WhirlingBlack

It's almost as if Isseis skills are in talent scouting and not making music (DIMLIM improved after he left) and certainly not in mixing/mastering (everything sounds awful that he's had a hand in the recording process). Perhaps he should form a label instead of bands, being an asshole is pretty much mandatory for that job anyway.

Aku no Hana was released in 1990, 29 years ago. Time to feel old.

Kizu and DIMLIM by far, I'm intrigued by Rands as well even though I've only listened through the album once so far so I haven't had time to settle on if I want to join the hype train.

I'm not sure if you understood what I was trying to say, read it again, I'm approving of your idea, and giving you some good ones on how to move forward.

Nah, I just happened to vacation there often between 2013 - 2017 and attended a whole lot of concerts when I was there. There's a video on Yoshikis instagram of him shaking my hand as well, haha, that was from his visit to Sweden though.

I'm worried about fractionalizing the community, the intent is good, but the oversaturation when it comes to options and places to be is one of the key reasons that it's so difficult to keep track of the scene these days, with all the different social media, the dozens of facebook groups, forums, chats, etc. The solution needs to be to make something which joins all the premier ventures together so that people have one source they can use, not create more distinct fora for people to divide themselves across. One forum (MH), one database (vk.gy) and one chat (preferably with many subchats where people can discuss various subtopics within J-Rock). And it would be good if they could all work in tandem and recommend each other exclusively so that we can have the best possible "complete" solution. Every new solution created where a fully good one already is in place just causes the effect described above. If that's your goal, then you're on the right track, but I think achieving cooperation is the best way forward.

The ones I can think of, off the top of my head, are the following DVDs: Dir en grey - TOUR14 PSYCHONNECT -mode of “GAUZE”?- Dir en grey - TOUR16-17 FROM DEPRESSION TO ______ [mode of VULGAR] Dir en grey - TOUR16-17 FROM DEPRESSION TO ______ [mode of MACABRE] Girugamesh - Last Live DVD sukekiyo - MUTANS // 2016.7.17 sukekiyo 2016 live「裸体と遊具、泥芝居に讃歌の詩」-漆黒の儀- I've also attended the filming of a lynch. live DVD at Hibiya Park Concert Hall, but I've not actually looked at it yet so I don't know if I can see myself in it. I've also been featured in some instagram clips from MUCC etc. but I don't count those. I'm sure there are more though so I'll give it some thought and return to this thread! Being a tall white guy attending concerts in Japan means that it's quite easy to spot yourself in a DVD, haha.

Please keep doing so, submitting them to setlist.fm would be a good idea as well if you have time. This band is going places and it's good to document as much of the early history as possible.

This is my main complaint about the DVD as well, the performance is good enough to stand on it's own, they don't need the backing tracks on the vocals to make it sound like the studio recordings. It might be my only complaint about it though, exceptional show otherwise. That and that they should get a second guitarist so they can drop the guitar backing tracks as well. But it might be difficult to find one that's a good fit, who knows.

It's just the truth, though, they couldn't even sell out Ikebukuro Cyber when @Takadanobabaalien saw them less than a year ago, I find it hard to believe they could do well less populated areas. It's not a reflection on the quality of their music but rather the level of fame they're at, at the moment. Let's be real.

Surely this must be a joke, how can a band that have barely any fans whatsoever in Japan go on a full 47 prefecture oneman tour?

I think Yukiya just produced their indies singles, they never released anything through Kreis. And it's funny how a scene legend gets reduced to being a former Dir en grey producer, lol. That's like making a topic about Yoshiki antics and labelling it Yoshiki (former Dir en grey producer).

After the Kisou tour I can't say that Domestic Fucker Family is mediocre anymore. Such a great live track. Awesome energy and crowd interaction. Kuukoku no Kyouon is their worst track for me. Goes nowhere and feels nothing. That or Sustain the Untruth like I elaborated on somewhere else.

Sounds a bit anime soundtracky to me. I hope they don't fall into that trap.

Different Cure era, lol.

You'd be surprised, it's disgusting how in Japan every time they start playing Sustain the Untruth, the fans act like Christmas came early. Seen it 30+ times and by the end of the tours I would feel like the band was doing it on purpose just to mock me. A show without Sustain was like a gift. Easily the most annoying Dir en grey live track.

Agreed, I also like EQing the high end up a bit.

It's because Wake is generally written with a different kanji (訳) although it carries the same meaning as Riyuu.

Kigan is ruined. I can't say much more. It's a terrible re-imagining which doesn't at all preserve the feeling of the song. The VICTIMIZATION part lost it's impact completely. THE DEEPER VILENESS was amazing. I'm not surprised at all, and personally with the mood and ferocity the band seems to display right now I wouldn't mind a complete re-recording of THE MARROW OF A BONE. Wake just sounds like Wake, it's not bad at all but I fail to see the point of re-recording it. The solo sounds lazier and that's about it. Dir en grey at this point was all about simple repetitive/hypnotic solos and I don't enjoy when they try to do some feel-y wank-y stuff out of it. Let's hope they never re-record audience KILLER LOOP.

I'm fairly certain he's stopped growing already, he's not that young.

Honestly, as someone who lived through their "try hard to be metal"-era, but also old enough to remember what came before, I'm thrilled with every new look they give us these days. So glad they decided to get visually relevant again.

Did anyone manage to rip the live recordings? They appear to be gone now.

The live was a mess at times and the mixing was way off, probably worse in the recording due to the positioning of the person with the camera, one guitar is barely audible. Still, I enjoy and encourage this, more VK bands should get a chance to play gigs with "normal" bands. A nice bonus is that video isn't banned at normal metal shows in Japan so it's a good opportunity to get this kind of gems.

The rivalry only exists in the western fanbase as far as I know. In Japan, The Gazette are firmly viewed as a kouhai band to Dir en grey, and they treat each other as such, despite that Gazette is, as far as I understand it, a bigger commercial success at the moment. Dir en grey was at their peak of popularity in Japan when Gazette started and it only makes sense that they took inspiration, just like Dir did with the peak acts of its era. five years is a long time in the late 90s - early 2000s in Visual Kei. Dir en grey fans in Japan had short-lived rivalries with Pierrot fans, and also with La'Mule fans for a certain period of time, the second of which due to some kind of drama between the hardcore fans regarding attacking each other etc. I don't remember the exact details at the moment. I don't think the band members themselves had any animosity in either case though, although I did get some glances from Kon (La'Mule singer) when I saw him live last year and wore a Dir en grey shirt, heh. When it comes to Gazette I think it's simply the case that both bands became large roughly around the same time in the west with the big "boom" in 2006-2007, they competed for a similar demographic and had a similar style, and since teenagers love to pick sides and create ever smaller groups within already small groups, it was probably easy to force people to identify with either or. I know that as a Dir en grey fan first and foremost, for a long period it was among many of my acquaintances viewed as unacceptable to be anything more than a casual listener of Gazette. Being equally fans of both bands would never happen as you would be fostered into this group mentality from others based on whichever band happened to catch your fancy first. Thankfully, I haven't seen this in many years among people I associate with, but it could be because I no longer am in touch with the youngest generation of fans, and all of us oldies have matured past that stage.