DogManX

They are obvously mocking gays. It's like when we were young and thought it was funny to act like disabled people. A funny issue, but not necessarily meant offensive.

Started with Wolf's Rain yesterday, since I never completely saw it when it streamed on Mtv. Into episode 6 and love it already. Great soundtrack.

I'm completely clueless about your list. 1. 9goats Black Out - Salome 2. Deathgaze - The fist 3. Lil Wayne - Turning me on 4. Moi Dix Mois - Forbidden 5. Absu - Born (Of The Waves) 6. Rammstein - Mein Land 7. Dir en grey - 鴉 8. Belphegor - Path of Sin 9. Cannibal Corpse - Barbaric Bludegeonings 10. Dying Fetus - One Shot, One Kill Wow, what a list! Almost every shot one kill (lol). But I'll go with Dir en grey, although I feel I'm the only one who loved the new karasu to death.

Oh shit that was sick! Didn't see that coming. And I should not lurk around in GoT threads anyway... hate the spoilers.

Sorry. I watched the whole thing through already and this judgement has to stay as it is. I'll give it to Steins;Gate that they really created an emotional finale and a sort-of touching romance (although typical shounen bullshit love story), but I can't push aside two facts: 1. The plot was barely moving forward and not engaging at all in like the first 10 episodes. And it's just downright naive how the plot develops. Like a bunch of meta-physicists will take that long to realize all the variables that come with time-travelling. Like "what, things actually change when we travel in time??" Then it just gets exciting enough far too late, you have to punch yourself through a bunch of boring-ass episodes with unbearable characters, and what I heard from most reviewers they really only did it BECAUSE they were already told it's worth it at the end. This is unacceptable. 2. Unbearable characters. Almost every character in this manga is in either way annoying, stupid or far too overdone in any sort of way to relate to (I watched in original dub). May it be an annoyingly crazy main character, a girl who acts and talks like she's mentally handicapped, or a cat-girl with this nyan all the time. Horrible. As well as this "Du-Duruuu". No seriously, I think Mayuri is the most horribly designed female main cast in a shounen story of all time. And this is a big achievement, given how hard shounen usually deals with female char design.

Hammer Station, Antarctica. ...No Just joking. Beloveth Germany.

Was recommended to watch Steins:Gate since it was called like the best anime since years. But I was highly disappointed with how shity it really was. Don't have any confidence for great storywriting in anime/manga right now.

@seratonin you do realize that an 8/10 rating is damn near to perfection? not really what I read out of your review.. edit oh oversaw that second sentence

I'd also have to go with Chthonic - Seediq Bale. Just horribly mixed drums, too much bass - it's very similar to Dir en grey's Withering to Death, which suffers from the same problems, just worse. Everything sounds electronic, the bass makes it unbearable to listen through headphones. DMX -Undisputed seems like the cheapest ever produced hip hop album. It's like DMX went from superstar to homeless in this. Ridiculous. Also, Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of my Blood was a big letdown from its predecessor. Non-existent beats basically. Whoever knows japanese death metal band Defiled: stay away from In Crisis. This is the epitome of elitist failure. Instead of getting a more classic 90's mixing, it sounds worse than a 10-man basement live. Immolation - KIngdom of Conspiracy. Overpolished mastering, almost to the point of plain boring. Almost every Sigh release. Guys, being horror avant-garde is NO excuse for all this horror quality. OK, often refusal of cooperation from the label was involved. Still.. they could be so much better if they just focused one time on what they actually want to sound like. Lastly what comes to my mind would be Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding. I just can't believe how they fucked up the drums so bad after Tomb of the Mutilated. The only thing that saves this one is Barnes' almost funny vocal performance.

This is not exclusive to VK! Well, we all have these moments when we get a new CD, "consume" for the first time and (to quote the angry video game nerd) have to ask ourselves... "WHAT WERE THEY THINKIIIIING??" What are your top production quality horrors? Were there disappointments when it came to beloveth artists/bands? Did you once have the feeling the production teared down the otherwise good quality of a release? Were there aspects of a release other from mastering that made you angry (like booklet designs etc.)?

