shizukasou

It’s up there, and probably the first song I’d use to introduce the band to someone. It’s their entire career condensed into one song. 
 
An abridged Arche, I guess. 

lol
 
Honestly, I miss RES the most.  I'm happy I can still hear the talent of Takumi and Mika in Sukekiyo, but Satsuki is totally wasting his voice on the boilerplate, toothless hard pop/rock he's been putting out. Without a doubt, Satsuki was not a chief songwriter in RES, but bonus points for writing Ichigo Oblaat. 

Dude... 
DELUHI, D'espairsRay, PTP...
For real? Why do you guys make this to me? I can't vote with such massive picks like this, at some point those 3 were very important to my life.

This was everything

Because its a well crafted song? It uses effective use of atmosphere, dynamics, tension and release, instrumentation and has a good chorus and an interesting progression into an outro solo? Come on who doesn’t love outro solos?   But seriously, I would argue it’s the best song on the entire album and one of the best the band has done in recent years. Yeah sure, there’s nothing special about the elements I described above by themselves, but on this song the band actually managed to make the sum greater than its parts. Everything has a purpose for being there and while it’s not the best song ever created, or even for 2015, it’s creative enough and it’s near perfect execution is what makes it a strong track.    To me, this song should have been the standard and should have represented what the rest of the album should have been. Dynamic, creative, well composed, varied and a strong execution.   I still consider this album a slightly above average release. I do agree this album will be more favorable with the metal inclined (that’s me) and gazerock fans (also me). I can definitely see myself listening to this when I want something hard and fast from their catalog with just enough sprinklings of creativity for extra ear candy. For me it's got good replay value.   However, I don’t understand the people that tear this band and album apart like its the biggest pile of doo doo known to mankind. In fact I feel a lot of negativity toward the bands recent releases, this one included, are extremely exaggerated. The same goes for the praise for their well received albums. I love the band, but I’ve never considered any album they released to be a masterpiece or even close to one. The negativity might make sense if they ever had a streak of masterpiece albums, but they really never have.    I’ve only taken the band seriously on occasion, where I feel a large portion of everybody else takes this band seriously 110% of the time. But i guess this is an entirely different topic. 

藍-AI-(DEATHGAZE) solo project new maxi single "GLASS SKY" will be released at 2015/10/28 (1,500yen), for which full ver. of title track "GLASS SKY" will be available for listening to in their OHP since 2015/09/25
 
[track list]
01.GLASS SKY
02.SWALLOW
03.六月の雨 八月の雪(rokugatsu no ame hachigatsu no yuki)
 

 
http://aiemon.com/

How even?

Soon.

Reita has had some pretty solid bass lines after the indies era. While Karasu is one of the more noteworthy ones, he's done some solid work on almost every album (granted, on Division, you have 2 watch the MELT live to see/hear it on some key songs). Some of my favs are: Chizuru, Fadeless, Unbearable Fact, Pledge, Nagihara and a few other key tracks in the DIM era, and Yoin...got a few others too. 
 
He doesn't lack technique, he's just overshadowed or a lot of the tracks dont really leave much room for him to shine imo. 

English is basically an offshoot of an early medieval German dialect (the Angles and Saxons came from northern Germany after all), but later they got screwed over by french-speaking Normans, which is why there are a lot of words from medieval French as well. Also, at some point the English decided that all those declinations are just not cool and dropped most of them. And while they were at it, they also shifted half their vowels... but I digress.
 
 
In a nutshell: they are related (both are germanic languages) and are somewhat similar, but have developed quite differently since over 1500 years. I'd say they are similar enough to make it easier to learn one language if you speak the other, but it also can be confusing, because some words may sound similar and even have the same origin, but have developed into very different meanings now.

Well the imagery is there. Now I would like samples please. Still crossing my fingers for a DIM+Stacked Rubbish hybrid.

Guarda, d' altro canto c' è da dire che, dai quasi 10 anni di esperienza che ho con la musica giapponese, forse questo è il momento più basso a livello qualitativo. Ci sono un boato di uscite di gruppi totalmente inutili e che farebbero meglio a fare altro nella vita. 
Forse è proprio per questo che via via accantono il genere per ascoltare altro. 
 
Si, in ogni caso forse è la conversazione più stimolante in tutto il forum XD

ITS SO WEIRD HEARING ANTI POP BEING RECENTLY PLAYED. UGH.
IM IN HIGH SCHOOL AGAIN.

Artist: 和楽器バンド Single: 戦-ikusa- / なでしこ桜 Score: Meet the next Kagrra, of VK.
You already know what the deal is.

Few bands manage to turn me into a rabid fanboy the way 和楽器バンド has. As the bridge between the visual kei, doujin, and vocaloid scenes, their unique sound and striking visuals caught everybody's attention instantly. In a year, they've made moves in their career that other bands never get the opportunity to try. The hype is so real, both tracks from their second single 戦-ikusa- / なでしこ桜 were featured in the anime Sengoku Musou. For an indie band, that's a huge accomplishment.
 
