Kaleidoscope

Yeah, the show in Bochum was beyond amazing, so much energy! Here is the full setlist for everyone who's interested. Five tracks of [Coll] (Abel To Cain!) and Reddish, so glad i got to see them again before their hiatus The prices for the merchandise were cool too, loving the hoodie ;D

Well, everybody who knows anything about singing techniques should hear that Hizumi does his job quite well, he rarely does unhealthy stuff to his voice. He did some dangerous things in the early days of the band, but it's obvious that his technique was very good on MIRROR and REDEEMER, maybe even on [Coll]. I'm pretty sure there are other reasons for his problems, especially since he mentioned he has some kind of rare disease.

Like i already said on last.fm, it's the best decision they could have made although they should have done it right after REDEEMER. He has been struggling with his voice far too long, i really hope he can recover fully since he is my favorite vocalist ever. Hopefully the tour won't affect his voice too much :/ Wishing them good luck and waiting for their return.

Yeah, unfortunately i have to agree. He can't hit those high notes properly anymore and i'm not sure if it's because of his age or because his voice is damaged - i guess it won't be the latter since he always had a pretty good technique, voices just change over time and some vocalists get worse if they don't recover with singing lessons.

Yeah, i think he also did the artwork for Écailles De Lune which is amazing too! Haha, you got me there Genre is indeed the wrong term for it, i was being too enthusiastic Just like you said, it's more the way they write songs and especially melodies what makes them seem similar - Herbst of Lantlôs even stated in an interview that he and Neige have a very similar style of writing songs. I think the way all those bands combine genres like Shoegaze, Post-Rock and Black Metal is kinda new though, there were Black Metal bands incorporating Post-Rock before, but i would definetely say Les Discrets, Alcest, Lantlôs and Amesoeurs are unique in the way they create their style so far. But yeah, Les Discrets really are quite different from Alcest, there's no doubt about that Haven't even heard that he creates movies, do you know what kind of he does? Yeah, i agree with the thing about emotion in his vocals, for me it's more like... My English is lacking the right word for it, i only know it in my own language It's the way his voice sounds, his own identity if you know what i mean - i don't hate his voice, but it just doesn't really meets my taste.

As far as i know he will indeed continue as the drummer of Avengend Sevenfold and some other projects. If i recall correctly, he even said AS is more fun than DT so he decided to leave his old band. I really like some of DT's stuff, Train Of Thought and Images & Words being my favorites. Imo James is really an amazing singer, especially in their older works his high notes were incredible. But well, i don't think they will ever be the same without Mike.

If you are into Folk Rock, you should also try Subway To Sally, they are great songwriters and have a really unique vocalist. For more experimental music i would recommend "A.ura und das Schneckenhaus" by Samsas Traum, which is really easy to get into compared to his other works, the level of the language is pretty high though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yTNQ0mUnHM If only the lyrics matter, also try Stillste Stund, the music is just a way to transport their messages, but again, very high level of language.

Pretty good band, i love this new genre Les Discrets, Alcest etc. are creating although it's getting a lot of hype lately. Their full album is indeed one of the best releases this year, but i prefer the harsher attempt of Neige's bands and don't like the vocals of Les Discrets as much. The cover of the album is epic by the way, Fursy did it himself, didn't he?

The PV for "Ryuushi ni toketenagareru namida to memai no sou ni ranhanshasuru" is amazing, love the atmosphere.

Oh come on, not that crap again, this has been said here far too often. If you put it like that, i just gave MY opinion since i'm annoyed by the attitude of people posting "opinions" like "G0r00gamesh suckz!" - i come to forums to discuss things i find interesting and posts like that prevent every interesting discussion. I don't blame people for not writing "IMO", i just prefer them to write opinions with some content. But well, Furik did just do that and i didn't mean to bitch in the first place, so let's get back to topic. Personally i wasn't to happy with Kyuutai, because although it took a heavier direction from Shion, the MUCC feeling was just not there if you get what i mean - i hate to use that term, but the album sounded really kinda "americanized", which is basically not a bad thing, but i think it just didn't fit MUCC. So actually i would be okay with them trying something different as long as it has more of the band's special sound to it (like Freesia, which was really good), but after a few listens i have to say that Falling Down is lacking that feeling too :/

