RoaringintheDark

It seems like I didn't even listen to any new Japanese music besides: THE UNRAVELING - DIR EN GREY; this EP is phenomenal just for "Unraveling" and the remake of かすみ. i'mperfect - Ling tosite sigure – They're one of my favorite bands and never fail to deliver brilliant, quality music (pretty much indie rock with post-hardcore undertones and dual lead female/male vocalists). Make sure you listen to this album. Butterfly Case - Cuushe; she sings and makes lovely, dreamy ambient pop music. Fetch - Melt-Banana – I'm very glad to see this album already mentioned in this thread...quality, mature noise-punk. I also saw toe and Melt-Banana live last year; those were both some of my favorite shows ever. I don't have a #1 favorite album of 2013, but... Reasons to Live - Hilly Eye; I honestly feel like this was the most underrated album of the year. It's some of the best indie rock I've heard in a long time. It was one of my most anticipated albums and it delivered way beyond my expectations... I guess it's indie with dream pop undertones and some experimental/math rock and noise rock influences. They bring Marnie Stern and Asobi Seksu (but a bit less dreamy and more indie) to mind. They're also very good live; I've seen them four times and really want to see them again but they've been so quiet...I hope they're not on hiatus. I highly suggest giving this one a listen by any means...if anything, the vocals might be an acquired taste. Listen to one of the tracks here. Anyway, the rest of them are: ∆AIMON - ∆AIMON (dark, moody electronic music influenced by Witch House but more industrial/darkwave sounding) [Bandcamp] Dei Dain - Aliceffekt (very experimental/IDM electronic stuff with chiptune and I guess industrial styles mixed in? it's truly innovative and the production is flawless) [Bandcamp] Sempiternal - Bring Me the Horizon Recursions - Cryptodira (this is a progressive death metal band from nearby) [Bandcamp] Acceptance Speech - Dance Gavin Dance Government Plates - Death Grips Black Earth Child - Disfiguring the Goddess Evolution of Violence - Eat a Helicopter (these guys are keeping deathcore fresh) [Bandcamp] Rudiments of Mutilation - Full of Hell (powerviolence/hardcore punk; this is some scary stuff) [Bandcamp] The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 2) - Jolly (progressive/art rock from my city) [very cool music video] Helium Head - Mutoid Man (stoner rock/post-hardcore/mathcore formed by Stephen Brodsky of Cave In and Ben Koller of Converge and All Pigs Must Die) [stream] Pelagial - The Ocean Renacer - Senses Fail Altered State - TesseracT Live in Reykjavík, Iceland - This Will Destroy You (beautiful live album) Tidal Arms - Tidal Arms (another band from my city making some of the most creative rock music today) [Bandcamp] Yeezus - Kanye West

Man, I used to love Slipknot...and, well, DIR EN GREY is my favorite band ("R TO THE CORE" is from one of my least favorite albums of theirs though) and capsule is awesome! I've never listened to the rest of the bands before. 1. "Breath Cannon Escape Wall" by Wonderland Falling Yesterday 2. "Duality" by Slipknot 3. "Collection of Butchery" by Putrid Pile 4. "Masochist" by Ingrid Michaelson 5. "I Am the Message" by Fightstar 6. "Freezing Moon" by Mayhem 7. "Disconnection (Disconnected)" by Stalker 8. ♂パパママ♀ ～望まれヌBaby～ by 雅-miyavi- 9. "We Can Breathe in Space" by Enter Shikari 10. "God Be With Ye" by Cloudkicker I enjoy how Slipknot came up in my shuffle as well. It was between ♂パパママ♀ ～望まれヌBaby～ and "Masochist." That just happens to be one of my favorite songs by her and ♂パパママ♀ ～望まれヌBaby～ isn't really one of my favorites of his. That Mayhem track is a classic.

I am very happy to own: - GAUZE by Dir en grey, limited edition first press, found it on eBay but it's authentic...used, but authentic and in very decent condition <3 <3 <3] - CALLING and TANATOS by 9GOATS BLACK OUT, ltd. edition, I enjoyed ordering directly from them on their webstore...loved everything about that band and these CDs are housed in beautiful digipaks - DIM by the GazettE, limited edition, HOLOGRAPHIC SLIPCASE are you kidding me?? huge photobook with very nice photography...amazing packaging - To the Loveless by Boom Boom Satellites, ltd. edition digibook, one of my favorite albums ever - Zekkeishoku by Alice Nine, limited edition, again found on eBay but authentic and perfect condition, another one of my favorites...one of the first Japanese rock albums I'd heard - Alpha by Alice Nine, limited edition, this one I pre-ordered from CDJapan and while Zekkeishoku is a better album, the packaging of this CD is awesome...the booklet is huge and made of some kind of special, thick material and the slipcase is transparent...it's just so pretty (not as pretty as DIM though!) - in the direction of sunrise and night light by deadman, ltd. edition 2nd press, I was so happy to hear that they were repressing their great albums...bought a copy of this one immediately. I'm not too excited about most of my owned CDs from my neck of the woods. I do own most of the rest of my all-time favorite CDs, but bands from here don't put so much effort into the packaging of their CDs...definitely nowhere near as much as Japanese bands do.