Jigsaw9

...aaand here is track 4: https://linkco.re/4d2xgNty

On my birthday??? This better be good, Yoshiki! ...and by "good" I mean not the new album of course.

Wow, this was the last thing I expected. I guess I'm cautiously optimistically looking forward to it? We'll see. First three albums do it for me, then I kinda lost interest gradually (but the later stuff's not bad either).

I know it's popular to shit on SATSUKI but damnnnn... he makes it so easy.

@Bear Fair enough, I guess they weren't just memorable enough for me... (tho granted, I'm rarely in the mood to listen to these bands to begin with... I usually stick to Western thrash stuff, I feel more of a connection to those groups)

If anyone's looking for pop and rock oldies (or a few more alternative acts) from mainly the '80s or early '90s, the JPOP80SS Blogspot is highly recommended. All the links are still working as far as I've experienced, and most of the uploads are high quality (sometimes lossless too). As for the underground, the website Church of Zer has tons of (international but also Japanese) hardcore, punk and old-school metal of the extreme variety. This one's a bit more tricky when it comes to active links, but I've had luck most of the time. Very high-quality uploads (all lossless iirc), with some cool vinyl and bootleg rips that are not commonly found elsewhere.

The band's official Twitter account came out of eternal slumber to finally mention the release too, lol. They also posted the TuneCore link with all the digital platforms the best album is available at: HERE~

TWO MUCH RRROMANCEEE!! love it. ♥

All these bands are just kinda generic Z-tier thrash metal I could find anywhere just by throwing a stone, but if I had to vote I'd go for ROSENFELD (only because I listened to them much more than the others).

They uploaded a lyric video so now you too can sing along with Mr. Roboto in the collapsing 22nd century calculator factory!

Oh.............. it's a generic ballad.

Well, this was.... an album. I have very little to say about this because most of the songs didn't even register on any scale, they were just there, trying too hard to "be something". Which sometimes worked real well (海月), sometimes terribly (惡 -JUSTICE-), and sometimes even quite hilariously (目眩). Very bloated and unnecessary overall.

I can't think of any newer artists, but as mentioned above Leo Imai has good English skills, tho he's half-Japanese. Another 'half' artist with excellent English is Ken Lloyd, vocalist of FAKE? and Oblivion Dust. Hmmm now that I think about it, I can't rly remember any other ones.

MUCC needs an alterego where they play dat sweet Misshitsu-core they started out with, before becoming whatever they are now. Basically in the style they went with until 2003-ish. Their name could be uhmm...... CCUM?? ლ(́◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ)

Full MV out tomorrow (which might mean less than an hour cuz timezones? we'll see). Anyway, gentle reminder that this look is still 🔥🔥🔥 as fuckkk edit: it's heeereee

BUCK-TICK have a new album in the making, but before that they will release their new single "MOONLIGHT ESCAPE" on 2020/08/26. The single will contain 2 brand-new tracks: the A-side is composed by Hisashi Imai and the B-side is by Hidehiko Hoshino (both lyrics are written by Atsushi Sakurai). The single will come in 3 types: regular edition CD, limited edition type A (CD+Blu-ray), limited edition type B (CD+DVD). CD tracklist: 01. MOONLIGHT ESCAPE 02. 凍える (Kogoeru) Limited bonus DVD/Blu-ray tracklist: 01. MOONLIGHT ESCAPE music video

Speaking of Guniw Tools, we can't forget the King of Engrish Guniw rock'n'roll bangers... sing it with me now~ ROCKIN' FOR, TOO BATH THERE HIGHWAY PRETTY CAT I KNOW GOOD RUNDEBOO

I'll be honest with you guys, I've never listened to ZAKLIA (all I know is that they're a disbanded VK band) but I just randomly came across a new release titled "ZAKLIA THE BEST" on OTOTOY, which was apparently released today. I tried to dig around a bit, but zero info. No other results on Google either, just the OTOTOY link. I guess they (or one of the members) thought to compile a bunch of songs and slap it online for the remaining fans? Either way, according to the description it has some unreleased versions of songs on it too.* Tracklist: 01. Jigsaw 02. 歯車 03. 遮断 04. 吸血少女 05. ホワイトスノウ 06. 化物 07. 浮幽霊 -THE GHOST- 08. 害虫駆除 09. 井戸の底から。 10. オブセッション 11. 菫色に腐乱して行く香り -乱レ淫ラ- 磔 12. ギラギト 13. 蜜蜂 14. 樹海ロープ 15. 事 故 物 件 16. う ず ま き 17. トリカゴに捧げるレクイエム (再録) 18.【獄絶臨海】 (未発表音源ラフミックス版) Sample it & get is HERE~ * track 17 is "re-recorded" and track 18 is "unreleased rough mix" version

Ouch... I just read that apparently the clothing items are also made-to-order like the single, so I guess that explains (?) the price too.

Preview of the single: Welllll not sure how to feel about this, sounds pretty generic. Maybe track 2 sounds a tiny bit better.

Time for the "rare video" of the week! This time it's SHADE performed at LUNATIC FEST 2015: yeee boiii ♪

I know Plastic Tree are known to lift ideas from Western bands quite liberally, but this one seems like more of a fun homage than a ripoff. The short instrumental break starting at 02:11 in バンビ (BAMBI)... ...references this charming classic The Smiths tune:

First song that comes to mind is ICONOCLASM by BUCK-TICK. Completely in beautifuru Engrish and it's catchy and danceable as hell (the original version that is).

Yup, pretty much! I know of some bands who did this sort of practice before, but those were all "you can dl these songs for free, and then when we release it on CD we'll include some cool bonus extras". Anyway, anything Japanese artists do to get more into digital territory, I'm on board with!