DogManX

I think it's one of the few songs on that album which actually approved of the very .. rough .. production. And the bass in the main riff just does it for me. I used to hate I'll most and I still think I do in a way, but Downfall from the new record has such an ANNOYING guitar theme it kinda became a big rival quickly.

Not a bad album but noth spectacular either. It starts pretty weak... the obligatory "brutal" song as an opener? Definitely risky in general and it didn't pay out this time. But then it gets better, Ningen wo blablabla is probably the least forgettable of the previous released ones. After that though... I don't know how to describe other wise but it's a constant rollercoaster ride up and down and up again. There's no consistensy for quality here as I see it, one time they blow me away with epic mellow guitar vibes (like Aka) and then they completely destroy it by going full autism on tracks like Downfall or Rubbish Heap. In general what disturbs me on this album more than ever is their conviction to certain structure formulae. May it be this forced contrast between flat, metalcore-esque verse parts and super melodic choruses, or flat first halfs with a melodic conclusion... this comes down to taste of course and people may not agree with me on this... but if you're trying to be an experimental band, the last thing you want is for your music to be predictable is it? Whatever, the conclusion of this album didn't really shine so much either, ranunculus may not be a total failure of a song, but I just feel I've heard this song dozen of times before within other songs. It gets old. So what's left for me is an average record with some of the most awesome works they've done so far, but also a lot of shit on the way. 3/5.

Yeah they really got a hold on this song. it's also the first one that comes to my mind when listening to the 2 latest singles. (And they suck btw)

It's as fascinating as the speculation whether shinya s gay or not. Because the answer is crystal clear. If this is no easy cash grab for you then I dunno what is. The remasters are for the most part unbalanced. It sounds like they just snatched up all the highs in one sitting and then called it a day. If something sounds cheap as fuck, then either the production was cheap as fuck or the producer (sup kaoru) was dumb as fuck. Choose one.

Just listened to the new .. "album" .. i guess. That shit made my head hurt a lot. I mean... if you wanna cash cow the shit out of this band, at least give them something listenable.. those remasters are of the worst kind I ever heard... and OH Yeah, this is like the first time I listened to the remake of a remake of a song, or even the remake of a pre-remake. Awesome right? My ears are puking but oh well .. some die hard fans will come all over this just because there's DIR EN GREY on it. At least they kept the cover authentic. This really sounds like a CD with ALOT of scratches. I'm out. VOS sucks. 0 points.

What pissed me off most were (and are) fans who'd say what a great drummer he is because he's doing "complex" stuff and has such a big drumkit. Yeah, when you compare Shinya to most of what came out during the 2000s in j-rock ... he seems like a fucking pioneer on drums. But he isn't. His drumming during the old times was average.. but good enough and especially fitting for the style. Most of what came after it though ... wasn't that much. As I too see it, there was alot of pretend involved. Shinya signed himself up for a task that was too big for him. His "fills" do have a certain characteristic of trying to emulate a certain style of pattern. With connotations on TRYING. And what made it worse was the fact that he didn't seem to be motivated enough to practice. And WHEN he finally managed to bring up full, complex fills (like the Kiri To Mayu remake), guess what happened on stage. He screwed it up. Like in many other cases when relatively simple patterns were involved, though. A certain guitarist of a certain band called Rammstein once said, "a band begins to exist on stage, everything else is theory". There couldn't be a better example than shinya. BUT my faith in him was restored from watching the late budokan tape. He was doing well all through. That's what happens when you practice. It's really a coincidence when I browse this site after being absent like half a year and peope are still talking about my favourite issue Concerning the new song, I kinda have mixed feelings. it's not bad, but I get a real uninspired feeling from it. It just sounds like a plain J-rock song being quadruple-layered on guitars and vocals., the random pauses don't change that feeling. But other than that it's quite enjoyable.

Is it just me or did the live producers start to include audience shots more frequently? Really digging the 2016.02.06 live right now. Great inferno performance EDIT oh just noticed it's the budokan performance

Ok I chose the inferno in the first one and then cause of fickleness in the second.... without any clue what I just did

There's no proof to tell otherwise. I'll stick to my version until the band does say their label dictated the setlist. Which would still make them look pathetic. Of course nothing's going to change if bands just bow their heads in submission. But if that clears your concience to get that release... good for you. >>Now the second disk: If you liked that ... you don't even have to wait for the release. Just search for HISTORICAL~the highest nightmare. It's the same thing

