chemicalpictures

To be honest, I haven't been this interested in an ABC release since I don't know, Q.E.D

Acid Blood Cherry's song list and musicians 
 
http://ameblo.jp/abcdream-cup/entry-12278092186.html
 
01 THE RUINER
Lyrics - Composition - Arrangement ：RYO 
 
Guitar：YUKI (DUSTAR-3 / Rayflower)
Bass , Chorus & Programming：RYO (defspiral)
Drums：YOUTH-K!!!
Strings：Mekaru Strings
Strings arrange：Rose Takano / RYO (defspiral)
 
02 BAD BLOOD
Lyrics：JUN Composition Tenji nagano- Arrangement ：Tenji nagano
Guitar ：Urata Masakatsu 
Drums：KEN'ICHI (LOKA)
Loud Vocal , Bass & Programming：Tenji nagano (everset / Crack6 , etc.)
 
03 BEAST
Lyrics - Composition - Arrangement ：RYO  
Guitar：YUKI (DUSTAR-3 / Rayflower)
Bass & Programming：RYO (defspiral)
Drums：YOUTH-K!!! 
 
04 crimson
Lyrics ： Shin Murohime / 3＋3 mimie
Composition - Arrangement ：Shin Murohime
 Guitar & Programming：Shin Murohime
Bass：T$UYO$HI (The BONEZ / Pay money To my Pain)
Drums：ZAX (The BONEZ / Pay money To my Pain)
 
05 BLACK OUT
Lyrics ：MASA☆ Composition - Arrangement：HIRO
Guitar：HIRO (La’cryma Christi)
Bass：SHUSE (†яi¢к / La’cryma Christi)
Drums：Junji (SIAM SHADE / BULL ZEICHEN 88)
Keyboard：Rose Takano
 
06 Sweet dEvil
Lyrics ：KOTO Composition - Arrangement ：SHUSE
Rap：KOTO
Guitar：HIRO (La’cryma Christi)
Bass：SHUSE (†яi¢к / La’cryma Christi)
Drums：Junji(SIAM SHADE / BULL ZEICHEN 88)
 
07 Forbidden Bells
Lyrics - Composition - Arrangement ：Leda
Guitar, Bass & All Instruments：Leda
 
08 RIDE into the FATE
Lyrics ：Himura Tsuyoshi
Composition - Arrangement ：Tenji Nagano 
Guitar：Urata Masakatsu
Drums：KEN'ICHI (LOKA)
Loud Vocal , Bass & Programming：Tenji Nagano  (everset / Crack6 , etc.)
 
09 KEDAMONO
Lyrics ：AKIHIDE Composition - Arrangement：HIRO
Guitar：HIRO (La’cryma Christi)
Bass：SHUSE (†яi¢к / La’cryma Christi)
Drums：Juni (SIAM SHADE / BULL ZEICHEN 88)
Keyboards：Hal (ANCIENT MYTH)
 
10 Guilty Cry
lyrics ：JUN Composition - Arrangement：tatsuo
Chorus ：rei / 後藤裕美
Guitar & Programming：tatsuo
Bass：IKUO (BULL ZEICHEN 88 / Rayflower)
Drums：Aoyama Hideki 
Keyboards：Watanabe Sosuke

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

This will be a though one, as I'm not reeeally familiar with Malice Mizer themes and works, and my religion knowledge was left behind in my teenage days, but I'll try to chime in!

Most of this is from memory so take it with a grain of salt. There may be a few confusions on religion mythos as everything is pretty much the same with different interpretations, so be my guest and correct me if I'm wrong!
 
Nimrod was a powerful king/warrior in christian mythology (others too, but I can't say for them, as my background is christian) that is linked to Babel and the Tower of Babel, as @jaymeealready said. After the flood, all descendants of Noah spoke the same language. After the founding of the city, they created the tower as an attempt to reach heaven. God saw it as a transgression, so decided to confuse the people by changing the language they spoke, which created confusion and end up spreading people around the world. Nimrod is also said to have been an enemy/oppositor or having disagreements with Abraham, which is seen as one of the most faithful of god's servants. The Star of David is a symbol of Judaism, and basically represented the kingdom of David and jewish people. There's also an idea that the Star of David is used in occultists rituals, but I don't know to what extent
 
"Magical or Meriment. Comunion with Nimrod. / I offer a prayer to your disrobed body lying before me" -  This implies an occultist/satanic ritual is about to be performed, as commuting with Nimrod, a god defier is said. Also, fornication can be seen as a form of opposing god's laws and the sexual energy is really common and said to be powerful for some rituals.
 
