relentless

1. Madara -- Your typical Dir en grey-esque intro 2/10 2. SUICIDE -- The musicianship is pretty good but Wataru's growls and screams kind of ruin it, he needs lots of practice. 6/10 3. BAAL-ZEBUL -- The Blossoming Beezlebub intro for 5 seconds then it turns into your typical Japanese-VK-BR00TAL METAL sound though there is one or two decent moments 4/10 4. ABUSE -- What the hell is this? Completely out of place "chorus" too. 4/10 5. Suiren -- typical ballad and awkwardly placed especially with how ridiculous this album's been so far 4/10 6. Jazetsu -- Early girugamesh riffs with a Dum Spiro Spero writing state of mind, still kinda boring 3/10 7. EN -- WUHH OHHH WUHH OOHHHH WUHH OHHH WUHHHHHH OHHHHH WUHHHHH OHHHHHHH WUHHHHH OOHHHH <--- Wataru trying to do Kyo's harmonies, fails miserably. 2/10 8. HESITATION -- Starts off with a riff Red (or any other christian metal / post grunge band) would write and then goes into something else entirely. The chorus is pretty cool though 5/10 9. FEROCIOUS -- If D'espairsRay sucked just a little bit more 3/10 10. HIDE & SEEK -- Some attempts at blast beats, the song is just wayy too straightforward with nothing rewarding. 3/10 11. MADMAN -- Wat.... 1/10 12. FORTITUDE -- surprisingly a veryyy good track that showcases Wataru's vocals in a positive light. One of the only good things about the album especially with how it naturally picks up and ascends into a pretty solid climax. 8/10 In Sum: A few things. People often state that Mao is the biggest Kyo wannabe, but I'm pretty sure this album proves it's actually Wataru. I know comparing Dir en grey to anything is unfair and borderline douchey (unless done right!) but Wataru isn't afraid to wear the strong influences on his sleeve to make them so obvious. He idolizes Kyo. And to assert that, now they're suddenly remaking old tracks with a new touch? What other band on the SAME LABEL as them has done that previously? Oh wait... I'm sure the band switched to Firewall to follow their leader samas but also to make an album that they wanted to without little interruption, but that's not always good. The album holds almost no consistency for each track and that has always been 12012's weakness for me -- they have great concepts through albums but they never hold a similar tune to make it a GOOD album. The only thing that wraps this up in the end is Fortitude but even that ending is weak and doesn't reference anything previous. This album was a mess and a pain to listen to. 4/10

Ruki's performances always fluctuate it seems -- or have been. For a while during the NLSB tours they used a lot of backing tracks to assist Ruki on vocals (emitting screams where he would not), but from recent footage it seems like they're scaling that back a bit? Idk, they're doing their own thing I guess.

Not a fan of those "core" genres, but I've gotten to like these guys a lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2JPNDKI0as

sunshineee

Still expecting an album that deviates from the main sound of Suicide with poppy choruses thrown in, as expected. Side note: Wataru sounds like how I imagine Kyos voice must sound like now while going through surgery.

I would say a lot of bands have drawn influence from Dir en grey when, you know, they became relevant again with UROBOROS. Once that album dropped there were a lot of newer bands that sought to fit into a mold in comparison to Dir en grey. It's also found in bands that have been around for a while, but that influence is a mere reference at best. It doesn't matter if it's a HUGE influence (Sadie, this song) or in passing (12012 on SEVEN ), there is shown to be a correlation. And there was metal before Dir en grey, but Dir en grey is seeming to be a stronger influence especially in some newer VK bands then less-relevant metal from previous years (IN JAPAN).

You're a mod so I assume you know how this forum works: Any band that does something blatant that can be however referenced to what another similar (same label, country, scene, etc) is doing, people are going to think it's a copy or there is correlation. Right or wrong. I thought you'd know this?

lol

The discrepancy is not JUST the term "Vanitas", it's "VANITAS WORLD-VIEW" that is exactly how Dir en grey (a strong influence of Nega) has gone about their music for the passed 4 years. Take that and the vocalist from Nega (what's his name) drawing influence from Kyo, and boom there you have it: an album influenced by Dir en grey. Not that big of a deal, doesn't make Nega any less good. The whole idea of a WORLD-VIEW in Japan is practically exclusive to Dir en grey in the sense that they are one of the only (that I know of) that markets their music in that vain.

"vanitas world view" There's no longer any shame with copying Dir en grey. Embrace it!

is there seriously a track on this album called "BAAL-ZEBUL"?

