saiko

Good for him!

13 hours ago, libertine said:

I've only ever heard of Damage in the context of Kizu and there isn't a separate website for them. So likely it's just the company for managing Kizu business. No idea who founded the company.

The FWD website suggests some affiliation, but honestly I don't know if there's any way of knowing for sure how exactly they're affiliated. I've tried researching the whole Free-Will sitation in the past and the more I look into it the more confusing it becomes. What even is "Free-Will" these days? People talk about Free-Will, but were even are they? The company named Free-Will might not even exist, as there isn't an official Free-Will website anymore. Instead, most of the things you'd associate with them you actually find from FWD Inc.'s and sun-krad Co., Ltd's websites. Sun-krad, for example, is in my mind the Dir en Grey company. It was started by Tommy in 1998 and seems to manage most of the Dir En Grey, Dir En Grey side-project, Merry and Baroque related activities. They also list Kannivalism, all the Resistar and Riostar bands and Gulu Gulu. FWD Inc. is a company founded in 2007 (a few months before the whole fraud scandal?) and that website also mentions all the sun-krad bands. This time, however, they include Kizu and don't say a word about Gulu Gulu. There are also some straight-up discrepancies like the sun-krad website claiming Baroque is a sun-krad band, while the FWD website and band's own website say FWD. Who knows when the sites have been checked for old information.

 

Anyway, some things seem pretty clear. Most older bands (and Gulu Gulu) are managed more or less by sun-krad. The bigger band's releases are distributed under the FWD managed label Firewall Div which has a distribution deal with Sony. FWD seems to have inherited many of the Free-Will responsibilities like Firewall Div and the animation production side (Baki The Grappler). I think it's basically Firewall Division, but expanded to also directly manage indie bands through the Resistar and Riostar labels. FWD and sun-krad operate from same offices. It seems like both of these companies form what most people would think of as "Free-Will". They're connected, but have their own responsibilities. 

 

What does that mean for Kizu? I guess maybe the fact that they're only on the FWD website and also have their own label means that they're "Free-Will", but not quite in the same way as the other bands. They're not on sun-krad's site, so they might not be as closely involved with Tommy. They're also not FWD/Damage like Resistar and Riostar. That almost seems like they're more independent than other FWD and sun-krad bands, but how likely is that when they clearly started out with a lot of money for video production and promotions?

 

So long story short. Damage is prooobably a sub-label, but maybe not of "Free-Will", but of the nearest modern equivalent FWD Inc. Also maybe not.

Thank you so much!

My question over Kizu's resources origins has to do also with members past activities. None of them have a past of involvement in, at least, 'famous' projects. For example, Versailles, like Kizu, started out with what one can consider great amount of resources, and one can easily reconduct that fact to Kamijo being the ex-vocalist and overall composer and producer of an act that played a key part in the late 90s scene (I'm talking about Lareine). But that's not the case of Kizu; sure Lime was part of many bands like Lezard (was that the name?), but I think we can all agree that none of these bands was as successful or relevant as Kizu got since their first single. Maybe they actually have worked in projects that hadn't this need of high media exposure but nonetheless made a name and/or great sums of money (maybe like being sessionists, and/or producers, and/oror composers, etc.)?

Old-school, a.k.a. kote-kei, homage was cool when it trended back in 2012, but it quickly grew uninspired to me for many reasons, one of them being kote-kei music actually anything but a bunch of uninspired dudes playing awfully composed/executed hardcore punk/thrash metal while having intentions of recreating the atmosphere of solemnity that is in the core of the VK aesthetics with hyper-melodic solos and melodies.

So now I'm surprised by the fact that a song released under the Dioora project happened to be really pleasant to listen to (of course, the difference that this song was composed and executed by talented people makes a big difference with average band within the scene that is their object of nostalgia).

4 hours ago, chipathy said:

oh thats a good catch, i always figured Damage was apart of something much bigger but i was too lazy to try to find out who theyre connected to. so ya could be as simple as that damage is a sublabel of free will and well theres ur reason for why this band is so new but already so flashy 

Is Damage a label with more artists, or a label founded by Kizu just for themselves?

