VESSMIER

I'm a little ashamed to admit that much like BUCK-TICK, cali≠gari has always been one of those bands that I download every new release of and then it's just sitting on my hard drive like a useless piece of furniture that I don't know what to do with but also don't want to throw away because it might be good for something someday. In the case of cali≠gari, that day has finally come. With the release of their new album I finally sampled some songs from their past couple of albums and something just clicked (initially while listening to a live version of シャ.ナ.ナ which has been stuck in my head ever since). I'll still have to work my way further through their catalogue but I feel like I finally "get them", I guess. Having said that, I didn't get much enjoyment out of 14, except for maybe three songs: 天国で待ってる for its upbeat quirkiness and fun bassline, いつか花は咲くだろう for its mellow, airy vibe and most notably 死は眠りを散歩する for its groove and suspenseful structure and flow.

^I'm also looking forward to new material but considering that, as you say, their live shows are really high quality and generally even sound better than their studio recordings, I'm not mad at all. The cover art looks beautiful, too.

I'm surprised that among all the citypop recommendations, nobody mentioned 山下達郎 (Tatsuro Yamashita) who has come out with some of the most solid citypop/synthfunk albums in the late 70s and 80s - well produced, great compositions and much less corny than most of what's come out of that genre (even though I love cheesy 80s music 😏). I've also really been into japanese ambient from the 80s and 90s lately. 細野晴臣 (Haruomi Hosono) is one of the greats, I've especially enjoyed the following albums by him. Despite being really relaxing and tranquil, they have that dark edge and incorporate quite interesting instrumentation and effects. There's something about 花に水 (Watering a flower) for example that is quite psychedelic, it's mind-expanding, it reaches deep into your consciousness and lets you peek behind the curtain. Make of that whatever you will. Maybe you'll get a similar vibe! Also, it really helped me with depression and anxiety lately. And some other awesome albums I've discovered:

Getting strong Kuroyume vibes as well, even the bass tone is quite similar. It's nice to hear a contemporary take on this particular sound, especially amongst all the corny Matina-inspired gothpunk revivalism that's been going on... Karma's voice kinda ruins some tracks for me which is a shame because instrumentally, they sound really promising - just listen to Lolita or 炎舞! These two tracks even make up for the unnecessary intro & outro.

A good way to start might be compilations such as this one: It gives you a nice little overview over the styles and genres dominating certain eras and you can get a feel for the sound you enjoy the most and dig deeper from there.

Sounds like Blood Stain Child had a baby with their thrashy cousin.

I've actually always preferred their live recordings over the studio ones, not only for the more exciting "live experience" but also and especially because of the great recording and mixing/mastering quality. MUTANS for example sounds just beautiful, the performance is on point (to my ears outstanding: focus, elisabeth addict, anima, 12時20分金輪際...) and it captures their jazzy, futuristic noir prog rock witchery perfectly.

A lot of goodies arrived this month 🙉

I like the ethereal vibe in kyo's vocals but all those synths and effects kinda ruin the track for me, especially in the percussion department. I'm all for experimentation but a more organic sound suits them far more. I mean, they're very capable musicians after all.

I use eac3to in combination with HdBrStreamExtractor. Just download both and copy the contents of the HdBrStreamExtractor.zip into the eac3to folder. Really easy to use and it always worked great for me. Edit: I forgot, if you're ripping audio/video from a DVD or Bluray, you'll also need this. This allows you to rip the complete and uninterrupted audio/video stream without having to deal with the individual cut-up VOB files. Just insert the first of the VOB files and the thing automatically adds everything else.

In Munich they simply had several large fans on stage, they must've hidden them at the Köln concert or smth^^

