enyx

I'm a little surprised that there isn't a rerecording of 304号室、舌と夜 on there. I thought that, considering they've already remade mama for Immortalis and 304 has pretty much become a staple of their live sets, that a studio remake would have been a no-brainer. Guess not. Also I second Perez's theory that the new song will indeed be titled 雨上がりの優詩. Anyway, I'll pick up the 'Initial Limited Edition' like I did with Immortalis. Although I don't particularly like the way that the artworks for both of those editions focus solely on Kyo. I know it's mostly 'his' project, but considering how much of an influence the rest of the band have on the compositional side of things it seems a little weird having artwork that makes it look as though it's a pure solo project.

Yep, I was thinking about that also. It definitely felt like the ending got cut short.

Personally, I love it after the first couple of listens. unravelling and particularly STU both left me somewhat underwhelmed, but 空谷の跫音 sounds fantastic to me. We already knew they wanted to simplify their sound a bit for this album, and going for a vocal-melody focused ballad is a much better way of doing that than going for a DSS style aggressive song without any of the instrumental experimentation like in STU. Still, I'm pretty sure this album will polarise opinions just like pretty much every other album they've released since six Ugly/VULGAR.

I've been experimenting with glitch/IDM as of late. I've already tried out Ametsub, mergrim, Geskia!, and cokiyu. I'm particularly fond of the former two so anything else along those lines would be really appreciated.

Sorry for bumping an old-ish thread, but I felt compelled to mention Fightstar's Follow Me Into The Darkness here. I'm actually surprised that I didn't think to mention it the first time 'round. It progresses fantastically from a quiet and reflective piece to a dramatic and cinematic climax, before tastefully finishing off with a lone piano melody that really leaves an impression once the album is over.

Seconding Enter Shikari's Stand Your Ground; This is Ancient Land. Some of my personal favourites off of the top of my head: ハイスイノナサ - mass TK from 凛として時雨 - introduction (both for its own introduction and as a complete track serving as the introduction for the rest of the single) toe - グッドバイ Dream Theater - Home

I have to agree with Cat here. You can go all the way back to Misstopia, which I personally consider to be the beginning of their transition from a 'slightly-better-than-average' indie band to one of the leading bands in the scene, and still find quite a few unpolished, noisy tracks like Figure 0, Gilmore guilt more, Dysphoria, etc that foreshadow the sort of stuff you hear on Rhapsody in beauty. Personally I quite like the album with the exception of a couple of tracks, namely tu m' (Parallel Ver,) and 僕らはなんだったんだろう. I actually really like the siren guitar in the title track. Overall I'd say it sits on a similar level to zeitgeist, which is definitely a good thing.

Anyone heard the new きのこ帝国 track? I've never been entirely sure how I feel about this band; on one hand they have a nice blend of styles but on the other hand I don't think they've ever done anything particularly extraordinary to merit the sheer degree of adoration they seem to be generating. That said, however, I do think they've been getting better with each release and there's a sort of 'confidence' in their music lately that I can't help but respect and enjoy.

Romancé PV:

Album artwork: Source

I believe 「濤声」 loosely translates to "the sound of the waves". I'm hardly a kanji expert though, so don't take my word for it.

Anyone listened to Aureole's new single? It's available as a free download on their site here. Here's a PV for one of the two tracks. Personally I think both of them are really good.

It sounds okay, but I was hoping it would be more of a progression. I tend to enjoy this band the most when they're at their most experimental. That said, it doesn't sound particularly bad either, so I guess I can't complain.

Very nice, I've been wanting to get into her music for a while now so this seems like the perfect point to jump in.

Enter Shikari - Common Dreads Intro to their second full-length of the same name. Ominous, and a total change in tone from their first album. Although Enter Shikari's switch to a more politically-driven band (which pretty much started here) has certainly turned off a portion of their fanbase over the years, I think most can agree that this is a fantastic intro regardless. Also, it transitions fantastically into the following track, Solidarity. DIR EN GREY - SA BIR [Remastered & Expanded ver.] Intro to the remaster of their seventh full-length 'UROBOROS'. I already liked the original version of this track, but this version takes the cake. The slow ambient build-up, the ticking clocks, and the pounding bass of the original track all combine really well to kick off a great remastering of one of the most memorable albums of recent times. the GazettE - OMEGA Outro for their fifth full-length 'TOXIC'. If there's one word I could use to describe this album as a whole, it would either be "boring" or "uninspired". I think that's part of the reason why this outro stands out to me so much. After a mind-numbingly dull 50 or so minutes, you go into what you assume is going to be another generic "wubwubwub" SE, then it out of nowhere it suddenly breaks down into probably the most disturbing 30-40 seconds in the band's discography. That final scream creeps me the hell out. Unfortunately this video cuts out the eerie final few seconds after that scream, but you get the point.

