fitear1590

Yes! Cannot wait for these sexy homosapiens to drop this mini.

The first of those band pics is so awesome!

-Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

what is this guy's name??? i see him everywhere and i love him

The thread title says it all. Let's get started!


"Fuck me gently with a chainsaw."
Heathers (1988)

👻~Horror Music Videos~👻

Music videos inspired by the vast horror genre/aesthetic are an interesting phenomenon, even being created by some pop artists. Post some of your favorites and discuss!

Here are a few of mine:

Wampire - The Hearse
Love the garish lighting and 80s vibe!

Kiryu - 百鬼夜行 (hyakki yakou)
11/10 cinematography and art direction make for a unique, otherworldly PV.

Keane - Disconnected
Still confused that this exists--an unexpected video! Some Shelley Duvall Shining vibes from the lead actress.

Steady Holiday - Terror
A bit more subtle than the rest, but it's my favorite recent example, featuring some kind of gnarly tentacle vermin.

👻~Horror Music Videos~👻

Music videos inspired by the vast horror genre/aesthetic are an interesting phenomenon, even being created by some pop artists. Post some of your favorites and discuss!

Here are a few of mine:

Wampire - The Hearse
Love the garish lighting and 80s vibe!

Kiryu - 百鬼夜行 (hyakki yakou)
11/10 cinematography and art direction make for a unique, otherworldly PV.

Keane - Disconnected
Still confused that this exists--an unexpected video! Some Shelley Duvall Shining vibes from the lead actress.

Steady Holiday - Terror
A bit more subtle than the rest, but it's my favorite recent example, featuring some kind of gnarly tentacle vermin.

👻~Horror Music Videos~👻

Music videos inspired by the vast horror genre/aesthetic are an interesting phenomenon, even being created by some pop artists. Post some of your favorites and discuss!

Here are a few of mine:

Wampire - The Hearse
Love the garish lighting and 80s vibe!

Kiryu - 百鬼夜行 (hyakki yakou)
11/10 cinematography and art direction make for a unique, otherworldly PV.

Keane - Disconnected
Still confused that this exists--an unexpected video! Some Shelley Duvall Shining vibes from the lead actress.

Steady Holiday - Terror
A bit more subtle than the rest, but it's my favorite recent example, featuring some kind of gnarly tentacle vermin.

Don't you mean synagogue-kei?
 
The more I look at it, the more I think his pose is supposed to be kind of in the shape of the Star of David. (It does read crabcore/poopy, though!)

Those who follow MH's Recommended Tracks series know that any time GRIMOIRE has a new release, they're bound to end up on the list. I'm pretty picky when it comes to contemporary VK, but this band has become one of my favorites currently active in the scene. From their their bedtime/zodiac outfits to their surprisingly well-produced gothic PVs, this band takes full advantage of their visual element. Musically, I like to describe them as 'dark graveyard carnival kei.' Considering that all the musicians all stem from the guilty-pleasure pop band PIECE, I was a little more than surprised when my host boys started churning out chugalicious riffs. Somehow, the style works for them and it's the best (and most technical) they've ever sounded. While their output can be a bit 'samey,' I can't knock them for sticking to a niche concept that is so meticulous (everything from thematic cover art to the scribbly 'handwritten' text on every PV). From what I've read, some people aren't fans of their first release, Hitoritopia, which featured noticeably more amateur production, but lawd, I loved how atmospheric it was. I'm hoping they'll bring back that vibe in full-swing, now that they have the production to properly back it up.

They seem to have just recently signed with Timely Records (DADAROMA, XAA-XAA, etc.), so I see big things in GRIMOIRE's future!

Anyway, it's about time we had a thread for them here! Who else is a fan? Favorite song/PV/release/member? All discussion is welcome!

