The Reverend

Aliene Ma'riage, along with a few other bands, are going to hold a one-day revival in March.

Haha when I saw @Zeus was writing about Mar Maroon I was thinking "geez I thought he had better taste than that."
 
Glad to find out you were writing about how remarkably *bad* it was!

Haha when I saw @Zeus was writing about Mar Maroon I was thinking "geez I thought he had better taste than that."
 
Glad to find out you were writing about how remarkably *bad* it was!

Needed some kitchen towels... had some Rarezhut points.

Needed some kitchen towels... had some Rarezhut points.

Needed some kitchen towels... had some Rarezhut points.

Tracklist:
1. "絶縁体" (Zetsuentai)
2. "人間を被る" (Ningen o Kaburu)
3. "Downfall"
4. "Devote My Life"
5. "Values of Madness"
6. "Celebrate Empty Howls"
7. "赫" (Aka)
8. "Merciless Cult"
9. "Rubbish Heap"
10. "軽蔑と始まり" (Keibetsu to Hajimari)
11. "谿壑の欲" (Keigaku no Yoku)
12. "Ranunculus"
13. "The World of Mercy"
 
Encore:
14. "Followers"
15. "朔-saku-"
16. "詩踏み" (Utafumi)
 
After an unceremonious dinner of two donuts, I trudged my way through the rain and darkness to Gramercy Theatre for Dir en grey's TOUR 19: THIS WAY TO SELF-DESTRUCTION stop at New York City. I had concerns about the weather since it was raining all week, but thankfully the rain eased up by the time I reached the back of the line. The line wasn't the sea of umbrellas I had anticipated; other Dir en grey fans were less fazed by the weather and relied on the scaffolding to shield them from the elements. I made quick friends in line with the fans around me and we got to shooting the clay about different visual kei bands, which really helped to pass the time.
 
Like I noted with my previous live experience at Playstation Theater, all types of fans rolled out to see the band; goth kings and queens, scene kids from high school and college, older metal heads, obvious netizens like myself, and everyone in between. One cosplayer impressed me with his "OBSCURE"-era Kyo outfit, while another gaggle of friends looked like shinobi. It's refreshing to know that Dir en grey's appeal is still universal. Unlike my experience in line at the GazettE, Dir en grey fans know their trivia.
 
The organization was impressive until I stepped inside the venue, at which point it looked like a bomb went off. For those not in the know, Gramercy Theatre has a max occupancy of 499 people. There felt like way more than 499 people in line and in the venue. The security check was much more extensive - the guy went through my bag twice to make sure I had no recording equipment before searching me for weapons - but that part was organized. The true chaos was differentiating the merchandise line from the coat check line from the alcohol line. Everything and everyone was one vibrant, pulsating mass the minute I made my way down the stairs to the basement level.
 
I fought my way to the merch line, which at this point was short because everyone was checking in their coats, and ten minutes I later I was greeted with disappointment. There were legit five pieces of merchandise available for sale, and the items I wanted were not in my size. Shirts were $40, the hoodie was $70. I spent enough money to pay down the karma debt on my years of downloading Dir en grey's music in one shot, and nabbed myself a sweet hoodie so big I could swim in it (as they only had small and extra large available). I'm shocked they didn't bring any copies of The Insulated World to sell, because I'm sure plenty of fans would have bought.
 
Shoved the goodies in my bag, checked in all my stuff for eight dollars (definitely recommend buying a ticket with guaranteed coat check to ease the process here), then fought my way upstairs and into the venue. It's pretty narrow at first, but quickly opens up to two sections, one for standing and one for sitting. There were easily 400 people here by the time I found the alcohol bar, and seats were disappearing fast. Copped a Bud Light for $14, then ended up sitting off to the left side for the entirety of the show. For sonic balance reasons I suggest you sit or stand as close to the center as you can; Die stood to the right side and I could barely hear him, but Toshiya and Kaoru stood to the left and I could hear them clearly.
 
