Augie1995

Am I the only one who really likes these covers?
 
I'm thinking the title(especially the untruth part) has something to do with religion... the primate and devil's horns, there's a link haha. So if I'm correct with this, the artwork makes sense.

LOL, WTF !? It's identical to Megaromania.
 
Pretty good, though. It's actually way better than most of their cheesy pop songs.

LOL, waiting for this.

there aren't enough words to describe how much I love Hiro's clean vocals and how he sings the lyrics in the sense of tempo and variation.

Vegetable shaped steak--I think you're on to something.

^ you might be overreacting there a little. 
 
And I read the link you posted and I'll have to disagree with you on the reason western vk bands fail. It's not because of how the Japanese music industry works. I don't know how authentic that interview is you posted, but even if everything in it was 100% true, which I'm sure isn't, it wouldn't explain why western vk bands don't work out.
 
Vk western bands not working out is not due to the connections to business people they lack, access to studios, producers, marketing or because they don't have a pimp label to get them out there. It's because of the reasons people have already mentioned here. They're young, inexperienced, sing in Japanese, don't know to dress VK, and lack any originality, basically knocking off bands like the gazette. When you can't sing/play your instrument properly, have a unpleasant image, don't appeal to your native speaking audience, and are a near carbon copy of some foreign band, how can you not expect disastrous results? 
 
Added to this is the fact that most western vk bands will further comes across as trying to hard or "weebos" to people who are familiar with the Japanese music scene and do low budget production studio recordings or cheaply made music videos. Plus if they only listen to horrible indie vk bands, then how can you expect something good to come out?
 
When you put out subpar or crappy music regardless of what genre you play (vk or not), you better expect to have people call you on it and be prepared for all the criticism. 
 
I'm not saying it's impossible for there to be a good western vk band, it's just no one has done it properly. You would need people who know their instruments, have some basic knowledge of theory and composition, actually write lyrics in their native tongue and have a good sense of how to dress. And they would also have have to some originality and not just sound like X vk band. I know bands/musician who listen to j-music in general and are inspired by it, but they don't blatantly rip off the sound/image of another band. They do their own thing in their own original band/project.
 
So far, I only know of 2 western vk bands that actually are decent. And the reason they more or less have succeeded where others have failed is because they avoided the common pitafils other western vk bands have fallen into.

WTF was that video... Yeah, I'm with Zess on this. I stopped following them after that one where Ryouga was a Crawfish and I shall continue on with that

I stopped following BORN a while ago...and I will continue to do so.

asd

He's seriously reminding me of Aoi from Ayabie right now and I am not liking that one bit

Yeah and I meant not just the song but the PV too. It has a really nice atmosphere and it's kind of grotesque. Love it.

For those saying Shuuei, I get the song is good but they're asking for the PV not the song. It's a tie between DECADENCE and DIE KUSSE for me...Die kusse had the cool separate costumes and the very nice cameras circling which keep things in "motion" while DECADENCE actually helped amplify how good the song is and then I love the effects, the moods set by the camera shots, the amount of isolation to each members and the final scene where Meto is dancing in the middle of everything

the last 2 were boo, atb, monuments, the haarp machine and before that i saw josy

It doesn't say specifically to Japanese music so I'm going to spread out...
 
Pierce the Veil- Tangled in the Great Escape (because it has Jason Butler from Letlive. in it and that just made the song.)
 
...That's it from now but I'll remember some later

If we're not going for Prog specifically, can I direct you towards Protest The Hero...or everyone seeing this? They just released what is definitely the best metal album of 2013, getting amazing reviews all around by metal sites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=ppwWGTgGMMQ

I haven't checked them in the past years but I remember really liking their first two albums. Had the opportunity to interview them too when they went on a tour through the country. Great and fun guys.
 
Thanks for reminding me they had an album coming out! I'll have a quick listen soon.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3DaQAkfet4Eno&h=uAQFZxYLA
 
Also, congrats to NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST for OMEGA reaching #1 in the Oricon indies charts

There is no such thing as screamo. At least not in the sense people use it. Most non knowledgeable people just label any type of metal that uses screams/growls as screamo. They tend to be noobs to metal so it's not surprising. Personally I like all the subgenres of metal. From post-hardcore to metalcore, deathcore, symphonic, death metal, thrash metal, technical metal, black metal, grindcore, etc. I'm a metal head so I listen to those genres on a daily basis. And I do enjoy bands who have well written songs lyric wise regardless of the genre. I'll give the band you mentioned a try.

This latest effort by The GazettE, while not unlistenable, failed to produce a song that really caught my ear after first listen until I reached Coda.
 
Even despite the universal praise for songs like Last Heaven and Inside Beast, I was not drawn to revisit them after the first full playthrough.
 
In fact, I have been listening to the album again and again, hoping that it grows on me to the point of changing my mind, but it is just not connecting like I hoped it would.
 
Personally, I like Division considerably more.  Tracks like 籠の蛹 [Kago no Sanagi], 影踏み [Kagefumi], Yoin, and Gabriel on the Gallows far surpass anything on Beautiful Deformity according to my tastes.
 