グリモア-GRIMOIRE-

websaito
YouChube

Members
Vo: RyNK (I)
Gt: Kie (Wolf)
Gt: Amu (Owl)
Ba: Lune (Sheep)
Dr. Mel (Rabbit)

~Looks~







~Discography~

ひとりトピア (Hitoritopia)
2015.09.02
1. ひとりトピア
2. げんそうシンドローム


ぼくとタルパ (Boku to Tulpa)
2015.12.16
1. ぼくとタルパ
2. ゼロとくろ


ワールド エンド トゥリー (World End Tree)
2016.05.04
1. ネバーエンド
2. からくりパルム 
3. ブラッディマイパレード
4. 「シン」せかい
5. アルギュロスのはね


マイムマイム (Mime Mime)
2016.11.23
1. マイムマイム
2. エデンのそこ


フラブジャスナハト (Frabjous Nacht)
2017.3.01
1. フラブジャスナハト
2. せいたんデビル
3. プラスチックシアター (type A)
3. クロノメイト (type B )


 グリモワール (Grimoire / "Gurimowaaru")
2017.06.28
1. [　　　　]
2. あましずくとマクガフィン
3. フラブジャスナハト
4. クライクライネ
5. ネバーエンド
6. ぼくとタルパ (タルパVer.)
6. げんそうシンドローム (げんそうVer.)
7. いらないもの
8. ねじれインサイド
9. マイムマイム
10. タロットゲーム
11. アルカイクスマイル
12. ゆめのまほろば
 

トリックホリック (Trick Holic)
2017.10.31
1. トリックホリック


ウラノメトリア (Uranometria)
2017.12.13
1.ウラノメトリア
2.すいそうのうみ
3.ハロー＆グッバイ

~Videos~

~Let us eat the fruits of fate~

I'll try to get the limited edition on Rarezhut in 2 years for $7 since it does actually look kind of interesting 

Oh boy it's been awhile. I still follow the group on fb and saw this post and thought "gahdamn, has it really been 10 years?" That means I've known some of you since I was  16/17 and some of you like champ213 probably even longer than that from tonberry days and the great migration. A wave of serious nostalgia passed over me. This forum and the people on it were such an integral part of my life for so long. 
 
Fond af memories:
downloads and rarez drama, Kiwamu hate, crappy indies vk thread, the mh Chat, chatting on msn messenger, chatting on soulseek lol, Jake's changing favorite bands every week, Dai/toasted waffles/the big change, being a mod and the staff dramaz (our pokemanz and mod colors too), yellow names, Fakkin' A, that dude mitsu (I think) who would randomly curse in the chat and had that terrible vk fanfiction and lyrics site, "generic" ,  Jake's feud with that dude that ended somehow with Cat5 and others infiltrating our ranks and then liking it here, lady revania drama, last.fm mass chart suicides and tagging dramaz, spinning on turntable.fm, when we first got emoticons and the subsequent abuse of said emoticons , demonandroid and all crappy vs. high quality rips dramaz, credit dramaz, IAMWILL, banning dramaz... okay lots of drama but ya'll get the point.
 
Some of the best friends I've made I made on this forum and some of you I've gotten a chance to meet irl and hope to still meet others in the future. I honestly thought I would be on here until the bitter end but a year or so after I moved to Tokyo and got buckled down with school and life I slow faded and before I knew it it all seemed so distant. But every now and then I think back to this place and when I see some of you guys on fb or elsewhere the memories do come flooding back and I'm happy and proud to have been a part of this community. 
 
Some honorable mentions of some people Who've impacted my life on and off this board: 
Cat5, Champ213, Maiku, Prism, Zeus, Mima, Shogu, Missa, Ito, Spike760, Biopanda, Furik, Aion, Ash and more.
 
So long and thanks for all the fish.

With the forum being around for a decade, a lot of you have changed your user names or had multiple accounts.  Add in the fact that you have probably changed your avatar a bunch of times, and it's going to be pretty hard to remember everyone across such a long span of time.
 
So let's share all of our old usernames below! And if you still have them floating on a hard drive somewhere, include an old avatar or two.

What the hell, I had no idea SEKHMET is Chianti... your sig was legendary
 
I have been allisapp for 15 years now. Changes are wrong.

Delkmiroph since ever. I never thought in change

It's irritating when you discovered some lesser VK band, getting hooked up, and next thing you got is band disbandment news. It's way more irritating when it's all happen on the same day.

I find myself with a lot of time to think about the state of Japanese music and how things have changed since I first became a fan. I'm sure you guys have these thoughts as well. For the 10th anniversary, I'm going to publish some random musings I've had about the scene. They'll just be bullet points from one sentence to a few sentences about anything related to visual kei or J-rock. If you guys want to join in just leave your bullet points below and I'll be posting them sometime soon.
 
