nullmoon

On my first listen I was hung up on feeling that something was missing and I just kind of assumed that it was the absence of tangible bass lines from the compositions. Now I've realised I think it's more that when they took out the chugs they just didn't manage to get the riffs to replace them. The songs like What's Up noodle around where chugs would've been before ( in Malformation, Rijin imagine the metal riffs gone and only the noodling remain ) and the "heaviest" tracks in here like Funny World are just really fucking bad, like Girugamesh MUSIC and NOW era distilled through Retsu's IG filter. In Rijin everything is still together and the flourishes are just that. This album has stuff that I like that would've been cool on songs in Chedoara, like For the Future is moody and 'aight. 

No UK date.... Sad days. But I have a mate who lives near Cologne so maybe will get something together....

Funny how this is still the best thing that came out of Alice Nine in like... half a decade?

SHIN LOID has release a youtube video featuring 将 from アリス九號. to sing アリス九號.'s hit song ヴェルヴェット (Velvet)

It seems like SHIN is releasing a video collection with famous artists collaboration in his youtube channel , not sure whether he will release as audio CDs yet. 

Original content:
exViViDで現在ソロボーカリストのSHINがSHINロイドとしていろんな楽曲をカバーしていくチャンネルです！ 2020年から本格的にSHINが自身のチャンネルにアーティストを招くコラボ企画をスタート！ その名も　『シン・シンロイドちゃんねる』 第一弾はアリス九號のボーカル　将さん アリス九號のVelvetを2人でコラボしました。
 


* As much as I love Japanese culture , but this MV is one of the most uncomfortable one I have ever seen ...

You all need to chill. Take this type of conversation elsewhere you keep rebumping the thread for nonsense. If you want to discuss piracy and other things take it to a different thread. Not here leave this for the news. Please and thank you

Agreed, their choruses are getting pretty awful. The song itself is dope though. That lil drum solo is very tasty

So I saw them at London last night and I went there not knowing what to expect as I had only listened to TIW and a handful of songs spanning anywhere from their early eras to more recent, and I must say it was the best live I’ve ever been to!
 
Highlights for me we’re opening up with Zetsuentai and also the power behind Kyo’s vocals during Ranunculus, he doesn’t perform it using clean vocals like it is in the studio version, instead he opted to sing it with powerful harsh vocals that really give the song some oomph and gives it an edge over the studio version! Values of Madness was also surprisingly well pulled off, I find the studio version to feel...somewhat empty? But live that song hits hard! I feel bad as I wasn’t able to appreciate the older material like Merciless Cult and Kodou as I hadn’t heard them prior, however I still enjoyed them nevertheless and found them to be great, energy filled songs! 10/10 would see them again and now I need to buy their whole discography! 
 
And a big shoutout to @nullmoon I had such a good laugh and some great conversation! And he also filled me in on the songs that I didn’t know of! 😂

NEW AGE CULTURE and Merciless Cult were handily the highlights of the set and while I still think it was cool to see the album in its entirety, it doesn't make me crave for a set of old songs any less. They're so good live now that I'd go crazy for a TMOAB live even

If anyone needed the info, London had Kodou in the encore. The crowd went nuts for both this and Merciless Cult. Although the tracks from TIW were definitely more preferable live than on the album, the WTD tracks had so much more punch in comparison. The World of Mercy was incredible live. 
 
The band played incredible well with only a few screw ups during solos etc. Kyo was a beast; he seemed to replace a lot of the higher screams with the kind of whistley scream he used at the end of Reiketsu Nariseba which was super cool. As was his repetition of 'London' before the last song which drove everyone wild XD 
 
Best of all was the complete absence of some lame opening act 👍 Also, big thanks to the couple who barged in front of me mid-set and didn't even bop to the music. You suck. 
 
