hyura

I truly hope that they are serious about this.
12012 was once a band with a distinct sound and distinct concept, very strong lyrics and a very strong atmosphere but ever since their major debut they seem to have lost their way.
They never actually mastered any of the styles they tried since then, it was always more like half-heartily stealing here and there.
There was a brief period around usubeni to ame where I thought they created something of their own again but it was over as fast as it started.
 
If they ever return, I don't even want them to go back to the roots (although that would be cool), I just wish they'd return sometime with a concept that is really their own again, because I know they can do it. They showed that they are great composers, great performers. Wataru is a great vocalist and a great poet. They showed they can impress me. So why?
12s case is the only one where I actually lost respect for a band I once loved.

I like that you rewrite their biography, the one that's currently used on most other pages has been copypasted for over 10 years I think and Madeths popularity really deserves to have a proper one.
It seems to be correct for the most part, too, as far as I can tell without checking every date.
 
I'd propably consider adding information about their activities besides release names and dates, though. Especially the first period with all the demotapes seems a little like they didn't know what they were doing written like that while it really was a well planned promotion campaign!
 
The three first demos (norowareshi hana no seimei, kuroshouzoku no shirabe, missantroop) could be preordered through Matina and they cost money. At this point Madeth did not yet have a single live performance yet and they were called a 'Vierge members unit band' Those tapes sold out and the bands identity was revealed at their first 'secret' live (which was not secret at all) on christmas 97' at which you got the forth tape, kyoushikyoku.
So it was only after that that they started actual activities. They announced their first 'official' release, the kyoushirakuen tape and three live dates to promote it before named hakuchuumu no sangeki, chizome no kigeki and operaza no higeki and at each you got a demo with the same title containing a sample.
 
Of course one doesn't need it that detailed, I just think that it's more coherent if you include some important live dates and activities. At least mentioning the onemans they had (just very few) and when they had a tour. Do you have their history album? The history printed in the booklet is not bad at all.
(ask me anything though. orz I have almost all their flyers and interviews and no idea what to do with the senseless infos)
 
Some mistakes, though:
I think you actually mixed up ukyou and izumi!
When the second juujika no ketsumatsu was released ukyou was already their lead guitarist. you can also hear him in Le MISERABLE and Mother Crisis, as well. Izumi joined later at their first oneman live at 99/8/9.
 
The last video was not released at their last live. (couldn't have, it contains footage from that day) As far as I know you had to send in a coupon from the live as well as a coupon from their best album and then you could win it through some sort of lottery.
 
Le MISERABLE was not a new song on the best. It was already released in early 99 on the new age culture vol 2 sampler.
 
Hisuis disappeared from the scene completely after Rametan Matsuri on 2004/6/12 with kisaki to kansai kizoku. So not in 2007.
 
I think their last mini is romanized as boukai no mato... but I'm not completely sure. ww

Excuse my weird gaze and the angle, taking a photo with a dslr camera is difficult. Also I need a new haircut >_<

"11. PENICILLIN - DANCE 2 GARNET"
 

I saw Isuke yesterday D: He has a new hairstyle and it looks so cool lol

^oh yes this.
I mean. they exist. Actually rare releases. Mostly by obscure bands or super limited stuff.
But that's a small percentage. Then there's the stuff people are just too greedy to buy or too lazy to actively look for.

Somehow this topic makes me feel ueasy.
Why?
It makes it sound like actually paying the artist for the music you listen to is some kind of charity. Where you can whine later that not all of your money went to poor children in africa. Like the stuff musicians do isn't work. (Set aside that most make money with something else and income through band activities is very small as we all know by now.)
 
Well it is. If you buy a cd you are paying for the people who were involved in making it. You are not paying for whatever they buy from it. Money goes around the whole world anyway and all the money you ever touched has been owned by assholes, has been used to buy weapons or slaves or whatever and you still use it as if it was fresh and new and innocent.
 
Would you like the customers of the company you are working on boycot it because they saw on your blog that you used it to buy bad music made by men in dresses?
 
(Of course I'm all for boycotting companies that support animal cruelty or nationalist organizations or whatnot. But thats a different thing from what one person can change with the little private money they have.)

.

^
Reading those reviews it may be a trap.