The main difference here is that D'espairsRay had other underlying problems with management which curbed their disbandment. I don't see that being a problem here, especially as to how frequent such an illness is for those who professionally strain their vocal cords. (auctioneers, vocalists, etc.)

they've turned into the Japanese A Day To Remember. I'm officially done listening to them.

monolith sounds sooo much more incredible than anything they did on The Dream The Space. A lot more variation. a lot more depth.

none of them

this will definitely replace the original Uroboros for me. going back to the old uroboros now is pointless. the clarity and skill put into the production is just incredible. From the machine gun fills of Shinya's snare, to the newly overpowered guitars in the heavier parts of vinushka. DAMN.

honestly? very little. lol

Dir en grey -- DUM SPIRO SPERO the GazettE -- TOXIC

The vocalist looks like clever sleazoid kyo The preview sounds cool. It'd be a shame if they tried to go the route of heavy dir en grey influence because as their own they're fine. Never really fully got into 12012, but perhaps I should start!

boston was great

All shirts are $30, hoodie is $55...and there is a bottle opener for $5, a poster for $15...and there are like 3 types of shirts. All with really small designs that I personally would never bother with.

Japanese bands have an easy time touring Europe mostly because the circuit of venues is rather straight forward. Where as in the US, one city will have 20+ venues of varying capacities. And the European population are generally more accepting of Japanese music, Americans not soo much.

Thoughts? Rosario -- chorus and solo = Different Sense but the rest of it holds its own. Definitely my favorite Sadie track especially because they were slumping HEAVILY over the last few singles 9/10 SUICIDAL ROCK CITY -- Intro of Vortex, sections of MUCC songs like Daikrai, kind of unoriginal especially with entire sections from other songs ripped from it. The chorus is pretty catchy though! 6/10 Break The Silence -- sounds like a riff you would hear from a band like Red, Flyleaf, or Evanesence. Though it's certainly pretty fresh for the band. Awesome song. 9/10 Overall: though lacking inherent originality, this single pleases!

With TOXIC, my expectations were low...so there really was nowhere to go but up. 1. INFUSE INTO -- a poor attempt at dubstep and constant "SUCK A DICK, INFUSE INTOOOO" or something like that. 6/10 2. VENOMOUS SPIDER'S WEB -- What I thought was going to be another boring pop punk song by the GazettE turned into a really cool track that is just all over the place. 8/10 3. SLUDGY CULT -- VERMIN pt. 2! Though it lacks on originality (inb4 flame war) in terms of progression, the song eventually pays off as it grinds through multiple progressions and keeps itself full of energy to warrant another listen. A thing to note: the guitar work between Aoi and Uruha is at an all time high. 7.5/10 4. RED -- the band apparently promised (at least Ruki did?) that it was going to be different slightly. But there's nothing different about it. Still a cool song though! 8/10 5. THE SUICIDE CIRCUS -- oh yes! Another track that is just all over the place and after 5+ listens still sounds like a fresh track. They don't try to be uber badasses and throw down the BR00TAL DROP B RIFFS in this track...and that's a good thing! Well at least until that breakdown... 8.5/10 6. SHIVER -- My least favorite from the 100+ singles the band has released since [DIM]. It's mainly because the song feels hollow compared to RED. It's way to...UNORIGINAL too. 5.5/10 7. MY DEVIL ON THE BED -- awesome drum and bass progression but sounds way too Marylin Manson-esque for my tastes 7/10 8. UNTITLED -- an awkward ballad thrown right into the middle of things. It's not bad though 7/10 9. PLEDGE -- Their best ballad. Hands down. 8.5/10 10. RUTHLESS DEED -- One of their best tracks. Hands down. As if they listened to DUM SPIRO SPERO on repeat and wrote this. Though, it does feel completely out of place. 9/10 11. PSYCHOPATH -- this is the GazettE trying to say "hey we can be brutal too guys!". Too bad they do it on like every album. Though it does get props for being the best HEAVY song they've done because it's not just the same riff over and over again like Discharge or Ogre. This track is somewhat better. But DISTURBINGLY out of place. 8/10 12. VORTEX -- One of my favorite singles from all of the ones they've released since DIM. It has some awesome variation and an awesome chorus. 8.5/10 13. DON'T KILL YOURSELFFF. DON'T KILL YOURSELFFF. DON'T KILL YOURSELFFF. DON'T KILL YOURSELFFF. Listening to that over and over kinda makes me want to... 4/10 14. OMEGA -- Terrible idea for a closer. TERRIBLE idea. 3/10 Overall: 7/10 Despite the album not flowing well AT ALL and being kind of an awkward listen through fragments of ideas, there are some serious rewards listening to this. Just not TOMORROW NEVER DIES and OMEGA which are completely pointless. TOMORROW NEVER DIES is probably the worst because it sounds like 90's american pop punk that you hear on TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER. Come on, seriously? UNORIGINAL.

The booklet is going to be the band doing pretty poses. That's it.