I can't wait to see the band again though! I last saw them when they spent two days in London for the Arche tour so they were definitely worth the wait. I had a great time with the wonderful @TheZigzagoon so we'll have to meet up for the next one! 😊

That was quite the pit. Everybody were grinning and still managed to sing along. Thank you for making this oldie feel like she's still got it lol

If anyone needed the info, London had Kodou in the encore. The crowd went nuts for both this and Merciless Cult. Although the tracks from TIW were definitely more preferable live than on the album, the WTD tracks had so much more punch in comparison. The World of Mercy was incredible live. 
 
The band played incredible well with only a few screw ups during solos etc. Kyo was a beast; he seemed to replace a lot of the higher screams with the kind of whistley scream he used at the end of Reiketsu Nariseba which was super cool. As was his repetition of 'London' before the last song which drove everyone wild XD 
 
Best of all was the complete absence of some lame opening act 👍 Also, big thanks to the couple who barged in front of me mid-set and didn't even bop to the music. You suck. 
 
I can't wait to see the band again though! I last saw them when they spent two days in London for the Arche tour so they were definitely worth the wait. I had a great time with the wonderful @TheZigzagoon so we'll have to meet up for the next one! 😊

If anyone needed the info, London had Kodou in the encore. The crowd went nuts for both this and Merciless Cult. Although the tracks from TIW were definitely more preferable live than on the album, the WTD tracks had so much more punch in comparison. The World of Mercy was incredible live. 
 
The band played incredible well with only a few screw ups during solos etc. Kyo was a beast; he seemed to replace a lot of the higher screams with the kind of whistley scream he used at the end of Reiketsu Nariseba which was super cool. As was his repetition of 'London' before the last song which drove everyone wild XD 
 
Best of all was the complete absence of some lame opening act 👍 Also, big thanks to the couple who barged in front of me mid-set and didn't even bop to the music. You suck. 
 
I can't wait to see the band again though! I last saw them when they spent two days in London for the Arche tour so they were definitely worth the wait. I had a great time with the wonderful @TheZigzagoon so we'll have to meet up for the next one! 😊

YAAAAAAAAAAS!! 

I've just finished Silent Hill 2. I've played it several times before but I'm emotionally drained. Wow. 
 
I recently bought a copy of Silent Hill 3 after years of putting it off out of fear 🤣 Wish me luck! 

Crossfaith new song "Endorphin" has been released
 
 

When people say that they need rational and empirical evidence that God exists, I just imagine one of two scenarios happening:
 
#1. The world's top scientists publishing a study called "Proof of God"  with said evidence.
 
or
 
#2. God appearing in a humanoid form and showing the world that he has control over everything by performing various miracles.
 
In both cases, this would completely miss the point of "believing" in God. I guarantee that most of us would see all of that proof and "empirical evidence", and the world would not change a bit. We'd see it and say "oh, that's cool.", then go back to treating each other like shit.
 
 

Gotte back into reading some manga after figuring out I can get away with reading as much as I want at work lol.
Over the past month I've read Monster and Death Note in its entirety. I've seen both anime plenty of times but never read the manga for it. Monster is probably more or less as faithful as an adaptation as it can get, death note on the other hand felt pretty different. Especially during major 2nd half with Near and Mello. Also read a manga called Aoharu x Machinegun at my friends request because it's her favorite. Also read the new Death Note one shot that came out just this past monday, I thought it was a bit dull but it's still good to see Near and Ryuk again. And right now I'm keeping up with Gleipnir, the Promised Neverland, and Dr. Stone all of which I really enjoy and cant wait to see how each series continues and eventually ends. In terms of other manga I plan on starting/catching up with, I'm probably leaning towards Chainsaw Man, Blue Exorcist, and One Piece (yes I'm serious lol)

My sentimentts exactly.
 
Just to add more fuel to the dissapointment rail, yes, it is experimental but the songs don't achieve anything, making them forgettable. Album title on point, at least.
Now, I'm gonna listen CHEDOARA to rid off the bad taste.

I hope this is an appropriate reaction to how I feel about all of this.
 

