cidetodeath

Link back to review of older TBS songs for some context
2016 is here and I am not as patient anymore so this will be shorter and more casual. I also humbly apologize for not knowing enough things TBS might have ripped off as well. For all I know everything could be on Gazettes last album. Anyway

TBS have finally released something substantial and disbandment doesn't seem imminent! Even though this is about 50% already released material. Let's go

OUSIA
I get the impression that the only thing Jin -really- wants to be doing are those >10 minutes long ""prog"" clusterfucks. Obviously I'm thinking about Japanese title/odd symbol song from Vanitas. This time around things are more refined and not as dull. Basically this song has it all:

☑ KISAKI-worthy SE like you're being in a majestic forest or sth
☑ Yu (Nega) plays! (iirc) so if you liked cringey Nega piano you are allowed to cry now
☑ like four consecutive guitar solos. they are cheesy but its ok! really!!!!
☑ everything goes really fast sometimes
☑ acceptable chorus
☑ ~soothing~ acoustic guitar
☑ loads of bass
☑ "We are Dir en grey and we are playing MACABRE" type of Creepy build-up part
☑ tricky drumming
☑ guys its ELEVEN minutes
☑ fuuuuuuuuuuck
All in all I love it since things being -this- over the top is exactly what I want from TBS and I got it
 
 
THE WORLD IS MY ROOM
Not very bad
 
☑ they have maybe listened to someone who heard a meshuggah song once
 
 
FINIS
I didn't care about this when i listened through it on that single either
 
☑ is it a ballad or a heavy song idk
 
 
JAPANESE TITLE
idk did they change something? Again, this has redeeming qualities but feels empty
 
 
TRIPPER
the bass is a bit louder and the guitar is slightly different maybe the original was better but song still good.  I'm still in love with the dubstep-sounding breakdown
 
 
RUVISH
What the fuck is up with that rape-themed?? PV???? Drag is really gorgeous though. Song is fast and when it's not fast it reminds me of later instances of spooky Nega like that Baku song from Grave of the Sacrifice
 
☑ 22spooky orchestration
☑ if you liked jin whispers in nega your'e in for a ride
☑ delicious mess
 
 
DEJECTED RAIN
a bit lower tempo and bluesy its cool that they are doing this. souunds a bit like dir en grey but then again what doesn't, you know
 
☑ that fucking guitar whine thing
 
 
JUSTITIA
It's kinda cool. The chorus kills it a little bit for me but there are cool things to weigh that up.
 
☑ that fucking guitar whine thing
 
 
BLIND DAYS
 
Fuck this seriously. If you're going to do vk faux jazz (as I predicted(!!!) in the old post. VK awareness level: Nostradamus) at least do it properly. this is like that Goodbye human song from Vanitas and that was bad also
 
 
THE HOPELESS
☑ idk its still good
 
 
Verdict:
Faster, more polished, more sophisticated. not as amazing-funny-bad as Vanitas but it certainly works. Most of the time the choruses are actually not bad! Good variation. Basically TBS are Nega, but they know what they're doing and they do it much better. For the next release I want more self-distance like the shit noodle song. But this is still pretty crazy and fun  to listen to.

I splurge impulse bought this single on iTunes and am glad I did. This was a nice extensions I wish they had placed Goddess on Dogma because it would've been a great breather. More words probably later after some further rotations.
 
Lol even though Ugly sounds like the Maximum the Hormone song "What's up people" in the intro. I'm glad they went somewhere more melodic with the song. It's a lot of high energy in this single, which is great.

I splurge impulse bought this single on iTunes and am glad I did. This was a nice extensions I wish they had placed Goddess on Dogma because it would've been a great breather. More words probably later after some further rotations.
 
Lol even though Ugly sounds like the Maximum the Hormone song "What's up people" in the intro. I'm glad they went somewhere more melodic with the song. It's a lot of high energy in this single, which is great.

