CAT5

hate to buy into retsu's mid 20s crisis, but i like the song and the samples sound good to me lmao
still think they've messed up beyond repair image-wise, but i'm gonna be jamming to the album
 
also 'before it's too late' sounds like it'd fit right into gackt's discography tbh

i'd  much, MUCH rather take this noodly math rock stuff over deathcore any day of the week for sure, so from that POV i'm definitely not as disappointed with the samples as I could've been (plus I'm somewhat glad we didnt get any xXx_sadboigoth_xXx shit thrown at us, as unintentionally hilarious as that would've been).. At the same time, anyone who's ever listened to even a bit of non-vk j-indie probably knows this particular brand of pop math rock sound has already been done to death in that scene  to about the same extent the nu-VK scene's dredged the swamp of mediocre xxxcore-influenced sounds, so I can't really see this ending up being anything other than yet another album to add to the ''vaguely sounds like cinema staff/sokoninaru/the cabs/tricot'' pile based on the samples.

I'm FUCKING digging this. Excellent mix of poppy J-rock and today's metal progressive sounds, while at the same time keeps delivering Dimlim's trademark sound.
 
Bonus points for Sho's look! The VK vibe's still there untouched!

It might sound weird from a western perspective, but visual kei is like the straightest and most homophobic music scene in Japan. We tend to look at visual kei with western eyes and mix its cultural aspects with things that belong to the western culture. Fanservice and provocations used for shock value put aside, the androgynous aesthetics of visual kei band rarely expressed anything related to gender identity and especially sexual orientation. 
After all, it started with people like X Japan who admittedly were inspired by glam rock bands and way of life, which I would find hard to connect to sexual orientation. Visual kei early bandomen were mostly chinpiras, bosozokus (bikers) and the likes. They really incarnated the somewhat glamrock aesthetic of riding bikes getting drunk, banging girls, etc. Of course X had their own decadent/romantic taste that made them different, and a lot of influences changed the scene over time. However, visual kei is still remains 99% driven by social outcasts looking for pussy and very rarely by something else.
In Japan we also have onnagatas, who are kabuki actors specialized in female roles that are again 99% straight. Bandoman with feminine looks call themselves onnagata, not josou (crossdresser), implying that the cultural source behind their looks is not connected with crossdressing but just playing a female role in a band,  but again this something that might be hard to completely understand it taken outside of Japanese culture. For example Izam, the king of all onnagatas, married more than once and has more tha one child, and outside of his role in Shazna he rarely did anything ambiguous, just like the kabuki onnagatas out of stage. Both media and fans are everything but respectful of privacy, but I've rarely seen Japanese articles or message board questioning bandomen sexual orientation. That's because the number 1 reason people do visual kei is because the girls like it (well, liked it, I am not sure this is the trend with young girls anymore). 
Soft Ballet/Ken Morioka are closer to Soft Cell/Marc Almond so I would not even count them as visual kei even though they had some influence on it. And of course, there are exceptions as you mentioned. The chinpira bandomen of the 90's almost extincted and younger generations bandomans are usually anime/game otakus. They grew up with different influences and values, and it would make sense if the current incarnation of visual kei instinctively appealed to more people with sexual orientation/gender identity concerns, especially after Japan started talking about these issues in a less obsolete viewpoint.

Talking about another interest of mine, while looking up for old VK dedicated web sites, I've found a translation done for an interview with SOFT BALLET. Here's a quotation that put me into deep-thinking, in which Ken Morioka (their keyboardist/guitarist and, I suppose, their leader), when asked about his thoughts over his flamboyant looks and stage performances, talks about his interest in gender-trascending aesthetics in spite of him "not being gay". 
 
When I saw the stage I thought of how you were the weirdest one Ken. Is that because you were thinking of that visual aspect?
Ken: Ah, well...(laughs). A large part of that comes from where I'm a narcissist and I'm all like "Lookie, lookie! Look at Meee!". And then there's the part of me that really loves and adores appearing to move in a state that's transcended gender, so I suppose that's where I'm coming from....
 
Meaning?
Ken: It's that I've gotten a lot of influence from various people, but I've been like this from a long time ago. I really wanted to become a woman, and I never really thought to deny that feeling. It doesn't mean I'm gay though. There's a sense that I was building up and developing my own preferences.
 
