Karma’s Hat

Black swan had its moments and I fuck with early Nega too. There’s just something that’s this pervasive mediocrity when it comes to Jin. His dedication to the art I don’t doubt for a second so I like him as a person, but aside from classic pre-first lp Nega material I find him only palatable in small doses. All the best to the guy nonetheless the riffs on this sounded fine so who knows what will happen – although I have a hunch and expect the same ’ol

I can't get excited until I hear Jin singing a chorus that isn't the same one he always does. Idk if he genuinely recycles the melodies or if his distinct voice just makes everything sound the fucking same.

AvelCain was a band with good moments in a largely forgettable discography, and those moments were when they managed to sound somewhat like a band and still retain that spirit. The problem wasn't that they were raw or something ( although the general consensus on MH is still that if a vocalist wouldn't be up to scratch competing in American Idol, he's probably shit and certainly not something one could be playing to their friends and relatives, ) but that they could barely even decide on a sound between all the chinese restaurant ost gimmicks, nu metal riffs and vaguely old school ballads and freak outs; and all of this exploration was being done with minimal musicianship while still insisting on having a clean studio sound ( which sounded awful to the point of almost being reminiscent of western vk production ) and making defined songs instead of bursts of noise which they probably should've been doing instead. For every Psycho and ID they had an ocean of mediocrity that Karma's lifestyle performance art took a level above. Idk what's the totality of their composition credits but I wouldn't be surprised if everything they made themselves was shit. This project sounds like he's finally going for something, a sound with a concise aesthetic and the influences he's working with here definitely mean that this is in the right side of history even if it isn't the best thing going so poseurs leave the hall.

Keeping the memory of this band alive. People on this board and elsewhere definitely like worse shit so I'd call them underrated. Totally unique sound, even when they were doing "fillers." Tzk's and MiA's interplay is something that happened once and will never happen again. Tzk's lyrics too are so particular to him even in translation

I was just listening to their album and it wasn’t that bad actually. The first mini and single were p good and while they haven’t been that interesting since, I still have hope. I like the look at least, so hopefully nothing loungey elevator music/ballad shit

You can hear a little bit of them in Steroid. But honestly I think it's good that they're abstaining from using them as other than a flourish. Some of their older stuff bangs really fucking hard with the live intensity + growls tho

A little bland but okay. Still same old, p solid raido

The DVD is great, and Lime's live vocals are so good and his voice cracking & all the other extra flourishes he added really bring some of the songs to life like the ballads for example. The most recent song relied maybe a little bit too much on the djenty riffing for my taste. I'm still not worried about their future direction of anything and I'm sure they'll keep their character intact at least for one album. Hope he implements more of his screams and growls without the music starting to veer towards the metalcore territory. If there's anyone who can do this tastefully, it's them.

rip in peace babushka never liked them anyway. the internet is full of stories about what kind of a guy this dude was and they're hilarious and sad depending on whether you were at the receiving end of a package packed with household garbage along with your order. recently saw live Mystifier, Profanatica, Rotting Christ and Watain. Mystifier and Profanatica were both incredible and legends worthy of the name. The Mystifier album came out already I believe but just like with the latest Profanatica I prefer to avoid until I hear good enough word about it so that I won't ruin my image of the band. There's not that many bands that were able to churn out a good album after such a layoff, but Profanatica was one of them until quite recently so maybe. Rotting Christ was horrendous Wacken rock with the stage moves to match. They even managed to completely ruin their old stuff by performing like a heavy metal boyband with shit like "HEY THIS ONE GOES OUT TO ALL OF YOU MY METAL BROTHERS" etc. I expected Watain to suck as well, but with them the rock opera stage show actually worked despite my best efforts to resist. Played a lot of old stuff too, and I suppose I'm a little partial towards them despite hating everything past second album because I remember seeing them live in 2010 in a tiny venue was pretty intense.