Still shocked over the quality of recordings, MVs, etc. Kizu have had since their beginning. Now they have their MVs being played out in a giant screen in a city. How come these indie bandomen are THAT loaded?

On 10/21/2019 at 9:46 AM, Yukami said:

 

The thing that I love the most about Karma is the artistry he tries to put over anything they put out. Good or not, he seems to be trying really hard, and for that only he may stay always on my radar.

2 hours ago, Seelentau said:

It will probably be Speed.

I bet it is Aku no hana.

2 hours ago, saishuu said:

can't believe 2019 started with kizu and dimlim as the biggest hopes for the future of vk and now by the end of the year the only one we have left is raku x gaki, bless

You are forgetting ☆chicboy ☆

Now seriously, while this clearly isn't the over-the-top world-into-flames edgy dramatic A-sides Kizu has accustomed us since their first single (and hell, if those aren't epic songs!), this actually is a nice song. I'd prefer to listen to it a couple of times more before giving a more detailed opinion, also I'd like to listen to the full single for it, but for a first listen it sounds actually pretty well arranged and executed (Lime's still delivering greatness with his voice). Overall, a very good job.

1 hour ago, platy said:

I listened to X Japan for the first time. The only song that stands out is Xclamation. Otherwise they're just a subpar glam rock band with a god-awful vocalist

Imho, 'Weekend' is the perfect example of X's musical concept, and I dare to say that that concept played a key part in the development of VK's musical concept itself. 'Weekend' starts out as a typical glam riot-song -considering the difference that makes the full melodic bassline of Taiji againts the always-on-the-root of most of the Western metal basslines-. But when one reaches the pre-chorus, the song fills with orchestral string arrangments and suddenly the ambient shifts from a groupie-party to a scenery of beauty and tragedy. The PV makes this very clear while putting this sounds into images of shoujo manga-like characters in situations of self-harm, suicide, crazyness, loneliness, etc.

Of course, I'm not saying you can't dislike X lol. Just wanted to share some points with you and everyone else about the things that imho make X a special act in the history of rock, aside from Wikipedia and bandomen overall calling them the VK momma with no apparent explanation.

On 10/14/2019 at 8:24 PM, hopefully_benign said:

Klaha era is just too Castlevania/proto-mallgoth for my blood. As a general rule in music, I start noping out the second I hear harpsichord

I used to feel that way, but after, I don't know, 5+ years? after discovering MM and their Klaha era, I think I became able to "understand" what they might have tried to put out with the whole 'Castlevaniaesque' aesthetics. I strongly recommend you to take another listen to this beautifully decadent tracks that should be considered true VK hymns, even worldwide neoclassical rock hymns:

Also, their respective live performances are just beautiful. It's awesome that even after losing Kami, Gackt and with that their major deal with Nippon Columbia, MM still managed not only to stay popular but also creative enough to make another iconic Budokan gig. 

11 hours ago, zombieparadise said:

I think a majority of people would agree that PIERROT had a lot more artistry and creativity when it came to creating their music. (Some) Angelo songs are good, but they don't stay with you the way over the years the way PIERROT songs did. I wouldn't call it 'living in the past'; its an obvious comparison between two related bands.

 

Basically 99% of the bands of today's scene.

So, according to @Seelentau's deep anaylisis, this is the hide and Tusk photoshoot that inspired Toshiya to enter the VK scene! Awesome! 😍

Beautiful, thank you!

11 hours ago, nekkichi said:

but that's a symptom and not the root cause.

 

like fr I avoid sex and relationship threads on here, but I see a lot of problems with this victorian view of the coitus; the irresponsible sex was here for ages, 

This can sum up everything posted in this thread to date. It's so evident that I can't understand why people tend to get entangled so much over anything else.

Suffering over sex or love matters happen over a wide range of politic, social, economic and psychic questions that transverse the life of each individual, just to reduce it to the mere desires or practices people have. 