Thoughts from @Zeus:
 

the GazettE
 
We always had a dream of getting together a J-Rock Wikipedia of sorts to catalog our history. That idea is all but dead in the water. Last.fm is the closest we have to that and it's very decentralized. The day those servers go down is the day an entire epoch of international visual kei ends. From the perspective of an international fan, live distributed releases suck ass. It sucks more when the song in question is not put on another purchasable release, rendering that song out of reach for people like me unless we fork over tons of money to a third party reseller, so it's not like we could benefit the band if we tried. It really sucks when it was given away at a band's last gig, because the fans of that band will only dwindle from that moment on and the release will become even rarer until it reaches a tipping point where no one cares anymore. Then, you might get it if someone feels kind and doesn't purge it from their hard drives. An entire era of Japanese history was lost when Mega Upload went down. Many places exclusively used that website for all their deeds. It's said that 4% of all the traffic in the internet flowed through their servers at their peak. I say this because there are lots of releases that you just can't find anymore because links are dead and the fans have left. I've learned a valuable lesson about the permanence of data. I used to hate collection albums and viewed them as a quick way to make a buck. But after some stellar recent releases and faves of mine that broke up and left a collection album behind before they broke up, they are very useful for both sharing a blast from the past and for making mix tapes. Most blogspots have always seemed like a futile attempt to mimic what we do here for some bored teenagers 15 seconds of fame. I used to expend my energy trying to stamp them out, but that's just as futile. There were a select few that actually served as an archival device and were lit. Places like Byouto and Evil en lucifer existed with a plan and a demographic in mind and actually bothered with mirroring their own links and getting their own CDs. Re-recordings are almost always better than remasters for me. At least with the former it feels like the band put some effort into it. Speaking of which, the re-recordings on Lycaon's second album aren't that bad. I still don't like EROS or Aventure though. I've never listened to an X JAPAN song and I don't understand all of the hate Yoshiki gets sometimes. I like poking fun at Japanese Democracy, but other than that I'm from a different era than original X fans (are there even any left) so I can't cash in on nostalgia. I'm so far divorced from their music I have no feelings one way or another and if it ever does get released, I plan on buying, listening, and reviewing the new album fairly as if we haven't been waiting forever to hear it.  

THE PIASS
 
Never thought I would see a scene without UNDERCODE. Then again, there was a time I thought there would never be a scene without Matina and these days few people remember that label. Does YOHIO hang around here? He must visit every now and again - this place is too addictive and centralizing not to. Is there even anywhere else to go? Where do all the n00bs come from? I haven't heard anyone refer to anything as "too American" in years. We successfully stamped that ignorance out of the scene! I remember when XodiacK was first formed, their partnership with HearJapan, and their subsequent financial failure with their first single. They were a joke back then. Now they are considered a cult classic. It's crazy how malleable opinions are. BORN and Lycaon are two bands I waited forever for their disbandment, and when it happened I wasn't happy. Visual kei is making a third shift in sound away from the millenial-kei tunes into the unknown. This is a great time to be a fan!  
Thoughts from @fitear1590:
 

the fin.
I need more VK bands with technical guitar work that aren't necessarily tied to some offshoot of metal (Aicle was a perfect example) The lines between VK and certain brands of indie are getting more porous; a very exciting combination of worlds! Honestly, what happened to Shiina Ringo? She was such a prominent figure in my music taste at one point, but she fizzled out... Please. End. The. Treble. Synth. Fad. Long live "art kei". May the patron saints (ex-members of bands like Moran, yazzmad, amber gris, etc.) keep the style going!  
Thoughts from @emmny:
 