Of course you can say that they fail at their attempts to try something new, but that's not a fact. There are only few objective criterias if a band's music is good and all three mentioned bands met those since they are decent songwriters and instrumentalists. If you think those bands are not good at what they do now, fine, that's your opinion, but far too many people state their opinions like they were a fact. But eh, nothing new i guess, it's common on the interwebz but sometimes it just annoys me too much By the way: I also think all three bands lost quality, but they are far from being dead. But hey, that's just my opinion

Oh no, all those bands don't record the same album over and over again, they are all dead Not too happy with Falling Down though, they could have pulled this off better, but i like the style of the PV, those sunglasses really fit Tatsurou

Most people on TW relate to more Nu Metal-influenced stuff of VK-bands when they use the term "heavy" - my definition of the word is a different one too, for me it's a special sound some bands have to them, i guess Mono2 pretty much said what i mean. Maybe it's the wrong term to describe RES' harder stuff, but i think most people here get what someone means when he talks about "heavier" songs. I think some of you use the term "metal" too close-minded by the way, stuff like "Unending Sanctuary" has clearly a metal basis to it, it's just that many of you think only Death, Black, Thrash and so on are real metal, for me Nu Metal and Metalcore are directly related to metal as well. Hard Rock is really the wrong term when you talk about heavier (;D) stuff by VK-bands, i never heard a band connected to VK playing that kind of music (except for some of the early VK-prototypes from the 80s), it's just a completely different genre.

They put up a poll for Europe! http://www.despairsray.jp/tour/ The link to vote is below the red tour box. Tatoeba and a lot of other really old songs are on there, i hope enough people vote for them And... They added ANIMAL MANIA I so hope people vote for that one, Karyu just HAS to sing

ONE OK ROCK's Taka is alright i guess, on their latest album songs like "Never Let This Go" are written in decent English and he seems to know what he's singing. Also Hyde's English is pretty good, although he has a heavy accent.

Amazing! The best song they have done in ages, the chorus is so damn catchy and the solo is really impressive when you remember that this is actually lynch. oo

I have a lot more to listen to until i can give all my choices, but so far: 9GOATS BLACK OUT - Tanatos D'espairsRay - MONSTERS Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was Lantlôs - .neon Alcest - Écailles de Lune ONE OK ROCK - Nicheシンドローム Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Der Weg Einer Freiheit End Of Green - High Hopes In Low Places Dinner Auf Uranos - 50 Sommer - 50 Winter Probably forgetting some, i will update the list later.

Seems like planets are most likely the best Dark Ambient musicians ever

I think Kyuutai was a good album, but it just hadn't that special MUCC sound to it, which is the reason i love the band after all. Especially the heavier sound is not how it has once been, i prefered songs like Bouzenjishitsu (right spelling? ). Anyway Freesia was pretty amazing and Diorama was nice too, so i still have hopes for this and look forward to the album.

Lol, this has to be the most epic line-up ever Especially the vocalists and Daisuke Niitome, i seriously wish to hear that band. Posting my choice tomorrow, i have to think about it.

Japanese title? Wow, it has been a while. Wasn't too happy with COLOR, but i think this could be better again, maybe they will even try something completely new.

Having looked forward to singing lesson this week and now i'm sick and can't go because my voice is fucked up again - the second time out of five, hope this doesn't go on like that.

Yay for D'espa getting so much love Have to agree, they are my favorite liveband too, the songs are just as intense as on the albums played live, some tracks (like KAMIKAZE or HORIZON) are even better live. The impressive thing about there gigs is that they start with full power from the beginning, most bands need some songs to warm up, D'espa go crazy right from the start Other good livebands are Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - guess most people here don't know them, but their shows are really crazy, with an SM-keyboarder chaining up the fans on stage, a rubber dinghy race on the crowd or foam cannons Plus the vocalist goes crazy everytime and interacts with the crowd all the time. (If you want to get an impression: )Similar to DAR is Saltatio Mortis, a Folk Metal band, i'm not even a big fan of their music, but the vocalist controls the crowd so well that their shows are just awesome. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxX915uew_4 I was there, epic show, sorry for the bad vocal performance of the singer, we was sick that day ) Placebo is pretty good live too, Brian always alternates the songs a bit and the overall stage concept is just very impressive. Best Live DVD would be LIQUIDIZE by D'espairsRay for me, i wish i would have been there And i agree that the Last Live of X is pretty amazing.

I dislike people calling every band not recording the same album over and over again or changing their style "sellouts". Plus i hate all the bashing on core-bands, only close-minded metalheads should think that this genre sucks, there are so many good core-bands out there.