"At the center of the Star of David, everything will join" - This can be seen as another defiance to a holy symbol, or maybe its use in occultists rituals as a symbol (think Fullmetal Alchemist)
 
"The agony and blood flowing from your freed body will turn to pleasure" - Again, the mixture of pain/pleasure and sacrificial rituals, often seen as an worship to evil (do not forget that on Nimrod/Abraham times, it was pretty common for god to ask for sacrifices, tho)
 
"The way your helpless form dances is beautiful like Semiramis" - As far as I remember, Semiramis was indeed one of Nimrod's wifes, and a condecorated warrior... But google checking, she is also credited for spreading several work of arts through old Mesopotamia. I think this is more accurate as a reference, makes sense to compare human beauty to art.
 
"Surrender yourself, rising to a climax / So that I may partake of the Holy Grail that is your mad, writhing body" - Self explanatory, I think. continues the relation of ritualistic sexual pleasure and blasphemy, as the comparison of a sacrificial female body to the Holy Grail.
 
Take @jaymee's notes of Moriah and Boaz into the mix and you get the full picture of the lyrics.
 
HOWEVER, when trying to make a connection with the PV, I think the lyrics lose most of it's intrincacies to a simple sexual pain/pleasure/desire, and Gackt sprinkled a few religion names and references just for shock value. It loses most of its symbolism to pure sexual fetishism and secret inner desires, as implied by the revelation of what each member desired when submited to that VR apparatus, which was studied by the "doctors". This is one of the reasons I don't like/think we should always use PVs as a tool to understand lyrical content.
 

I figured most people are familiar with this song, and it's a song I thought deserved a better translation than some I've seen, so I decided hey, why not?
 

 
*Disclaimer* Just to cover any bases, I'm putting this here because this song isn't really suitable for people who are underage, but then again the first one that@plastic_rainbowposted probably wasn't either.
 
Now that that's out of the way...
 
Japanese:
 
 
English:
 
 
PV:
 
 
Some things to possibly consider:
 
The ILLUMINATI believe that enlightenment, manifestation, or a God-like awareness can be achieved through orgasm.
  In the PV, the women in tanks and the members of the band are separated, but then seem to appear together in some simulated sexual fantasy. Is this some manifestation of each member's (or their character's) sexual desires where they are they are acting as members of the Illuminati, or is it some kind of sexual/mind experiment being performed by the Illuminati? You'll notice than in their alternate costumes for this concept, the band is dressed as doctors.


  At the end of the PV, all of the women die from violent causes. Is this carried out as they climax/orgasm, or has the enlightenment through orgasm theme been replaced with BDSM and violence instead? (Possibly for shock value?) Or are the women being sacrificed like Isaac? (Thanks@Peace Heavy mk II)
  Is this MALICE MIZER's retelling of biblical canon plus some kind of Illuminati sex ceremony, or what? Is there some way all of this imagery intersects with each other?  
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter!

That project is finally finished. It was hell putting it together in Unreal Engine 4 and it's not my best work at all, but I'm happy that I managed to complete it and the outcome isn't as bad as it could've been. I'll be working on it as a personal project now in my spare time. 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I see no problem in harshly criticizing a band for what you OBJECTIVELY think is bad. It is not simply petty hate to say 98% of vk vocalists sucks balls. it IS true. Most of them does not have much technical skills, went through vocal training or something like that. Should that stop you from liking any band whatsoever? absolutely not.  Should any negative opinion affect you in any way? probably not, unless something that is stated is actually true. But that would be good, right? that's what opinions are for, to allow to see things you may have missed.
 
There's also the side that music is as much as an art as it is a business. Some people spend money, they are entitled to say something sucks because they haven't got back the satisfaction they expected for their money. And it's simple as that, something disappoints you, bash away. It's just an opinion, shouldn't be that much of a big deal in the big picture.
 
Of course there's trolling just for the sake of trolling, but that happens in everything in life, and to be quite honest, to be personally affected by the way someone talks about a band you like sounds really immature/white people problem...
 