I'm being suffocated by all these holidays of plastic junk. When I go to the shop, in order to survive since not like there's any other place to get food while you're in a city specifically in order to survive both winter and abet starvation alike, my fucking apples and cabbages are being strangled by the sights and sounds made out of shit shipped over from some third world shit hole that's being kept a shit-hole in perpetuum in order continue keep the ships of rubbish afloat and running for the benefit of the endless accumulation of garbage. Rotting from inside, the buildings in erosion and on my way to work I count the empty bottles on the sidewalk and wonder what sort of masochistic affection I have towards all life's nonsense that I just don't drink every day out of spite, but instead eat lentils and broccoli and go to gym to keep a healthy libido to fuck until my designated decline and end. One tries to find beauty somewhere, and yet is crippled by acute self-awareness and unable to convince oneself that such exists in anything but illusion and in consciously compromising ones critical faculties. What will I do when I can't even shit by my own damn self, and when I finally resign myself all my hopes of dissolving within cracks of the social fabric and unravelling it from the inside and bury them before me like a son sent home from the battlefield. I've been trying to figure out whether the world was at least a modicum more tolerable before American culture shat all over it and deprived civilisation of its last vestiges of pride & dignity, only to realise that the only difference now is that we're just too self-aware to be proud of anything, and anyone putting themselves in front of a gun was probably just overcompensating because he was molested or lacked physical connection with a parent during early infancy. In my family there's a child, not ours but one taken in out of good will and philantrophy -this is a lie-, who's on the steady downward spiral that are usually being met by those from similar backgrounds of deprivation and abuse. I try to look into his eyes to find something there, a shred of humanity or compassion, and all I'm able to see is just painfully dull; so achingly dull in fact that I don't even care as we descend together into the usual petty crime, which has already begun, and with age comes alcoholism and drug abuse leading either to death or religious conversion. I remember at a class reunion years ago when one of my classmates had gotten back to the straight and narrow after having sniffed enough glue to have Jesus himself manifest in front of his eyes was wondering whether tattoos would be okay for one in with the Lord. Unfortunately I couldn't say, and in my mind I tried to admire animal vigour it takes to go so deep in such a thing, but I got bored even just half-way into the thought. Convictions and conversions don't come easy. I could still bank in on some cataclysmic event to come along and shake up mine foundations and give some raison detre along my way, and I suppose in living the lifestyle I did, and to an extent still do, it was definitely on its way in some form. Almost a month back being drunk as I was I tried to straddle my way home in the middle of the night I was accosted by a back alley robber & adventurer possibly angered by something I had said before in the pub nearby, and in defense of my honor and belongings I engage in ill-conceived battle which I promptly went on to lose catastrophically. The first punch I caught while on straight feet, and as I was keeling over I remember being as joyous as I ever was that at least something was fucking going on in my life finally. Nevertheless, after putting up a less than commendable effort I take a few more punches for my efforts and being off my arse drunk as I was, I am left shaking my first and shouting as he takes of with my bag in victory. Trying to compose myself I come to realise i'm concussed, and the blood coming out of my mouth isn't helping either, I start vomiting profusely and next thing I know I wake up in a hospital in a foreign country where no one naturally speaks any English. After foiling my attempts at leaving politely by vomiting some more while trying to provide proof of my sobriety, I hatch a plot of daring escape where waiting for the nurses to be at the furthest edges of the two adjoining rooms; and so I run off for freedom through accumulating numbers of doors and identical rooms of seemingly no purpose whatsoever. As I make it to freedom, taking in a long, well-deserved breath of fresh big city air, I miraculously manage to navigate my living corpse to my lodgings covered in blood and vomit with barely even a quarter of my faculties left bearing with me. Coming home I collapse on the bed and still, incredibly enough with the rush of violence well past behind me, I couldn't care less. About this life, about this world nor about anyone residing in it. There are fireworks going off outside, and I'm supposed to go the New year's party at my work place and I don't want to. I'm hoping to get ill before I have to go so that I'll at least have an excuse and won't feel bad about lying. I got one hour left.

