Lestat

I've always wondered how Visual Kei came into play with this. Is it because you are transgender or agender that you come looking for a scene that defies gender, or is it that you found Visual Kei and suddenly a voice in your head says: "That's me"?
It always worries me that because these men are so pretty, that it's just a phase for teenagers or young adults. There are a lot of fake examples in Visual Kei because more than often these musicians are straight men who dress up for shits and giggles. I also know a few Dutch people in the Visual Kei fandom here who fake transgenderism (female to male) to look cool, and it's really bothering me, and that's also why I started wondering about how Visual Kei influences this.

Three things in life are inevitable as a visual kei fan: death, taxes, and your favorite band ending activities. If you are a fan of llll-Ligro- , then you experienced all three at the same time when they announced their second disbandment. I wasn't super into the band at the time of both of their disbandments, although they were on my radar and not on my shit list, so I can sympathize with fans who had to deal with heart break twice. Fans of yesteryear went through a similar phase with UnsraW's vocalist Yuuki, and depending on who you talk to he still hasn't gotten back to his prime ten years later. The similarities are so striking it's hard to resist the comparison. But this review isn't about UnsraW, it's about llll-Ligro- and their unreleased second album 弔 (Tomurai). The three tracks that managed to survive stand as a reminder for what could have been, and what should have been.

Before its cancellation, 弔 was announced for a 2018-05-30 release. Artwork and booklets were probably designed and pressed, but no scans other than the front exist. A track list was released but we don't know how many of the nine unreleased songs were finished. The album was delayed multiple times due to Hinata and Kazari's habit of postponing releases for the sake of quality, but Hinata's refusal to finish recording his parts due to acute chorditis implies that at least some of these songs were unfinished. As is, it will be impossible to give a full review of it, but there are several tracks we can reflect on. Those tracks are comeback single "INVICTA", live distributed single "basket case", and other promotional single "INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL". "深閑ガラス" (Shinkan Glass) is a track played at their last live but no recording of it exists.
 
 


弔 (Tomurai)
1. Blame me (SE)
2. INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL
3. basket case
4. Shinkan Glass (深閑ガラス)
5. Kuroneko wa Kaku Katariki (黒猫は斯く語りき)
6. Ratai Are Hateta Hyou (裸体荒れ果てた標)
7. DIRGE OF INFECTION
8. HIRAETH
9. INVICTA
10. Mist
11. DEEP SIX
12. Seija no Koushin (聖者の行進)
13. Kanransha wa Adabana to (観覧車は徒花と)
14. Isho (遺書)
 
 
Despite all the material released as a part of llll-Ligro- 's first phase, "INVICTA" isn't the ball scorching metalcore banger I was expecting. The unassuming opening does a lot to disarm the listener, and on the first listen I thought this was going to be a ballad, but before long the song ratchets up the complexity and the aggression. The band dips their toes into the progressive metal waters with this one, as everything from synthesized piano keys to acoustic guitars and a generous amount of toms and cymbal crashes makes an appearance. Hinata's vocals are one of the most striking elements of the track, featuring his signature skill of deftly switching between harsh growls and pig squeals. Sometimes the transitions are so fast I'm not sure if it's all natural or studio magic, but having to perform that live is absolutely killer. It's a seven minute trip far more realized than most of their contemporaries. If every band has their magnum opus, "INVICTA" could be theirs. This must have been a product of their time as 時限式:uadjet (jigenshiki:uadjet).
 

"INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL" is a much more straightforward track, and would have been the first track on the album after "Blame me", which is an SE so I don't count it. There are a lot of cool ideas here. I think my ultimate favorite part is around 3 minutes, where Hinata's clean singing is laid over his screaming, creating a great dynamic tension to push the song into it's last section. The piano motif returns again, which makes me suspect that we would have gotten at least one piano ballad on the album. There's also some pretty dope bass slaps before the eagle scream halfway through where I expected a breakdown to appear, which is what cemented my opinion of this track as an above average metalcore dirge. 