How do you feel about sukekiyo as a whole? Are you a fan of the band? Do you think it’s being overhyped? What do you think of their recent live performances having a specific dress code? Does it suit the atmosphere of their music more or does it turn you off? Are the comparisons between sukekiyo and DIR EN GREY inevitable or justified? Do you think the desire to compare the two will die down once the novelty of 京 being one of the members wears off? To what extent do you consider sukekiyo to be 京’s ‘solo project’? Is it fair to use such a term when it appears that the other members also seem to have considerable influence on the band's music? What would you like to see from the band in the future? Do you expect it to be a full time project? Sukekiyo has done great so far. I'd consider it to be a likeable band if it continues like that. The hype is always centered around fans who absolutely love this thing, it's the same with Dir en grey or Gazette fans. So I naturally step away from it and leave die-hard fans their opinion. I haven't seen this live yet, but these dress codes are generally not something I'd take serious. Especially if literally every of the band members has a past in Visual Kei. It's that kind of thing that just comes and goes. I think the comparisons between Sukekiyo and Dir en grey are neither justified nor inevitable. So far I'm pretty sceptical about the true motives of those who feel like comparing the two bands over and over. Of course Kyo is the face and soul of Dir en grey, but the contributions of the other members bare also some similar recognitions to their old bands. So why is there no comparisons between RES or 9GBO I read, at least not in that intensity? As far as I'm concerned, it has been a matter of countering Dir en grey's hype. It's really just childish. Of course it is Kyo's solo project. Speaking of Dir en grey's perspective, as this has always been. Solo projects often involve other recognitial musicians, so it's not that kind of a contradiction. It's more of a linguistic issue. Of course the others do have an equal amount of participation, if not more. And speaking from their perspective, it's a solo project for them as well. Matter of fact just is that RES and 9GBO are not really discussed that much in the moment. I don't think we'd get something more soon. It's going to be pretty sporadic, whenever the members have the time to come together. And it may be better so, because quality usually suffers within mass production.

I'd go with that beautiful instrumental of Dimmu Borgir any time!! 1. Slipknot - Psychosocial 2. Girugamesh - I think I can fly 3. Girugamesh - BEAST 4. Dimmu Borgir - Fear and Wonder 5. Cannibal Corpse - Post Mortal Ejaculation 6. Malice Mizer - Garnet～禁断の園へ～ 7. Galneryus - Chasing the Wind 8. Versailles - The Umbrella Of Glass 9. 9goats Black Out - Belzebuth 10. Cannibal Corpse - Unite the Dead I'd take every song except for Galneryus if I could, but friggin Psychosocial would be first. Best Slipknot track

I have quite a few Malice Mizer - エーゲ～過ぎ去りし風と共に Nightmare - message Nightmare - 縷々～ｌｕｌｕ～ Deathgaze - Amends DIR EN GREY - Amber DIR EN GREY - embryo 9goats black out - sink the Gazette - Reila X Japan - Crucify my love Girugamesh - Nobody Sendai Kamotsu - 男たちの晩夏

And what exactly is that trying to express (other than saying Shitataru and Myaku are not Deg songs)? In the rock and various metal genres it's fairly common for those structures to appear. Rather strange to condemn them on that. It's just not their formula. If that's your personal approach on good music, then you should try some music doing that. I don't condemn Cannibal Corpse for not using clean vocals.