DIV
amber gris saved visual kei after Buglug tried to destroy it and before issei literally almost destroyed himself falling off a balcony meto style Few things were more depressing than seeing Yuuki ruin UnsraW and then flop into infinity with DOAK "Lost november" by Diaura is the most iconic vk song released in...ever Revival kei was the only thing that saved vk past 2012 DIR EN GREY's career trajectory has been amazing and no I don't care what you have to say about DSS No, i'm not EVER getting over D'espairsray so can it. Can bands stop acting like visual kei is still popular, trying to play massive venues (which would have been considered average size 10 years ago) and then flopping intensely? Miztavlah YOU'RE NEXT...300/1200 O-West wait on it DADAROMA and Mejibray have the biggest followings in the western fandoms since vk died and its actually kinda adorable...won't save vk tho Ikenai Kiss by DIV was both the peak and death of EDM kei...RIP  
Thoughts from @doombox:
 

CROSSFAITH
 
I still don't know how baby VK bands manage to pay for their costumes and make up artists when they can't get 100 people in a venue. MIYAVI proved you can survive after VK, have a public marriage and family, be covered in tattoos, and still be wildly popular. These days it's getting plain to see VK has gone down like the Titanic and we're all waiting in tiny lifeboats, clinging to each other and hoping another big ship will eventually come to save us. I'm still not over K (Pay money To my Pain), Shunsuke (Eldorado, bis), or Jasmine You (Versailles).  ONE OK ROCK took over the world. I'm still in shock. Japanese electro-core burnt out way too fast but man it was fun while it lasted.   
Thoughts from @tetsu_sama69:



BAISER
 
When will people realize that most VK bands are just homage of older previous groups and THIS WILL ALWAYS BE A THING?!!? Most VK singers are just massive fanboys of Kiyoharu/Kyo/Hyde/Ruki even if it doesn't seem like they are there always SOMETHING that gives it away and trust me even your vk daddies had people they were fanboys of as well. "Musical differences" is just an excuse for you ran out of mommy/daddy's money for your costumes/recordings OR you just don't get along To survive in this fandom you either have to be extremely open-minded or stick to what you know you like but trust me... not everyone is going to like what you like and you have to accept that Accept it, we're all weeaboos.  
 
Thoughts from @Ito:

Sel'm
 
Not only has aie somehow managed tostill be sticking around, he is almost seemingly trying to  single handedly save VK...and somehow suceeding?  It took nearly the full span of 10 years, but every one of my favorite VK bands from 2007 has disbanded I am not sure if VK has gotten worse or if I've just gotten older and grumpier Yoshiki has transitioned from a legend to a laughingstock in the community It surprises me when I meet someone IRL and they tell me they are a big VK fan...and then I find out they haven't heard of MH. Like where the hell else are you going? I wish I was more inclined to go back and check out older work. I know I have missed out on plenty of wonderful Jrock, but I am just so keen on keeping with what it current. I really need to fix that. Are we ever going to get any VK bands to come to the States again, outside of the biggest of names? While I listen to far less VK now than I used to (read that as my musical tastes have broadened), it still holds an incredibly special place in my heart.  
Thoughts from @CAT5:
 

八十八ヶ所巡礼
 
International Visual Kei fans are some of the craziest, most irritating, and deranged people that I've come across. They're also some of the most passionate, interesting, fun-loving, and generous music fans that I've had the pleasure of knowing. There's always been a stigma surrounding the community, but in my experience, there's more good to be said than bad. Monochrome-Heaven is one of the most slept-on forums of all time. We've been around for a decade and the community is still thriving despite the fact that forums are continually slipping into obsolescence. The world of J-rock is vast and infinite, and there's always something new and different to try if you look for it or ask the right people. Trying to convince VK fans that music outside of VK is somehow "better" or more worthwhile is an exercise in futility. Condescending or scoffing at VK fans is also equally idiotic. I've done both. Don't do it. You'll just come off as an absolute dick who's insecure in his own tastes and interests. VK marketing ploys are still pretty fucking hilarious and ridiculous.  Speaking of which, most of us have, at one point, gone broke for Visual Kei and Japanese music in general. It's expensive and wallet-crippling, yet glorious all the same. I still can't wrap my head around cheki or conditional disbandments. DIR EN GREY have never NOT been relevant.  

