saltofstones

What bothers me the most is how an association is being made between myself and the pejorative "Asian music freak" tag by the sheer force of the eccentricity of VK alone, to the point it completely obliterates the fact that I listen to music from all over the world and in many other languages, not just j-music and definitely not just VK. But VK is perceived as being so out there that it automatically becomes a very important aspect of my identity in the views of others i.e. my friends; even if they do know I listen to other stuff too, they choose to disregard it completely when they attempt to label my music tastes. It probably helps that they haven't really come into contact to actual j-music fanatics who wouldn't touch anything non-Japanese with a ten foot pole. I am pretty much the only example of a Japanese music listener they know and automatically assume I am the superlative in that regard. And while I learned to disregard the teasing, I can admit that it still annoys me a little. I actually had a fight with a past friend who would not stop teasing me about not being interested in going to an anime convention. I was labeled a hypocrite for trying to pretend I'm not interested when in reality I am such an Asian fanatic who most definitely likes everything Japanese and just claims not to for the sake of appearances I guess? This was pretty much the worse it ever got when it comes to skewed ideas about my listening to j-music and I do realize it's a matter of what kind of people you have in your social circle like what someone else above said.
 
I've found that others who simply know I'm into Japanese music without knowing exactly to what extent or anything at all about VK really give no damns. It does not register to them in any way other than "uh, that's weird, but whatever you like!" . The least they know the better actually. No one actually tries to pry and find out more. And I've long stopped trying to introduce people to it. When it comes to VK, it's not just the visuals and the language that bother others, but the tone of most vocalists is also one of the biggest "offenders". I kind of like how expectations are subverted whenever I listen to something in perfectly fine English and they dig it only to find out it's Made in Japan, that was fun for a while.
 
 

wtf they're not even brutal 0/10 doesnt deserve to be on the list
 
Nah, actually, I'm quite frankly surprised to see this album appear here. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nevertheless. Mostly just because I didn't feel it reflected the majority of the active userbase's taste.. Anyway, most of the things I've heard that Sou and Zull have been involved in (well, maybe except for The Candy Spooky Theater) have been quite stellar. I dont actually know who's responsible for composing most of Silence's material, but I sure as hell do enjoy the atmosphere they manage to create w/ their music. Also agree w/ the statement that they appear to have ''sacrificed'' some of the more dense/abstract elements of their style for a somewhat more accessible sound, but the end result's still good. Not ''Tokage's personal top 10 of the year'' good, but undeniably stellar nevertheless.

Day 2: 歌謡サスペンス劇場 (Kayou suspense gekijou) by ベル (belle)

 
Release Date: 2016-02-17
Label: SPEED DISK
Genre: Visual Kei
 
 
Impressions from @emmny:
 
 
 
Sample song:
 
Buy the album:
Amazon Japan

Day 1: psycho:lens. by …。【サイレンス】(Silence)

 
Release Date: 2016-04-22
Label: Independent
Genre: Visual Kei
 
Impressions from @Ito:
 
 
Impressions from @emmny:
 
 
Sample song:

Buy the Album:
CDJapan | Amazon Japan

臓器のノゾキ穴。(Zouki no nozokiana)


Track list:
01.チョコレート階段(Chocolate kaidan)
02.「洗脳」(Sennou)
03.液状部屋 (Ekijou heya)
04.絶倫フルコース (Zetsurin full course)
05.「腐乱腐乱」 (Furanfuran)
06.すてきな唄。 (Suteki na uta)
 
吐瀉物 (Toshabutsu)


01. 吐瀉物 (Toshabutsu)
02. 「便所2」 (benjo2)
 
The great part of being a visual fan is all the unpredictable wackiness that happens behind the scenes. I don't think anyone would have predicted that one of the best visual albums of 2015 would have come from a band that had only a demo-tape before their full album release. This band burst onto the scene with a foul sound: even among their contemporaries who borrow from the early 2000's visual-kei sound, Kuroyuri to Kage were different. Their songs moved along with a hauntingly heavy feel, more akin to the sounds of sludge-metal than the hyper-sanitized metalcore/djent hybrids currently reigning the scene. It was especially wild considering this was the new band of Memento-Mori, a band with a heavy japoneseque leaning. Their image was as dark as their doomy sound, led by the particularly enigmatic and freaky vocalist Karasuna Mei. Themes of perversion, darkness, rape, murder and anything else you wouldn't ever want to see unless it was in a horror movie make up the lyrical themes and concepts of their releases. A period of long inactivity towards the later half of 2015 had stans suspicious, so the news that they'd be dropped from AINS and losing two founding members to retirement wasn't all that big of a shock. That said, they chose to continue independently* on their own label Yamikakumei with a four member lineup, recruiting a support drummer. What did the future hold for a once very promising band on one of the best labels in the scene?
 
