ghost

D'espairsRay and 12012 being dated my lord what time period am I in. I haven't even begun listening to the album yet. Too scared to find out what horrors await. They should've done something like Inugami Circus Dan and created an alter ego band to go with a different style (how's that for another dated reference). Or maybe start a side project? I'm glad there was a heartfelt reason for this style change according to Chiaki, but he knew there would be consequences. Now, I know going down these routes isn't as simple as "if I can think it, I can do it", but it just sucks to lose another band to itchin-for-a-change-in-direction-itis. P.S. I fully stan heavy comeback 12012!

@blacktooth Definitely nice for the big artwork. I'm for sure no expert, but I think a huge amount of releases nowadays are sourced digitally? There are a lot of times I read the source of vinyl records being from "16-bit masters" or something like that. They usually sound pretty great too. In any case, vinyl > blue spec 2 CD amirite?

Although I'd be interested in another vinyl release from them, Uroboros sounds horrendous on vinyl and DSS doesn't fair too well either. Uroboros is easily one of the worst sounding records I own.

That beautiful gritty distortion....it's all gone...they stripped away one of the most key defining characteristics of their sound.

I'm not sure if you tried to click the paypal link at the end of your order and pay for it that way, but I skip that step. Once you get a confirmation email for your order (without paying yet) they will send you an invoice within 3 days typically. This includes the item total and correct shipping amount, and you can pay for your order that way. I don't know about paypal rejecting your cards though. I'm unfamiar with that situation.

I for one loved that album. Probably my favorite album post-Dim. I liked that it was just a casual pop experience with catchy melodies and formulaic songwriting. A solid guilty pleasure. But, I still stan the good old Eternal days ガゼット with Yune.

While not my number 1 pick, I think Satsuki from Rentrer en Soi is a favorite of mine. His growls have this agitated quality that makes him sound freaking pissed. But it's also kind of nasaly/high pitched so he sounds like a really nettled cat.

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.

Not Japanese but really excited to own these.

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.

It's been 2 days and this albums played out for me already hah 10/10 description 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*

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). 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.

Sad they dropped animals on the covers :/

I must amend my statement then!

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.

Current vibes Lovesick is dope

JazzettE = ☹️

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.

New single's out. I t h a s v o c a l s: https://topshelfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tres Not sure how I feel about it. It fits well enough, but it seems very un-MOTK. It's kind of distracting imo

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.

My wakaremichi collection is complete

Nice. Hope they drop a couple bangers. They've been going soft lately.