Velovelo

Justified necrobump: It's not looking well for the band, considering Yohio's success in Sweden and Japan, no? So, considering the current state, do you expect the band to continue? I certainly do not. I'm pretty sure they are gonna announce their disbandment soon. I know this doesn't interest anybody here, but they probably will! Or, let's say, most likely. Y'know.

Wow, thanks! <3

@gekijou You kind of remind me of one of my friends, and she's damn cool, so I associate the exactly same coolness with your pictures! Me likies To not make this off-topic, a picture from last summer:

It was a good mini, they kind of deserve this spot. Going into a nice direction again!

Oooops, sorry, I am an idiot. It was on Kisou, ofc. d'uh.

I didn't dislike Kamijo, but somehow I am glad he is gone. And yay for Masashi, he's a good bassist. But I really don't like the generic drum like in the sample. It's clear that these guys are opting for this tacky speed metal sound, but please, doing kick drum blast beats all way through? They will be cheesy enough, and I don't want a band like Rhapsody of Fire anymore, as they are cheesy enough. Sorry, I gotta paste this cheesy piece. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxGu5HjarmU Epic Gouda! Cheesy cheesy cheesy cheesy, I like that word, cheesy, cheesy, cheesy maasdamer.

Hey, you're also in Visual Unite! I like your stuff, it sounds good. Especially instrumentally. Your vocalist can sing very well, too - impressive range. You DO need to get rid of the string synthesizers though, and I'll give you a good tip to find something A LOT BETTER for your recordings. It's a VSTi called "Hollywood Strings" by EastWest/Quantum Leap. It'll really improve the songs where you use synth strings, once you know how to properly use it. Here is a string demo: Other than that, you guys always ahd a cool direction, so I approve. And I am looking forward to your future efforts!

One part: A different one (Halloween, weak attempt): And now for something different:

This is like the one time that some guy said that he planted a dihydrogen monoxide bomb somewhere, and the police actually took this warning seriously in a massive way (as in: send out as many policemen as you can), before a chemist told them that they are fucking idiots. This is getting old though, they need new dangerous sounding substances to make April Fool's worthwhile.

I agree, Kamijo can sing somehow, but he kind of does it in a "my peristaltic system is terribly blocked off for proper defecation for whatever reason, and I really feel too uncomfortable to take a dump right now" kind of way. He sounded better in Lareine, but he will always sound congested when raising his voice. He's not bad, but he needs proper vocal lessons.

Gotta be honest, I really really really disliked MOO. I hated MOAB - and UROBOROS also just had a few good moments for me. By the way, I was drunk while writing this, so excuse me But to me, THE UNRAVELING is the most digestable, rounded, well-composed release since Withering to Death. I am glad that they are going into a more melodic direction right now. But that might be because most of the original songs had plentiful melodies to tinker with. UNRAVELING: It sounds okay. Very similar to their MOAB/WTD stuff with some oriental melodies, if I may add. Good, but not very memorable. This song is missing something outstanding - it's good enough, but could've easily been B-Side material. BUT I appreciate the fact that Kyo stopped growling his intestines out as much. I love melodies. Sadly though, this is not very spectacular. KARMA: Dunno, but I THINK I've heard the original. And if I remember it correctly, it sounded like shit. This is pretty decent. But if you have a mediocre to okay song as a basis, not much is gonna change, is it? Still, it is listenable enough. Kasumi, that's pretty close to the original. It was always a neat song, and they did it just right. I don't know why they remade this, but hey, it sounds adequate. As in, they captured the essence, but made almost the same thing with it. Because I liked the song back then , this is probably a good choice. Bottom of the death valley: No idea why they remade this. It was one of the better songs off of MOAB. Still, this sounds alright, albeit a little robbed of its old feeling. I don't mind it, as I didn't like the original too much, anyway. THE FINAL, I liked that remake. Instrumentally, I liked it better than the original.. It was good. What ruined it for me were the flat and rather dull vocals during the chorus. Kyo doesn't show much of determination or passion to sing this, sadly. Other than that, it's definitely not bad. Good effort. MACABRE: Finally getting to the really spicy piece! What can I say? Partially it reminded me of Porcupine Tree, except with that DIR EN GREY-ish guitar sound and the occasionally whimsical vocals. It's really refreshing to hear such a melodically proggy track from them. Easily the best track on the album. Without a doubt. It's definitely not perfect, but it's good enough to warrant a good listen, even several times. Some parts are outstanding enough to be put on repeat. To be short: I hated MOO and most of MOAB with a passion. Uroboros had some alright tracks, but it feels like these guys are, at least in my opinion, FINALLY going into a good, more melodic direction again - dropping most of the death metal/sludge sounds in favour of music with more substance. I can only applaud that effort and recommend a listen to everyone who disliked most of their new stuff, plus the fans of the MOO and Uroboros, as this sounds like a good compromise, somehow. Dir en grey JUST need to infuse these interesting melodic adventures into their future songs, and they'll hit a nerver for everyone!

