Ito

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

Since finishing FFXV, I have been playing Breath of the Wild. I have high hopes but low expectations, since I have never been a Zelda fan (frankly, I've found most of them fairly dull). The story is pretty stale, but man, exploring is just plain fun. Nier has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be played as well at the moment....talk about an abundance of riches.

Now that is an interesting tidbit.

Interested in how this one will sound.

I think this thread has ran its course, guys. Sorry to end the fun.

Yeah...no.

Welcome to the forum! If you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone with a red or blue name!

Locking this thread as it got derailed HARD. I know a lot of you get off on making fun of Yohio, but at the very minimum keep it out of the news section.

Stay on topic, people. This is the news section, if you don't care then don't comment.

Finally finished FFXV - Really enjoyed it. I have some major problems with the delivery off the story (it could have used about double the cutscenes it had), but overall I thought the game was excellent. Probably the most fun combat system of any FF I've played. I pretty much cleared out all of the quests I could before finishing the game, so I don't have too much left to do. Only have 4 trophies left to get so I am going to try and Platinum the game.

While I can't speak for their headphone, their speakers have been bad since forever. There is a joke that Bose stands for "buy other sound equipment." That said, I there headphones seem to be regarded much higher than their speakers - it seems like they still have the best noise canceling tech in the industry.

I must admit, I am not a huge fan of either. If I were to pick, I think I would go with earlier years. Though his voice now is a little less nasally, which makes me thing I would like it more, it seems to lack some of the character it had earlier. That said, I might be biased by liking the earlier music more as a whole.

At some point I should do a comparison on the AKG K7XX's and The Sennhesier HD6XX's, as I now own both and they are fighting each other for the space as my daily driver. The AKG's for sure feel flatter but the Senn's has a really fun characteristic to them.

Did another quick thoughts: Red is "blah" Orange is "meh" Yellow is "hmm" Green is "yas" "Airaku Nise Kokoro" by Yusai I was worried that I would feel the same way about this as I do about Kiryu (which is to say that I wouldn't like it), but I find this to be a marked improvement. The chorus of this song feels like it comes out of nowhere though "Yuushuudani no Batter" by LACK-CO. Early Chemical Pictures was probably my favorite of any of Tenten's stuff, and this has a similar feeling which I am enjoying. "Shitsumei" by Grieva I've never really liked Grieva. This song didn't change anything. "Lineage" by Versailles Imagine if the band could actually get real instruments instead of recording violin off of a keyboard? That said, this is one of the better songs the band has done in a long while. "Frabjous Nacht" by GRIMOIRE Haven't listened to this band. The vocalist is maybe a bit too squeaky, but I liked what I have heard and want to check them out more. "nisemono no utage" by memai SIREN Not enough to get me super hyped, but I liked the mashup of styles in this song. "yuuyami ni meidou suru shoudou to koufuku no arika" by Soan Project with Temari Art kei, yes please. "Change your mind" by ame no parade Kind of nice, but also kind of forgettable "New York City" by Tempalay Blocked and I don't really feel like jumpinf through hoops at the moment to play it. "ノクチルカの夜" by まじ娘 Not bad by any means, just ended up feeling a little bland. "Ikkyu-san" by Suiyoubi no Campanella Not really a style I enjoy at all. Though the bass line is nice. "Ashita mo" by SHISHAMO bloooocked "METALIN" by Sokoninaru From the first couple of second I thought I wasn't going to be a fan of this song, but this song shifts sooooo much over its run time. It's almost like the band wanted to see how many styles they could fit in to a single song. It's odd and a bit jarring, but I thought it was an interesting experiment. I want to see how it holds up to repeat listenings. "Remember the Name" by Aiolin They need to send the violinist over to Versailles to record for a bit lol. I checked this bad out a couple weeks back and I like where they are going. Vocals are the weakest link imo, but not enough to pull them down too much.

Welcome to the forum! If you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone with a red blue name

I love you all for this XD [Ito's love is for premium members only]

If only KEEL had made it on my list, then Aie would be totally dominating lol. Glad you are liking some stuff - I feel like 2016 was a great year for discovering new non-Japanese bands for me. I really should check out more of Alcest's back catalog. I started listening to them in 2012 with Les Voyages De L'Âme but for whatever reason have never gone back to listen to any of their earlier work. Sounds like I should fix that.

I feel like this should be a cosplay in your future:

Thanks for the kind words! The Gibkiy album is excellent - I think I would have been pushing for it hard int he ChristMHas list, but I didn't get a a chance to listen to it until after we did the voting. Kodama may be the prettiest album I'be heard in a long time - like seriously, every time I spin it I am just floored. Glad I am not the only one who find Rheia to be that way. I really want to make it to an Oathbreaker show now, I just have to imagine they are insane live. And yeah, some of the runner ups were SO close to making it - but I really did want to limit it just a top ten. I think narrowing it down to just 10 took me a lot longer than writing and formatting this whole post lol.

Thanks Reverend! And I've seen Emma live, though it was with Marriages as an opener for Russian Circles - she was great. I am also looking forward to seeing her with Deafheaven.