(If you don't know who Ken Morioka or SOFT BALLET is, next I'll leave a video of them performing live:)
 
 
This quotation made me revive an old interest of mine on how gender or sexual orientation identities circulate particularly within the people of the VK scene. Till today, there's enough been written about that topic, but taking Japanese society as a whole or some of their products (as anime/manga) as the unit of analysis, but I've never came across something related to VK although I've defintely did a specific search. What always triggered me is that, if we keep in mind the obvious fact that VK aesthetics rely essentially over challenging gender/sexual orientation performances, then it can't not come weird or suspicious that 99% of band members since VK was born --that 1% goes for Kaya and Ao Sakurai-  don't actually talk about the matter, while at the same time they are always straight-supposed within the logic of selling out as idols for their gya. And the few times they do so they have the urgence of make clear that they are actually "not gay" -and then in the commentary section fans support this statements by remebering the doubting fans that said bandoman actually has a kid "so he is definitely not gay!!!". Actually, I've read very, very few comments of Japanese fans supposing/acknowledging the LGBTness of their favorite bandoman and nontheless supporting them as artists, but maybe that's because I have a hard time looking up into Japanese web sites and translating. (Also, perhaps many bandoman actually talked enough about the fact in a serious way, but I  still don't have the chance to read them since only 5% of the interviews made up being translated).
 
Of course, I've been aware since the beggining of my stay in the weeb fandom that Japan, while not having serious persecussion issues towards LGBT people -at least in their last 50 years of history-, definitely don't finish to get politically open about it, and that's why society decided to treat the matter in a don't-ask-don't-tell fashion. I'm also aware that this fact takes place in a more general tendency of Japanese people to obssesively keep their lives and relationships actually very private, too.  But I can't not ask myself if it isn't at least a bit fool of someone, fan or not, to assume that naturally that every bandoman is "not-gay", in a scene where artistic creativity emerges from fantasies of "men" transforming into "women", or even into un-gendered beautiful creatures, even involving into sex with/as them?  (On a personal note, although I don't actually know their reasons behind, I always liked @nekkichi and other users attempt here to call every bandoman by "her").
 
What are your thoughts on this topics?

How in the bloody hell does a black woman in the U.S. have the unmitigated gall to utter the words "smash the patriarchy", when so many of our children are without fathers / single-motherhood is so rampant? Not to mention, there are over 64k missing black women and girls in the U.S. right now, and sex trafficking is at an all time high. Who's around to protect our women? The state could care less.
 
Ya know, My dad passed away in early 2010. I was 23 at the time. I had a dream about him a few nights ago...He was in the back yard of what seemed to be one of our old houses, lying in the grass. The sun was just beginning to set, and with the light glimmering in the trees, it was a beautiful sight. I went and sat next to him as he lie there in the grass. We didn't say anything to each other....we just enjoyed the moment. It was very pleasant. There was no anxiety. No worries. It felt safe. It felt secure. There was just a very present joy there.
 
That's what the presence of a strong, loving father feels like.
 
And it's so sad that many children don't get to experience this because so many people have bought into the toxic lies of feminism that patriarchy is inherently abusive and men are expendable...so many have drunken the wine of this destructive culture that we're immersed in. I just pray we get to a point where men and women can properly respect one another and cultivate healthy, regenerative relationships....because all of this division is hurting EVERYONE, especially the children. Cuz then they gotta inherit all of our unprocessed trauma, poor decisions, and other bullshit.
 
blah, this probably isn't coherent, but this is random thoughts.

How in the bloody hell does a black woman in the U.S. have the unmitigated gall to utter the words "smash the patriarchy", when so many of our children are without fathers / single-motherhood is so rampant? Not to mention, there are over 64k missing black women and girls in the U.S. right now, and sex trafficking is at an all time high. Who's around to protect our women? The state could care less.
 
Ya know, My dad passed away in early 2010. I was 23 at the time. I had a dream about him a few nights ago...He was in the back yard of what seemed to be one of our old houses, lying in the grass. The sun was just beginning to set, and with the light glimmering in the trees, it was a beautiful sight. I went and sat next to him as he lie there in the grass. We didn't say anything to each other....we just enjoyed the moment. It was very pleasant. There was no anxiety. No worries. It felt safe. It felt secure. There was just a very present joy there.
 
That's what the presence of a strong, loving father feels like.
 
And it's so sad that many children don't get to experience this because so many people have bought into the toxic lies of feminism that patriarchy is inherently abusive and men are expendable...so many have drunken the wine of this destructive culture that we're immersed in. I just pray we get to a point where men and women can properly respect one another and cultivate healthy, regenerative relationships....because all of this division is hurting EVERYONE, especially the children. Cuz then they gotta inherit all of our unprocessed trauma, poor decisions, and other bullshit.
 
blah, this probably isn't coherent, but this is random thoughts.

How in the bloody hell does a black woman in the U.S. have the unmitigated gall to utter the words "smash the patriarchy", when so many of our children are without fathers / single-motherhood is so rampant? Not to mention, there are over 64k missing black women and girls in the U.S. right now, and sex trafficking is at an all time high. Who's around to protect our women? The state could care less.
 
