ghost
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Posts posted by ghost
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Not Japanese but really excited to own these.
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10 hours ago, Ozileras10 said:I hope you’re trolling
I mean, he's far from my favorite. He's got a good voice, but In the vkei scene I can think of so many stronger vocalists with better technique, range, and execution. I felt this way back in the 2000's and this feeling hasn't changed. He did manage to surprise me a bit with FALLING and ABHOR GOD. Really great vocals on those tracks.
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1 hour ago, Disposable said:The album itself is lacking in any standouts that'd make you think this is Gazette in great form ( although arguably Falling is top tier new gazette even if it is as light as a souffle. ) It does entertain a fair bit. Whether it'll have any lasting value to me personally remains to be seen
It's been 2 days and this albums played out for me already hah
2 hours ago, Disposable said:How I'd describe this album is DOGMA GazettE finally committing to larping Manson's Golden Age of Grotesque
10/10 description
3 hours ago, YuyoDrift said:My take @ghost would be that I think he plateau'd a long time ago.
The way this was produced, you'd think he'd be able to sing with a wider vocal range.
Boy needs to learn to sing a bit more versatile.
I agree on that. Although, if I'm being honest, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I think Ruki was never really a great singer. I think he just made up for it in character and performance.
*takes cover*
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As a whole, the album didn't do much for me. And, I think this feeling comes from my frustration with Ruki. I feel like since Division Ruki has lost his handle on crafting good melodies. His parts sound more like bloat and they rarely seem to enhance the song. I can hardly remember his vocals with the exception of his performances in "Falling", "Uragiru Beru", and "Abhor God". And the other problem is his execution; it lacks any impact or conviction. His voice sounds weak and strained especially when compared to the hard hitting and energetic instrumentals. He gave much much better performances in Dogma where I didn't feel like these issues were as present.
The instrumentals on the other hand are super solid. Unlike Dogma, there's a wider variety of riffs and sounds and all the tracks have a different character. Sure, from time to time I can pick out some variations of classic GazettE riffs, but it's refreshing to hear they didn't rely on their usual library of sounds.
It's a real shame because I really like the album for its strong song writing, but I would rather listen to it without Ruki or a different vocalist. I'm not feeling his performance here and it just doesn't stack as strongly next to the instrumentals. I'd say if rating this just by instrumentals, it'd be like a 7.5 or 8. With vocals like a 5.5.
+Highlights
Abhor God - This sounded like a classic gazetto song adapted to their current style. Ruki's performance is reminiscent of his vocals on something like Stacked Rubbish and the arena style clapping gets me pumped. (I keep reading the title as Arbor God).
On 6/12/2018 at 2:01 PM, BrenGun said:Marlin Manson or something
Babylon's Taboo intro - I hear it too. The beginning sounds like something from Marilyn Manson's Holywood. The industrial vibe is just dripping from the guitars and drums.
platy and Wakarimashita reacted to this -
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18 hours ago, Saishu said:Immortalis and Vitium were both available thru other stores, though. It wasn’t until Anima when they started selling directly from their own shop (or whoever Galaxy Broad belongs to).
I must amend my statement then!
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1 hour ago, Saishu said:You can absolutely get international shipping with Sukekiyo. I ordered Adoratio directly from the Galaxy Broad shop.
Oh, that's great. I remember years ago though for Immortalis they weren't offering international shipping. It's good it's an option now.
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Definitely second live-limited/Fan Club limited releases and multiple type releases.
Live limited
I understand selling special live-limited releases to attract more attendees or give them something memorable to remember the live by, but I don't think it should be exclusive music. A good example is Mucc's recent releases for Shin-Tsuuzetsu and Shin-Homurauta because they only differed in artwork from the commercial releases. Sure, there were a couple privelege CDS included with them too but it was demo material and a live recording (I believe).
Web Store release but no international shipping
It's a different slap in the face when a band offers up a special edition of a release exclusive to their webstore or a specific webfront but doesn't ship outside Japan. I'm looking at you sukekiyo. There's no extra work involved and, if they're worried about risk, they can offer insured/signature shipping as the only option.
I also ran into this problem when trying to order Charisma.com's "ai ai syndrome" on vinyl directly from the label T-annex. The person who responded was kind enough to point me to a service that would do it for me (and even gave me instructions) but I just don't see why they couldn't do it themselves. Especially since apparently they had gotten multiple requests for this within the past few months.
No Vinyl Releases
In general, there's a serious lack of Japanese music on vinyl. There's been some reissues of really popular bands on vinyl in recent years (shiina ringo, hyde, bonnie pink, kyary pamyu pamyu), but these are few and far between. I understand that for the smaller vkei bands that it's not a financially viable option. But for big name bands like the GazettE and Dir en grey, it's not such a risky move. Dir en grey have even done it before twice (more if you count the Gauze and Vulgar promos) but perhaps lack of sales dissuaded them to continue producing them. Even if I lost interest in Mucc, it was exciting to see that they released their most recent album "Myakuhaku" on vinyl.
There's been a resurgence of interest in Japanese oldies on vinyl and labels like WeReleaseWhateverTheFuckWeWant records have taken the reigns on reissuing these to the masses. Someone needs to do the same for vkei artists!
Lackluster mixing
I've heard some of the most absolute worst mixing from within vkei bands. A prime example is lynch. (since joining King Records). They're mixing makes their music lack dynamic range so that it fails to deliver any punch. There are always certain frequency ranges missing from their guitars and it drives me nuts that what could sound full and rich sounds hollow and like its playing through a tube.