I wanted to keep things really straight forward this year - only 10 albums and keep my blurbs short. I know this is a bit on the late side, but I hope that some people can find some new music they enjoy out of it! 10) gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy - Fujouri Shugeki Those of you who know me should already know that I am a sucker for nagoya kei. The formula for this band is a no brainer - vocalist from Merry Go Round, guitarist and bassist from the god and death stars, and the (original) drummer from L’Arc~en~Ciel all bring a long pedigree of talent. A brooding atmosphere that permeates through the album, leaving the album feeling bleak in the best way possible. Though different styles, gibkiy brings that same “unhinged” feeling that I enjoy so much in DEZERT’s work. The 14 minute closer is an avant garde piece constantly uncomfortable and on your toes, with long unusual pauses and strange guttural growls, wraps the album on a truly memorable note. 9) girugamesh - chimera I’d be lying if I said that this being Girugamesh’s final album didn’t push this up a bit on my list. But I’ll be damned if Giru hasn’t been on of the most important band in my Jrock journey, and them hanging it up still feels like a huge deal to me. I’m just so happy that I can say that they exited on a high note, with chimera being a fasted paced and hard hitting album that does a great job of blending their electronic style from the and their energy from their earlier musical day into a more modern metalcore/djent package. It’s just sad that we don’t get any more out of this band as they were trending majorly upwards over their last few releases. 8 ) downy - dai roku sakuhinshū 『mudai』 I flat out did not like this album the first time around. Something about it just felt off and it took me a couple tries to completely make it through the album. Perhaps my brain just couldn’t comprehend the complexity of these tracks on the first time around. While there are still some parts that feel a bit off, and I find the nasally tone of the vocalist to be slightly off putting, I couldn’t help but fall in love with this albums odd blend of atmosphere and rhythms. 7) GoGo Penguin - Man Made Object GoGo Penguin feels like it might be a sister band to Mouse on the Keys, with their exceedingly beautiful fusion of downbeat classical and jazz. The piano, bass, and drums seems to flutter across the album, landing gently and quickly at times just to quickly fly away again. It all just feels so light and airy...and just damn pretty. 6) Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death I find it hard to label the music on Marked for Death. It is like some amalgamation of post and gothic rock, with a hint of southern added for flavor. What I do know is that Emma has crafted a powerful album of mourning that managed to feel both sad and uplifting at the same time. Its been a long while since I felt like an album has served up a complete story that was worth telling, but Emma’s presentation of a doomed relationship feels relatable and heavy. Her voice brings nuances to the story, whether she is letting the words just lightly escaping from between her lips or soaring above. The wonderful production does the final piece in wrapping a bow around this solo album. 5) the god and death stars - after the addle apple In 2011 the god and death stars put out their first release, addle apple, and with that fully solidified in my mind that aie was a master of his craft. Fast forward 5 years and we have the band's attempt to 'remake' that wonderful mini-album. While the song names are the same, sonically this transformation like that of when a caterpillar builds a cocoon and comes out of it a whole different creature. When you listen closely, you can pick out some of the riffs, textures, and lyrical homages to the original work, but other than those small bits this mini is something completely new. There is an air of complexity to the band's flavor of Nagoya Kei that gives me that same feeling of freshness that addle apple originally brought. It's a bold claim to say that this is the band's best release, as I feel that the god and death stars haven't ever put out any weak material, but I think that it might just edge out its way to the top of their discography. 4) Oathbreaker - Rheia I don’t know that last time a song by a band I had never heard before has left such a striking impression on me. The way the chilling opening of the album falls away into a pit of rage left me stunned. This hardcore/black metal group balances that line of beautiful and brutal much in the same way as Deafheaven, though perhaps in a way that makes the lighter bits feel more haunting than gorgeous. The album is a ride and I often find myself feeling a little bit emotionally exhausted at its conclusion. 3) Russian Circles - Guidance I am convinced that Russian Circles can do no wrong. Guidance is probably one of their worst albums, but here it is sitting near the top of my list. The band are masters of the instrumental metal genre, managing to evoke feelings in their tracks in ways that bands with vocals can only hope to do. Emotion is weaved through, spanning from mourning tinged in anger to reserved hope. I can’t help but feel like this feels just right to have been released in 2016. 2) Obscure Sphinx - Epitaphs The middle ground between too disparate sounds and moods, that wonderful juxtaposition, brings some of the greatest joys music has to offer. The atmosphere of Epitaphs is downright crushing with how heavy it is, but yet the album is full of such beauty. The female fronted mashup of doom and post metal that is Obscure Sphinx seemingly came out of nowhere just to punch me in the gut. 1) Alcest - Kodama The ethereal sound that Alcest has honed is down right breathtaking. I’ve always been a fan of the band, but I have never been as blown away by their work as I was with Kodama. Their black metal and shoegaze style manages to take some of the best elements of both and create a sound that just feels heavenly. Somehow the songs manage to feel both sad and hopeful at the same time - perhaps it's this duality that aids to the otherworldly feel of the album. All I can say is that Kodama is downright gorgeous. Runner Ups This is the stuff that just missed the cut TAMTAM - NEWPOESY The band feels like it has landed on the perfect combination of its jpop and dub stylings. DEZERT - Saikou no Shokutaku A throwback to the numetal phase of visual kei which feels equal parts fresh as it does historic. Silence - psycho:lens. This album would have made it if gibkiy hadn’t edged it out on the emotional Nagoya Kei front. Saor - Guardians Beautiful Celtic infused black metal. The only downfall is that it feels a little “same-y” over its hour long run time. kokomo - Monochrome Noise Emotional instrumental post metal - great stuff but it’s damn hard when you are going up against the masters of this genre in Russian Circles M-Koda - Workings If it weren’t for a few outlying tracks that feel a bit out of place, this ambient electronic album would have likely made its way on to the list. Easily my favorite album of the year to chill out to. Boris - Pink Since half of this album is a re-release, it felt like cheating to give it a full spot. That said, this is still one of Boris’ finest releases, and the new material doesn’t feel lacking at all XAA-XAA - chuudoku shoujou This band is carrying the mantle for modern visual kei. The album feels like a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s easy to see the promise they hold. Siraph - siraph This band picks up where School Food Punishment left off. The vocalist is the only factor holding them back. JYOCHO - inori de wa todokanai kyori Jpop fused with math rock and it’s glorious. I was sad to see Uchuu Konbini go, but now I am not so sure that was a bad thing.