plastic_rainbow

On April 1st, 2016 the news of Tetsuya's departure from the influential hardcore, screamo, and post-rock band envy brought great despair to many fans. He was the heart of the band that evoked intense feelings through his raw and emotive vocals. Fans lost hope in envy's future once Tetsuya left. Still, envy continued on without him and after being quiet for two years they finally announced a live performance with a new line-up for April 1st, 2018. Strangely enough, the live performance took place exactly two years after Tetsuya's departure. And even more strange is that both occurrences took place on April 1st which, as we all know, is the day of jokes and pranks. Back in 2016 we all hoped that Tetsuya's departure was an April Fools joke, but after not hearing anything we all accepted that it was the truth. So naturally, when envy announced a new line-up this year for April 1st as well, none of us speculated that it was a joke either. However, when the day arrived everything became clear. The live show was titled 'Last Wish', after the name of envy's single released back in 2000, and took place at Daikanyama UNIT. I must thank @qotka for navigating to the live venue, which sits just south of Shibuya. Inside the live venue there is a floor level for lockers and merchandise, and once you go down another level you will find the live hall. The size of the hall was quite average with a capacity of 600 people. Given that most people were only here for envy not many people showed up at the beginning, but it gradually grew more packed after each band until we were shoulder to shoulder. heaven in her arms was the first band to play, which I could already tell based on the white butterfly logo placed on the back of the stage. I had forgotten what the band looked like, but when the vocalist walked on stage with a black cap on I could clearly see the envy worship. I'm not well-versed in their discography so I couldn't recognize most of the songs they played but I do know that they played a few songs from their recent album 白暈 (White Halo). I'm certain they played "終焉の眩しさ" because I remember the opening with solemn crystal bells and pianos that later led to a burst of guitar riffs and drums. The live hall felt so still in that moment with the dark blue lighting, and feeling that transition from a stillness to a violent beat was a cool way to start the performance. The vocalist put a lot of emotion into his screams, but the spoken word sections were a little quiet and hard to hear from the blasting instruments. It was not as clear as it was on CD. Also, maybe it's because everything usually sounds louder during lives but I had trouble picking out the metal sound of heaven in her arms and I had the impression that they sounded a lot like envy, as I did when I first listened to them. In any case, they were amazing live and I would like to see them again. The next band that played was HELLBENT, which I thought was some band from the US when I quickly googled the name. Turns out that they're actually a really underground Japanese psychobilly band. I can't give a good review of them because I lost my spot during the intermission while taking a short bathroom break and did not have a good view of the stage when I came back. Their performance was quite intense though and the vocalist would pick up the mic stand every so often and swing it around on stage, at least from what I could see. They had a video playing in the background with mostly visuals of old vhs-looking forests, for some odd reason. For such a chaotic performance, I thought the visuals were not very fitting and it was just kind of strange. I got my spot back closer to the stage once downy came on. It's unfortunate that I did not get to see them with Yutaka Aoki, who sadly recently passed away. It seems like they got a support guitarist for the remaining live shows that were scheduled this year, though I'm not sure who it is. I'm still fairly new to downy so I can't speak much for how much of an effect this has on their performance, but they were quite stellar nevertheless. Their performance felt much longer than the previous two bands as they played about 8 songs. Most of the songs they played were fast and maybe only one song was really slow. Robin Aoki sings just as good as he does on CD and the bass is super thick live! I didn't realize how killer the basslines were until I heard "曦ヲ見ヨ!" live. Such incredible skill and technique. During their whole performance they had abstract visuals playing in the background. A fiery red was used for intense and fast songs while tranquil blues or black and white were used for slower songs/sections. If you've seen any of their music videos, the live encapsulates the very same kind of mood, except that you're now physically standing in that dimension and taking in their dingy world. Outstanding performance. At last, the curtain rose for envy. While standing in the darkness, I thought about their new line-up and kept on wondering what they would sound like without Tetsuya. Then, when the lights lit up and envy started playing, Tetsuya was standing right there on stage giving out his screams. The crowd instantly went wild and pushed everyone to the front. People were cheering all around and punching their fists to the air, you could feel the ecstasy and excitement everywhere. Out of all the non-VK lives I've seen this was the most energy I've seen from a crowd, but this is mostly speaking for the J-indie scene only as I'm sure some bigger Jrock bands have wild crowds as well, or maybe not I don't know. The pushing stopped after 2 minutes or so, but there were still a number of people cheering with their fists. When they performed "Footsteps in the Distance" Tetsuya cleverly declared his return during the spoken word section with the last few words being 'ただ一つ救えがあるなら僕はここに戻るよ' (If there is one way to be saved, I'll return here). At first I thought it was a message Tetsuya specifically had for the fans, but listening to the song again it's actually part of the song, therefore the cleverness in his return. Hearing him say that and knowing that he was really back was the highlight of the experience, and now as I listen to "Footsteps in the Distance" I will recall this memory every time. envy just isn't envy without Tetsuya after all. I couldn't get a view of all the members (including the new members) since the people who got pushed to the front blocked some of my view, but I did not feel that envy's sound changed much. Perhaps they'll bring in new ideas for the band in the future. I'd seen envy two times before, but I was absolutely stunned by the energy and emotion of this performance, even after I left the live venue.