Their stuff sounds kind of same all the way but I still find myself only enjoying some releases while being bored by others. First mini is great, the latest release I couldn't slog through. There's something here, so all the best and hopefully they won't disband.

This is an interesting phenomenon and the fault is probs in the management or something because the policy seems to have been collectively realised and put to action by all these bands ( Although Girugamesh and D'espairsray played aprox 20 songs a set during the last EU tours. ) Comparing the Gazette sets from 2007 and 2013/2016 is like night and day when the former is being treated like an actual show on the tour while the latter had already become a stumped sampler on the way back to the hotel. Last time I held out hope for something interesting but by now it's long gone. TOMORROW NEVER DIES will cap it off a phlegmatic performance and the world will be all the worse for it.

Sounds like a step back for them. A little bit of 13, a little bit of the more synth driven early post-reunion material. It sounds pleasant, but definitely them sticking to a mode and the surprises in store are just call-backs to something from before like track 7 reminding me of 8.

Living in continental Europe now I'll most likely go, although i have to say that the show from 2016 was a considerable downgrade to the one in 2013.

What the fuck is this album seriously. Someone on NWN said that he probably just shat the other half after the drummer left and I'm inclined to to believe that's the case. This album has the distinction of being the least aesthetically consistent PN record and I just can't with the two remakes. taking like a good 1/4 of the entire runtime. The half black metal half disco PN would've been a good idea but now it just looks like he pieced together a bunch of the weakest PN material to date. Aux Armes and Songe Viking are nice albeit with considerable influence in the sound from the militant zone пидр, and the remakes too but I hardly see the point and then by the end it's Aristocrasse and Domine that again sound like Famine was fucking around in the studio. While I'm partial to this band so I like everything, I definitely like this the least and his hard on for the ukrainian metalcore posse is lame.

I fucking love it. From the comments here I was so sure this would be him doing the same bullshit sellout routine everyone seems to be doing, but to my surprise it's Karma's attempt at the more Luna Sea influenced 90's style in the same cruddy way I've come to love him for. He's such a fucking boy I don't know why I ever doubted him.

I remember being excited for this band but now it’s mediocre singles and mia cosplay next to a horse wagon

Thoughts on new album? My first impression was that it's the same problematic Kiryu we've had for a while now. Some great ideas with the fierceness that shows off their musicianship and ability to conjure up this Japanese occult atmosphere intertwined with the more boring chinese restaurant OST stuff they've become known for that I'm sure everyone has had enough of by now. Positively surprised nonetheless as I went in with literally no expectations. Special shoutout to the last track that almost brought to mind their earlier output.

I'm still debating whether i'll go to the nazi fest in kiev to get that CD before the official release since they're going to sell it there along with the acoustic PN gig. After some listens I like both new tracks

honestly anyone who cares enough about bandmen to build their life around them should be euthanised

This band fucking rules I can't wait. Adoratio is still being spun here at least on a weekly basis

I can't stand listening to Sustain the Untruth on CD but live it was pretty good actually. and I also really liked Uroko when they played it

didn't they just lose a member too. can't catch a break these guys

yeah obviously he has girls paying for this and he most likely doesn't get a lot/any money from these weird shows, other than merch