Ya know, My dad passed away in early 2010. I was 23 at the time. I had a dream about him a few nights ago...He was in the back yard of what seemed to be one of our old houses, lying in the grass. The sun was just beginning to set, and with the light glimmering in the trees, it was a beautiful sight. I went and sat next to him as he lie there in the grass. We didn't say anything to each other....we just enjoyed the moment. It was very pleasant. There was no anxiety. No worries. It felt safe. It felt secure. There was just a very present joy there.
 
That's what the presence of a strong, loving father feels like.
 
And it's so sad that many children don't get to experience this because so many people have bought into the toxic lies of feminism that patriarchy is inherently abusive and men are expendable...so many have drunken the wine of this destructive culture that we're immersed in. I just pray we get to a point where men and women can properly respect one another and cultivate healthy, regenerative relationships....because all of this division is hurting EVERYONE, especially the children. Cuz then they gotta inherit all of our unprocessed trauma, poor decisions, and other bullshit.
 
blah, this probably isn't coherent, but this is random thoughts.

???????????????

How in the bloody hell does a black woman in the U.S. have the unmitigated gall to utter the words "smash the patriarchy", when so many of our children are without fathers / single-motherhood is so rampant? Not to mention, there are over 64k missing black women and girls in the U.S. right now, and sex trafficking is at an all time high. Who's around to protect our women? The state could care less.
 
Ya know, My dad passed away in early 2010. I was 23 at the time. I had a dream about him a few nights ago...He was in the back yard of what seemed to be one of our old houses, lying in the grass. The sun was just beginning to set, and with the light glimmering in the trees, it was a beautiful sight. I went and sat next to him as he lie there in the grass. We didn't say anything to each other....we just enjoyed the moment. It was very pleasant. There was no anxiety. No worries. It felt safe. It felt secure. There was just a very present joy there.
 
That's what the presence of a strong, loving father feels like.
 
And it's so sad that many children don't get to experience this because so many people have bought into the toxic lies of feminism that patriarchy is inherently abusive and men are expendable...so many have drunken the wine of this destructive culture that we're immersed in. I just pray we get to a point where men and women can properly respect one another and cultivate healthy, regenerative relationships....because all of this division is hurting EVERYONE, especially the children. Cuz then they gotta inherit all of our unprocessed trauma, poor decisions, and other bullshit.
 
blah, this probably isn't coherent, but this is random thoughts.

Samples are out~
 
 
edit: Not many of these sound particularly interesting, but Shiina's and DIR EN GREY's covers seem pretty cool. Shiina even managed to re-write some of the lyrics into English it seems. 88kasyo is also okay, rest are skippable.

fwiw though i'm at least 99% certain the extremely shit audio quality can be blamed on twitter because literally every single audio preview i've ever heard off the twittersphere sounded like it was recorded through a series of interconnected tin cans

yeah we got dat new DIMLIM album for ya. It's just one long, live track with ads interspersed.

kyo is angry because he's a tiny hobogoblin

眩暈SIREN (Memai SIREN) new maxi-single "image _____" has been released at 2020/01/22
it's the ending theme of TV anime show "pet"
TK from 凛として時雨 (Ling Tosite Sigure) is the producer
 
[tracklist]
1.image _____ (TVアニメ「pet」エンディングテーマ）
2.Gerbera
3.image _____(TV SIZE LONG VER.)
 
 

Dir en Grey have always been a point of contention for me. As a visual newbie, I was intimidated by their extreme aesthetics and sound, and it took me a while to come around to liking their early works since it’s basically an amalgamation of everything I already liked. This sort of distrust of their music has caused me to not really delve too much into their middle works. Sure, I’ve heard some of Arche, I sat through whatever their album from last year was called, and I dug Sukekiyo, but for whatever reason anything earlier than Marrow of a Bone hasn’t existed on digital platforms. Yesterday, this changed — three of their early ~ middle career releases were added to Spotify and now I have no excuses for ignoring them. As such, I was challenged to do a blind listening review by some veteran fans—partly for their amusement, partly because my musical opinions are highly sought after (citation needed). Here is my first listen review of the classic album Vulgar.
 
Let’s start with the album art. What am I looking at? Is it a bird? Are these disembodied arms in opera length gloves? Overcooked pork tenderloin? I’m really not sure. Sometimes art is like that — it makes you unsure, and that uncertainty makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes that discomfort makes you think, but then other times it makes you reject something and move on. I don’t want to give the band credit for being provocative. I’ve read a lot of Tumblr and have the arcane knowledge to confidently state that this artwork is actually from Disney’s Maleficent — it’s her horns after they got lopped off.
 
Audience KILLER LOOP: never a fan of when titles suddenly yell at me. It really makes me on edge, kind of like this song does. I’m really going into this blind and any departure from Gauze is going to be a real change for me. I guess this is alright, but maybe this style just needs to grow on me more. Let’s see how I hold up going further in…
 
 
THE IIID EMPIRE: not sure why they decided to make a Star Wars reference here, but to each their own. I suppose this is the hard-hitting style that people have grown to love from this band. The guitar riff slightly after the middle of the song is super cool — in spite of all of the shit I give this band, sometimes they really do have neat ideas.
 