In my opinion THAT is actually what i really love about the old looks. Surely, the outfits were sometimes really silly and exaggerated and the make up sloppy, but i prefer it that way dozen times. Why? Because I feel the old styling looked more raw, dynamic and interesting. It wasn't the complete über-perfection which it is now, some guys looked like Drags, others like punks, the others like a bad version of Sayako from Ju-On. I really dislike how most vk make-up nowadys looks so polished, everything has to be precise and perfect from teint, complexion to eyes and the boring hairstyles.
It makes sense though - new VK guys rather look like Hosts (who are supposed to look like ultimate perfect bishonen straight from your wet manga fantasies) than frilly New Wave boys with Boy George make-up (or oh so spooky goths in drag).
I guess that's where everyone's opinion differs, depending on their taste and aesthetic preferences. I personally adore a well done old school make up (and I tell you - it's very very difficult. I've tried it a few times and it still looks rather "meh". You can fail pretty hard at a late 90s Matina/Soleil style make-up if you aren't really good with the tools. Also: see all early 00s cosplays. All the people who wanted to look like Mana or oldschool Kyo and failed epically...). Especially the white faces are my faves, because they can be expressive (almost Harlekin like), yet it doesn't really matter how beautiful the person is who wears it - they don't need to be super beautiful bishonen and the focus lies more on their style and make up.
Of course I can see and understand people who like new VK make up better. It's more polished, clean and it can be worn outside the stage in mundane life as well- so it is more versatile. Old VK styling is rather extreme and especially the outfits aren't supposed to be worn daily.
 
But I still miss this style though and I am happy a few groups now are still dressing that way.

Jin has an unique voice, and most VK fans don't seem to like unique voices nowadays. 
 
The criticism he receives is ridiculous, really, having read that last entry on his blog back then about how he thought himself to be a horrible vocalist, and that he let his fans down, it was just terrible to know he'd allow himself to be driven that far up the walls by a group of cunts who, instead of appreciating music, can only criticize it. 
 
I thought because of that he was the last one to come back with a new band because of how deep people have buried him, but I'm honestly glad he's back because he is an awesome person with great charisma, and a musician with a tremendous insight in music. 

I like that you rewrite their biography, the one that's currently used on most other pages has been copypasted for over 10 years I think and Madeths popularity really deserves to have a proper one.
It seems to be correct for the most part, too, as far as I can tell without checking every date.
 
I'd propably consider adding information about their activities besides release names and dates, though. Especially the first period with all the demotapes seems a little like they didn't know what they were doing written like that while it really was a well planned promotion campaign!
 
The three first demos (norowareshi hana no seimei, kuroshouzoku no shirabe, missantroop) could be preordered through Matina and they cost money. At this point Madeth did not yet have a single live performance yet and they were called a 'Vierge members unit band' Those tapes sold out and the bands identity was revealed at their first 'secret' live (which was not secret at all) on christmas 97' at which you got the forth tape, kyoushikyoku.
So it was only after that that they started actual activities. They announced their first 'official' release, the kyoushirakuen tape and three live dates to promote it before named hakuchuumu no sangeki, chizome no kigeki and operaza no higeki and at each you got a demo with the same title containing a sample.
 
Of course one doesn't need it that detailed, I just think that it's more coherent if you include some important live dates and activities. At least mentioning the onemans they had (just very few) and when they had a tour. Do you have their history album? The history printed in the booklet is not bad at all.
(ask me anything though. orz I have almost all their flyers and interviews and no idea what to do with the senseless infos)
 
Some mistakes, though:
I think you actually mixed up ukyou and izumi!
When the second juujika no ketsumatsu was released ukyou was already their lead guitarist. you can also hear him in Le MISERABLE and Mother Crisis, as well. Izumi joined later at their first oneman live at 99/8/9.
 
The last video was not released at their last live. (couldn't have, it contains footage from that day) As far as I know you had to send in a coupon from the live as well as a coupon from their best album and then you could win it through some sort of lottery.
 
Le MISERABLE was not a new song on the best. It was already released in early 99 on the new age culture vol 2 sampler.
 
Hisuis disappeared from the scene completely after Rametan Matsuri on 2004/6/12 with kisaki to kansai kizoku. So not in 2007.
 
I think their last mini is romanized as boukai no mato... but I'm not completely sure. ww

?
I never claimed anything different. Demos are exactly that. The cheapest and easiest way to show your stuff to people. A couple years ago the typical medium for that would be a tape, yes.
Today the typical medium would be a digital file, either homeburned to a cd or uploaded on the internet.
 
So a band to record a typical 90s vk demo today doesn't do it because it's the easiest way (like their idols did), they do it out of nostalgia even though a digital version would have been easier to edit and easier to spread. It's basically classicism.
 