I think in the end people should chill out. If every Deviloof fan got angry everytime people here make fun of the band, the forum would be made only of complaining threads.

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Dunno about you guys, but every time I see people calling VK art I let go a tiny, but sincere chuckle

Lycaon should have disbanded when Mío and Eve left. 

That's true. 2017 vk has been pretty average, so far. The only release I believe is an actual stand out was ORCALADE's debut. Solid as fuck.
 
on unpopular opinions: DADAROMA gets more praise than they deserve. For each killer song, they have 5 or 6 that are forgettable at best. And its a shame, cuz I really liked Crazy Shampoo and NAINE...

Let's fly away to the stars is probably the corniest shit I've heard this year, lol
 
what the actual fuck, Mikaru

Oh boy, we are in for a ride!
 
To start, the title immediately got my attention. I think you are right on point when talking about Rousseau, and this brings me years back to my classes on the history of philosophy.
 
There's a philosophycal concept called 'State of Nature', coined by Thomas Hobbes, which in simplifying terms describes that humans living in a natural state, without being under a common acknowledged leader (governments or a king for example) will be in a state of constant every man for himself, and everyone against everyone. You can conclude that the raw state of a human being is someone egoistical, unpredictable, maybe violent and by all means, alone, distrustful.
 
Rousseau disputes that conclusion, and affirms that a Natural Human is neither a good or bad in modern society terms, he is simply a man of sensations, feelings and needs. In other words, that human is not intentional evil, he is simply unaware of such concepts. He will fill his basic desires (food, taking care of himself, reproducing). He is not hostile towards other human beings, he simply lacks the reason for society or rules.
 
If Chiaki is indeed talking about Jean Jacques Rousseau, we could assume that he does think Hobbes is correct, and Rousseau would be naive to think a human is not crude as described by Hobbes. I wanna hear more thoughts on this.
 
As such, I would interpret the PV as a person in its natural state described by Hobbes bounded by the rules of society, rebelling and discovering his raw state as a human:
 
- Using lipstick, which can be seen as an act of transgression/experimentation/reaching his true self and being chastised by his mother, the ruling figure;
- Killing butterflies, which may indicates his further urge as an evil, emotionless being, being again hold back by the figure of authority;
- Killing his partner, the ultimate transgression, and maybe eating his corpse, satisfying his most basic, raw needs as a human;
 
The scene of him puking after killing his partner and reminiscing his mother could indicate confusion between following his urges and the guilt of his despicable acts. And yet, he couln't help but trying to do it again. This sentiment is widely seen in movies or profiles of serial killers and psychopaths, which we could say are indeed "savage" human being, as their disdain for society rules.
 
Regarding the butterfly, I think @plastic_rainboware mostly right!
 
Some thoughts Genius-style:
 
"I want to destroy the murky future / I rub my hand over my aching stomach": I think there's a guilt theme to be explored here. the boy do what he does, he cannot help it, but he is filled with guilty. He wants it to stop, but he can't/won't do it alone. To end his life and erase his existence, commiting the same hideous acts as he did.
 
"I made a wish when I first met you / If possible, I want you to kill me gently / And save me from this world, without leaving any of my bones": The boy wants someone to kill him. He wants to find someone who is able to do it. If not, he will kill that someone and look for another person who is able to do it.
 
"Surely, you'll be boy A a few days later / Our "secret" with a best-before date": I believe this would mean that if the person does no kill him, the "deadline expires", the boy will kill person B and eat him, like he did with boy A.
 
"To destroy the murky future/ Sin will melt sin away": To avoid him keeping doing what he does, someone will kill him. His sins will be stopped by other people's sins;
 
"We, who loved solitude, are already inside a dream / "Into the mirror" / "Inside the mirror."": they, the psychopaths, do not see the world the same way as we do, they are already living in a different world, yet the same. like a mirror.
 
I think there's more to be said, but that gives a general idea. Or we could all be tripping balls, and Chiaki was just being gross for the shock value or something else. who knows...

That's true. 2017 vk has been pretty average, so far. The only release I believe is an actual stand out was ORCALADE's debut. Solid as fuck.
 
on unpopular opinions: DADAROMA gets more praise than they deserve. For each killer song, they have 5 or 6 that are forgettable at best. And its a shame, cuz I really liked Crazy Shampoo and NAINE...