A little report from Warsaw yesterday. After taking a bit of a lax approach in actually getting to the venue instead of just drinking, myself & the other MH representative meat and her husband finally manage to get to the venue about 10-15 short of the show starting. Doing dispo things I naturally que up to the line for drinks inside hall and about halfway through that morass the new intro kicks off and the band gets on stage to a strangely lukewarm reception. Going into a little bit of panic, I manage to convince a fine local man in front of me to get me my two shots and then right away I start shuffling towards the best spots I can find while Utafumi is only about a halfway over. The first thing me, and more or less everyone I talked to later on ( I must've chatted up to a good 20 people by the end of it ) noticed was the audience was very lame. A lot of the crowd that must've listened to j-rock five to ten years back, and now they've shown up as a contractual obligation to the past with their dumb boyfriend filming the show in tow. It was up until about Uroko that the audience just straight up fucking sucked, and the way this stuff works is that the confusion and lack of enthusiasm is just as infectious as the reverse, and it was only after that first genuine surprise when the actual fans decided to start disregarding the bores around them. The bottom was reached after Fukai when the band fucked off from the stage and staff started running around, and some people even wondered whether it was due to the reaction they received, or lack thereof. Anyway, the band comes back eventually and it was slow, but sure forward momentum after that and during Keibetsu Hajimari there was even an attempt at a moshpit which I joined instantly and thoroughly enjoyed as long as it lasted. The band definitely started winning the audience over as the show went on, and not even surprised because this is the best Dir en grey I've seen live. Kyo is absolutely killing it from beginning to end, like it's a marvel to actually see him in person and from fairly close as well doing all the theatrical stuff he has brought back/and from Sukekiyo where I suppose he was more free to do himself. Blossoming Beelzebub was something else with Kyo doing the same thing he did for the Mode of DSS live where his face is projected on the screen in real time, and he's just sort of drooling while giving the best rendition of the song I've hear so far. On all the ballads and stuff that might've been harder for him to pull off eight, nine years back he performs pretty much flawlessly from the start of the show 'till the end of it. It's mind blowing just how much he has improved and how many faults he's addressed even after seemingly permanent damage. If I have to find a negative here, my friend complained about Shinya sounding sloppy during the show in Finland, and even if I became inclined to agree due to self-suggestion or some sort, I'm still going with it. The lack of intensity on his part was made apparent also by the fairly quiet sound of the venue, which was definitely surprising after having been there a few days back and everything sounded great and hit fucking hard. I quite liked the new songs live, even Values of Madness that I don't particularly care for I enjoyed and the band seemed to enjoy playing as well. Keibetsu hajimari and Devote My Life should have had a pit, and shoulders and fists should've hit the idiots standing still and filming in the face; there was this one dude who looked super offended that I featured myself in his video by growling the To Die In part in Devote, like fuck off watch them off of youtube or something instead. Ranunculus got the people in my part of the audience hype, which I definitely didn't expect. Really good live tho. After the initial set ends your boi goes for more shots to be able to actually go through the entire fake encore routine that I still maintain is the most awkward thing ever, especially when you're in a country where people are struggling whether to pronounce the word encore either in their native way, the english way or the japanese one. At this point I'm finally getting kind of tipsy so I go along with it, and the band comes back to play The Final, Sustain the Untruth and Rasetsukoku. The first two were awesome with the all the audience participation and this made me enjoy Sustain the untruth for the first time in my life! So that's definitely something... and I mean obviously The Final always goes over well. While I might have wanted to hear Kodou instead, I can't say that would have been as good of a time as singing along to the The Final even if it has so far happened at every Deg show I've been to. Rasetsukoku got a good, energetic performance that unfortunately didn't have anything for me to do, lol. I was still clamouring for that pit that just never came, and you might find me doing three shots at once, but there are levels I don't stoop down to and that's swinging my hands up in the air like an asshole. Rasetsukoku has this weird rhythm anyway that doesn't really lend itself to jumping or anything like that, but a circle pit would totally work. The band leaves and the audience gets loud. They throw some stuff in the crowd and people cheer. I drink some more and then end up chatting to anyone with a pulse while waiting for the band outside (as an ironic nod to the weeaboo culture, just so you know) and wondering whether Kyo ate a giant pizza really fast because the box that went in came out in no time while it was just him there. Quite a lot of people travelling from other countries, with some even going to multiple shows, and of course some of the Japanese fans were there as well and we broke some cultural boundaries together trying to figure out what transport to take back to town. In the end I stumble upon this group of greek people and off we go for some beers, and one thing leads to another and now I'm here, hungover and writing this while wondering how I'm still alive living this lifestyle. Great show despite the initial difficulties from the venue and the audience. The band is undeniably in peak form right now, so if you got a chance to see them then I say go and hopefully the audience you get is a little better than mine. I'm too trashed to proofread this but i hope it makes sense for ya guize!!