The new single is on spotify:
 
 
 
I fuckin love this band.
 
There's something about downy's music that's almost always initially difficult to wrap my ears around...but then when it finally clicks, I just end up loving it. Took about one or two listens for that to happen with this song. The remix is pretty dope too. Sad that Yutaka passed away, but I'm curious how an album without him is gonna sound like. I'm somehwat familiar with SUNNOVA...He's a hip hop producer with an experimental edge iirc, so this should be interesting!
 
edit: i'm not a huge fan of the of drum kit they've been using since the 6th album (i preferred the drums from 5th)...they sound a bit muffled to me, but this is honestly a VERY minor grievance.
 
I LOVE the way Robin's vocals are mixed here tho. Not as dry as on 6th, but not as heavily effected as on 5th.

【downy New Album Release in March 18th, 2020】
https://friendship.lnk.to/DuneScatterPersistenceOfVision
 
Our 7th album "Untitled" will be released on the coming March 18th from our new label "rhenium records".Check out our new song "Dune, Scatter. Persistence Of Vision" on streaming services now! You can listen to Yutaka Aoki's guitar playing in this track.
Also, SUNNOVA(Sampler/Synth) is joining downy from this new album.You can listen to his remix of "Dune, Scatter. Persistence Of Vision" as well!
 

 
▼リリース情報
downy
フル・アルバム
『第七作品集『無題』』
2020.03.18 ON SALE
[rhenium records]
　
1. コントラポスト
2. 視界不良
3. 36.2°
4. good news
5. 角砂糖
6. ゼラニウム
7. 砂上、燃ユ。残像
8. pianoid
9. 鮮やぐ視点
10. adaptation
11. stand alone
 
 
LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Extended gig report from Berlin since I did one from Warsaw a year and a half back.
 
The scene: Berlin, shaking and dying, sporting a bloodshot visage from the night previous as usual, I had managed to score some decent vegetables from the bazaar at a rather handsome price for Germany, all in an effort to recover before the show, but I'm thinking: will these carry me over? Just how many gin tonics is too many? Either way duty calls and I head out to meet Gaz in a bar nearby, who already a few beers deep inadvertently encouraged me to go for one that was 15% and then it was off to the races. 
 
The bridge to Friedrichschain; running to take a piss somewhere in the corner I step on human shit, I was thinking that the only way that this isn't the worse thing that would happen to me today would be if they played The Final for the encore. I take out 40 euros from the ATM and it charges me 4 euros for the transaction. Fuck it. I'm getting beer, and this is the only way. No one takes card in a conspiracy to bleed me dry. I see Whirlingblack and two of our mutuals coming over; I bum a cigarette; the line is possibly the fastest moving I've ever experienced in my life, especially considering just how long it was; turns out the reason why it was moving fast was the inspection for the ticket was literally the door man taking a cursory look almost in the direction of my phone and going "boom" and letting me in. I got the ticket just the night before and it was nice to see that was for nothing. Could've used someone else's and I'll remember that next time.
 
Lots of merch; I get nothing; I get a beer and some shots instead. In Warsaw I got three, now I got four. I've upgraded. The plan is that the second the lights go out we'll just strafe by the wall and when it gets heavy we'll just muscle our way to the center for the pit. Works every time and did so again. 
 
