DogManX

He doesn't goof around. He's fuckin evil don't you see it? I mean I can literally hear him scream to the crowd. "You wanna see more of thisshitmotherfuckersssss?"

I think the PV was well made. Looking at most Deg videos, I don't really see that much to anticipate more. And I'm certainly not satisfied with a dull performance video.

Lol that's also what I've thought. Ov Fire and the Void was made more awesome though. Now I understand though why they didn't release the Unraveling PV. It's just total shit. And wth did they film to censor it on a DVD? Oh, and Toshiya: THERE'S ONLY ONE ABBATH

Taken down already

Ok list I guess. I wonder when they'll ever play a concert without OBSCURE. I can't hear it anymore. I'd also enjoy it more if I didn't have to think of that oh-so-brave D'espairsRay vocalist all the time. Kyo, USE YOUR F***ING HEADVOICE for once. he can't go on with this for long, that has to be for sure. It's very possible that the reason of Dir en grey quitting will be Kyo's voice at this point. Fuck that japanese effort pressure.

I got La Masquerade Infernale and I just don#t get into it. I'd prefer Sigh instead.

So I got this album today and there's not much to say to it. It's definitely is a step up from TBONTB, and I was surprised by the amount of heaviness displayed in this album. I also guess 極上脳震煉獄・弐式 is part of a new theme (as was gianizm) that started also with TBONTB. I wouldn't feel bad about this, since the gianizm songs were always special in the way the were composed, more complex and also more heavy. And there's something about the song I really noticed listening to other songs of that album. I don't know if it was intention or just lack of inspiration, but a few songs on CD almost caricaturize past songs of the band, such as "Demand", which features themes of "Cherish" from the NIGHTMARE album. So also 極上脳震煉獄・弐式 features a theme of Jishou. I personally found this amusing, since Nightmare have done this before; taking a theme and using it differently in separate songs (Nadirecur+Fly me to the Zenith; Remembrance+ いつかの僕へ). I didn't like that nod to "the FOOL" though. Just totally weak compared to the original. But in terms of "Demand" it totally worked for me. Good thing they slaughtered that fun happy candy song "Cherish" in a way only Dir en grey could do it better with Tsumi To Kisei. bTW do you know other examples of *theme-sharing*? Be free to add to my observations on this album. Overall though, the result is still weaker than that only good AVEX release that was SCUMS. The opener is great, but then it quickly falls back into dull average sounds until it recovers at "Quints", which is almost a parody of the whole pretentious concept of Nightmare. Wait--Sendai Kamotsu does that already? Weeell, I'd call SK just as pretentious in their "comedy" and "Quints" comes off actually much more subtle within that context. <<Cause baabyy I~ looove iiit>>. You said it Yomi. I love it too. Then skip "fade", "the DOOL" and "Tao" if you will and you actually have a very nice experience with that album. It is much less repetitive, more complex, fresh and most of all INNOVATIVE than their catastrophous last album. Although they can't keep those positive aspects through the whole album, it is still worth mentioning, because we talk about friggin Nightmare. One last thing I REALLY still have to complain about is the vocals. Because they're not only unpleasant, but also mastered in overly loud. Ouch to my ears. 6/10! Who would've thought that. EVER

Well yeah I have a best friend. Since childhood, going through all kinds of shit. I'm sorry for you guys not experiencing such a thing.

@Crube Yeah and first thing coming to mind reading your quote is "quotemining"

What's with this cap hate? I like it

There are enough metal bands already existing which take themselves not too seriously. It's not like metal *in general* takes itself too seriously to begin with. You don't need a pop idol band with an underage-only policy from japan and robotic girls under total control of their management to loosen up (i can't loosen up to this backgrounds certainly). And above that I really don't know a single metalhead that has not been a japan-freak before, being a long time fan of the band. BABYMETAL is seen as something much bigger than it actually is, in the sorts of circles here. It really offers only for those kinds of japan fans, while for the other "metalheads" it's just a phenomenon like "oh, look how funny they are - ~headbang~, those crazy japs. now let's go somewhere else.."

It's this type of typical japanese craziness I actually can't go along with. I don't even think it's a very grown-up thing to do. Getting the grammar wrong is bad enough, but you have to be self-aware to the point where you get that RRWWARRWAWARRAWWAA (kyo in "garbage") is NOT the way to do english. Can someone point to a band besides Galneryus that has good english vocals?

That's a very interesting list. Definitely going to check those songs out I still don't know,.

None. Good riffs here and there, awful vocals. What a waste of potentially good music

No worries, it will probably be one of the last occasions to see BABYMETAL on an oversea festival. I just imagine the funny conversations among visitors concerning the band. Going to be on Grüne Hölle. Hope it kicks ass!

@Traxan You should check their EPs "Ambivalent Symphony" and "VANGUARD~of the muses~". Further, their LP "TWIN GATE" might also be what you seek. All great releases.

Yeah.. that's the thing with Nightmare. The b-sides are usually much better than the A-sides, IMHO there have been very little exceptions until now (MR BOOGER MAN is such a one). And.. anima and the self-titled album? So you basically hope it's going to be the best and the worst at the same time? That is indeed impossible. I mean the last single wasn't really that bad, but the single before that was terrible. So everything is still open. And I just wonder how people still get off from the TRACKLIST? It doesn't say a single thing about the actual sound, and especially in japanese music the titles can be so random they don't even match with the actual lyrics.

