doombox

ive prepared this playlist consisting of around 200 Japanese rock/visual kei/metal bands.
 
I doubt you'll find a playlist as diverse as this one if looking for japanese rock/visual kei/metal music.
 
 
leaving it here just so if anybody might be interested in it. ;/

FIrstly, I need to apologize, as I originally posted this without @doombox's ONE OK ROCK blurb, as I somehow overlooked it when compiling the final post. However, that mistake has now been corrected!!!
 
lmao 10 years ago we were on J-salad acting a damn fool, and I'd just registered on TW/MH in 2008.

Spotify was like “Geez I wonder who your favourite artist is...” 
 
 

This list is basically made up of 3 or 4 playlists I throw on a lot while I'm working so it's really skewed and doesn't represent what I really enjoyed the most this year. 

This list is basically made up of 3 or 4 playlists I throw on a lot while I'm working so it's really skewed and doesn't represent what I really enjoyed the most this year. 

It's that time of the year, folks. Jaejoong was absolutely gorgeous here *_*.
 
 

What does your '2018 Wrapped' on Spotify look like?
 
You can find yours here: https://spotifywrapped.com/
 
(click the image icon on the far right to save/share your chart)
 
I actually use Google Music much more than spotify, but this is what I got from the little I use it:
 

 
none of the top artists are actually pop tho
 
 
dat Beloved Daud tho!
 
 
 

Actually this is a really accurate way to explain them.

OOR are one of those bands that could sing me the phonebook and I'll still enjoy it. Is it their deepest most exciting work? Nah. Still something that will fit my work playlist nicely tho.

Super hyped that Solji is back :D.
 
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Wasn't crazy about Dejavu (as a lead track), but this seems really promising. Still looking forward to them promoting w/ Minhyun next year.

This is the first album in the last ten years that I've enjoyed mostly the entire album. I agree with pretty much everything you said, except I also enjoy Devote My Life. I feel like the guitar tone adds to the mayhem of the track, somehow reminds me of their very early albums. But maybe that's just the rawness in general. 

| Dir en grey's tenth album is something special indeed.
 
Few artists can bring the scene together and elicit responses from everyone the way that Dir en grey can. They can make you pause your habitual listening routines to check out their newest single or album, even if you don't like them. This is because Dir en grey is one of the few bands where we can sense the progression and self-improvement from release to release. I don't think that Dir en grey aspires to impress anyone but themselves from three years ago, and now more than ever I see and feel a band that has graduated from copying trends to setting them. As a concept, and after listening to the album several times, I believe The Insulated World refers directly to them, their view on the world, and the inspiration for where the music they wish to create comes from.
 
The Insulated World feels like a journey into oneself, and the album feels separated into two parts. The first half of the album feels like a turbulent descent into madness, while the second half feels like the madness has yielded to tranquility as the listener floats towards personal understanding. I prefer the second half to the first half. This is a far cry from literally every other album of theirs, where tracks were arranged haphazardly and the experience suffers for it. I can hear various influences from each of their previous eras and albums - some more than others - but one of the most redeeming points about The Insulated World is that it doesn't sound like anything in particular.
 
In the past, I've felt that Dir en grey bit off more than they could chew, and failed to deliver on their own expectations. I felt this most when listening to DUM SPIRO SPERO, where the band used progressive elements for the sake of being progressive. The Insulated World has the progressive elements applied more sensibly, similar to ARCHE. Songs morph and change direction on a whim, but there are hooks and motifs that the band returns to that gives each song coherency. Vocalist Kyo reminds us once again that he's the king of vocal manipulation - just in case you had doubts - but he's embraced his mid range more. Focusing on the extremes of his vocal techniques leaves an immediate and lasting impression at the expense of it sounding very binary. I prefer the vocal extremes for specific emotional climaxes and using other vocal techniques for specific feelings at the appropriate times. "Values of Madness" is the best example of what I am describing, where we get screeching, rapping, singing, and more in a compact four minutes. The re-recording of "The Deeper Vileness" is another great example, and also highlights how well some of the ideas they explored in The Marrow of a Bone translate into their new style ten years later.
 
Complaints about the terrible production job for the singles "Utafumi" and "Ningen wo kaburu" were founded and make more sense in hindsight, with the new versions sounding less congested. Die and Kaoru no longer compete with Toshiya for total control of the low end frequency, Shinya's drum kit sounds less robotic, Kyo doesn't feel tacked on top of the mix, and there's plenty of room left for the guitar distortion techniques and electronic samples to breathe. For the most part, I like the tone chosen for the guitar and the way everything comes together in each song, and I would rank this among both their best and least obnoxiously mixed albums to date. I wish they could get their singles to this quality.
 