smells of major debut to me they look pretty mature in the photo, or maybe it's just because you can't see their baby faces

@nostalgiathank you!! same here! i was quite obsessed with gantz when i first read it. i think i've drawn the most fanart of it compared to other series, haha.

Fairy's blood - drinking this will grant you the ability to control your dreams.

LOVE THIS new look is so pretty~

Artwork done by tobird, who also did the artwork for Before Today and Hallelujah. Tracklist: 1. みんな急いでいる 2. O Alquimista 3. Cradle 4. TODAY "みんな急いでいる" and "TODAY" are both brand new tracks while "O Alquimista" is a re-recorded version of Yusuke's solo piece "アルケミスト", and "Cradle" is a cover song of L'Arc～en～Ciel. (i thought there were gonna be more than 4 tracks, sorry for relaying the wrong information earlier whoops!)

sounding good so far~ so excited for this!

!!!!!!! they look great~!

i need this

i don't know why you thought i was making that up but okay

yeahhh lots of good tracks here!! kizu, dof, virge, and IIII-Ligro- gave us an amazing start this year! that chanty track is pretty decent and might grow on me, i still need to check them out~ i have never tried ribelio before but damn that song is fucking solid. sad to hear that they're disbanding! i might need to check out acme as well. i can hear some of those xtripx vibes. not really related but in one of DIV's songs chisa's voice reminded me of ryo (baroque, kannivalism) and considering how i heart baroque and kannivalism i'm not sure why i haven't checked either DIV or acme yet. lmao at the golden bomber video! i feel kinda bad for laughing (the poor salarymen) but i guess that was intended. xD that song could become addicting after several listens, haha. for those who are disappointed in not seeing pura, expect an album review soon! (i just hope i don't get too lazy.....)

my sister just came over at 2am and snuck up behind me without me noticing cuz i was wearing my sound isolation headphones jfc wtf are you doing at this hour??? this is why i hate having my door faced behind me but there's no better room arrangement cuz of the small space good thing i wasn't browsing anything nsfw at least......

loving that look holy fuck *0*

omg yes I'm so happy to see kyotaro back in a vk band!! please don't suck

aicle. copy band? I'm fucking sold. I miss this oshare sound so much

@Biopandaholy crap they were around for that long???

i'm not sad about this at all, their new singles were nowhere as good as their good old days.

@The Reverendyes, i did go!! it was amazing, everybody was ripping the floor after seeing/hearing news that tetsuya was back! this is probably the biggest april fools joke in jmusic history. i think they planned this way ahead.

THE NOVEMBERS will release a new EP titled "TODAY" on May 16th. It will contain 4 new tracks and cover songs of bands/artists they admire. Further details will be announced.

ahhh i wish i could see them....... ;__; they look amazing in those new photos

@Bearyeah I watched the swedish original. i usually avoid remakes when it comes to horror films. i've read positive reviews on Deep Red, but idk it just didn't jive well with me, sorry. :/ oh no, i loved Inferno for the visuals that's for sure, but i felt like more of the story could have been explained? perhaps i need a second viewing...