Hm. I loved the old exist trace.. well, most of it. Don't care if it was unexperienced musicianship. It sounded great, only thing that matters to me. I don't like the new one at all.. not my style of music. And not that it *was* sellout in vk times and then stopped it is still sellout, more than ever. I checked once for female VK bands..because you now.. there's a little fan demographic that isn't gay, female and/or attracted to androgyne crossdressers. but other than ET there wasn't really anything interesting out there. Is Cyntia (?) really that good?

In the west, there's this sort of image that you have to be gay and part of some transsexual / dragqueen culture to do VK. It's just lame and predictable. I hate dragqueens. They're ugly and creepy.

This is what I would spontaneously recommend to check out in the realms of extreme metal (as bear mostly posts of), just my share of the cake: Hour of Penance - Paradogma A great mixture of brutal death metal and epic melodies, gregorian chorals and subtle symphonies. This is when I got notice of this italian behemoth (not literally), it's a band that deserves much more credit for their work! Songs to recommend: Thousands of Christs, Incestuous Dynasty of Worms, Spiritual Ravishment Behemoth - The Satanist Their latest release, and by far their strongest. More BM elements than in their last few albums, very natural production, atmosphere and total seriousness. If the music video to "Blow your trumpets, Gabriel" hasn't amazed you enough, this record definitely will. And in all honesty I could say that this is what they could end their carreer with. It just doesn't get better than that. Song recommendations: BYTG, Ora pro Nobis Lucifer, Amen, In The Absence Ov Light, O Father O Satan O Sun Cannibal Corpse - Tomb Of The Mutilated Disgusting cover, even more disgusting song titles and a production that goes far beyond its time. This classic from 1993 is Cannibal Corpse in a nutshell. Fast, heavy chugs with lots of pace changes, hammer blasts, great grunting vocals and a versatile, well audible bass. Recommendations: Hammer Smashed Face, I Cum Blood, The Cryptic Stench, Post-Mortal Ejaculation, Entrails Ripped From A Virgin's Cunt Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony The right way of combining extreme metal with symphonic elements. Nuff said. Recommendations: The Inquisition, The Deceit, The Violation, The Forsaking Immolation - Unholy Cult Dark Death Metal featured with epic solos, raw production and an absolutely evil atmosphere. This is as close as death metal can get to black metal, without actually being black metal. Despite being around for over 20 years now, Immolation is not common knowledge in the death metal scene, which is sad. Recommendations: Unholy Cult, Of Martyrs And Men, Bring Them Down, A Kingdom Divided Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest Great technical, fast death metal with aegyptian-inspired harmonies. Recommendations: Kafir!, Those Whom The Gods Detest, The Eye Of Ra Opeth - EVERY DAMN ALBUM!!!! (even the newest one, Pale Communion ..and maybe not Heritage) I don't think Opeth needs to be introduced to many heavy metal fans, but still recommending this band is necessary at all costs. Great progressive death metal with an average song span of ~9 minutes and a fuckton of great ideas, genre jumps and just pure epicness. Vader - De Profundis Back in the times when their thrash metal influences were still very present. As every other album basically, this one is just a great example of death/thrash metal with probably the most iconic growling voice of all time. Recommendations: Silent Empire, Blood Of Kingu, Incarnation, Sothis, Of Moon And Dream And Me

For me the weird vocals started back in 2009 with MP. To that point his voice really was all fine. But as it is right now it doesn't fit into a band like this. It's like a wannabe-opera singer trying to do poprock. Even Hitsugi was more listenable in his solo project.

has anyone by chance taken a listen into the new single blur? I must say, the instrumentals are not bad. especially buddies. but yomi just sounds like shit and messes it up the moment he starts singing.

I think it was around 2008, when I watched Death Note and came across Nightmare which did the first OST to that series. I think it took a bit long though until I started looking for other bands of VK specifically.

--> @Perez Yeah, that's very theoretical. We'll probably not know for sure if that slimy criminal thug had a say in the direction of the album how it went, until there's a comment by the band (like the one from TMOAB). But in the case of this, I find it much more plausible that the sound turned out like this because of Kyo's eminent vocal chord problems. And people nowadays often argue like DSS was a complete extreme metal output, often limiting the overall sound to Kyo's "awfully overwhelming use of growls and other EM vocal techniques". If you compare ARCHE and DSS, there's not really much on the "pop" spectrum that sets these records apart. ARCHE has a fairly little amount of straightforward old school j-poprock going on, and more clean vocals doesn't equal more pop. In addition, ARCHE has much more disharmony going on, both through instruments and clean vocal overlays, than on DSS back then. Even if they're accompanied by pop elements through, let's say the chorus, it doesn't change the fact that the overall product is still what one would expect from a band that produced all those predecessing records. I mean I can swallow alot of music, but even for me ARCHE was kinda difficult at the beginning. The last thing I thought about that record was to be distinctively driven by pop effords. And ironically I saw many people favoring "magayasou", which is literally the most disharmonic song I've ever heard in my life(, and which I frankly don't really like because of that). I mean the opening main theme already has 2 or 3 keynotes at once or so. And if a death metal freak like me can't swallow that, how can fans of straightforward poprock? Wow, what a performance! But .. I doubt there will be more of that from that gig, will there?

Cool I rarely hear of Dir en grey fans who are that long into the band already, nowadays. Interesting to compare their views to "younger" fans like me, if their views are that established. Are you that long into them, too? But I wouldn't bet so much on supposed selling calculations. With that logic, TMOAB or DSS would have never been created in the first place.. it's all very theoretical, and for the sake of musicianship it doesn't say much about an album in a review. But that's just me talking...