The Insulated World is not a perfect release. "Devote My Life" is not listenable due to the piercing, unrelenting tone of the guitar. Sticking it in the second slot does a lot to turn away people who only have once chance to give Dir en grey. They should have gone with a guitar tone closer to "Downfall". "Ranunculus", while a great song and a good note to end the album on, has an atmosphere which doesn't fit with the album. I get the impression this track was conceived either very early or very late in the production cycle, because it stands well on its own. I also am unable to find the hook in the album opus, "絶縁体" (Zetsusentai), which I find difficult to wrap my head around. They've done this style of track more effectively with "Vinushka" and even "Diabolos", and it doesn't hold a candle to the pure atmosphere of "MACABRE". Speaking of Macabre, I also find the new version of "理由" (Riyuu) slightly inferior to the original version. The cover of the song does justice to the original by not straying too much from the melody, but they reined in the emotion of the song and the guitar solo with only a cleaner sound to compensate,  and the original version of the song sold itself on its emotion. They didn't ruin it, but they didn't improve it much. The new version of "鬼眼" (Kigan) falls into the same camp, but the much better production values edges it out ahead in the end. For the record, I much rather these safe reinterpretations than ones that butcher the song beyond recognition.
 
These interpretations are subject to change as I spend more time with The Insulated World, and perhaps catch them live one day to experience these songs in person. Even a month later, I still think I wrote this review prematurely, as there are songs still growing on me and others that I am unsure if I like or not. I am pleased overall with how this album turned out, and I can see myself listening to this album in a few years without the songs wearing thin. Dir en grey did well, and this is an album I can recommend to both long time fans and the curious, but if ARCHE did nothing for you then this won't either.
 
 
Support the artist!
iTunes | CDJapan

BABYMETAL officially announced that Yuimetal would not be joining the band for the next phase of their tour and would no longer be a member of the group due to poor health condition. A new digital single "Starlight" is already on sale from today.
 

 

 
 

my spirit animal

"Dir en gay" is probably one of the oldest ones I remember.
"Gay-zette" Too easy tho...
"Giruga-mess"
"Fuck-Dick" for Buck-Tick
"suck-it-kyo" sukekiyo
 
There's also a joke for Spanish speakers when you call LM.C by their full name as Lovely Mocochang because it translates to "Lovely booger-chang".

^ I'm vaguely familiar with just a few of those artists at best, let alone the actual songs.
 
01. Bonobo - Towers (Ft. Szjerdene)
02. cinema staff - diggin’
03. The Shins - Sea Legs
04. 澤野弘之 - FULL-FRONTAL
05. Jew's-ear - Delaqio Talakovsky
06. Mayra Andrade - Simplement
07. Vessels - Radiart
08. Eternal Elysium - Twilight High
09. la la larks - Q And A -Album Ver.-
10. Anderson .Paak - Am I Wrong (feat. ScHoolboy Q)
 
 
Def. vibin' with Anderson .Paak the most atm.

Deathgaze, Lynch, More  I like Icon For Hire a lot too. They just went through my city on tour like 2 weeks ago, I was sad I couldn't afford to go. 
 
1. Bastille - Weight of Living, Pt. 2
2. Astaria - Dancing rendez-vous!!
3. SEKAI NO OWARI - SOS - remixed by JAUZ -
4. Bespa Kumamero - Like A Moonlight
5. Eye Alaska - Rocky Road
6. Deftones - Fireal
7. Wonder Girls - Loved
8. EPIK HIGH - Kill This Love
9. Anberlin - Soft Skeletons
10. 한해 - 닐니리야 닐니리
 
Poppy emo bands with smooth vocals are a weakness of mine.
 

I was hoping they would be like NoGoD when they first started and look awful but sound incredible...(Guren chorus...I was shook), but alas.

>be a bandman
>play shitty american cons for years
>no one cares about you in japan
>finally start to come up, band does well
>almost make it to your 20th anniversary
>vocalist gets a bunch of absolutely heinous vocal conditions
>forced to disband
>over two years later, he's finally better and you can keep doing what you love
>some guy on a forum calls you cringey for taking a cute photo with your bandmates

Is this the same time he was caught on television shopping with a girl for a washing machine? lol  
 
They have become a guilty pleasure but LADYBABY's existence is one of the most WTF things to hit me recently.
 

After the tragic passing of their first vocalist Daichi last October, Victim of Deception have welcomed a new vocalist, Makito (ex-Breathe my Words), on June 20. They will release their first EP with him, "Godless" on July 25, and it will cost 1600 yen.
 
More info on their restart live will be revealed on July 27.
 
[tracklist]
1.Epilogue.
2.Mortal Prediction
3.Anneliese
4.The Purge
5.Godless
 
"Godless" cover:

 

Kaya with Yuhua Hamasaki *__*
And with James Majesty + 1 other queen
 

Some more pics of Kaya at DragCon in the FABULOUS outfit *____*
 

 

 
😍😘😍