A twinkling pebble on the planet of Ripmyass in the star sign of Underage-Ursa

Wow, he's totally getting thrashed here. But I expected that to happen all too well. @ sebbivism: WHERE IS YOUR REVIEW. I don't really want to do a track-by-track review. But I think it's not as bad as many people make it out to be. Mostly, it's a quite unimaginative album, led by some misplaced guitar solos, too many instrumental songs and a lot of generic copypaste ideas, as well as decidedly average lyrics. This guy's actually pretty good vocally, and he can play the guitar remarkably well for his age. Thing is, songwriting is a whole 'nother deal. A lot of rehashed VK ideas, a lot of "you can do this!!!11oneone" and "I love you, even if there's mustard between my thighs" lyrics. The whole album sounds like it is assembled by disjointed, half-cooked ideas. Just like Seremedy's album, except that was definitely worse, being extremely over-produced and devoid of artistic direction. I'm actually surprised at some people who really hate this album, but like other similarly weak efforts, because this is not THAT bad. I think, for his first LP, it's mediocre enough to pass for a "okay, so, this is meh, but I somehow imagine that you can do better in the future, so start being a bit original at least" kind of comment... There's one thing I wanted to say though. And I don't really care if anybody agrees, but this guy doesn't even know what his genre or direction is, yet. He's 17, and he's pretty much been thrown into this whole thing by his father, and he never really had the time to nurture his ideas. I am actually not surprised that this album seems to be hastily assembled, but seriously? 0 to 1 stars? This is just an album that should've needed a few more months of proper re-evaluation and composing to add interesting structures and flavours to the songs, but that would also apply to anything Gazette has released since DIM, IMHO. I can see where you guys are coming from, and I do know that this isn't a release worth of much recognition. But seriously, I think that many people's hate for this surpasses the fangirls on the opposite end of appreciation. The only thing this guy really needs is time to grow and a huge touch of originality, and he might be able to put something decent, if not wholly worthwhile to listen to. He just needs to move out of this dreaded VK thing, because that has sucked enough for two future centuries. Not giving a star rating, because I think the text has said enough. TL;DR: Read all of it

Sorry for the necrobump. Didn't want to do a new thread, though. Because they announced new releases, I wanted to know how they sound now... So, to ask you a question, did anybody of you let a few years with new music pass you by enough to disdain their newest efforts? Out of curiosity, I heard the last song they published after their reunion (being "Amazing Blue"), and I am still amazed at how inept Miku is at singing. I know they want to keep up that sugar-coated cutesy image, but at least two of them are in their thirties, if not three. It's getting really ridiculous. I never heard anything of LC5 (and after Amazing Blue I refuse to do so) - so how the hell do they want to keep this up? I couldn't take Miku seriously ever, but his nonexistant progression nailed this down for me. I truly respect everyone who genuinely likes them, but it seems like he doesn't have a single glint inside of him telling him to be a better vocalist. Sorry, I think he still sounds downright horrible, and he hasn't made any progress since at least 2005. Which is 8 years full of opportunities to do so. I don't even know why I liked some of their old songs. Must've been some kind of youthful naivete on my behalf, as I can't even bear to listen to that anymore. What I wanted to ask: Is there still someone like me who kind of liked them when they started, but lost interest after a few years? And then came back to learn that everything you listened to a few years back was cow dung, basically? I can't be the only one. Of course, people who disagree, don't be discouraged to tell me. I'm interested in everyone's opinions, as this is something I just wanted to get off of my chest right now. And if I've hurt your feelings right now... Sorry to disagree with you. <3

They really sound like they are trying to be like MOO Dir en grey. It's not terribad, but holy hell, they'd almost sound exactly like that if their mixing/mastering was better than it is. Please be more original, guys.

Awww shit, I wish I could attend one of their shows, but I'm severely limited when it comes to traveling the country. No gig in Berlin... Meh.

They should stop being in such a rush. No wonder their current material has been "meh" to me. The only recent release I've really liked was their DECADE live DVD, which showed that they are still a great live act. But other than that, not very excited here.

If their current looks are any indication (and I am reminded of Radwimps and Plastic Tree there), I'm pretty sure they will stay on that casual J-Rock line. They kind of do sound mainstream already (the other samples moreso than "ie"), so the "worst" thing that could probably happen is a J-Pop ballad single.

I liked Aicle for what it was (mainly the instrumentals), but I gotta say, I kind of dig this one, too. Especially because Emiru/Satoshi finally starts dropping his awkward vibrato antics and sounds a bit less nasal than usual. I think he's on the right path. Just hope Rubi's going to start some crazy-ass band with a different vocalist this time around.

I used to loathe them, but fat inside horror and sweeToxic are finally some decent releases. We'll see if this was just a short detour from their usual crappy kawaii-ness.

It's funny how Rammstein know that Pussy is downright horrible, so they intentionally put it onto the album for the lolz. Kudos to them! It's nice to know that they don't really take themselves seriously.

http://twitter.com/#!/VELO_Rubedo Yup yup.

I'm bored, so I guess there's no harm in showing myself.

This is genuinely awesome.

Yes, Italy has a ton of good artists... But DNR is INCREDIBLY cheesy. They're talented instrumentally, but the composition, lyrics and vocal lines are so damn sleazy and cheesy, it's quite pretentious. And for an "euro visual" band they're all incredibly tacky and awful looking, 'cept the keyboarder. I mean, looks don't matter but when you label yourself as visual you gotta be able to pull it off, I think...