Okay, so the concert had exactly the same setlist as the previous, which is the full Insulated World album, World of Mercy, Merciless Cult and a rotating encore song. This was my first time seeing them with a set that was dedicated to promoting an album so I was moderately excited about that despite not being hugely into the fucking thing. This model works in a live context fairly well imo, like the mood is consistent and you get to see the thing in a slightly altered light; but most importantly of all that meant that this could just be the first time I won't get to hear The Final and an even better chance to never hear Sustain the Untruth ever again. The whole thing kicks off with Zetsuentai and the one marked difference from the 2018 tour is that the theatricality is even more present than last time. The first performances of Devote My Life and Keibetsu Hajimari went by like a blur in an underwhelming fashion, whereas now they've got synchronised head banging and a lot sharper performance by Kyo, who must've after performing all those songs like a hundred times now figured out how to make them work. The heavier stuff worked very well this time around and I wasn't the only one feeling the physicality since the crowd in Berlin was, for the most part, really good. Loud, energetic and the second I saw the pit was going I joined it and stuck by it til the very end. It wasn't even one of those usual weeb pits where you'll see people politely shoving each other, nope, it was the closest I've felt to a real one in one of these shows since 2010. Occasionally shit would be really tight like during Merciless Cult ( I actually in retrospect wish we would have gotten more old songs based on how good this was ) and Devote my life and although I'm just a bit saddened about no wall of death happening despite the chances definitely being there, it was still obviously really good; maybe even too good perhaps, because I do remember some of the looks from people nearby who weren't much having it. Too bad my philosophy is that leben ist krieg and if you're not in shape to hold your own, go to the back and sit on your phone there. By the end I remember one dude air punching himself a karate pit and at some point that enraged some other short purple haired dude; and of all the times to do this bullshit it was during the biggest surprise of the night which was NEW AGE CULTURE. I think eventually security stepped in on that dude flexing in front of his stupid girlfriend I guess.
 
So yeah as far as the band goes, I honestly don't remember any moment when a complaint would've registered. The sound in the venue was good and that made it already just a bit better than the usual, and looking at the clips on youtube I'd say yeah, it's the usual for 2020 Deg. They're really good live rn imo, way better than before the mode of tours. One thing that has to be said tho is that Kyo did sound just a liiiiiitle more constrained that what I remember from last year. Followers is a rough fucking song to pull off, and World of Mercy has some difficult parts as well. I guess it just comes with the territory, doing all these tours like this; my opinion on the matter is that if you're actually minding shit other than your phone recording, you don't really care that much. 
 
The shows ends after the Followers, NEW AGE CULTURE and Utafumi encore that got such a loud reaction by the end that I was almost hoping for them to come back for a second encore. This was not to be however, so after picking up Die's pick from the ground by accident and waiting half a century for my jacket we scatter off into whirlingblack's hotel that was just around the corner, and what better way to cap off the gig other than washing away all the memories and a few others with a rather absurd and expensive haul for the already overpriced kiosk downstairs; and by the time I got back to my hostel all that red wine, sparkling wine, beers and a few others went back to where they came and where I should've went myself: the toilets of Berlin.
 
 

As far as I can remember, most of this drama was due to Yumehito getting married, engaged, or whatevs. Looks like his wife (who's an idol) gave him  delusions of grandeur or some shit. He then formed Belle, which's dope IMO, but never attempted to sing again. I heard fans used to bully him for his singing.
 
Intetsu said he'd retire by then but acted as a support member and composed for WING WORKS and Piko as well as composing some stuff for Sanrio and some game OSTs. 
 
Just like Aoi, KENZO also tried a solo carreer and some other projects but they all flopped.
 
Takehito is the only one that never tried anything not related to Ayabie and their current revival is his idea, so there's that.
 

This album confounds me. There are some very good tracks on here - well written stuff that sounds full, atmospheric, and energetic. On the other hand, for every great track, there's another one that feels empty and half-cooked. One of those all-too-common cases where an EP would have been better than an LP.
 
I don't mind the softer style, I don't even mind the trip-hoppy SE tracks, but the tracks that feel most successful to me are where they finally dig in and let it get a bit heavier. That overdriven rhythm guitar that shows up in a few tracks just makes it feel meaty, while some of the all-clean tracks feel incomplete. 
 
There is clearly bass recorded here (whether it's synthesized or real, I can't quite tell), but it's mixed so low in most of these songs that it barely even registers. 
 
Here's to hoping they fill out their lineup and stick with it long enough to really make something great with these stylistic changes. They're almost there, just need an editor or more stubborn producer (read: someone to challenge Retsu, I think).