Phantasmagoria
 
MH and VK fans at large love themselves a good drama/scandal. From what i've seen, it's usually best to just have a sense of humor about these things. J-rock changes over time. Your favorite era may have been five, ten, or even fifteen years ago. Hell, it might even be NOW. Whatever the case, accept that the musical landscape is constantly changing. I think it's more effective to cherish your favs. and continuously sing their praises than it is to bitch and moan about bygone styles and eras, and how all new music sucks. Sharing keeps the J-rock community alive. It's what's kept us going this long. And not just the sharing of the music itself, but the sharing of news, lyrics/translations, scans, review, live reports, images...even something as simple as sharing your own, unique thoughts about a band or a release. It all counts. Every little piece contributes to keeping the scene alive at large. MH has truly been blessed in this regard, as so many of our members have come here to share openly and freely all out of love for VK, J-rock, and Japanese music as a whole. It's a beautiful thing and I thank everyone for every penny spent, every CD ripped, every mb uploaded, every post typed, and every general ounce of energy poured into our common love for Japanese music.

Thanks for reading!

As "art kei" as they can look sometimes and despite the fact that vocalist Akuta teamed up with Soan project, Chanty really doesn't sound like Moran at all, other than not sounding like your typical VK. They're much closer to an indie rock sound.

If you're interested though, I personally recommend よくのかたまり and m.o.b. (singles), as well as the mini-album that @saishuumentioned!

Ten years ago today, Spike760 and myself decided that we wanted to start a Japanese Rock forum. After a while of debating, we eventually settled on Tainted World (after the D’espairsRay song of the same name). Frankly, neither one of expected it to last all that long; this would hardly be the first forum that we had run together that didn’t go anywhere. But what started as a fun little project somehow blossomed into an amazing community. The fact that this site still exists after all this time has little to say about Spike and my’s original plan and everything to say about the members here. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping build this site into what it is today.
 
While I was one of the key founders of this site, Monochrome Heaven is so much bigger than just me. That became clear to me when we went under the transition from Tainted World to our current name back in 2011. While to really understand why this is so important requires more context, I don’t want to go into a full on history lesson. But since that point, so many members have stepped up and dedicated themselves to this site, putting in the time and effort (and money) into making Monochrome Heaven as great as it possibly can be.
 
To every member that has joined and felt like they were apart of a community over this silly niche interest we all have, I raise a glass to you. You all are what have made this place special. And to every staff member, current and past, no words can express my thanks to you - you are people that I have come to admire and consider good friends.
 
But this post isn’t about me, but about the Monochrome Heaven! I want to hear from all of you as to why this community is special, why you’ve becoming coming back for 10 months or 10 years. Or tell us one of your favorite moments from your time coming, whether that was a release you were looking for forever or a stupid meme that took over the forum.

Here’s some from other users to get things started!:
 
 
 
@-jibakurei-
 
@SEKHMET
 
@Ada Suilen
 
@Flame-X
 
@Seiji
 
@Platy
 
@efuru
 
@saishuu
 
@Furik
 

As "art kei" as they can look sometimes and despite the fact that vocalist Akuta teamed up with Soan project, Chanty really doesn't sound like Moran at all, other than not sounding like your typical VK. They're much closer to an indie rock sound.

If you're interested though, I personally recommend よくのかたまり and m.o.b. (singles), as well as the mini-album that @saishuumentioned!

As "art kei" as they can look sometimes and despite the fact that vocalist Akuta teamed up with Soan project, Chanty really doesn't sound like Moran at all, other than not sounding like your typical VK. They're much closer to an indie rock sound.

If you're interested though, I personally recommend よくのかたまり and m.o.b. (singles), as well as the mini-album that @saishuumentioned!

@fitear1590 is probably the best person to ask when it comes to Chanty, but personally I really liked their last mini-album.

3 Türken und ein Baby (2015)

There must be a duplicate thread, because I know these have been posted before. Anyway, my "fave" worst CD covers:

Dear L'Novel - 罪と罰(Tsumi to Batsu) 

 
ViViD - Message
 

Dear L'Novel's is one of the few albums that I truly enjoy but refuse to buy, because the album art would haunt me. And yet, the ViViD one is somehow worse, because they were actually a major band. Can you imagine who designed these covers and thought "Yup, these are good to go!"

Don't you mean synagogue-kei?
 
The more I look at it, the more I think his pose is supposed to be kind of in the shape of the Star of David. (It does read crabcore/poopy, though!)