I voted for MEJIBRAY just because I expected them to win and now they're not winning and I don't know what life is anymore

This isn't even a competition lmao, 88kasyo blows Mejibray straight out of the water when it comes to overall skill and ESPECIALLY consistency. They've been delivering damn solid albums on a yearly basis, while Mejibray has just been getting worse and worse (and they weren't even all that great to start with...)

I want to write something more eloquent, but all that I can muster is finally an actually good album since DIM.
I about gave up hope of this band making something that sticks out and isn't just songs to fit an arbitrary album quota.
 
At least now after a few listens in, I'm impressed that they did something was a step forward and not randomly smashy trendy stuff in because it's the new sound. In a way it's like the good aspects of their albums post-dim merge together with focus to it.

This sounds like Truth-era Sugizo and I'm ok with that. It's surprising to hear something bright and light from a DEG member in contrast to the dense and dim usual stuff. It's a nice start point and a refresher from the almost anti-commercial path DEG was on until recently.

This sounds like Truth-era Sugizo and I'm ok with that. It's surprising to hear something bright and light from a DEG member in contrast to the dense and dim usual stuff. It's a nice start point and a refresher from the almost anti-commercial path DEG was on until recently.

This sounds like Truth-era Sugizo and I'm ok with that. It's surprising to hear something bright and light from a DEG member in contrast to the dense and dim usual stuff. It's a nice start point and a refresher from the almost anti-commercial path DEG was on until recently.

Artist: Foxpill Cult Album: 邪宗門 (Jashumon) Score: When the voices in your head provide backing vocals
Better late than never! Back in January, Foxpill Cult released their latest album 邪宗門 (Jashumon – Heretic Religion, a term used to describe non-Shinto religions). Like their previous efforts, this album reaches deep into Foxpill’s bag of tricks and manages to come up with an album that is deeply varied, yet cohesive. While the variety is there, a more critical examination from someone familiar with their previous releases might yield that they are still relying on the same kinds of tricks, but the overall presentation has enough innovation and charisma to make that observation seem nitpicky. What works really well for 邪宗門 is the recurring theme of multiple presences—be it in a schizophrenic kind of way, or in a supernatural sense. Throughout the album there are interludes and outros of static noise and a very distorted girl’s laughter. In addition, many songs feature multiple layers of vocal harmonies from what sounds like people who are not the actual vocalist. Could I be reading into this too deeply? Possibly. But if this ~sing along with the voices in your head~ motif is what they really were going for, then I would say they were successful. If you’re completely new to this band, the most succinct way of describing them is basically Liphlich’s punk cabaret meets all the weird shit Buck-Tick has done (see also).

邪宗門 opens with a strong number, “サイコキャンディー" (PSYCHO CANDY), which for our intents and purposes is the “Moura” of this album in the sense that it is a playful gothic, yet new wave-inspired, song that also received a music video. This is definitely the most accessible track on the album, as well as one of the catchiest. However, it is solid enough to hold it’s own while still sounding like it belongs with the rest of the songs in the album—all to often I hear albums with strong or weak singles that end up being rather out of place when put into the context of everything else (take D’s “Tightrope,” for example). During the middle of the song there is a bad acid trip and a bit of 女王蜂 falsettos going on, which plays on my interpretation that this album is about some sort of super natural phenomenon. “サイコキャンディー” ties in well with the next song, "米を与えど、子は聞かず" (Kome wo Atae do, Ko wa Kikazu) as it is very similar in nature but with a more rock’n’roll approach. I don’t have too much to comment on with that song, but it is a “if you like one, you’ll like the other” sort of deal.
Track 4, "ファウストと異邦人" (FAUST to Kotokunibito) is the second instance of strange laughter and a mysterious woman’s voice, which is used as an introduction snippet. The song itself is much less creepy, and its main theme is quite playful. This song uses a lot of distorted guitar, bongo-sounding drums, and frantic time changes between 4/4 and 6/8. What I find fascinating here is that there are a ton of influences going on all at once: at times the drum structure sounds like a march while the vocalist yells over very pretty guitar work and bizarre keyboard samples. This sort of treatment is used quite often throughout the album as well—while most of their music is technically intensive, there are many many layers of different ideas happening all at once, but somehow they all come together in way that’s enjoyable and fun.