@nek Don't even know what that means I was just furious nothing else. I don't even listen to Deg right now. What is Dir en gray stans? (english not my first language)

Seriously, Shinya sucks for 4-5 years now, ever since they started the faster, heavier stuff. And seriously it sounds to me that the people on the Sukekiyo review site shitstorming Dir en grey relentlessly never really listened to something else than Dir en grey, or at least that kind of music. Like "OH WHAT A REVELATION, there are other ways the guitars and drums can be used?" Why always compare the two? Sukekiyo are Sukekiyo, Deg is Deg. Deg doesn't do technically complex stuff, that's just something to expect from the band. They came out of a very simple form of rock, and they didn't really progress in terms of technique. Like ever. And the most obvious link is Shinya. And even calling Dir en grey out to make a good enough follow-up..like what the fuck? Why should they? This is not some kind of rivalry. People should know good enough that each of the bands have entirely different composers of entirely different musical backgrounds. Nagoya-inspired progressive whatever on one hand, and western-inspired avant garde sludge whatevercore something on the other. (Dir en grey compositions are cheap? Fine. Rammstein are too. Nirvana too, by the way. So what? If you don't like the way Dir en grey is managed musically, guess what. Maybe you should search for another kind of music. And if you like Sukekiyo, surprise! You found it.) This is just so messed up. Good, ok. Dir en grey "made it", so they're open to this sort of a feel of need to critizise the band to counter the hype around them, whenever there is an opportunity. "Sukekiyo is a good release..oh by the way Dir en grey sucks and DSS was a shitload of fuck..just sayin...". We.get.it. It's like people are relieving their stress from a trauma they got from meeting a furious Dir en grey fanatic. Ah yeah and to the discussion: nearly every professional drummer on this planet is better than Shinya, and Kyo probably looked for people to fit his sort of style, I don't suspect a technical approach. EDIT I apologize for that, but.it just had to get out there.

Just wow. I bow my head to all the people involved, just when I thought 9gbo's CALLING couldn't get something to rival it, here comes Immortalis. Calm and refreshing sound, just as you would expect from that kind of collaboration. 9gbo, RES and Dir en grey do have some connecting points anyway. Dunno..9/10 is good I guess. Though I don't really understand the comparisons to Dir en grey all the time (other than just another opportunity to bash the band). The only Deg-member in it is Kyo, so of course it would sound different. The main influences obviously lie in RES and 9gbo thrown together in the mulinex. This rivalry thinking is ridiculous. This band is not Dir en grey.

Ok enough of this. Time for metal! or so 1. Rammstein - Rammstein (Demo) 2. D'espairsray - Kaleidoscope 3. ナイトメア - 「勿忘草」～Kの葬列～ 4. Necrophagia - London (13 Demon Street) 5. Cannibal Corpse - Dead Human Collection 6. ギルガメッシュ - Having Betrayed Is Why 7. lynch. - Liberation Chord 8. Chthonic - Sail Into The Sunset's Fire 9. Opeth - Slither 10. ギルガメッシュ - GOKUSOU (NOW ver.) Really weak list. Most of these songs are just ok to me, but I have to choose, so I'd take the old Rammstein Demo. Great song for the fact that it's the first they ever made.

So I saw there's no topic for Dessgess' new single yet. I personally found it a big step forward since the last LP "Creature", since it kinda seemed they stagnated in ways of their heavy metalcore style, and songs like Ring the Death Knell just seemed to be ever rearranging (lol sry for bad english). So big props to the title track, the other two are not revolutionary but they do work.. as B-Sides. Very exciting what's up after that.

There were some enjoyable parts on the album. The first 3 songs (no introduction), TOMORROW and RING deserve being kept. The remaining... trash can. And oh yeah the production sounds like it's done by a kid. Doesn't seem like big support from the label...

The overall structure of the songs somehow remind me of "the avoided sun". It starts out with some pretty good tracks, the second half is dominated with tracks that sound totally alike (and boring) and it finishes very promising with the last 2 tracks. The production sounds totally awful, seriously. It's clinic and overmixed, totally unnatural sound. THis metalcore thing brings the danger, of course, of very repetitive structures..and I can't wrap my head around the fact that I actually heard very little distinguishable riffs. I won't go too crazy on this for now, but it sounds definitely more promising than anything after their 2nd album.