The last track that was released was "basket case", a live distributed teaser that ended up becoming their last official release. This would have followed "INVISIBLE INDIVIDUAL" and does a good job providing contrast to the first track. This wasn't uploaded anywhere else, so I'll try to give a good description of how the track sounds. "basket case" opens up with a short, distorted riff into a chorus with clean vocals with a straightforward, 'four to the floor' drum beat. The main guitar riff of the song sounds mental and the song moves at a frantic yet restrained pace, alluding to the title. Most of the singing is clean and takes place with Hinata's higher register, but mid range barks, growls, and a pig squeal makes an appearance shortly after the second verse. There's a strong emphasis on twin guitar melody for this song. The chorus has a very stereotypical visual kei melodic progression, so much so that I feel like I can place at least the first few notes of "basket case" from another song, but I can't figure out which one it is yet.

"basket case" descends into thirty seconds of noise as the track winds down to an end, and I find myself feeling saddened that the album will never be released in its entirety, and that I'll never get to hear "深閑ガラス" (Shinkan Glass). llll-Ligro-  hold the crown for visual kei bands with one of the most promising yet unfulfilled musical development arcs of all time, and that's not a title I'm keen on reassigning any time soon. Based on what I've heard, 弔 would have been the album that made a fan out of me. I just know there's a copy of the unfinished masters sitting in a vault in Japan somewhere, and perhaps a second or third copy on a hard drive, but the odds that we'll ever get to see or hear any more of this album are slim to none. At this point, I'd even take a mini-album of whatever is fit enough to be released.

A lot of unknowns remain around the members and the state of the band. Can Hinata ever sing again? Is the relationship between Hinata and Kazari too strained to imagine a third reunion? Do they even want to try or will they both move on to new, separate projects? I am reluctant to stoke the fires of hope for the remaining llll-Ligro-  fans out there, because that's just cruel, but the scene has shown with both HIZUMI (D'espairsRay) and Yuuki (UnsraW) that there's always a chance for Hinata to return.

01. Not really. If you dread meeting your fans, then don’t. Don’t offer meet and greet packages or at least offer them specifically with the members who are interested so people still have the choice to greet a part of the group. 
 
02. They shouldn’t have to specifically thank their individual fans, usually their behaviour tells you how grateful they are. 
 
03. Definitely not. Music is first and foremost for yourself and any fans are a gift, I would say. 
 
04. List of Japanese artists I’ve met: Kamijo, Kaya, Yoshiki, Satsuki + support band, Megaromania, NEGA, D, Black Line, BLOOD, Jupiter. All these artists were very generous towards their fans (perhaps with the exception of Kiwamu). Some may perceive these interactions as ‘awkward’ because of a language barrier (this I had especially with D, the first Japanese artists I’ve met, and I mumbled some unintelligible what-I-thought-was-Japanese to them, which was received with confused looks), another thing can be that the musicians stay in their role and for instance don’t talk or seem distant – I haven’t experienced this a lot except for with Kamijo, who is just... himself. I think Yoshiki was the most grateful and open toward meeting people; he even shushed security when they wanted to remove him from the fans because he wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to at least shake his hand. 
 
05. There are always horrible people at lives. I’ve experienced hair pulling, scratching, kicking, etc. There are always the terrible squirmish girls around who act as if they are seeing literal gods, girls who completely break down or girls who are simply so fervent in their fanatic ways that they get aggressive with the artists (here in the Netherlands, Hizaki’s dress was ripped for example. I’ve heard about Mana’s clothes being torn too.)

There's a difference between gossip and simply sharing knowledge, and it lies in one's intent. Gossip is usually driven by ill-intentions.
 
 
The brain/body is built to do many things. However, the manner in which those things are done matters a great deal. The intent matters.
 
For instance, it's probably not a good idea to defend someone's cocaine  addiction by saying "well, the brain is built to secrete dopamine anyways!", and just leave it at that.
 
In similar fashion, that would be like explaining away the actions of a rapist by saying "well, science says you were built to procreate, so, it's all good."
 
That's an interesting article you linked, but this is a spiritual issue. So intent matters.
 
You can either try to bring peace and understanding to a matter or you can sow discord and seeds of contempt and condemnation . Gossip tends to do the latter.

lol, I can imagine. Gossip is inherently toxic. I used to indulge in it and hang around others who did as well, until I realized A) It's dull, life-less chatter that doesn't benefit anyone or anything and B ) I'm a grown-ass man. And any grown man that sits around gossiping is not much of a man at all. That's some simp shit.
 
Ancient wisdom tells us a few things like:
 
"A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much."
 