BYSTS cancelled at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts, was no opening act for the New York show.  This was not communicated to us beforehand, so I sat around for what felt like an eternity before the show actually began. Once the lights dimmed the crowd came to life. As the band members strode onto stage one by one backed by an SE I've never heard before, all I could see were the instruments faintly coming into the light as the strobe lights moved so fast one could catch a seizure, and the crowd heads bobbing with the occasional camera capturing the live. 
 
It was time.
 
Despite Dir en grey performing both "絶縁体" (Zetsuentai) and "The World of Mercy", the show felt as if it passed even faster than the GazettE. Dir en grey gave a great show overall and performing the album songs live has changed my perspective on them. Kyo's Joker-lite face paint was a nice surprise for sure; I wonder how influenced he was by the eponymous movie released earlier this year. He tried to get us to sing along a few times and was obviously pissed when we didn't know the words, but what can you expect from a crowd whose first language isn't Japanese? I can recall he tried during "Rubbish Heap" and "The World of Mercy", and the second attempt was much more successful than the first. 
 

Photos courtesy of u/ raggedypan from Reddit.
 
The biggest change are my opinions on "絶縁体" and "Devote my Life", tracks I didn't enjoy on disc but enjoyed greatly live. Unfortunately, "The World of Mercy" is still a big miss for me. Even understanding that the song is the thematic end to The Insulated World didn't shake my convictions, although I must admit that the music video for this song is unapologetically brutal, even for Dir en grey. It is hard to describe what I saw since the video was censored with a triangle overlay, but there was a bloody rampage that starts about halfway through. I don't understand what's so shocking that it needs to be censored live, considering they played the uncensored versions of the "朔-saku-" and "人間" PV's. Having said that, Kyo pantomiming disembowelment during "The World of Mercy" is one of the highlights of the show for sure.
 
Aside from "赫" (Aka), most of the time the projects were little more than a lyrics video. "赫" (Aka) has a beautiful music video of burning baby dolls and piano with a red filter over all of it accompanied by some lyrics. It's tame so I hope they officially release it after the tour's conclusion. In comparison, "絶縁体"'s video is a more cryptic affair of flashing imagery, one that works better live than as a standalone music video. The way "絶縁体" ends stuck with me far after the show is over. At the end, the music video was revealed to be within the mind of a human, so thematically  "絶縁体" and "人間を被る" are much more connected than I thought. It also ends on same "human slicing" technique that we saw in "人間"'s PV. The heavy use of projection imagery also explains why the set lists for each stop on the North American tour are almost identical, save for one song in the encore.
 
I hope all of the visualizations and more come our way via the next installment of the AVERAGE collection of uncensored music videos (AVERAGE INCEL?).
 
This was an album-heavy show, but we still got some throw backs in the form of "Merciless Cult" and "朔-saku-". The former came on halfway through the show where as the latter was part of the encore. The new version of "朔-saku-" - which is basically the studio version with gutturals replacing the  screams - was pretty dope, but I felt that the new version of "Merciless Cult" live hit so much harder. "詩踏み", the encore closer, was also much better than the studio version. The extended distortion was the perfect way to end the encore. I'm jealous that Denver got "腐海" (Fukai 2018) and that Dallas got "理由" (Wake), but that's how it is sometimes.
 
The New York crowd was a rough one. I sat in the back like the old rock geezer I am, but at one point during the show I saw security pull one person out from the crowd who was getting crushed. There was also a crowd surfer at another point during the show, which was also wild. I actually got to spoke to him after and he was a pretty chill dude. If you are of a smaller frame or have doubts about the ferocity of the pit, I would find a seat before the show begins.

As the show winded down to a close, the band members disappeared one by one. Shinya and Kyo were the first to go, leaving the stage almost immediately after the encore. Shinya threw his drum sticks into the crowd and disappeared second; Kyo was first. Toshiya hung around for a bit but didn't engage the crowd much and left soon after. It was the two guitarists, Die and Kaoru, that entertained the crowd the most. They waved at the fans, threw picks and water bottles at the crowd, and took their leave after two minutes. We were treated to a bit more darkness before the lights cut on and reality came crawling back. The show was over and it was time to go home.

