StriderSubzero

DSS and Uroboros vinyl both sound pretty rough, so I'm sure the Vulgar one is no bueno

Immortalis maybe? I thought Vitium was really boring personally, but this band has never really clicked with me tbh

At the time people hypothesized that the songs were related somehow. I assumed a remake of [KR] Cube that made that more apparent was coming, but apparently not

Absolutely love this album. They were such a cool band at this point in their career; everything is solid and the songwriting is tight. I love the guitars especially. Such a great fusion of industrial metal and VK tropes, and those octave chords that Karyu throws in are so recognizable to their style.

I don't like the new Fukai at all tbh, they changed nearly everything good about the original and the vocal phrases feel like they've been arbitrarily shortened in a lot of places

Sounds like a weirdly bright splash cymbal, or maybe even a synth stab there in the background combined with the cymbal hit?

This is generally true, but unless you're talking about specific instances of EQ and mixing decisions, it's hard to delineate between a production or mixing issue, so it's perfectly fine to just call it "production." For instance, you can say the guitars are muddy on TIW, but there's not really a way to specify that being an "error" in mixing specifically since we weren't in the room with the engineer. It might have resulted from the way they chose to record them

IMO Gauze has the best. WTD is my favorite album of theirs but I actually don't think the production on that one is very good lol. But it was nice to get a remaster of Dead Tree on Vestiges

I mean the worst songs have got to be either Downfall or Keibetsu to hajimari. Downfall is pretty much a heavier R to the Core (which is probably the worst song on Vulgar IMO). It's hard for me to dislike Devote My Life because of those smooth sliding bass grooves

You guys are nuts. Celebrate Empty Howls is awesome. That middle interlude with the tight harmonies and the transition where it kicks into that huge riff is probably my favorite moment of the whole album.

Solid 5/10 single IMO

New single out today: https://open.spotify.com/track/6ihYvb9mcHHyGp7iV4u5Q2?si=11nKnoxLQny3uhJX7-LFwA

This is all super fascinating, thanks for sharing!

Thanks, that's all very cool! As far as traditional metal bands go, there are quite a few listed here and many of them have at least some music on Youtube: https://www.metal-archives.com/lists/VN It seems like a fair amount of Vietnamese bands try to sing in English, which is cool and I understand they're hoping to reach a wider audience, but it's disappointing for me because I'm interested in learning the language, lol. As far as modern/indie rock goes, I thought these guys were pretty cool: Do you have any videos etc. of this? Sounds interesting.

Hey all, I've been learning Vietnamese and after visiting the country I've taken an interest in the culture more. I'm interested in finding more Vietnamese music and I have found some good EDM-style pop music such as Hoàng Thuỳ Linh, but I am curious about the rock scene. Does anyone have some insight on the music scene there? I gather Japanese music is not at all popular in Vietnam, but I am curious if anyone lives there and knows if there's any kind of visual kei-style bands there too.

I'm a bit confused as to what you're actually looking for? Is it specific albums or just rock bands from that time period?

I really don't know that I agree. Empty space is what makes music interesting, and that's why stuff like Animals as Leaders is boring to listen to (IMO) because literally every single second is packed and your ears get fatigued. Without empty space you can't have groove at all This is all modern rock and metal drums. It's all samples because recording live drums with this type of music isn't what people expect and they think it sounds like a demo. Live drums are also very expensive to record, like prohibitively so, and I doubt DEG have the budget for that.

Drums were the first instrument I ever learned and Shinya was a big influence on me, so I may be a little biased but I think he's a very creative drummer and I disagree that he's the weak link. For those that think he should be playing something else during the fast, heavy sections, what would that even be? There's not much room for embellishments with parts like that, and the only thing I could think that would show more technical prowess would be something like a blast beat, which may be more impressive but it certainly isn't more interesting.

Ka-za-ri has at least one demo tape actually: https://www.discogs.com/Kazari-Close-My/release/10998688 It's not terribly hard to find. The quality is awful but some of the songs are actually pretty cool

How much is shipping to the US for one CD?

Nice catch! It's hard to say for sure, but it does look like it could be the same dude. That Devil Kitty cover is really weird though; do you know what the title says?

He's also on the cover of the Kichiku Kyoushi (32sai Dokushin) no Nousatsu Kouza single, but I don't think anyone knows for sure who he is. My best guess is some random teacher they scanned a photo of or something, or possibly some kind of stock photo? There was a thread about it a few years ago actually:

Anyone have any recommendations for cool stuff to see in Shinjuku?

Yeah I really can't get into this album but not much of Sukekiyo's stuff has done much for me in the past either. There's a few songs that are okay but the songwriting just doesn't make any sense to me. It's messy in a Dillinger Escape Plan kind of way but maybe a little more proggy but with less structure? Very odd