INCREASE BLUE: Again with the yelling of the song titles. Reminds me of the graphic design class I needed to take, with my teacher looming over me. My composition was too warmly colored, so she yelled to me from across the classroom “increase blue.” I took her advice and then she docked me points for it anyway. “Too much blue.” Fuck me.
 
 
Shokubeni: Apparently this means “red food coloring.” I bet the lyrics have something to do with bloody food or chopping up someone’s girlfriend. This band seems big on that and it’s kind of off-putting. I’d give some deep analysis on the meaning, but I can’t speak Japanese well.
 
Sajou no Uta: Kinda boring. This isn’t really my thing.
 
RED…[em]: a bit too rough for my liking. I get that this is when their hurgleblurgle kind of approach to art really started, but doesn’t mean I need to be fully here for it. A part of this almost saved me from disliking it, but it wasn’t enough.
 
 
Sfisdfeijaoifjsoefijse: too long for what it was, skipped
 
MARMALADE CHAINSAW: sticky sweet and incredibly wasteful. Started a trend of bands naming things with “chainsaw” in their names, which makes me wonder if the Japanese really know what a chainsaw is? Surely you don’t need one for spreading jam but I’m not Julia Child.
 
Kasumi: Fun fact—this was the name of “Misty” in the Japanese version of Pokemon. Further fun fact, there is a Pokemon card called “Misty’s Determination,” which I assume is written like “Kasumi no Jiketsu.” “”Jiketsu” means “self-determination” but is also a euphemism for “suicide,” so whenever I see that card I read it as “Misty’s Suicide” in my head. Seems like a tangent, but this is honestly a very Dir en Grey kind of story.
 
R THE CORE: filler intro 
 
DRAIN AWAY: I actually kind of like this. The guitar atmosphere is really enticing and they’ve definitely upped their skill since Macabre (the last album I blind listened to). I know I’m very firmly into the “Gauze and then the band died” camp, but I am glad I am getting something positive out of this album.
 
NEW AGE CULTURE: Wow. Woooooow. Y’all went OFF on Kisaki for “stealing Kyo’s girlfriend” or whatever and then they go and literally steal the title from a famous Matina omnibus series? I cannot believe the low-life attempt at being petty, but here we are. Unfathomable. 
 
OBSCURE: huh…pretty sure Grieva used this. I mean, I knew they seemed like they were fans of Dir En Grey, but I didn’t think they’d flat-out STEAL from them. Well, song is kind of bouncy and hypnotic, so I can see why they’d want to base on of their own songs on it. Still kind of shocked that this is borderline plagiarism.
 
CHILD PREY: One of the best songs on this album. Love the meaning behind it and how the lyrics fit together from the parts I could understand. I don’t mean to gush, but this definitely has that “it” factor that draws people into this band. Amazing. Pray / Prey for your butter
 
Amber: This band likes to have female names as titles. Amber, Kasumi, Audrey, Yurikago….it makes me wonder what their take on feminism is. They’ve already displayed a rather ham-fisted pro-life stance a few albums ago, but maybe their time within the inner machinations of the visual scene caused them to change their stance, especially having interacted with so many female fans and the changes fame brought to them. I wonder if this song’s direct is a reflection of that as well — it’s hard to get into an artist’s head and really understand how they see the world.
 
 
Overall: 5.5 / 10 for me
 
I know this is a classic album, but that’s how I felt on my first attempt at going through this. I still need to listen to Kisou, so I am open to doing a blind listen review for that as well. If you’d like to try out this album for yourself, or provide your own take on the music, feel free to check it out on Spotify. Sometimes I need to listen to things multiple times to form a true opinion. Funny enough, I still need to actually listen to this album for the first time, as I wrote this review solely based on the song titles and album art.

yeah we got dat new DIMLIM album for ya. It's just one long, live track with ads interspersed.

yeah we got dat new DIMLIM album for ya. It's just one long, live track with ads interspersed.

Psysalia psysalis psyche

Here comes part 1



The Candy Spooky Theater



Noir Fleurir



SUICIDE ALI



RENTRER EN SOI



Madeth gray'll



gemmik



DANGER☆GANG

 

Malice Mizer



Byakura

I'm not sure if this was a promo shot or just a release cover, but I liked this one of The Birthday from around the release of "Piano" a lot.
 

 
I like the one from around the release of "The Answer" and the matching album cover as well:
 

 

Part 2

   

The GazettE (i just love their looks during Disorder era so much xD)

  

La'Mule

 

Gallhammer

 


Eliphas Levi

 

Lamiel

 

deadman



Merry Go Round

  

PENICILLIN

 




Early exist†trace looks always ftw ❤️