1 hour ago, zetork said:

New Band 黒 Kuro (ex.ZYOLAM13)
 

ZYOLAM13 ジオラマサーティーン

Changes name to 黒 Kuro and Starts in January 2019

 

Members:
Voc 暁-satoru-
Gut 鬼霊-kiryo-
Bass 英乃-hideno-
Dr 翔-kakeru- (Join in 黒 Kuro)

 

https://www.96kuro.com/

 

https://twitter.com/96_crow_69

 

 

--------------------------—----

ZYOLAM13 ジオラマサーティーン

Was formed in 2014 With female vocalist and they were not Vk band 

 

But in 2017 begin with new male vocalist

With a loud mixture style Visual Kei

Releasing the 2nd Album DOOD 09.03.2018 

https://zyolam13.wixsite.com/zyolam

 

Hm, another one got into the recent Kagerou nostalgia train. I got interested in how they'll develop soon.

20 hours ago, emmny said:

 

not sure if anyone posted, but amazing cut from their first mini now has an MV

 

birthday of the mom in the vid coincides with the vid date drop, I have a hard time believing that karma would put up his baby videos but this is interesting. Also can't believe they're so unpopular in that live clip LOOLLL

I fucking know that the guitar phrase at 1:10 was directly extracted from a VK song I've heard a lot of times, but I can't recall which one! Halpp!!!1

Btw, sill sounding so much like a song from Kuroyume's "Feminism" album (with 'Sugizoesque' solos), bordering plagiarism. But still much fresh than almost anything else today in the scene.

So it's a yes for me.

3 hours ago, Tokage said:

*10 people who all happen to be loaded japanese gya

Are there actually loaded people that crave for uninspired cosplay musicians? I'm curious about what kind of job they'll have.

Japanese culture of "supporting an artist" is fascinating. 

Still don't have a clue on why even in 2019 Japanese people insist so much on making up funny English gramatics lol

4 hours ago, platy said:

I totally agree, hence why I stated in my previous comment that dimlim and mamireta aren't on the same level lol like the latter 

You are right, how come I hadn't paid attention to it lol

5 hours ago, platy said:

Remember when people were saying mamireta were the saviors of VK and a copy of their 3-month consecutive release was going for $100s? That was only last year.

 

Not that DIMLIM and mamireta are on the same league, but it's just an example to not put all your eggs in one basket too quickly.

I think I've got what you say, but music wise I wouldn't put Dimlim in the same level with Mamireta. After "Ojamashimasu" -a song that delivered a genuine concept while at the same time revived the 00's 'Kagerouesque' legacy- Mamireta still hasn't released a single song you can actually say it's worth the listening in a sense of "Wow, this is really filling the gap other bands have left and definitely doesn't sound samey at all". 

At least, that is my meaning for "VK saviour".

1 hour ago, Nowhere Girl said:

It's antisemitic. hopefully_benign is implying that the Star of David (a Jewish symbol) on crap merch shows the band to be money-grubbing and/or stingy. 

 

Edit: Apologies for the derail.

Thanks.

No tolerance for hateful minds.

2 hours ago, Nowhere Girl said:

 

Not cool. What a disgusting comment.

I tried to figure out why was that comment offensive, but I couldn't...

What?

17 minutes ago, Saishu said:

The problem is that it seems like Dimlim has no fucking idea what they’re doing and they most likely don’t have the funds to hire someone to do it for them. 

 

I don’t know. Slapping your music on iTunes and streaming services with little fanfare and tweeting out that you want to tour overseas probably isn’t quite enough. 

 

I fear the worst really. 

I really think guys need to play a lot in Japan, build their loyal fanbase even if it is little, and then think about moving on to something else. I feel they are rushing things a bit.

Btw, how come they don't have "someone" behind? I mean, the releases, the recordings, the PVs... I mean, I always supposed they actually had an 'infrastructure', to say, I think they are far from being just guys composing djent in pajama in their parents house at 3:00 a.m. (Btw, how old are they?).

But if this isn't the case, their output is by far so good for today's scene standars that I'm sure they already had a bigger VK-bands managing house interested in asking Dimlim to join them! 

2 hours ago, lichtlune said:

I've been wondering if misery still has a place in this scene. Really want to see him in his own new band with a different vocalist for a change. 

What? Misery's solos are all about that VK vibes! Seriously, if I think of a guitarist who actually has a place in the scene it's him!