If getting inside the venue was a pain in the ass, getting out was an even bigger one. I played my cards right and still had trouble getting around. The downstairs area was simply too small to contain all of us. I heavily advise buying merchandise before coat check. There's a wider assortment of goodies available before the show and a lot of people wait until after the show to buy, so more likely than not you will always be on the shorter line. I was on line long enough to meet up with @Ro plz and chat about our experiences for a bit, but the scene was too chaotic and we were quickly separated. I tried to wait outside, but there was another show for SURFACES lined up and the security were motioning for us to disperse. I stuck around for ten minutes, chatted with some random fans, and bounced.
 
I had a blast and can definitely recommend seeing Dir en grey live if you have the money or can snag the tickets for a reasonable price. Money was the biggest contributing factor on my decision to go; buying the tickets from a scalper ran me almost $200!  This was one of their better live performances judged solely off of all the live recordings I have seen and heard of the band, and Kyo is in good shape vocally for this tour. Go with friends if you can, and if not try to arrange to meet up with people from here! Fans are really friendly to talk to considering none of us knew anything about each other other than that we were fans of the same band, but that speaks to how deeply music can connect people.
 
Until next time! 
 
 

Wow - it's been a long time since this happened, but I remembered mentioning I'd write up a report and life has finally slowed down enough for me to try and do just that!
 
This was a show I felt really lucky to be able to attend while I was there - it was the night before I was scheduled to leave Tokyo and had multiple acts I had hoped to see while I was in Japan. I'll get right to it (though this might be a bit "stream of consciousness" so bear with my antics and anecdotes)
 
On this afternoon my wife and I were wandering Ikebukuro before we were going to go to 高田馬場AREA for this live. She doesn't have much interest in VK and we were nearing the end of our trip, so she planned on watching a band or two and heading back to our accommodations in Shinjuku.
 
When we arrived, she saw the line (on an incline going down a hill) and basically said "yeah, no" so I took her back to the train station (where there was a ginormous R指定 banner hanging over the staircase) while we had time to spare. Funnily enough, I went to the restroom before returning to the venue and in that time she realized she left our wifi box in my bag, so she walked back to the venue to track me down. Somehow everyone was already inside and she assumed I had gone in, too -- but I also had her ticket (I wasn't thinking much this day...) 
 
She then attempted to track down "blonde gaijin" in broken Japanese with the gentleman running the door who reluctantly (yet surprisingly???) let her run into the live hall and find me. At this point I am walking back to the venue and see her on the sidewalk. I am very confused so she explains the whole silly scenario and basically says "fuck it, I'm here, buy me a drink and I'll hang out for a little."
 
As we enter and declare our "favorites" to the doorman (DIMLIM and gulu gulu) we enter and hear music playing while we buy beers. I see video on the screen but I am a newbie and thought it was a recording. Turns out the opening band (billed as Aster) was actually finishing their set already. (the listed showtime hadn't even hit yet - I thought we were early, but oh well!)
 
We wandered into the live hall to see them play about half a song before stepping off stage. There were still quite a few people watching them, though, especially for an early opener I had never heard of (and can't find any info on???) I discussed this with someone before going to the live and speculated this might actually be the band GLEN, who was set to release a maxi-single called "Aster" later that month and after hearing GLEN/seeing their visuals, I am now convinced this was in fact the case. They sounded very similar from what I experienced and the visuals strike me as the same or similar to the look in their video. Anyway...
 
After curtains closed and reopened, we were greeted by some fairly heavy visuals -- a vocalist wearing a cloak covered in creepy white masks and a guitarist with the classic medical eye-patch. From what I knew, this appeared to be MonstlloW; I had watched a few of their videos to prepare myself as I wasn't too familiar. I was immediately taken by how...cool they looked. Very heavy visuals, just really professional from visuals to sound. Their instrumentals were extremely tight and the audience was really engaged, headbanging and dancing and shimmying from one side of the room to the other (probably my favorite thing to experience at a VK live in terms of audience interaction as I had never seen anything like it before.) I'll admit that I didn't find the videos I had watched to be too memorable so I wasn't sure what to expect, but they definitely won me over by the end. Definitely the kind of band that is worth seeing live to really appreciate. (My wife was quite taken with them, commenting on how strong the singer's vocals were and how impressed she was by their overall performance.  She has some familiarity with VK from DIR EN GREY and my general interest, but she seemed much more drawn in than I anticipated.)
 