Kuroyuri to kage return from flopsville after some label drama and losing two original members, releasing Zouki no nozokiana and Toshabutsu in 2016, slaying our existence. What could have been a recipe for disaster has been whipped into a yummy two course meal by the master chefs behind KTK, albeit made of human flesh and blood. Dinner is the mini-album Zouki no nozokiana, the band's second mini album and first formal release after the departure of guitarist Koyomi and drummer Mutsuki, released on the 10th of August, 2016. Dessert is Toshabutsu, the band's second single, released on the 2nd of November. So without further ado ladies and gentlemen, let's say grace and sink our filthy forks into this!
 
These releases are similar enough stylistically to fall under one review, they could have been recorded in the same sessions—that said, Kuroyuri are quite consistent with their sound. Make no mistake, this is the same band from 2015 for the most part, the differences from their prior output are quite fine, but still prominent. The most notable difference is the more direct sound: all the tracks here follow the same mid-tempo crawl Kuroyuri have been known for, shedding the ballads and faster songs from their debut. The blast beats are entirely gone, and so are the eerie music box ballads. The single guitar setup has pushed more of an emphasis on electronics and less on lead guitar parts, the surprising old-school solos Koyomi whipped up in the past are noticeably absent. To compensate for the missing guitar, along with the newly added bleepbloops, the bass is turned up to 11—and I mean it. The bass pummels like no one's business. I haven't heard basslines this obnoxious since like...ever. The way the bass is mixed is also fascinating, on the surface it's just a lot of clacking, trembly bass work. The magic comes when you crank the volume up; the low end is massive, almost like a subwoofer was dubbed over the bassline. The bass and guitar almost occupy the same amount of space in the mix, so you will hear every bass hit and every note K plays. The end result is a more pummeling sound, less Kagerou and more Slipknot or Korn. It's all less dynamic than their first two releases, which is a bit of a loss for me, but it's an interesting way Kuroyuri have chosen to advance their sound and adapt to the member changes.
 
Onto the individual releases, Nozoki... is a 6 track mini, half featured in the prior mail-order/live-limited singleうろんなチョコ冷凍。(Uronna Choko Reitou.) from April 2016. “Chocolate kaidan”, “Zetsurin full course” and “Suteki na uta” are all remastered from their original demos, sounding noticeably sharper and less lo-fi, while the rest are new tracks. That said, the production job on the mini is far from perfect, it's rather obnoxiously clipped. “Chocolate kaidan” isn't too notable a track but serves as a solid into for the rest of the album. Tt follows from Kuroyuri's original formula of clean, reverb-y guitar parts paired up with a heavy chorus and clean vocals, originally featured to brilliant effect in “Yokusou”. “Sennou” takes no prisoners, melding djent-y riffage (!!) with an alt-metal crawl, dubstep breakdown (??) and insane vocals. The subtle shifting of the track's rhythm and Mei's contrasting vocals make it an album highlight and totally addictive. “Ekijouheya” isn't as interesting as the rest, but is notable for the wild Korn-esque scat vocal breakdown and amazing slap bass solo in the middle. The new emphasis on electronics/manipulation is on full display here, as the buzzy synth duels against the guitar and bass in the verses. “Zetsubou full course” features some disturbing child choir echoing Mei's vocals in the intro and chorus, and is home to the sole guitar solo on the album. The track overstays its welcome at just over five minutes long, but it is one hell of a freaky track. My favourite track, “Furanfuran” follows right after, opening with a barrage of alt-metal riffage and slap bass all while Mei goes insane in the back. I'd like to think this is a really fun live song, as the rhythm goes perfectly with moshing furitsuke, or choreography. The track builds in its noisiness while Mei goes back and forth between a hypnotic vocal melody and utter madness, all before coming to a pretty end. “Suteki na uta” is more or less a different variation of all the flavours already offered on the prior tracks.
 
Toshabutsu is where shit hits the fan (harharhar), by way of the title track; the best song Kuroyuri to Kage have released since “Yokusou”. The track opens up with trippy, oddly manipulated and dissonant chords (Inquisition, anyone?) backing the usual alt-metal crawl. It segways into the typical effects-laden clean guitar+bass passages Kuroyuri have basically trademarked at this point. The tension mounts with some operatic vocals, all before melting back into the same intro passage while Mei delivers the chorus. It's an odd chorus in that it's long and not all that catchy, but the way the guitars drop and Mei comes in with the lyrical delivery is so fucking addictive. Listen to this on blast and I guarantee you'll be slow headbanging like a maniac. This is so, so heavy in a way only Kuroyuri can do. Also notable is how Mei sticks to mostly clean vocals throughout the song, but ends up heavy enough to demolish your head. “Benjo2” is the b-side for “Toshabutsu”, and it sounds nothing like the original “Benjo”; rather serving as the manic release for “Toshabutsu”'s composed heaviness.
 
