The Reverend

Welcome! You'll have to tell us how Monolith was the first VK band you heard.... I don't think I've seen them mentioned as anyone's gateway band before.

Damn that's both guitarists down (right?) Don't go anywhere Tokiya!

'sup Muma?

Hmmm... I apparently have a few thoughts on Emmure. So I saw Emmure back in 2007 when only their first album was out. I didn't know who they were before the show (they were opening for a band I liked.... From a Second Story Window if you're curious). So my first impressions of them were unclouded by all the subsequent hate they started getting I think around the release of Speaker of the Dead. I think they get hate for two reasons: the simplicity of the songs and the lyrics. I don't agree with the first (well I don't deny it's true, I'm just not sure it's a bad thing). I'll occasionally throw some Emmure on when I'm specifically looking for some mostly uncomplicated shit I can just headbang to. Sometimes I wish a VK band would just lean into having big, dumb riffs that are heavy/fun the way Emmure do on most songs and see where it takes them. (The Emmure songs I spin most are 'You Got a Henna Tattoo That Said Forever', 'I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me To Casper' and 'Solar Flare Homicide') The lyrics are a bit of a problem for me though. I mean, if there's an opposite of poetry "I want to watch you suck his dick, I know you fucking love it bitch" might be it. (not to mention the tshirts the vocalist sold you can find if you google them....) That stuff is just trying to be 'shocking' without much artistic merit behind it. Other people have done misogyny or shocking in ways I can dig, but Emmure certainly don't (or didn't... I haven't listened to anything they've released in the last five years). tl;dr - I sometimes like simple, downtuned mosh pit inspiring riffs without much technicality, but the vocalist's lyrics are just trying too hard and I don't think come across as earnest

Cool, I was never going to track down a bunch of live-limited singles but this is something I'd seriously consider picking up! Also do we think VK bands do or don't understand that "best of" ≠ "all of our songs"??

Nice! I really like these guys. (There's a VK shop called "LD'50" ???)

The 妖幻鏡 VA from last summer was surprisingly awesome.... so I'll def check this one out! (Wasn't メリーバッドエンド on the last one that was subtitled 'west'.... what is 'west' in Japanese geography anyway??)

Well fuck, they were one of my favorites.

Whoa, killer song/vid! sounds crisper than Mama did. nice that it comes out so soon

^ I enjoy being pummeled by their normal set. And I'm all for experimentation.... but this experiment didn't' work. Compare guitar and drums show: To the hunched over some controllers, basically what we got two nights ago: That little bit of kinetic energy from flailing arms and strumming a guitar is apparently important to me.

Didn't take any pictures so you'll have to settle for the tour ad I found. Went and an awesome lineup of Alcest, The Body, and Creepers over the weekend in Philadelphia. The venue- The Foundry is attached (part of?) the Fillmore in downtown Philly. I liked the LED lights in the stairway leading up to the venue. It was kind of chaotic outside because shows were happening in both venues; shout out to the bouncer who could obviously tell who was there for the metal show and plucked them out of line to go in a slightly different entrance haha. The Foundry part had a giant prop foundy oven in the corner near the stage that glowed red/orange inside.. it was cool. They also were the kind of place that just sets out pitchers of water and cups so you don't have to bother a bartender (or just go thirsty) to get some H20, I love that. Creepers - One(?) of the members of this is also in Deafheaven. Kind of a similar sound, but a little more relaxed and mostly singing. The crowd was still a little thin when they started right on time (I missed most of the first song myself!) and they only played for twenty minutes. They had one track I had to look up Spotify on the way home because it got stuck in my head. I felt like a dad going into the show because I had a plaid shirt on instead of a black metal tee, but the keyboard dude for Creepers made me feel better by rocking an OCBD under a sweater on stage. The Body - a pet band of mine I was excited to see again, unfortunately their set was a little lackluster. Usually, they're a duo of drums and guitar live... for this tour I guess they decided they wanted to play their more digital songs so we were treated to the band members (and one other guy) mostly twisting knobs and hitting a drum pad for the set. It was seriously unclear if they were even making the sounds (other than drum pad guy who definitely was) or just changing the pitch with their knobs while the track played. I really like some of their more electro-doom songs (like this one they did with Haxan Cloak) but the lack of movement on stage was kind of a bummer. It all seemed like a bad art school project (they had also set up a white screen where they projected grainy, creepy closeup film of some lady praying and hands and IDK for the whole set). I don't think they won anyone over who didn't already know who they were. They didn't say a single word to the audience. Alcest - The new Kodama songs sounded really good live. Neige and the drummer's name I forget were joined by an additional guitarist and a bassist for this show. They played Alcest's breezy take on black-gaze professionally but without a ton of emotion. Luckily the songs are good enough that I wasn't totally relying on the performance and could just enjoy the music. All the guitar tones were really clear and sounded loud but not painful, great sound from the Alcest boys. The other guitarist and Neige had some really pro vocal harmonies at times. All the guitarists had great hair they unfurled and let flow for the show. Neige stopped between a few songs to thank the crowd, and sounded very humble and gracious in his thanks. There wasn't a moment of "wow, remember when he did ____" that I'll take away from their set but the atmosphere and tunes were top-notch. Check out Écailles de lune someone up front recorded pretty well:

Yep.

I'll play. *Replace Who's Bad Psycho Party and Pain Killer with Alejandro* *Just end the album at Jessica*

This almost exactly. Gauze was maybe the first VK album I heard and I fell hard for it. It is still one of my fave albums after all these years. Songs like Cage and Yokan are un-fuck-with-able in my book (not to mention Kyo was so dreamy in the Yokan video).

Damn that's a big ask... esp. considering I don't think they have some release that coincides with that show. Also, if this really was their record label saying "get 300 people at this show or find a new label" does that not hurt Terakoya's ability to convince other bands to sign with them? Like, if I was a band on the come up would I want to sign with a label that made public a demand to get a certain number of people at a show?? Just drop 'em and move on if they're not making the money you'd like, don't embarrass them.

Awesome list! I saw Emma Ruth Rundle a couple years ago and she blew me away, very powerful for just one person and her guitar.... can't wait to see her again next month with Deafheaven!! And certainly no arguments with Alcest or Gibkiy Gibkiy Gibkiy.

Anyone want a copy of Jrock, Ink? Shipping (media mail) wouldn't be bad in the US... I'm sure it would be expensive elsewhere.

Fuck yeah!

Nice! Starting to get into these guys so this is good timing. Need to see if I can find some clear boots like dudes on the left! (I feel like it took a lot of restraint/journalistic integrity for @hirokito not include a single exclamation point in this thread)

Ooooh... headed there in about two weeks actually. I'd ask what's good to see, but I'm pretty much headed there for the express purpose of lounging on the beach for a couple days.... not sure how much tourist-ing I'm gonna do. One of my goals is to visit all 50 states. I'm missing: Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota and Michigan. I think North Dakota will be the hardest left.... because I've been to all the states around it. I would basically be going just to North Dakota, and I'm not sure what would really convince me to do that. (I will admit a couple of those are tenuous "I stopped and got lunch while passing through Iowa.... that counts right?" type visits)

Yo this Age Factory album is amazing!! Just some catchy, earnest rock-n-roll expertly performed! I've listened to 'Tours' four times already. (kinda agree about Veranda though....)

Checking Sink out has been on my to-do list for a month or two now and I finally got around to picking up the album... Well done guys! Props for doing the damn thing. I've enjoyed The Mirror and Dystopia especially. (Also.. are you guys from Virginia too? Nice)

Nice! I haven't listened to this third release you speak of.... but Amenity Gain had some righteous licks.