They played a total of 5 songs and handed out setlist cards from their merch table after they finished.
 
Monstllow setlist
1. 嘘泣キ少女
2. KERBEROS
3. ビッグマウス・マーチ
4. WE ARE LIAR
5. 劇薬U.S.O
 
After this we grabbed a few more drinks and took a seat while we waited for the next act. We were very close to the back, right in front of MonstlloW and DIMLIM's merch tables. I was surprised to see that MonslloW's guitarist and bassist had actually come out and were hanging out behind their merch table. They appeared...very tall? Probably a combination of costume, hair, and the fact that they were on a platform above us, but it felt a bit imposing! (Haha.) After their merch sales concluded for the moment, I took a second to inventory enough of my Japanese language knowledge to basically say "I really like your band" and they seemed amused and appreciative. They handed us the setlist cards and actually hung around back there for the majority of the night. (I don't know why this shook me so much, I guess VK has been at such a distance my entire life that I never really expected them to be so casually...there??)
 
The curtains opened again revealed the next band -- another four person act, guitarist in a white dress (iirc) and bassist with a long, spotted fur coat. It was their vocalist that clued me into who they were, though -- very slim, shirtless under an open jacket, strutting directly to the center of the stage. This was definitely Hueye. (Upon seeing them, my wife immediately exclaimed "oh, they're girls!!" I had to apologetically advise otherwise...) At this point, I had no real familiarity with their songs other than "優しく殺して," as I really hadn't listened to anything else at that point (and I don't think they had much else to listen to?) Nonetheless, I was very impressed once again. The first thing I noticed was their vocalist's harsh vocals compared to what I had heard on recordings -- they seemed much, much stronger live. Like, noticeably so, even to someone who had only heard one song. As their set continued on, I noticed exactly how proficient their guitarist was, too. I mean really, he can shred. My wife was laughing at the fact that my jaw kept dropping just watching his fingers, but she agreed with me either way. Again, I only really realized "優しく殺して," and I believe they closed with that track, but after going back and listening to more of their releases I'm pretty confident they played the other tracks from that single alongside a few others. Not sure what their other songs were, but I think they also played five like MonstlloW. (My wife commented she didn't like them as much as MonstlloW, but partially because she "had to keep looking at that man's body the whole time." 🤣)
 
At this point, we once again grabbed some more beers and she asked me about the other bands that were playing (since she told the doorman she supported a particular one and realized she had no clue who they were). I explained that DIMLIM was my favorite, gulu gulu was a new band with familiar members. I wasn't sure the order of the performances at this time, but I was cut off at that point as the curtains opened again.
 
As the electronics of "GROTESQUE" began twinkling, I stood to immediate attention and noticed the crowd filing in very quickly. I excitedly stated that this was DIMLIM and as the band appeared, I took note of their visuals compared to their most recent photos at the time. Sho was not in his "clown" look from "離人" and instead was wearing something much more similar to the suited look from their more current appearance, glasses on his face in a look that reminded me very much of DIR EN GREY's Kyo circa "ain't afraid to die." Retsu wore face makeup similar to that of the photos, but rather than the pleather bodysuit he was wearing a very long trenchcoat. Taishi and Hiroshi appeared to match their photoshoot looks, while Ryuya wore the same outfit but with his hair tied up in a messy bun. Halfway through the first song, my wife turns to me and just says "ok, yeah, these guys are fucking good." 
 