Interesting. I'm going to their gig in London next week so hopefully they'll play it there and I can give some sort of impression of it.

凛として時雨 - mib126 Closer for their third full-length 'just A moment'. One of sigure's best songs in my personal opinion. It starts off as a rather subdued track that builds up slowly before completely exploding into one of their most intense tracks in the second half. Undoubtedly one of their finest moments to date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bwudsetJDU THE NOVEMBERS - GIFT Closer for their third mini-album 'GIFT'. Well, I did say in my description of Moiré in the best album openers thread that I consider GIFT's title track closer to be at least on par with its terrific opener, so I pretty much have to include this here. I almost consider them to be two halves of the same song, at least in terms of their overall feel. In particular, I really find the final few minutes of this song to be absolutely beautiful. Opeth - Faith In Others Closer for their eleventh full-length 'Pale Communion'. I feel a little weird including this considering that the album it's from only came out last month, but I pretty much immediately identified this as the best closing track that the band has ever done. Time will tell whether I'll truly consider it to be one of the best album closers as the months and years go by, but it's certainly given me a fantastic first impression. Just a quick note, this Youtube version seems to have the first 10-15 seconds missing, but it's basicaly just an extended fade-in so you're not missing too much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Zbuh6nWGs

I recently stumbled across a band called How to count one to ten. I'm not sure if they're already known on here or not (I assume they probably are) but if you haven't checked them out yet then I'd say they're definitely worth a listen. They have a new album out next month too I believe.

I have to agree with 'sink', 'VINUSHKA', 'audience KILLER LOOP', 'Infection', and 'close, down, back to'. All of those are really solid openers that I probably would have posted myself were they not already posted. THE NOVEMBERS - Moiré Opener for their third mini-album 'GIFT'. I adore everything about this song as an opening. It starts off calm and rather dreamlike, and then just builds and builds in terms of grandeur over its 8 minute runtime. Unfortunately I don't think the rest of the mini quite hits the same level of quality with the exception of the closing title track, but still, that doesn't take anything away from this fantastic song. Spangle call Lilli line - mai Opener for their sixth full-length 'PURPLE'. Pretty much from the instant this song starts, you get a feeling for what Spangle call Lilli line is all about. This song perfectly encapsulates almost everything that 'PURPLE' goes on to present later in the album. Dir en grey - 鬼眼 -kigan- Opener for their third full-length '鬼葬'. Yes, I know Dir en grey have already been mentioned twice in this thread, but I find this track often gets overlooked despite being my personal favourite opener of theirs. It manages to be atmospheric, calm, energetic, and batshit insane all at the same time.

I was expecting worse based on the sample. It's not my favourite Miyavi song but it's not particularly bad either. It's just... average. Also I can't help but find the contradictory paradox of complaining about his 'lack of progression' while simultaneously comparing it negatively to his previous works (thus indicating a clear, albeit unfavourable, progression of some kind) to be rather amusing.

Exquisite.

downy uploaded a PV for 猿の手柄 (from their first album) onto their Youtube channel today. I could be wrong, but I believe this is a completely new PV rather than a simple re-upload. Both their first and second albums were recently re-released so I'm guessing that's the reason.

Shinkiro (short ver.) radio rip here. I am so ready for this album.

Sorry for the double post but I think it's worth bumping the thread for. Sigure's YT channel uploaded a 2min PV sample for Fantastic Magic and promptly blocked it. However there's a re-upload floating around on tumblr for those that are interested. Personally I quite like it, moreso than both contrast and unravel.

Interesting. I've only heard two tracks in full thus far (EverythingChanges and 光の加減で話した) and neither of them gave me a particularly negative impression, but perhaps that'll change when I hear the full release.