Niku

Better than their last single, worth a listen to at least when it comes out to see if it's any good, I suppose.

Ai looks like a bloody dickhead but the rest of the guys look alright. Either way, gonna give this a shot, hopefully it'll stick better than their last couple of singles which just haven't got the staying power to become anything more than the random track that pops up once in a while as I'm playing random playlists.

I think the best part of this is that it's a mini-album, so whatever concept it is, whatever they bring to the table will hopefully have a better chance of being condensed and in the end result in a greater, albeit shorter, product overall. Either way, after their latest album and the best of, I'm really thinking this is something to at least check out if you've ever been a fan, for sure.

Bands come and go, it's bound to happen eventually, for one reason or another. Though, what saddens me more than their leave, it's seeing which bands go and which bands stay and being upset as to why things are the way they are. We've said our goodbyes to a plethora of bands that were original, interesting and enjoyable to give way for many bands that are just unoriginal and plain, some bands deserve more than what they end up with, I guess. So yeah, unfortunate, for sure..

I think my main issue with this is the word 'fired'. It just, makes it sound cruel and horrible. It's not that they just, y'know, got together and mutually decided that their progress was being halted by the man's illness or something, no, from what I can read, they just fired him. That, in my opinion, is unjust.

I think this will be there first release that I just completely don't like. Ah, what money will do to you. I mean, XodiacK wasn't the best of bands, ridiculous to all hell, but it still was better than this, and that's so sad, so so sad...

I'm actually kinda really liking the preview, to be honest. I'm definitely going to be purchasing it.

You're kidding right? It's like Ryouga is priding himself on how absolutely ugly he can make himself look, and for the first time in what feels like forever he actually looks alright, you say the new look's ugly? Jesus christ, man.

Yes, yes, all my yes.

You mentioned Mr. Manson, so I'm assuming this means that the music can be a language other than JP. I find a lot of the soundtrack for MGR:Revengeance are pretty good for exercising or working out to. As for songs that I know of, well.. Let's Go by Blue Stahli. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk. Shippin' Up To Boston by Dropkick Murphys. Acceleration, Rave-Up Tonight, Burn the DIsco Floor with Your "2-Step" by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Journey through the Decade, Jounetsu no Inazuma, RIDE OR DIE, REDEMPTION and Until the Last Day by GACKT. Driving Time, Drain by Girugamesh. Lightning, UNTIL I DIE, The Morning Glow, THEY'RE ALL AFRAID, I Believe In Me by lynch. Majority of Man With A Mission's discography I personally find to be good for working out too. (Emotions, Distance, Fly Again, Don't Lose Yourself, Never Mind The Rules, Feel and Think and Smells like Teen Spirit for examples.) In a similar vein to MWAM, One Ok Rock has a few decently paced songs that get me going when needs be. Beautiful Golden Taurus and The Group of an Acid Butterfly by Sever Black Paranoia. Naked Arms, Summer Blizzard by T.M.Revolution. 400 Days(Very sexy guitar riff), The Catalyst, Fireball and Bring it On by Undivide. Of course, mileage may vary, so take with a grain of salt or whatever. (mostly, this is what I play when I'm doing my nightly push-ups/sit-ups or when I'm gaming, not sure if it's fitting for anything else, so...)

I'm enjoying this, more than I probably should, but only because it's the first and probably the only time I'll ever see someone complaining about living far away from Aus. Haha.

I'm honestly surprised I didn't see a single mention for Man With A Mission here. I've seen people who debate whether they're actually Japanese or w/e, but I personally consider them J, so yeah... As for my list? A Ghost of Flare Another Story Artema Asian Kung-Fu Generation Blood Stain Child Coldrain Dir en Grey* Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Fear from the Hate Gackt Girugamesh* Hitorie LASTGASP Kαin (Honestly not sure if these guys are Visual kei or not, personally they don't seem to be, to me, but they may as well be. Idk) lynch.* Man With A Mission Maximum the Hormone Miyavi* My First Story One Ok Rock REDMAN Sakanaction Sever Black Paranoia SiM Spyair T.M.Revolution Undivide Wrong City Yellow Fried Chickenz I couldn't really order these into a top ten, I tend to like most of my music equally, or I wouldn't really listen to most of it... (*These guys were at one point definitely VKei, though now not so much, so I'm considering them for this.)

I might be heading to see them at the Hi-Fi. Not keen on the other two bands playing with them, but the chances of me catching any of the bands I listen to is incredibly miniscule at best so I'm taking what I can get.

I don't like it. Can't really place my finger on why either...

Might just be reaching at straws here, but you reckon that Zetsubou would count? Chalk up one for Merry and then another for XodiacK for Kimi Ni Furu Zetsubou no Ame which also goes to the Ame count above....

Not available in my country... /cries

Wait, what? I just, like, I seriously just am incapable of even understanding the logic behind this statement...

20-second teaser.

I was eating in a fast food restaurant once, I was having what I believed to be a delicious burger, with nicely cooked meat and crisp lettuce, delicious sauce and cheese sealed the deal. I then caught a glance, of someone off to the side of the building, who weighed I could only begin to imagine was half the size of your standard family vehicle, shoving his throat full of the same burger I was having as if it was going out of fashion. His excessive forcing of food into his face resembled no less than a garbage disposal. Needless to say, it left a bad taste in my mouth, knowing that the same food was being experienced in both instances, I haven't gone back there.

MIssion accepted.

It was back when I first was getting into Japanese music, I was one of the people who would lurk a blogspot and download everything that came up. Well, I one day downloaded D'espairsRay's Final Call single and didn't enjoy it much, because at that point I was trying to be "br00tal". Months went by but then during a trip my mother took to America(We live in Australia), she was in a Hot Topic and was listening to the music playing and thought I'd like it. I remember her telling me this over MSN(Yeah, that was the shit back then), I heard her say Hot Topic and was immediately put off, but she assured me that this was the shit. She had asked the person manning the till as to what was playing, they actually had to go out back as they didn't know, they wrote it down and gave the slip to my mom. My mom actually then went and bought all of their releases that she could for me and brought it back with her when her trip ended. On May 29th, 2010 my mom was murdered, I was there when it happened. Immediately afterwards, I realized how empty my relationship had been with my mother and that we didn't bond much, but I still had all of D'espairsRay's music that my mom had bought me, it was one of if not the only thing I actually had gotten from her that I still had, so I got really stuck into the band, loving the hell out of Redeemer and Coll:set. Then came the news they were going on Hiatus and I was absolutely heartbroken. So yeah, definitely D'espairsRay for me.

Any reason he's dressed like a b-grade Lady Gaga copy? xD

Not surprised at all, considering how the quality has dropped in their latest releases..