One of the most immediate things I noticed about DIMLIM in this setting compared to the other bands that had played, is that their performance felt quite a bit...rawer than what we had seen so far. From someone who grew up going to punk/metal shows in the states in a scene that heavily frowned upon any type of backing tracks or sounds outside of "just the instruments in front of you," one of the things I found immediately standout was how many bands used obvious backtracks to fill in their sound at this live. It doesn't bother me, I can see the purpose and the value in it as it does add a certain "fullness" to these bands' sounds, but it definitely stood out. This is not to say that DIMLIM did not also use these things, as their sound does incorporate a number of electronics and multiple tracks, but I will say that it felt much less prevalent during their set. 
 
They continued straight out of "GROTESQUE" into "Malformation," which is probably my favorite song on CHEDOARA, so I was very happy. Every member seemed confident and "dialed in," but it was very difficult to divert my attention from Sho. (My wife made a comment about Sho, stating "I believe this blonde boy was on the train with us???" - I didn't notice, but I suppose it's possible? Haha.) His vocals were rougher than they sound on recording, but not in a way that felt bad or like he was incapable, just much more emotive. He stood on a riser for the majority of the set and really gave it his all from beginning to end. I know many have stated that he inhales his screams, which is troubling from a health perspective, but I really feel like he was exhaling a lot of them during their set as some stood out as very loud and impassioned. 
 
If I had one criticism, it would be that Ryuya's guitar felt too quiet for most of their set (something I had also noticed in live videos?) and I think they would have sounded even better if he was a bit louder, but they still played a very strong set. I did notice that the room was quite full for them in comparison to the previous bands, with a noteworthy number of males in the audience specifically for them and girls literally throwing themselves over the barriers while headbanging. (Another thing that I had never seen before -- they were straight up pulling all the way back and like...launching their bodies. That's dedication and western audiences could learn a thing or two!!)
 
Their set was intense and entrancing and everything I could have wanted -- I feel really lucky to have seen them with their full lineup, though I wish their set was longer! It felt shorter than MonstlloW and Hueye, though maybe because there was no MC, just song after song with no interruption. 
 
DIMLIM setlist (to the best of my memory)
1. GROTESQUE
2. Malformation
3. ...物狂ひ...なりて
4. vanitas
5. 「人」と「形」 (it was this or D.Hymnus, but I believe it was this if I recall correctly)
 
At this point, we're technically four bands in (and coincidentally four drinks in, so we continued that trend -- the drinks were really light!!) I kind of tried to explain who the remaining bands were, but GRIMOIRE started shortly after DIMLIM was done so I stood back up to watch them. 
 
I like GRIMOIRE a fair bit and have listened to most of their releases. I think their heavy songs are really well composed with cool guitar work and I was excited to see them for this reason. Oddly enough, they emerged with a very toned down visual look -- essentially a suit look for most of the members. RyNK wasn't even wearing his signature blindfold which I was kind of shocked by. The audience seemed to have quite a few very dedicated fans at the front, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worn out at this point after DIMLIM's set, which was a very different atmosphere. GRIMOIRE played a fun set that had a few of their "heavy bangers" with mostly lighter songs. That was a bit disappointing to me, but I still found them enjoyable overall, just a bit low energy compared to the other acts that evening. Unfortunately I don't remember their setlist!
 
Things are starting to get blurry to me at this point, but I'm pretty sure MAMIRETA played next. I had told my wife that they were a pretty wild band and that she might like them (though in truth, I was kinda surprised she stuck around this long! She seemed to be pretty into every band that played save for GRIMOIRE who she didn't really watch.) I planned to buy some DIMLIM merch, but then realized I was almost out of cash after drinks so...I just bought more drinks instead. 
 
I will cut straight to the point before getting into detail, but MAMIRETA is hands down one of the best live bands I have ever seen. They tripled the energy of the previous acts (somehow) and played one of the most fun sets I've ever seen. I've argued this point a few times, but I really don't think MAMIRETA would be out of place in a western hardcore festival (except for the whole makeup thing, lol)  Their music reminds me a lot of some of the nu-metal tinged western hardcore that has been a thing these past few years (Vein, Knocked Loose, etc.) 
 