These releases aren't enough to convert Kuroyuri naysayers, but definitely warrant a listen from people who might have written them off in the past. In that same length, Nozoki... and Toshabutsu are stripped down enough to possibly alienate old fans who might not like their new, meatier sound. That said, if you're tired of the mass spawning of Deluhi clones, try-hard deathcore bands and oshare kei, and you reminisce about the days when MUCC were actually heavy and when Slipknot and Korn ruled MTV, then give this a listen. Dinner and dessert were delicious today, thanks for joining in on today's feast. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to the wipe the blood off the corners of my mouth and get to cleaning up this mess. I think i'll need more bleach. Until next time.
 
Both Nozoki no nozokiana and Toshabutsu are available for sale at CD Japan here and here respectively.
 
8/10
 
*the question remains as to whether they were actually dropped by AINS or whether something else is going on behind the scenes that we don't know; so for the intents and purposes of this review assume they're independent

It's been more than 4 years and I'm still not over Psysalia Psysalis Psyche calling it quits

Anorexia Kei is dead.

I have never liked this band. Honestly, this band is not a big loss ^^"

鳥籠ノ沙羅双樹ハ死華ノ花 is still their best song imo. One of my favourite songs last year. At least, they gave us some good memories.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

I'm not sure how to explain it but I feel like VK has a problem with  choruses. So often I hear songs that sound amazing only to be ruined by a boring chorus that doesn't seem to organically connect with the rest of the song, sounds uncharacteristically happy like an explosion of kittens and rainbows in musical form or is just bland and lacks the kind of punch you would expect from a chorus. Then when it's time to go back to the verses, the transition is all awkward. To me, the verses and bridge are usually more memorable than the choruses and I only seem to have this experience with VK. When I listen to a new song and it's shaping up to be a good one, I always have this concern that they'll go for this type of chorus and ruin everything and more often than not I am right. A good example of this would be SCAPEGOAT - 幼女A~Hide and Seek~ . Their Nemurenai something song is the same. It's frustrating to have everything in a song work except the chorus.

When vocalists do the silly "br00tal" growling/grunting thing like it's supposed to be MANDATORY to have a verse or two like that in your song. I'm not saying it doesn't have its place in vk, but more and more I hear bands over-use it without much purpose, just as a boring template.
 
Oh, and when an otherwise mid-to-fast-paced song's chorus is suddenly all slowwww and laaaazyyyy. I don't know who started this, but I found it most typical of GazettE back when I started noticing it popping up here and there, and now almost every band has a couple tracks like this.

I don't know what happened, so I'm going to assume there is some reason the mods have all  converged towards that ban and they weren't just being bullies. But even if Trombe was in the wrong, that does not in any way invalidate all the valuable contributions this person brought to the News section and the forum in general. I find it in poor taste to suddenly start acting as if his work wasn't such a big deal or even worse, that it was inconvenient this person was so thorough in news coverage.  I didn't see anyone complain about this before, so It feels disingenuous to start downplaying his/her work now that he/she won't post anymore.  I'm sure it's not the same for everyone here, but take a step back and it's easy to realize some of us were really appreciative of all the news posted, either minor or major, and in very due time. Just an opinion from someone who barely posts and has no  particular sympathies for anyone.

Haha, I actually think that wasn't too bad? At least they didn't say VK is a music genre (my biggest pet peeve) and stressed the fact there is a lot of variety inside the scene, although it would have been nice to emphasize that with some actual videos. I  was expecting something like DIV or lynch. to pop up, but I guess there wasn't enough time. But it seems they did some decent research and I am pleased with that. No blatant incorrect info.
 
I was actually expecting to see Obscure since that used to be the go-to video for scaring your family and friends, but that Insanity Injection video was a good substitute. As for the reactions, they were as expected, none of those people seemed to be the target audience for this kind of thing, save for that one guy who seemed sincerely impressed.

Haha, I actually think that wasn't too bad? At least they didn't say VK is a music genre (my biggest pet peeve) and stressed the fact there is a lot of variety inside the scene, although it would have been nice to emphasize that with some actual videos. I  was expecting something like DIV or lynch. to pop up, but I guess there wasn't enough time. But it seems they did some decent research and I am pleased with that. No blatant incorrect info.
 