----
I actually couldn't find any of my favorites on youtube unfortunately, but this video is dubbed with Syndromes 'vogue' demo which is one of their best songs. (imho)
 

^I'd borrow you one any day.

^I'd borrow you one any day.

The reason can only be that all vk bands go to the same suit rental service when they are out of money or the costumes designer takes too long.
(Also is it only me or did the grieva guys loose a big chunk of glamour without the colorful hair?)

The reason can only be that all vk bands go to the same suit rental service when they are out of money or the costumes designer takes too long.
(Also is it only me or did the grieva guys loose a big chunk of glamour without the colorful hair?)

there are less than 400 attendants at their one-man live "TRUST_1227【拡散】I for U" at TSUTAYA O-West at 2013/12/27
 
 
SET-LIST at 2013/12/27:
 
01.Melodic Line
02.Happy?
03.夢花美
04.Black Tear
05.Printemps
06.False Memory
07.Star bubbles
08.不完全性定理LGRID
09.Chocolate Xmas tea
10.閃光花火
11.失楽トランプ
わがままタイム
12.Deadly Pain
13.RoyaL $ick party
 
EN1
01.D.U
02.Hear√discord
03.Le Reve
 
EN2
01.Pinky Ring
02.WAGAMAMA

here's one more. we couldn't resist to make Darth Vader style hadouken.
 

The oneman to go along with the release is called 'MAD death'
 
Now bring on the speculations of whom they'll copy this time. ; D
Madeths full length also had the working title 生命の終焉.

The thing about many western vk fans is that they are rather opinionated about not only "western vk", but western music in general. Yes, many western vk bands also happen to be very mediocre and unorginal at best, but there are many equally mediocre and unorginal japanese vk bands that get a lot more praise and hype. But if you cater to a fandom that often enough very specifically turned their backs on "western music" then obviously you are fighing an uphill battle, even if you try to "disguise" your music as japanese (and probably badly so). It's like trying to sell vegetable-shaped steaks to a bunch of vegetarians.
 
 
A western vk band, with decent talent and equipment would probably be more succesful if they just target the "normal" western underground goth scene.

My palmtree-hair dried all wavy and visual after the rain. Worth a mirrorshot.

My palmtree-hair dried all wavy and visual after the rain. Worth a mirrorshot.

I don't find that surprising at all. It has nothing to do with feminine aesthetics in vk. And no, most vk fans in Japan don't think like you do, sorry. They prefer guys and guys singing. There's nothing wrong with yours or their preference. It's just how the scene works.
 
Usually almost 100% of a vk band's fanbase is female (and mostly very young) unless the band becomes very big like L'Arc-en-Ciel. You can argue that it's the norm in this world that most of the rock band members are male. But that is not the sole reason why visual kei band members are mostly male. In Japan's context, there are other reasons. Most Western rock band members are male too but they have a lot of or even mostly male fans from the beginning. Sometimes, Western rock bands with female members will attract more female fans. It's the opposite in Japan, especially within the vk scene. I believe it's due to a cultural difference even if I am talking about subcultures.
 
It makes more sense if the majority of the band members are male since their audience is female. The guys might look pretty and feminine but that's only from Western culture's perspective. From the Japanese female perspective, they are still men, attractive, desirable or even "ideal" men (at least after makeup and styling have been done). I am sure Japanese female fans don't consider them feminine unless they are onnagata, which is the minority (e.g. Hizaki) and only serves as something novel and different among other guys. You need to keep in mind the cultural difference. It's like when you show today's anime (those made after the 2000s, regardless of the genre or demographic) to a Western person who's not familiar with anime, they will probably think most of the anime guys look like girls, while anime audiences in Japan don't ever think they look like girls.
 
I believe that vk or J-rock bands with female members, especially a female vocalist, often attract more male fans. I don't claim that they use the female members to delibrately attract male fans. But they definitely don't have the female members to attract female fans (of course if female fans like them too, that's all good). "Females who dress like guys who look like girls" are nothing new in Japan. Since I talked about the "ideal" men (i.e. men looking like girls from Western perspective), the Takarazuka Revue, with an all female fanbase, has been doing this for decades. Some visual kei female members probably take inspiration from that when they want to be liked by female fans. So this is just a cultural thing in Japan that the West doesn't have. To some audience, it doesn't matter which gender is playing this role at all. They just want the show.