Their look was pretty "low-visual" or "boy mode" as my wife started calling it through the evening. Just hoodies, jeans, and big hair. (basically the same as they wore in their "もしもし" PV)
 
I have heard some less than savory things about Batsu, their vocalist, but all of that aside I'd be glad to call him one of the best frontmen I've seen perform. An absolutely unstoppable force of pure energy from the first notes played -- he stole the show and just went absolutely hog-wild the entire time. By the end he was breakdancing, jumping out into the crowd and running around, then he borrowed someone's purse and hairbow and pranced across the stage before their set ended. (Which looking back may have been part of the reason people have issue with him -- the audience member seemed fine with it, but I could see that going less than okay in other scenarios...) 
 
I've listened to a fair bit of their music, but don't really know their song titles other than "お邪魔します." This song was a ton of fun live, the entire crowd chanting the "お邪魔します" line on command. I started raising my beer for this point in the song and Batsu immediately singled my out and pointed, yelling "hey!!" I'd be lying if it didn't make me feel a bit special...(but I am a fairly tall blonde dude, so I maybe stood out a bit...)
 
My wife and I were both very taken with their performance and if we were to go back to Japan I'm confident we'd go out of our way to catch them again. I really can't speak highly enough of their live show!!
 
Before the next band we tried to scope out the merch booths a bit in between bathroom breaks (and more drinks...?) I noticed that DIMLIM's merch attendant was already packing up their goods while all of the other bands were out with their items at this point. (Guitarist and bassist of MonstlloW were still behind their booth, pretty much all of Hueye were behind their booth or watching the other bands near the back exit, and MAMIRETA's guitarist was back there now, too.) 
 
As the curtains opened, the audience was greeted by a giant "ぐるぐる" banner and the members of gulu gulu entered the stage to great fanfare from a packed crowd (maybe the biggest crowd of the night?) Their opening SE came to a close as Ai entered the stage and they blasted into "変なメリーゴーランド," which I immediately recognized from the PV teaser they had launched a few days prior. They wore their exact outfits that had been used to promote the single up to this point and this was one of their first shows as gulu gulu (they were actually billed as 烏名 鳴と不愉快な仲間達 only to be updated a few weeks prior coinciding with their announcement to begin activities as gulu gulu). 
 
They were also extremely high energy, with Ai slinging around a megaphone and shoving the entire microphone in his mouth. Lanju swayed his hair back and forth and drew a lot of my attention as my most immediate favorite from their lineup. ("This bassist fuckin' slaps," according to my wife and I absolutely agree.) Their set felt very much like a "headlining" set in every sense of the word -- whether that was intentional or not (and I don't really think it was). They felt very professional, but still fun and goofy. The audience for them was probably the most intense of the evening -- they all seemed really devoted and it was clear they had been waiting for them most of the night. They followed Ai's commands religiously.
 
Musically I was glad to hear just how heavy they were, as this was the first time I had heard anything other than the sample of "変なメリーゴーランド." Their overall guitar/bass tone was really thick and despite the "fun" nature of their set, they still had a dark atmosphere that made them really stand out. They played "嗅覚障害" fourth for maybe...twice as long as the actual song? They held out a number of the sections, particularly the "la la la la la" parts what felt like an extra long time, Ai prancing back and forth on the stage as the band played the bouncy riff on repeat. 
 
Overall, their set cemented them as "the band to watch" and it's clear that they've maintained that reputation for very good reason. Of all the bands I saw this night (and in VK right now as a whole) they are probably the band I'm most interested in watching grow.
 