"秋霖ヒソム▲神隠し" (Shuurin HISOMU ▲ Kamigakushi(?)) s song that caught my attention at first listen: each of FOXPILL’s albums have some sort of dark-wave track and this one is it. ▲ also throws in noise, a bit of folk, and ties it together with a staticy sounding drum loop. While this song does come of as being deceptively heavy or dark based on the first few seconds, it ends up being pretty simple and sweet up until the end. The last few seconds they turn up the creep and add in the sounds of something being drilled, followed by a much more distorted and warped sound of the same woman’s laughter that has been used throughout. What I enjoyed about this song is the mix of both harsh electronic elements and the very gentle sounding chorus. Ultimately ▲ alls into middle for me: there’s enough good here to attract me back to the song, but it isn’t the pinnacle track on this album.

"僕は宗教" (Boku wa Shuukyou) is the sleeper track on this album for me—a near perfect fusion of cali=/=gari and XA-VAT if both were going through a mall goth phase, FOXPILL CULT combines a lot of new wave synthesizer with female vocals backing the chorus and quirky vocals commandeering the bridges. There’s much less synth going on here than XA-VAT used, but the 80’s throw-back sound is definitely there. It is also interesting that they recycle the gang vocal melody from the album’s opening track, "鎖国した一寸法師" (Sakoku Shita Issunboushi). This song, "サイコキャンディー" and "ファウストと異邦人" would be the three songs I would recommend trying first if you are new to FOXPILL CULT.

For the sake of brevity, the last song I’m going to expand upon is "啓蒙されぬ" (Keimousa Renu). This is one of the more electronic-heavy songs, but what is really interesting is that the chorus is like a gothic sea chantey (to be more than honest, I never thought that was even a possible mix of genres, but here we are… think Moi Dix Mois covering and you wouldn’t be too far off.). Quirky and innovative, "啓蒙されぬ" plays a lot to FOXPILL’s strengths and shows that even if their bag of tricks is finite, they know how to get the most out of it by mixing what they know with influences that would otherwise seem out of place.this song

While not every track on this album is fantastic, overall I thought FOXPILL CULT really delivered with this album and it shows that they are well seasoned in what they do. The filler in this album is minimal and their influences range from new wave, to dark wave, to rock’n’roll, to even funk. While I prefer their more new-wave tracks, which they proclaimed their last album was focused most on, I liked a greater amount of tracks here. 邪宗門 was a like at first listen, but it was also a grower. I am still unsure if this is the top contender of album-of-the-year for me quite yet, which is why I am rating it 4 stars out of 5.

pls share your opinions on the slayestest visual kei album of the year, this IS the appropriate thread to do so and let your worshipping run wild
 
 
- in which ways do YOU think exactly kaya's creative genius currently outshines everyone else in the scene?
 
 
- five reasons why cocklobin should have disbanded 3 years ago?
 
 
- your top 16 favest tracks off arcana?
 
 
- on a scale of 2004 phanstasmagoria to 1999 dir en grey, how impactful do you think femme fatale's reinvention of visual kei has became by now?
 
 
- optional: write YOUR own essay on kamijo and kaya's contributions to the death of asagi
 
 
merry christmas, y'all
 
 
 

So pirate the shit out of lana del ray it is

The band that I miss most that is inactive now is Unsraw.
 
Their music was so striking to my ears, like it was definitely dark. However, they had a great blend of sounds. It wasn't just -core stuff probably due to vox.Yuuki's formal music training. I was so sad from their initial breakup that I couldn't listen to them for awhile. Now though that things with that resolved  well, their music has been on a constant playlist for me.
 
Wow that sounds ultra-melodramatic. In short, their music was some of the heaviest metal visual kei stuff I've ever heard, even now most bands don't have it.