Holy shit what happened? those remakes sound good! whats up with yomis voice??? Am I getting too used to it or is he actually trying to sound like that time? Ok wait a sec. I wrote this when disc1 was playing. WHY THE HELL ARE THEY RERECORDING THE EXACT SAME SONGS FROM LAST TIME? even if they made another record label change yet again, this is an abundantly redundant move. and why are the last 4 or so not even remade? I understand it's not supposed to be a retake album, but all of those songs are on TWO another fucking best ofs already! it's totally random. And at least Kyokusho ranshin tengoku is obviously the rerecorded version from historical.... why? WHY? WHY MAKE TWO EXACT SAME RETAKE RECORDS? ok sorry i have to edit this again. I can't believe it. what's going on with those guys? is their fanbase so damn submissive they won't ever give critical feedback to them? I mean come on for god damn fucks sake. can you imagine being a "fan(girl)" in japan going to the store looking at this damn playlist "Oh another naitomea album yay! the title says best! I respect the band for putting this playlist again .. after all it's best and they do it for us nyan nyan!" god fucking christ. I mean I was ok with most of the first disc since the last rerecordings of those songs sounded awful as hell ... but the second disc.. I had to make sure they didn't release it on april 1st. what the hell guys get it right. Oh i wonder what kind of comment on their channel or radio they will make about this. "We decided to do that album for all those fans who were just born after our last best of release and would feel pretty lost at this point. We decieded very carefully for the setlist and put alot of thought into it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3bCwuoHKTY Yeah ... well it's nightmare right? jesus

You're one confident guy are you?

Sometime I just wish Shinya would dress up like a real man... with vokuhila, nosebeard and beer in his hand (and maybe gun in the other). That would make me gay beyond recognition. His kids would be proud too. Someone noticed his mouth spreads so wide across his chin it looks like a halloween mask?

Whats wrong with this guy. His kids will be mocked in school forever.

I really enjoyed the album. Great experience. I already liked GALLOWS a lot, they're really getting focused again. What I especially loved besides the great choruses were the ballads in general with that inconic old-vk-guitar tune. It's really easy to deal with lynch albums because they sort of manage every time to have the same order of strong beginning - weak 3/4 and strong ending again. Also good production by the way. Only the opener fell a bit short on the atmospheric climax it tried to reach after the intro. best songs so far: Evoke Eternity Cosmos Melancholic Moon

Well the album just sucked. In retrospective we know they just did it to be done with it. As far as this "disbanding" goes, well... I didn't notice a thing. Because Ai's solo project is Deathgaze. It's the same fucking thing, same sound, same composer, same vocalist. And I for my part do not expect naything relevant from this band to come, so they might as well disband. Their greatest songs were almost all plagiates.

Meanwhile kids die in syria.... man are you that bored to fight over shit like this? Let's just conclude ARCHE has not been out for so long you can't talk about it anymore.

Since I love Hour of Penance, and also Mauro Mercurio's drumming no homo, I kinda feel ashamed I didn't take a look at Mercurio's latest project EYECONOCLAST. This is 2 years old now, but it's a great piece of brutal death metal with alot of classic death metal elements, as well as thrash influences (Vader incoming). This shit's not just brutal, it got alot of substance. For the same reason I love Vader so much, it's the relatively simple riff work that just gets stuck in your head. Alot of bands this time (like Cannibal Corpse especially) think the more complex, the better. But this is just not true. This band for me is a nice reminder how simple sweet Death Metal used to be in the 90's and shortly after, when bands didn't try to compete for complexity and technique yet. I really dug this one here

And my bike is yellow. Thanks very much. Makes sense right?

Was Uroboros that great? The production was horrible. Really bad for people who cannot afford to go on concerts all the time. Dum Spiro Spero was also good, but not that good tbh. To me ARCHE is on par with VULGAR, as being two of the best releases they made. Btw whats Shinya doing. He should practice some drums.

I love how they all gratuate her with "yaay conquer the world kyaa" when everyone knows once you're out of the pedophile scale your idol carreer is over. btw holy shit she really looks like 12

Theres some good to it If you step into the heavier sections of metal through japanese bands like this, you get all the more rewarded when you follow it up with Dimmu Borgir etc.

Back in the time when I was searching the VK scene for some good, fast-paced metal, I stumbled upon them and got myself some stuff. Shortly later I dismissed this quest and got to realize how bad this band really is if you leave out the VK aspect. I know this band does have some fans and I respect that, but honestly .. this is among the worst music I have ever listened to. Forced symphonics, wannabe-power metal, and vocals that did not fit ONCE into a song of theirs. What qualifies as a bad j-rock-band? If anything, this one does.

We just talked about kareki right? .D

Their appeal? Great guitar work, great atmosphere, and power in simplicity at the same time. Of course the vocals were MUCH more bearable back in the times before NIGHTMARE (album). They were of the first neo VK bands around the new millennium, yet they did not at all define the sound of said movement. Of course today they are sellouts, and way below what they used to be. Which is sad. I mean I could ask the same about the Gazette. There's absolutely nothing remarkable about them (aside maybe from unusual good mixing/mastering) and their vocalist has ALWAYS sounded horrible. But this is the thing about music. Sometimes an "I don't like it so I won't ask for answers I will not accept anyway" is put much better.