@nekkichi that wouldn't solve the problem on a long shot. the best way for them (and the opportunity hopefully is given since there's a label change in sight) is to slow down on single releases to at least just one B-side, and focusing on full albums like earlier. that's what made them strong after all. TO BE OR NOT TO BE is, just like NIGHTMARE, nothing more than an unambitious loose collection of (mostly weak) songs. another possibility, although it's cocky, would be simply to implement some B-sides on the album, since most of them usually are pretty strong.

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY? There are bands who have a certain formula, some which they would rather die of than change or grow out. Some bands, like infamous death/thrash metal legend Vader, remain in this formula for multiple decades, basically playing the same music over and over and still being the epitome of awesome. Some other bands like lynch. started out strong, then became more and more boring until the point of plain useless. And, well, then there is Nightmare. A band that had an undeniable charm at their early times, managing to mount the scene with badly produced demotapes already, and continuing this story of success with a relentless output of solid releases over almost a decade. There have basically been only two times of "drastic" changes of their formula, one being during the transition to a major label in 2003..and the second during their time under pop music giant avex. Ever since their release of NIGHTMARE it became clear Nightmare once more would try to be "progressive", in their own perspective. Rhythm or ground tone changes within songs, the more and more excessive use of synthies and disney pop melodies. Yeah okay, they wanted to try out something new, reach a new fanbase of kids and older people as Sakito used to say. On SCUMS these kinds of elements were already becoming more prominent, on TO BE OR NOT TO BE they drove this kind of, let's just call it progression, to the maximum... and they failed miserably. Let's face it. Avex did Nightmare no good. The new fashion of releasing three types of singles with two B-Sides which are, in classic Nightmare fashion, much stronger than the A-Sides, gives the impression that Nightmare are in every instant just too squeezed out at the point of actually writing album tracks. I preferred to include the B-Sides of the Scum singles into (fitting places in) the album and voila, it became so much more listenable. I really didn't repeat my mistake (calling out bad too early) on SCUMS, which I by now actually call out to be a solid release, one of which you can tell they really tried 90% of the time. I gave this new album a dozen or more listens, but..no. There is no recognition, no ambition to play any of these songs rather than any other. They didn't try a bit to make this album a good one. And what can you expect from an album that has been announced merely a month before release and was iniciated by two HORRIBLE singles? Dizzy would have been an ok song if they would have been consistent during the chorus, rewrite was just a total mess of misplaced synths, great opening riff and a totally demolished chorus. In both instances this new trend of random rhythm change and much more random ground tone switch was the main cause of disaster. And it doesn't just stop there. They literally failed in every instance, excluding the finisher L.L.B, of experimenting with this. On SCUMS at least only track 2 was horrible, now the mess continues over track 3 too. Gallows is good, TO BE OR NOT TO BE tries to be an intro and a full song at the same time - horrible outcome. It doesn't sound finished, Yomi's falsetto..erm..call?.. whatever it sounds unbearably bad. 東京都羅刹区 is..just there. It's not special, and it's one of those songs ruined by a messed up chorus. The obligatory jazz song "Truth" fails right because being obligatory. There's really no reason choosing this over their past jazz songs until even Masquerade. Two boring ballads..meh. The first one "Melt into blue sky" is at least not terrible enough to skip it. Ah fuck it, let's just come to the end of the album. I feel like the last two songs (on Type B which I possess) are actually the only songs on which I feel some kind of ambition from the band. Some kind of energy. It's noise, but it's fun noise. 極上脳震煉獄・弌式 has an ice-cool main riff and heavy drums, while L.L.B provides probably the strongest Yomi performance since 5 years or so. So, buy it? That is the question. Answer: No. It's not worth it. If you can, get the few songs worthy and throw out the rest altogether, it's literally SCUMS this time. Nightmare could prove though (predominantly with Gallows, 極上脳震煉獄・弌式 and L.L.B ) that deep down inside they still have it... but if there is something they're bad at, it's being progressive. So, actually TRY next time, guys. And please just stick at where you're good at.

New tour seems to connect to the first major tour in 99...whatever that's going to mean EDIT wrong thread lol

Hmm... well. At least they wear robes. The song is so blant, leaves me speechless..or confused.