Listening to this album really felt a lot like listening to Toxic in my mind.  After the effort was finished, I wanted to like something, but I just didn't care enough to listen again.
 
That is not to say I hate it either.  This is The GazettE, and their overall style and sound really appeals to me, it just doesn't have a track that packs real punch like Filth in the Beauty or 13Stairs[-]1.
 
And despite the universal dislike for tracks like Loss and Until it Burns Out, I actually liked those tracks more than the others.  The agressive riffing and quick beat in the latter track produces a classic GazettE sound, even if it plays safe - it sounds good to me.  The melancholic tone and palm muted delayed verse guitar work of Loss are the exact type of touches that make me enjoy the track, and I like the build to the chorus.  I think this track is not as bad as the reviews it has received.
 
This is no DIM or NIL, but I would rank it above Toxic without a doubt.
 
If only they could build on the amazing mood and tone set by the closer Coda in the future albums, perhaps The GazettE can pull themselves out of this current slump they seem to be in.

It's more of "plz pay more attention to these Harajuku's superfashion icons, and praise Takeru #swag"-type of promotion (which reminds me, beginning made me cringe a bit with "#UWAKIMONO" text - I mean really, hashtagging?)
 
I can really see his GD influences too (no shit, one of the biggest K-pop stans in vk scene) - especially some scenes are very reminiscent to "CROOKED" MV.
 
Other than that, I am completely opposite about Bonsai's statement and say: I prefer SuG to this - Takeru is not really himself in this song tbqh.

Bro you like what you like. Yeah some of us may have our different opinions and such but all is good at the end of the day homie

I like the shamisen in the composition; outside of that it feels like I'm watching a K-Pop video.  I think I'll skip out on this effort.
 
Hopefully the new SuG builds on the Fat Inside Horror sound.

Nice Augie, I really like the pier picture!

_______________________

Here's some more point-n-shoot-tastic pictures (taken with my iPod touch, haha):

This one is from my recent trip to the futuristic Valencia, Spain


Inside Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, Spain. Unlike any other architecture I've ever seen!


And here's a church in my current city in Germany. Basic, but I like it!

Sel'm new mini album "iconoclasm" will be released at 2013/12/04 (1,890yen)
 
[track list]
01.Alive
02.一縷(ichiru)
03.the game
04.sayonara
05.I'm Raider
06.終わる世界(owaru sekai)
 
 
btw they will hold their one-man live "iconoclast" at Shibuya BURROW at 2014/01/19

Score: | I like my coffee with two cubes of sugar and a lot less polish.
 
I almost gave up on this album on the disappointing introductory twangs four seconds in, but I told Augie that I owed him at least a half-decent review so I stuck it out. Much to the chagrin of my sassy side, this album improved quickly enough that I could finish it and give a fair, unbiased review. Or as close to a fair, unbiased review as I get.
 
Eyes Blood Red is one of the only things that reminds me that this band is Japanese. A large majority of the time, this sounds like radio friendly rock with just enough aggression to make a soccer mom snub her nose and change the station back to Radio Disney. This is mostly the fault of the vocalist, who sounds generic in the sense that I feel like I've heard him as the frontman for many other nameless bands many a shopping mall has forcibly impressed into my ear canals over the years. There is no unique qualities in either his clean vocals or harsh vocals that separates him from anyone else so while I can't say that he's terrible I can say that he isn't memorable.
 
I dropped the mall bit on purpose, because if you prodded me into describing what I just heard I would describe it as "mallcore". The derogatory term would aptly describe many facets of this band's sound but there's just enough different in each song that I would drop the source off at the doorstep of the raunchiest Hot Topic, except not really because the music that plays in Hot Topic is almost universally awful. So I wouldn't really be able to find something like this anywhere other than MTV with a focus on commercial, easy going rock with a penchant for pulling the rug out from underneath you, but at least it's not associated with red and black studded jeans that make me feel oh so misunderstood because I'm fifteen and my hormones are raging.
 
Because that's truly what this album is to me - misunderstood. I don't make it a habit to listen to music styled like this because it doesn't do much for me. I can't drill down and get out of it what Augie does. I do note the very present guitars and drumwork. The guitars are so present that sometimes the bass can disappear. I also don't like the tone of the bass pedal. Other than that, the album just shines, even if it's a little too "loud". 2Side1BRAIN sounds like they're right in front of me when the album is playing and this is a quality I do not get out of too many albums, especially ones that aren't even in lossless. With some more dynamic range, this album would be ear candy for my setup.
 
What drags the entire album down and beats it with a dull brick until it gasps for mercy are the predictable transitions. Every single transition in this album is either the sound of the void creeping in before the band puts on their angry faces and jumps into a breakdown or an explosion back into the chorus where the vocalist digs down deep and sings with respectable English. The breakdowns can definitely go and be replaced with something more interesting because they all sound the same. They also don't fit with the overall vibe the band is working with. If there weren't the guitar tricks and the sonic quality of the tracks themselves to content me, I would have turned this off by track three. The monotony can become overbearing and the album ends just when you begin to notice. One or two tracks more and the score would have really suffered for it.
 
Oh, but how do I feel about the album? It's 'aight, I guess.