stellar falsetto wail right before a smart guitar solo @ 3:50 and it gets points for not trying to scare the listener with unexpected guitar explosions, but rather is simply a solid, longing ballad throughout.

     

    The Black Swan will go down as being mostly a logical evolution of Jin’s sound during the latter days of Nega that continued their quest as one of the more polarizing bands in VK. Love him or hate him, Jin will get you to have some reaction. But don’t take my word for any of this, my favorite Jin project is freakin’ Perestroika ;).

     

     

    Visutox, Mamo, Aferni and 7 others reacted to this

  6. Posted

    3 hours ago, Zeus said:


    I don't even remember which of the lynch. albums is the most recent one, but that's the price one pays for consistency.

     

     

    This is exactly how I've viewed lynch. for almost a decade now; it'll be solid but it will just blend in with the rest of their discography.

     

    I'm sick, b'cuz luv u. is still an all-timer though!

    Zeus reacted to this

  12. Posted

    JOUGj7y.png

     

     

     

    kizukawazucover.jpg?dl=1

     

    Tracklist:

    1. 蛙-Kawazu-

    2. ラブソング

    3. ELISE (Type-A only)

    4. 十五 (Type-B only)

     

    :_6/10_: ｜Prosaic, but with potential

     

    Should a band be held accountable for not living up to hype created by fans before they’ve released a single note of music or even revealed their identities? That’s the question I pondered as I listened to キズ (Kizu's) second, and newest, maxi-single 蛙-Kawazu-.

     

    The conjecture surrounding Kizu started near the beginning of this year when a red and black flier was handed out at VK venues with precious little information other than the name of the band, details of their first show, and a phone number prominently displayed. Callers of the phone number were greeted by a recording informing them that the band would listen to “your pain, your worries, displeasure, and anxiety”.

     

    All VK fans had to work with was a new, mysterious, melodramatic, emo as hell band that had left no direct clues about the members’ identities; not even a group shot in silhouette or with the faces obscured by masks! The biggest clue being that the other bands performing at Kizu's first show (DOGinthePWO, Unite) were popular bands in the scene, so this new band must be made up of people with connections… probably from playing in bands with some success themselves. This wasn’t a bunch of newbies who would be unknown whether or not their names and faces were public knowledge!

     

    Little by little more info leaked out of the Kizu camp (the vocalist of the band would actually answer calls to their number, more fliers with references to despair and scars and blood and loneliness) but still no one was quite sure who was in this new band. Theories about vocalists from all sorts of recently disbanded acts were entertained. One that gained traction that I hoped would turn out to be true was that this was Karma from Avelcain’s new band. The signs were all there: Karma is the queen of teen-angst-zetsubou and these promotional materials for Kizu had that in spades.

     

    When it was finally revealed that the vocalist was Lime previously of Lezard there was a collective “not bad… but I wish it had been *insert my favorite vocalist who isn’t in a band right now*”. By the time their first (extremely energetic and polished) PV came out many people had already come down from their speculative excitement.

     

    With all that being said, what about the actual songs?

     

    The music is not the backdrop for despair that their promo fliers would imply, which is a blessing because Lime is a capable vocalist but it’s hard to imagine him pretending to cut his wrists or mumbling to himself trying to quiet the demons in his head. In fact, the least worthwhile parts of this maxi-single come when Lime tries to showcase his harsh vocals. Too much of "ラブソング (Love Song)" is marred by Lime trying to contort his voice into shapes it just wasn’t meant to fit into. He’s much better highlighting his slightly staccato, higher range such as in the otherwise rather moribund "十五 (Juugo)".

     

    Kizu is at their best playing the frenetic, vaguely djent-inspired fast-paced VK you can hear in the title track "蛙-Kawazu-" or after the jarring Beethoven intro homage has ended in "Elise". When the big riffs and digital effects combine into some bouncy, undeniably fun rock'n'roll you can see why Kizu have scheduled a second oneman live at Tsutaya O-West less than a year from their formation and having released only two singles.

     

    Ultimately, I'd place my bets on the slightly brasher Razor or the even more scatter-brained Lack-co to be the 'winners' of these djent-kei experiments, but if Kizu can continue to channel the relentless energy of the performances in their PVs (shoutout to them for the throwback 'VK band in the woods' video) into their live shows and releases they should be able to make a name for themselves in the crowded and often staid VK landscape.

     

    Support the band: CDJapan

    Visutox, emmny, Shmilly and 6 others reacted to this

  16. Posted

    On 10/3/2017 at 1:29 PM, Bear said:

    Train to Busan -  ... Snowpiercer with zombies

     

    Just checked out Train to Busan recently as well... and I enjoyed it a lot too. (I hope someone pitched it with that exact phrase: "Snowpiercer with zombies" haha)

     

    Enjoying your month of horror movies @Bear!

    Bear and Delkmiroph reacted to this

  17. Posted · Edited by The Reverend

    Haha, I would not have thought about it until this thread... but having been to a few VK shows I now will absolutely think to myself "oh this has got to be the bit they jump back and forth across the venue during" or "I bet this three minute song takes 15 during a concert".

    12 hours ago, Sparrow said:

    Just today I was listening to an old Gazette B-side and thought at one point, "this part feels like oritatami."

     

    There are names for the different moves??

    evenor, suji and Furik reacted to this

  22. Posted

    Heh, what a coincidence this thread being revived today was... I had "Illegal Sleep" stuck in my head at work today and thought 'damn, it's been too long since I spun some Oz'

     

    Sidenote: the outro guitar in Illegal Sleep is one of the ripping-est effin' riffs in VK.

×
×
  • Create New...