Great review, Zeus! I agree with most of your points. I certainly think that The Insulated World is DIR EN GREY's most mature and consistent album to date. It feels like they played to their strengths more than ever and cut the experimentation to an extent that actually benefits the record instead of bloating it. There’s hardly any filler tracks on here. The only criticism I have in this department is that Zetsuentai feels unnecessarily long plus I’m not a huge fan of Utafumi. Both those points don’t change the fact, however, that this is the first DEG album in a long time that I can sit through without feeling exhausted, uncomfortable or wanting to skip tracks. In general, the whole thing feels very raw, stripped, immediate and concise which are properties a lot of their past albums lack. And even though the experience is so condensed and straight-forward, I wouldn’t call it “dumbed down” at all. On the contrary, everyone seems to execute their part with a heightened sense for technical finesse. There’s still a good degree of playfulness and experimentation, most notably in Kyo’s multifaceted vocal delivery and some of Shinya’s brilliant drum fills. But that’s not even the best part. The riffs on this thing are jaw-dropping at times. Thanks to mostly great songwriting (which gets a little repetitive during the second half) and this nasty, thick and gritty guitar tone, they punch you in the chest so hard you’ll find yourself gasping for air. Strong riffs and catchy hooks dominate of The Insulated World, but occasional sparkly clean passages and some great guitar solos break up the density and bring in some of that In Flames / Dark Tranquility Swedish melo-death flavor. While I really would have wished for the bass to stand out more (as in Keigaku no Yoku), I still think that it is mixed quite well. It does take the back seat in some songs, but really adds to the aggression and overall atmosphere in others (as in Devote My Life). As for the production, I don’t think it’s awful. The thing is, if you listen to it on crappy hardware, it sounds crappy. I tried it with some cheap Urbanears Plattan and it was a mess. But hardware like this is not designed to deliver a pure, detailed and balanced representation of the music you’re listening to. The main problem is that The Insulated World is very heavy on the lower mids and low frequencies and with bass boosted headphones or speakers (which is more or less standard for almost everything in the budget range) you get a completely distorted “image” of what this album actually sounds like. PS: I don’t agree that Devote My Life is “unlistenable”. Sure, the guitars sound punishing and harsh but I see it as a fit representation of the lyrical content. Plus after all this build-up of excruciating tension during the verses, the chorus/breakdown with its wide bed of bass and gutturals opens the whole thing up and creates a very satisfying dynamic imo.

I wasn't trying to insinuate that your car stereo was bad and I'm sure TIW sounds great on it. I just found it funny that in the context of a) a DEG album and b) listening to it on your car stereo, you would point out the difference between 256kbps and lossless. Let's be real, in an ABX test, you'd need top tier studio headphones, a completely quiet environment, really well trained hearing and a record with pristine production and you'd still be mostly guessing which is which. Also, the difference in bitrate does not mean that "1411.2 kbps" sounds five times better than 256 kbps. I mean, I get it, you'd assume it'd be something really noticable when you drop the quality to a fifth of the original but that's not really translatable to how your ear drums and your brain process the sound. Think of it more like flying over a city at 20,000 feet for 3 minutes and pointing out every house that's missing at least half its roof. Not a perfect metaphor of course, but I think it's a little closer to the reality of the scales and ratios we're talking about here.

When you think the new album sounds best on your car stereo or plastic earpods, I don't exactly trust your judgement on questions of audio quality.

What's with all that "CD sounds better than the rip" talk? What rip have y'all been listening to?

Pretty excited about the NOi'X single 🙉 That's awesome news!

It’s one thing to dislike an aesthetic but I think there’s never been a time when he used his looks to emulate the tone and atmosphere of their music as well and with such artistic ‘quality’ and creativity as in the past few years since Arche.

I thought some pictures had already been posted but here's the contents of the limited deluxe edition (photobook with band pictures in the top right corner).

Agree, some lyrics are really painful to read, especially because they’re so blunt and direct. I still think that despite some darker elements, the cover art has a very hopeful, peaceful and lively vibe. Maybe along with Ranunculus it’s somewhat symbolic of the light at the end of the tunnel that is this album. 😱

The numbers aren't too different though. Replay gain for disc one is -12.13dB and -11.72dB for disc two. I just realized that you were probably talking about the MP3 rip posted in this thread... those numbers might not apply to that since they're from my own rip. 🙈

Really? WTD, MOAB and the original UROBOROS sound way worse in my opinion. I think that we shouldn't conflate actual production or mixing quality with how much we like the sound of something. An example would be the cymbal in the end of Downfall you mentioned before - that's not bad mixing, that's just the way this particular cymbal sounds. I don't think it's a production mishap but rather a stylistic choice. I would actually put this somewhere at the top of their most well produced albums (despite the loudness) because it sounds very organic and natural and because there's comparatively little of that production-related corruption or loss of detail and punch in the sound of the individual instruments (as opposed to the muffled mess that is UROBOROS or WTD).

I wonder why people people assume that the CD would sound better than an ALAC or even a lossy AAC rip. Even if you'd be able to make out any differences, they would be so miniscule it wouldn't change your overall perception of the music. Other than that I have to say that I happen to enjoy the production on the album... sure the dynamic range sucks but it's 2018 and this is an aggressive rock/metal record, what did you expect? It's raw, it's gritty but at no point did I get the feeling that I'm listening to a wall of noise. Even in the more chaotic moments during the first half the instruments retained their distinct textures and presence.

❤️