I was actually expecting to see Obscure since that used to be the go-to video for scaring your family and friends, but that Insanity Injection video was a good substitute. As for the reactions, they were as expected, none of those people seemed to be the target audience for this kind of thing, save for that one guy who seemed sincerely impressed.

i have no clue why people think this is a bad video
their reactions are identical to visual kei, this wasn't intended to convert anyone into the fandom but as a topic of discussion--which tbh we need some more exposure of. yeah its cringey, i know but if you expected them to correctly cover visual kei then you're an utter blockhead. also its cool that they drew parallels with alt-metal, considering a good chunk of vk is still influenced by that stuff. they also made the video more than just "Wow Gender Bending" or "Japanese People R So Craycray", and i think it'll tune a good chunk of people onto vk. check the comments for risley circus, there's a whole bunch of people who know jack shit about vk but liked the visuals and want to explore more.
any foreign exposure is good publicity for visual kei bands, especially insanity injection and dadaroma. don't yall remember the whole "omfg have u seen obscure" kind of shit that introduced a whole generation of kids to j-rock in general? its not 2007-2009 anymore but i will still cross my fingers for some resurgence in interest that said my fingers will be crossed for a while cuz rip vk
 

To be honest and fair though, while I agree that Yohio is morally despicable in a lot of ways and the fact that I have personal relations with people affected by this (as do most in the fragment of what's left of a Swedish VK scene), I have to say that a major reason for the dislike is that western peoples shit generally get out a lot easier. There are plenty of Japanese bandmen who do equally awful things to fans and other women who happen to get in their way. We just don't really hear about it because we either chalk it up to Tanuki rumours or, most likely, no one cares to read up about it at all. Because looking up every entry level bandman who fucks up (without breaking any major laws) would just not be feasible.
 
Ironically though, I think he's representing the current (unfortunate) trends in the Japanese scene pretty well, tapping into both the pop and the more heavy sides of "neo-vk" with his various projects. The problem is that it's highly unoriginal and sounds like derivatives of a bunch of popular bands tossed together in a blender based on what he was able to dig up on his latest youtube escapades, bands that themselves aren't very exciting to begin with (this is personal opinion though, of course). I also always found him and his group of friends to have pretty shallow knowledge of VK during encounters so the fact that he apparently knew several 90s bands back in the day sometime surprises me, because I've always felt during conversations like they're the kind of guys who think Dir en grey's OBSCURE PV is the most cool and obscure shit around. (remember when Yohio was watching it in that documentary from SVT? lol.) 
 
So while I agree that there are plenty of good reasons to not like Yohio, my point is that if this was another good for nothing Japanese indie VK guy, chances are we wouldn't be interested, but precisely because he's a foreigner and we have access to a larger amount of information we are able to more easily pass judgement on his behaviour. And perhaps that's for the better, really.
 

I don't know what happened, so I'm going to assume there is some reason the mods have all  converged towards that ban and they weren't just being bullies. But even if Trombe was in the wrong, that does not in any way invalidate all the valuable contributions this person brought to the News section and the forum in general. I find it in poor taste to suddenly start acting as if his work wasn't such a big deal or even worse, that it was inconvenient this person was so thorough in news coverage.  I didn't see anyone complain about this before, so It feels disingenuous to start downplaying his/her work now that he/she won't post anymore.  I'm sure it's not the same for everyone here, but take a step back and it's easy to realize some of us were really appreciative of all the news posted, either minor or major, and in very due time. Just an opinion from someone who barely posts and has no  particular sympathies for anyone.

I don't know what happened, so I'm going to assume there is some reason the mods have all  converged towards that ban and they weren't just being bullies. But even if Trombe was in the wrong, that does not in any way invalidate all the valuable contributions this person brought to the News section and the forum in general. I find it in poor taste to suddenly start acting as if his work wasn't such a big deal or even worse, that it was inconvenient this person was so thorough in news coverage.  I didn't see anyone complain about this before, so It feels disingenuous to start downplaying his/her work now that he/she won't post anymore.  I'm sure it's not the same for everyone here, but take a step back and it's easy to realize some of us were really appreciative of all the news posted, either minor or major, and in very due time. Just an opinion from someone who barely posts and has no  particular sympathies for anyone.

I don't know what happened, so I'm going to assume there is some reason the mods have all  converged towards that ban and they weren't just being bullies. But even if Trombe was in the wrong, that does not in any way invalidate all the valuable contributions this person brought to the News section and the forum in general. I find it in poor taste to suddenly start acting as if his work wasn't such a big deal or even worse, that it was inconvenient this person was so thorough in news coverage.  I didn't see anyone complain about this before, so It feels disingenuous to start downplaying his/her work now that he/she won't post anymore.  I'm sure it's not the same for everyone here, but take a step back and it's easy to realize some of us were really appreciative of all the news posted, either minor or major, and in very due time. Just an opinion from someone who barely posts and has no  particular sympathies for anyone.