"A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. "
 
and I've found these both to be true. The same people I used to gossip with are the same people who are quick to talk shit about me (behind my back) today. As these types of ppl have no integrity and are basically fake as hell. And I've also literally lost friends (or ppl i thought were friends at least) over things that other ppl said about me. As truth doesn't matter to these kinds of ppl - they'll take one side of a story and run with it, instead of diligently seeking into a matter.
 
So yeah, gossip is just toxic. It's a like a black hole of drama and chaos. But I can definitely say that I've been much more productive and my life has been much more positive since I made a conscious effort to avoid gossiping and gossipers alike!
 
 

Quite certain that you do not know my doctor as we're from entirely different continents. Quite certain you do not know me as anything else but whatever your assertation of me is and therefore cannot ascertain anything about my lasting mental improvements while taking Prozac. Quite certain that two to three weeks of feeling miserable from sudden and invasive drug-intake and your body being bombarded by chemicals does not equal to 'lasting negative side effects'. You read what you wish to read. 

Quite certain that you do not know my doctor as we're from entirely different continents. Quite certain you do not know me as anything else but whatever your assertation of me is and therefore cannot ascertain anything about my lasting mental improvements while taking Prozac. Quite certain that two to three weeks of feeling miserable from sudden and invasive drug-intake and your body being bombarded by chemicals does not equal to 'lasting negative side effects'. You read what you wish to read. 

The side effects are entirely normal. Anti-depressants are essentially harddrugs and are an invasive subject to your body and your body will fight them at first, you'll have to get used to them. When I first started Prozac I suffered from terrible migraines which I normally never had, fever-like convulsions, sweating excessively and generally feeling physically dreadful for three weeks or so. I don't generally understand the States' idea of prescription medicine since it seems like just about everyone can get them feeling the slighest cough coming up, but here anti-depressants are only prescribed by certified psychiatrists who know what they're talking about, and know the consequences of first time usage. If your doctor prepared you properly for what it's going to take to ride it out you should go with the process. It's not pretty at first but you should start feeling results after about two months or so. 

The side effects are entirely normal. Anti-depressants are essentially harddrugs and are an invasive subject to your body and your body will fight them at first, you'll have to get used to them. When I first started Prozac I suffered from terrible migraines which I normally never had, fever-like convulsions, sweating excessively and generally feeling physically dreadful for three weeks or so. I don't generally understand the States' idea of prescription medicine since it seems like just about everyone can get them feeling the slighest cough coming up, but here anti-depressants are only prescribed by certified psychiatrists who know what they're talking about, and know the consequences of first time usage. If your doctor prepared you properly for what it's going to take to ride it out you should go with the process. It's not pretty at first but you should start feeling results after about two months or so. 

@YuyoDrift I ended up getting the JBL TUNE600BT's (an upgrade from my initial request since these have noise cancellation as well) and they're a perfect fit. I have pretty small ears and a small head so these are great in a sense that they don't look bulky on me, which is what I was going for too. They also stay comfortable with glasses which is good! 
 
The sound is gorgeous for the music I'm listening to so I'm very happy with them. 

My favourite of theirs! 
 
I don't know if it's hated per se, but D's VAMPIRE SAGA is criminally underrated. I get most people prefer their older work, but this is the album that got me into the band and it's still my favourite.

I’ve loved Yoshiki since I was twelve years old and didn’t even know what Visual Kei was. So that’s almost fifteen years now. He was one of my first inspirations both musically as well as personally and he still is. I can’t think of him as anything other than an amazing human being who loves everything and everyone around him while enduring so much hardship. 
 
I don’t get why so many people have such a big mouth about everything he does while they wouldn’t even think twice about listening to X or anything related. Why complain about an album that’s being postponed when all they’ll do is complain about how much like garbage it is eventually. 

I’ve loved Yoshiki since I was twelve years old and didn’t even know what Visual Kei was. So that’s almost fifteen years now. He was one of my first inspirations both musically as well as personally and he still is. I can’t think of him as anything other than an amazing human being who loves everything and everyone around him while enduring so much hardship. 
 
I don’t get why so many people have such a big mouth about everything he does while they wouldn’t even think twice about listening to X or anything related. Why complain about an album that’s being postponed when all they’ll do is complain about how much like garbage it is eventually. 

Kids seem to really grind my gears. I'm reluctant to have them for their benefit as well as mine. I don't think they'll be too pleased about me chokeslamming them out of exasperation. 