haven't written in here for a while. here's some stuff i watched since my last post, whenever that was.... Let the Right One In - For some reason, just by reading the title I always thought this was some cheap-scare horror film but I was totally wrong. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's mainly a coming-of-age film with a few thriller moments and the only thing that makes it a horror film is the vampire theme. To some it may not be considered horror, but the elements are there, just very subtle. The film is slow-paced with an amazing atmosphere set during the winter; very cold, lonely, and barren. It was the perfect kind of film I needed and now it's one of my favorites! Deep Red - This is the 3rd film I've seen of Dario Argento and I loved the previous two I watched (Suspiria, Phenomena), but I couldn't sit through this one at all. I literally had to turn it off after an hour cuz I fell asleep. And I tried to finish it the next day but I still couldn't get into it. I love Argento's cinematography and all but the pacing in this one was just too slow for me? It was not very engaging... Inferno - Deep Red didn't stop me from watching more of Argento's films however. I liked Inferno better, but it still doesn't top Suspiria or Phenomena. The visuals were absolutely amazing; dark and surreal like Suspiria, but the story kinda lost me at times. I mean it had an interesting storyline but some parts didn't connect well to me and I wanted to know more about the book and what was behind the whole thing? The House of the Devil - I saw the movie poster for this film and was surprised to see how recent it was. The artwork in the poster looked like something from an 80s horror but the film was actually made in 2009! Even the whole vibe of the film feels like an 80s horror with old horror movie fonts, similar camera angles, and a grainy or dull lighting. You can't tell this is from 2009 at all. This is a film that brings back the 80s horror done right. It's even got themes of religious cult and demons, I really enjoyed it. Séance - This a low budget film that aired on TV and you can tell how cheap it looks when you see the ghosts. There's a badly cropped floating ghost, and in one scene one of them appears as a ragged doll (that scene was pretty hilarious and is an actual depiction of me). The cinematography was done well though and I've grown to like Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films. The storyline was pretty interesting, but sometimes the actions of the characters were just like really?? Loft - Another one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films. The atmosphere in this film was amazing. It mostly takes place in a female novelist's new dwelling, which is quite far out of the city being surrounded by forests and lies next to a mysterious run-down building. Her new home is rather run-down itself but after some redecorating it feels like a homely summer cottage, much needed for a novel writer. Some remnants of the previous dweller remains in the house and she starts to discover their past including the run-down building next door. Even though the ghost mostly appears in a dark corner it still evokes a scary feeling. Just seeing those shadows in the corners of your eyes. Also, there's a really cool ancient mummy corpse. Great film for the atmosphere, but the story was rather weak imo. A creepy cool screencap I saw before watching the film. Retribution/Sakebi - A Kiyoshi Kursawa film, again. I didn't like this one as much as the other two but the cinematography here is still well-crafted. The ghost evokes a similar vein to the one from Loft. Her face is not bloodied or covered in bruise marks, in fact she's actually quite gorgeous. But the way she appears on screen and the way she barely moves, not even blinking an eye, is pretty creepy. Very eerie and desolate, like most of Kiyoshi's films.

THIS i don't know how people pull all-nighters. i've never done it before (not for school at least, but only for a funeral) because honestly i treasure my sleep. i told someone once that i never pulled an all-nighter before and they were shocked saying that it was the college experience. lmao so what, why would i want to do that to my health? taking care of yourself is super important when you've got all these assignments and projects due. don't stay up all night trying to finish an assignment. just like a few others mentioned before, it's important to take breaks so that you don't burn yourself out. if you can't meet a deadline, sometimes it's okay to hand things in late.....i did that for maybe 1-2 of my papers. of course, you shouldn't do that if your professors don't accept late assignments, and i'm not saying that it's totally okay to hand things in late all the time. but what i'm saying is that your health comes first before stressing yourself all night over a (stupid) assignment. bottom line, manage your time wisely so that you can avoid pulling all-nighters and ruining your sleeping schedule and overall health. fitear knows what he's talking about. this was something i wish i had done more often when i was still at uni. i never really reached out to anyone and i ended up stressing over everything and just feeling incompetent about myself. talking with your professors or TAs can really help relieve some of that stress if you're struggling in a class. there are some nice professors out there who'll listen, like fitear!

omg.....even tho i'm still fairly new to the band this is truly devastating...... ;__; RIP

why am i always dreaming about bathrooms with clogged toilets or stalls with little privacy....?? like the walls are always at waist level only wtf