After their set they were giving out "red paper" (which I believe later turned out to be a link to their first PV) to those who followed them on Twitter, but my wifi box was dead and I didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late. They posted the setlist that evening and now I recognize all of the songs except for the second, which I believe is still unreleased?
 
gulu gulu setlist
1. 変なメリーゴーランド
2. 汚れた豚
3. 左手はスナッフフィルム
4. 嗅覚障害
5. 不味い麻酔
 
The last band on for the evening was The Guzmania. I'll admit that I was pretty exhausted at this point and had pretty much no vested interest in them (plus my dead wifi box was beginning to make me a bit nervous so I started to shuffle around the venue to see if I couldn't find an outlet to charge it for a few minutes...). My wife was pretty insistent on staying, to my surprise, and said she'd feel bad leaving these "nice boys who were trying hard" to play to such a small crowd. I agreed and we watched the rest of their set from the side of the hall. They had very few fans in the audience so it did make me feel a bit bad, but they are a very new band (I believe had just played their first live a few weeks prior). Their sound wasn't terribly memorable in my opinion, kind of jumped back and forth from pop-rock tunes to a few slightly heavier numbers. Their bassist did almost all of the MC and the rest of the band felt a bit shy. They took a bit of a long MC pause after two or three songs and almost made it seem like they were done for the night before they played three or four more, which surprised me as it made their set pretty long in comparison to some of the other bands. (Or maybe it just felt that way because it was the end of a long live?)
 
After this we hit the road, hailed a cab back to Shinjuku to save some energy, ate some late night KFC, and passed out for the evening. 
 
Sorry for the super long post!! Like I said, it was kind of stream of consciousness and probably included a bunch of unnecessary details, but it was fun to "relive" the event in my head. I'm hoping I can swing more than two lives next time I make my way to Japan!
 
Thanks for reading!

Man, Shudder gave birth to VK for me... Before that, I was just a nasty, J-pop loving anime fan. It's not even an understatement that that song single-handedly changed the trajectory of my life hahaha.

hello there! my name is moth and i'm here! i dont have much to say but hello. i hope this site is active and can help me expand my taste and introduce me to new music! 
 
i became interested in visual kei/jrock in late 2017. honestly, visual kei fashion is just absolutely stunning. the colors, the makeup, the elaborate outfits, the piercings, all had me absolutely in love with this style. i decided i had to get into this in one way or another! my gate to entering this "world" was matenrou opera, still a big love of mine. getting into visual kei is actually also what got me into loving the metal genre. i've listened to quite a bit and tried lots of different stuff until i really found what i liked! i really like the look of bright/neon visual kei but the music isn't usually my style. i find that the vocalists never suit my taste for one reason or another. 
 
my taste right now is my big love for galneryus, matenrou opera, syu, and various songs from various bands including but not limited to the gazette, leetspeak monsters, x japan, malice mizer (tetsu era is AMAZING), hyde, versailles, etc., most of the stuff you probably usually see newbies into. 
 
this community seems intimidating because everyone here probably has a profound amount of knowledge that you can beat me with! but i hope that y'all are welcoming and i hope we can get along! the world of jrock/metal/etc is intimidating itself because of how large the scene is but i hope to jump in and find what i love!
(by the way! my very specific music taste is stuff that sounds incredibly chaotic and all over the place but is still very melodic and put-together. plus operatic vocals have my whole heart!)

Only the material from 2003 to early 2006 is real, the rest is just different shades of embarrassing imo.

The Ghost inside of Me x Crucifixion - Behind The Masquerade I
The Ghost inside of Me x Crucifixion - Behind The Masquerade II
The Ghost inside of Me x Crucifixion - 2MAN EVENT 「Behind The Masquerade」特典映像 DVD
 

 
glamscure x La'veil MizeriA - 禁断ノ果実
Some photosets and other stuff from the same event
glamscure T-shirt
 

 
ZEXER - Again
ZEXER - AIREAL DIVE
ZEXER - 蒼い翼

Coldrain came to my city before all of the mess the city got into. Show got postponed but I'm still glad they kept their promise to come!
 