Waaaay back in 1998, I first discovered visual kei while I was staying at my then 21 year old sister's dorm room for the weekend.  This was the first time in my life I was ever on the internet.  I was searching on Yahoo or some other very 1998 search engine for Pikachu/Pokemon stuff since as a 9 year old kid, I was crazy about Pikachu.  I some how managed to stumbled upon an English languaged Dead Pop Stars fansite and was really weirded out that one of the members (Kenzi) was a huge Pikachu fan.  I totally forgot what visual kei was after finding that site until a year later.
 
So in 1999, we finally had a computer and internet at my house.  Also, I was now super into Digimon and was active in a lot of the Digimon EZ Boards that were around.  On one of these forums, I had two forum besties that were into visual kei.  One was a HUGE Glay fan and liked all of those visual kei bands that were more mainstream/not over the top looking groups.  The other one was more into groups like Malice Mizer and Dir en grey; the more over the top the group's look was, the more she liked them.  The one that was into the more over the top groups one day sent me a link to La'Mule's song "Inspired" that was hosted on someone's Geocities website.  I remember it took me over an hour to download the 96kbps mp3 file.  Oh the pain and the horror of dial-up internet.  But after I was able to download the song, I couldn't wait to listen to it since I thought La'Mule looked so cool and really wanted to like the band.  I don't remember my reaction was because that was like 20 years ago, but it was a positive one as I am still a huge La'Mule fan and I managed to stick with visual kei for all of those years.  I just try not to interact with the fandom that much in the last 10 years due to the toxicity that some times reeks the vk fandom.
 

These wedding announcements are weird/unnecessary lol imo we want bisexual vampires not real people...leave visual if u wanna announce all that...or at least be famous enough to do so.

ex-ゴシップ (Gossip) members new band "NICOLAS" will commence formal activities at their oneman "クソッタレ イズ バック -地獄からの使者- (Kusottare is Back -Jigoku Kara no Shisha-)" at Meguro Rock May Kan at 2019/7/1.
 
Vo.SAKU (ex-JyuLie-->ゴシップ (Gossip))
Gu.AKANE (ex-JyuLie-->ゴシップ (Gossip))
Gu.SATSUKI (ex-JyuLie-->ゴシップ (Gossip))
Ba.ZERO (ex-JyuLie-->ゴシップ (Gossip))
Dr.RITSU (ex--VeiL-->ヴァリル (VARYL)-->ゴシップ (Gossip))

https://nicolas-psycho.com/
 
 
Since all of this was posted already, I shall just add my opinion of: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

I hate the culture surrounding the music industry that dictates that it’s some sort of sin that the musicians marry and start families, it’s insane. The fans who are against this are essentially trying to justify a reason as to why these musicians should be denied a basic human right based on their fantasies that they’ve become too invested in. Just enjoy the music, and let the musicians live their lives, it’s a very easy concept

I am currently listening to the album, and I can see where the people who generally do not swerve towards western metal can find this innovative or refreshing, as it is different from your usual visual kei oeuvre. But when especially black metal (they're selling it as black metal, right?) is your daily consumption, this feels like it is nothing more than entry level gothic/black names like Cradle of Filth and late Dimmu Borgir esque releases, lacking originality and creativity, and pandering to the masses with a more approachable sound. So perhaps it is a matter of perspective. To one they can sound like a completely new thing, and to others it may indeed appear as what is almost a parody-band.
 
Very enjoyable as a visual kei release, not so much as a metal release.

My brother's dog is dying from a tumor caused by bone cancer. Poor thing is barely even two years old. I helped raise him since he was a puppy and sat him every week. God... Why is life so cruel to innocent and sweet animals... 

My brother's dog is dying from a tumor caused by bone cancer. Poor thing is barely even two years old. I helped raise him since he was a puppy and sat him every week. God... Why is life so cruel to innocent and sweet animals... 

My brother's dog is dying from a tumor caused by bone cancer. Poor thing is barely even two years old. I helped raise him since he was a puppy and sat him every week. God... Why is life so cruel to innocent and sweet animals... 

My brother's dog is dying from a tumor caused by bone cancer. Poor thing is barely even two years old. I helped raise him since he was a puppy and sat him every week. God... Why is life so cruel to innocent and sweet animals... 

Terrifier (2016) — Typical manic killer clown slasher film with some disastrous female leads. Campy and horrible effects but lots of fun, laughed my ass off. Apparantly it has a prequel (All Hallow's Eve) and a prequel-short by the same moniker as the 2016 edition as well. Should check them out soon.