Generally though, I find mixing in vkei music to be overcompressed and in need of more complex dynamics. Having everything 100% cranked isn't the answer to every song and sometimes you need things to quiet down. It seems this is much more common in bigger bands who you would think would be more concerned with details like this.
Bands like Dezert use compression as a technique to create their harsh and distorted sound, but they also know when to tone it down and let the music breath a little. I'd rather listen to lo-fi but dynamically diverse mixing over clean but one-tone of dynamics any day.
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New single's out.
I t h a s v o c a l s:
https://topshelfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tresNot sure how I feel about it. It fits well enough, but it seems very un-MOTK. It's kind of distracting imo
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Journey -
Detail a journey using songs to illustrate it. It could be a physical journey, an inner journey, a trip you actually took, however you want to interpret it.
Word -
Take an adjective of choice and make a mix that you think expresses it.
I also really enjoyed the decade tradeoff we did a couple years back where you select music from between a period a 10 years and choose 1 favorite song from each year.
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Nice. Hope they drop a couple bangers. They've been going soft lately.
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6 minutes ago, EvilHippy said:If someone is interested in usual credits stuff:
https://imgur.com/a/9x5N9I4
Edit: Okay, now I need to learn how to insert photos.Just gotta use the right link. Typically, I think you wanna use the direct image source link. You can grab this by right clicking on the image and selecting "copy image address". Paste that link in and you should be good to go!
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Solid review as usual Zeus. It was interesting to read your thoughts because I practically had the exact opposite opinions.
I felt like this was not a particularly compelling single. "Ningen wo kaboru" is very average and doesn't have any standout moments. The riffs and melodies sound phoned-in and the drumming, as people have noted, are typical for a Dir en grey song and recycle the same rhythms and patterns. The distortion sounds really cool but that's just related to tone. I actually like "Utafami" more as an A-side. It felt tighter and I liked the riffs more, although "Utafumi" didn't really win me over either.
The "Ash" remake sounds unfinished and messy. I appreciate that the song remains melodically faithful to the original, but they could have re-worked the guitar parts and added more complexity like in the ending of the song. The added melody (is refrain the correct term?) doesn't really incorporate well into the song and really sticks out as a stitched element. I think same goes for the acoustic passage. It sounds great and is a highlight in the track, but it's so brief that it's more distracting. The shortened length really hurt the song too as some of the sections sound like they should continue on resulting in clunky transitions. I'm also just such a fan of Kyo's original line delivery that his performance here sounds uninspired by comparison. It had so much more character and conviction. Here he just kinda spills out his vocals and they lack any texture or variation.
I gotta agree with Zeus here. This sounds like a pretty solid performance. I mean, I hate live tracks in general but this is definitely far from the worst. That Despair in the Womb live in general had some pretty poor performances as far as Kyo was concerned.
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1 hour ago, Seelentau said:Still better than most of Western music, where a single is literally just one song, not even in physical form. Laughable.
Honestly, I'd prefer it that way. It's a money saver. I'd rather drop more on a full album than a single with:
1. A song that'll be on the album anyways
2. Some average b-side/average remix/average live track
3. Some average b-side/average remix/average live track
4. Etc.
I just want to know what the album will sound like and buy that. And if there are some killer b-sides, I'd rather they find a way to put it on the album even if it's just as bonus tracks. I think the after-market value also tells just how much people care about singles too since their value drops drastically within months of release. Unless it's its own standalone release, I find physical singles kind of pointless nowadays.
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Ash sounds incredibly scattered and half-baked. Kinda think they need to leave their past the heck alone.
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Preorders for Mouse on the Key's third album are open from Topshelf Records. You can choose from a variety of formats including CD and vinyl. The album releases on May 23rd 2018.
*I gotta say, the sample sounds niiiiiiice
reminiscing2004 and The Reverend reacted to this -
8 minutes ago, Wicked Teletubby said:like this?
Яanunculus!
*sniff* mmm you smell nice
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Ranunculus sounds like a Harry Potter spell. Google search shows that it's a plant, so maybe the spell could make anything smell like flowers.
"Ranunculus: A spell used to enhance one's aroma. Useful right before a date or when you're about to meet your husband's parents for the first time and you're just nervous.Tips: For a more powerful effect, roll the "r" in Ranunculus."
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1 hour ago, Saishu said:They make acoustic bass guitars, and there are sticks and brushes that Kai could use to make his kit sound more subdued.
Yes true, but bongos, a tambourine, and splash cymbal sounds so much more fun. And Reita can play cello or something.
#113: NINTH by The GazettE
in Reviews
Posted · Edited by ghost
I second @Jigsaw9. Not feeling much excitement post listen. I like the sound of the album, the riffs and compositions are solid, but I don't like the majority of Ruki's melodies. Since Division, I feel like his vocal parts are fitted in haphazardly with no focused melody. It's like the musical equivalent to rambling on and on. He sounds great on NINTH, but, apart from the 2 single tracks, I can barely remember his parts.
It's unfortunate because a lot of the album is working really well for me. Although, I think it could have been paced better as it gets slow in the middle. I hate to keep ragging on Ruki, but he dragged this album down for me significantly and it feels like a wasted potential. Man's gotta be consistent. He can't give us a performance like in Falling and then drop like 8 other songs with weak choruses.