 

Had the pleasure of seeing Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. live last night in Budapest, great show. Kawabata is still the grand fuzz-guitar wizard. The floor was shaking and my ears are still ringing, it was worth every second. Total beautiful cosmic trip. And tomorrow night they're unexpectedly playing in my hometown Szeged (in the tiniest of venues lol), so you bet I'm taking a day off to travel there and check it out. A dream come true. ♥

Went out to see the solo acoustic show of Michael Gira of the Swans fame. Going by the venue being a cafe doubling as a bookshop and the stage setup resembling more a book release event than a concert venue and having Gira with only his guitar in tow I expected it to be a quiet old man in a sweater type of an evening, and then all my expectations of the man showing restraint to tone down his thing flew right out the window once he actually started playing. It's absolutely incredible that he's able to create a wall of sound with his voice alone — like he managed to move like Swans and sound like Swans while sitting down in front of a seated audience. That's incredible. 
 
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,  but looks like there exists some from Greece just a about a week back.
 
 

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.

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.

「九相図」
¥3,000-（税抜）
KTMB-0003
発売元・販売元 YOKE AGAIN RECORDS
【収録曲】
1.浄相
2.喪の黒
3.白痴
4.視姦あるいは恋愛体質
5.停止臍帯
6.夕べは自殺を仄めかす
7.36.5℃の綾取り
8.鞦韆
9.Q

Love them or hate them, almost everyone's got an opinion about Dir en grey. The scene stops to listen whenever Dir en grey announce a new single or album. As a long time fan of the band, I think it's the perfect time to express how I feel about all of their albums. My feelings will differ from album to album. Some albums have had the benefit of twenty years and others only a few months, so that's always going to be a factor in how I rank things. I will cover this from my least favorite album to my most favorite album, but by no means take this as a definitive list for Dir en grey. Everyone will have their own rankings and their own suggestions for where to start. I happen to think that this also a great order to introduce someone to this band.
 
This is a perfect topic for those that don't listen to Dir en grey or don't know where to start, current fans looking for spicy opinions and a pot to stir, or even old fans looking for a reintroduction into their new era. Not only have I included a PV for each album as a sampler, but I also put together suggested playlists for each album. The playlists are the order that I would have arranged the band if I were them. The songs are the songs that I believe are the best from each period. Some will require more effort than others to construct. To make it simpler, I have included my favorite three tracks and one music video from each album.

I will not consider the mini albums MISSA and six Ugly in this analysis, but some of those tracks will appear in the playlists I create.
 
DUM SPIRO SPERO
 
Album No: 8
Released: August 2, 2011
Length: 67:31
 
 
鬼葬 (kisou)
 
Album No: 3
Released: January 30, 2002
Length: 69:57
 
THE MARROW OF A BONE

Album No: 6
Released: February 7, 2007
Length: 50:05
 
ARCHE
 
 
Album No: 9
Released: December 10, 2014
Length: 68:01
 
🎖️The Insulated World🎖️
 
Album No: 10
Released: September 26, 2018
Length: 50:27

🏅Withering to death.🏅
 
Album No: 5
Released: March 9, 2005
Length: 51:14

🥉MACABRE🥉
 
Album No: 2
Released: September 20, 2000
Length: 72:57

🥈GAUZE🥈
 
Album No: 1
Released: July 28, 1999
Length: 64:47
 
🥇UROBOROS🥇
 
Album No: 7
Released: November 11, 2008
Length: 58:54

👑VULGAR👑
 
Album No: 4
Released: September 10, 2003
Length: 57:02

That's everything folks! Thanks for reading all the way to the end! Did you like it? Did you agree? Do you have your own rankings? Leave them below! I'm interested to know what everyone's opinions are, especially since Dir en grey is one of my favorite bands ever. So many people are passionate about this band like no other. If enough people liked this, I may follow up soon with one for the GazettE.
 

Until next time

Damn, we never got a full album from them.

Crucifixion and The Ghost Inside of Me will release 2 new collaboration singles at their twoman live at PANHEAD GROOVE on 10/19 for 1000 yen each!
 
"Behind the Masquerade I"
1.Terpsichore〜The Ghost inside of Me ver.〜
2.Rumble Fish〜Crucifixion ver.〜
 
"Behind The Masquerade Ⅱ"
1.ハーメルン〜Crucifixion ver.〜
2.Crescent Moon〜The Ghost inside of Me ver.〜
 
What I would give to get this gem 🙏😭
 

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.