戦-ikusa- / なでしこ桜 is another excellent entry in 和楽器バンド's small but excellent discography. There's enough strings between the eight members of this bands to appease any bondage fetishist, and as usual the performances are top notch. 戦-ikusa- is the more energetic opener. Conjuring emotions reminiscent of excitement and war, it's perfect for the anime it was chosen for. In general, it's a pleasant rock track and a good choice for promotion, but it's not one of their best tracks. Their previous single 華火 was a better take on this type of sound. I find the mid-tempo なでしこ桜 to be the more intriguing track. Yuko's voice is much more emotional and impactful here, and the slower pace of the song allows the band to create a stronger atmosphere. This is a much better representation of their sound, but perhaps the less accessible of the two songs.
 
This second single isn't enough to draw any major conclusions from. They've done a great job of picking up the mantle Kagrra, left behind in 2009, but 和楽器バンド have yet to prove themselves to me. To date, 和楽器バンド has only released three original songs. The real test is their first mini or album. Deliver an album as consistent yet varied as Vocalo Zanmai and I'll gladly proclaim them to be the best indie band this side of the rising sun.
 
For now, they're just pretty damn interesting.

Perception of music is an inherently subjective matter. To call my opinions baseless because you don't agree with them is childish. Please just learn to disagree with people's opinions instead of trying to ~explain~ why I'm wrong.

Artist: sukekiyo Album: VITIUM Score: The essence of sukekiyo, molded into perfection. sukekiyo has managed to slowly convert me from being a mildly disinterested bystander to a casual listener who's always on the lookout whenever something new pops up concerning the band. Their first full-length IMMORTALIS proved to be a slow-burning behemoth of many faces (and facets), and their latest offering VITIUM isn't too far off from that impression either. Kyo and co. don't seem to be in a hurry, as evidenced by the size of this new 'mini' album which is still longer than most bands' albums. Throughout these 37 minutes, they present their compositions in typical sukekiyo fashion: sprawling, mysterious, unpredictable. This time around, however, it seems they were able to craft a more unified sound for themselves (as if they weren't already unique enough), with a concentrated approach to boot. Each song sounds more coherent in and of itself, while still retaining the "expect the unexpected" avant-garde quality they've come to be known for.
VITIUM starts off powerfully and majestically with "leather field" – a dark flower blooming and branching out in sukekiyo's aural grotto. Hints of manic aggression and weirdness also rear their heads, prefiguring what's to come in the second track "dunes." This song introduces a demented vibe with its jittery guitars and drums, the band's interpretation of violent jazz-metal. Surprisingly, we are treated to an interlude next ("dot") that doesn't do much in itself but it serves as a fitting ambient intro to the following "foster mother." Kyo's deep croons drift onto a hypnotic beat complemented by beautiful guitar flourishes and keyboards that evoke an ambiguous atmosphere, on the edge of tranquility and uneasiness. One of the standout tracks for sure!
As VITIUM's centerpiece, "雨上がりの優詩 (Ameagari no yuushi)" pales in comparison to "foster mother," although it is a decent slower number complete with some fantastic textures and a soothing, airy outro. The atmosphere continues through "maniera," but it quickly turns into a quirky explosion of psychedelic metal tinged with calmer acoustic noodling. If DIR EN GREY drove out to the desert high on mescaline, this is what they would jam out. If "maniera" was the hallucinatory freak-out, the second interlude "白露 (Hakuro)" serves as a soundtrack to expulsion – not as fun but still necessary. All the more so, it heightens the magnificence of the follow-up, "celeste." Switching between tumbling piano sludge and schizophrenic episodes, it's a strong indicator of what sukekiyo is capable of. Naturally, after all of this there's no other way to go but softer, as "focus" closes the record with ethereal floaty melodies... or so it seems until the flamenco bit kicks in, segueing into one last creepy look into the abyss.
As you can tell, this mini album is quite a trip from start to finish. Whereas IMMORTALIS seemed overly long and drawn-out at times, VITIUM manages to capture the band's perfected essence, more powerful and twisted than ever. It is clear that sukekiyo has finally found its own voice. Let's just hope we'll get to hear that voice more in the future as well!

Another Italian, yay! Welcome here, hope you enjoy your stay! ;3

WhirlingBlack. He's a total bro <3 (no homo)
 
Edit: I guess I can expand on this a little lol
 
We've been friends online for at least 6-7 years, but it's been so long that neither of us actually remember when we first started talking. When things went sour with my girlfriend at the time and I had to make last-minute international travel changes to try and salvage my vacation, he went out of his way to book himself a trip to Japan(with like... a month's prior notice) so that I wouldn't have to go alone. Every time I've been remotely in the same part of the world since then, he's flown in to hang out with me.
 
A true bro.

This is tricky because I don't want to sound biased or completely close minded. I'd have to say male vocals. With scientific studies and research that I read about somewhere, they say it's natural that males have a wider vocal range than females, so I find a lot of times they can achieve more leaps and bounds. However, there are female artists that I favor as well, given that their vocals are tasteful and step outside of the norm kawaii chuchu nasally pop vocals.
 
So basically I'm not close minded to trying anything once, but looking through my favored artists, about 70% of them have male vocals.

Welcome here! What a lovely introduction post, it was a pleasure reading it - awesome band list aside. I find it admirable of you to just be so open right from the beginning, so a huge double thumbs up! I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay, see you around!