hiroki

nice, looking forward to previews

this sounds like a cross between REALies and Neverland. definitely buying this. i really hope PCM signs them too.

I liked Minami in ROGUE. Not so familiar with the Aliene Ma'riage guys but looking forward to this band nonetheless.

it's not just you. sad to say, the 'good instrumentals + bad vocals' have been going on in the last couple of releases.. i remember it was exactly the same thing in their Gallows preview. Deus ex machina was probably the last Nightmare song i can bear listening to; even there you could sense Yomi'is vocals were kinda coming apart, except the song is so good it papered over the shortcomings in his delivery. TABOO and blur on the other hand are just unlistenable.

this sums up my own take on it. a good vocalist has a positive effect: he adds to the already excellent instrumentals and reinforces the overall quality of the song. a mediocre one has no effect whatsoever - he's as good as not being there. a shitty one contributes negatively by destroying whatever good work the band did before he opens his mouth. As things stand I'm afraid Yomi belongs to the last category.

I haven't heard about 30-40% of the releases in your list but I can confidently say among the 2014 lists on MH your list comes closest to my own, although that's not really much of a surprise lol. Here are some thoughts on particular releases in your lists that strike me: This was amazing. I actually preferred this a lot more to giru's 'gravitation'. Like what someone has also said on the forum, it appears as if Satoshi is a lot more invested in REDMAN than he is in the 'new' giru where he just seems to be swept up and dragged along by the 'we want metalcore' crowd. This was the release from Codomo Dragon that dramatically transformed my impression of them. I've always found their music a tad too quirky and arbitrary for my taste before, but somehow these same elements were managed way better in the album so they weren't too obtrusive (for want of a better word) for me. The funny thing is when I went back to listen to their earlier releases after liking Children's Dope so much, I actually began to warm to earlier singles like LETHE. in a way not dissimilar to what Blitz's DESIRE did for me as well. ALSDEAD never disappoints. I still remember the cold midwinter night in Kyoto when my friend showed me a youtube video of "Fragile" (which i proceeded to loop all night). I knew at that time that they were gonna be big With Separator they became one of the very few heavier vk bands that have totally won me over. With IDEA, they proved that wasn't a fluke. Yes, yes, and more yes. I own every single SID release after 流通盤 up to around cosmetic or so; but truth be told, I became very indifferent to their music since 2010 (and that's being charitable to them). OUTSIDER was what I never saw coming: a throwback to Mao's dramatic vocals (where, in my opinion, he is best), memorable tunes, and more than just a tinge of that subtle bittersweet folk goodness that makes SID so so special not only in the scene but I dare say all Japan. Also, 'laser' is one of the best songs they have put out.--- Since I have no time to do my own list, I shall shamelessly hijack your thread to suggest a few of my own favorites of 2014 that you might like. i hope you don't mind :x Keeping with the spirit of your list I'll omit all the uber indies bands that release 2-3 songs before disbanding haha. They're all singles: - Ray℃ - 木の葉 / 夢猫-ムビョウ- i'm still really bitter that they disbanded (well, technically they did since Otoiroha's music is rather different). in a lot of ways this is the crystallization of what Ray℃'s music is all about: surreal, atmospheric, heart-wrenching stuff. this single slides comfortably into the single of the year spot for me, and one of my all-time favorites.- Blu-BiLLioN - GARDENHELLO is one of the best songs i've heard this yr. i've been using its chorus as my ring tone also, Mike is such a badass vocalist.- LEZARD - カミサマイカサマwhat to say? one of the most energetic vk songs with Lime's trademark vocals and LEZARD randomness.- Neverland - CHILD CIRCUS and Monopicturesome truly warm and fuzzy music. people who feel nothing listening to 'rainy tree' might be dead.- Gimmick. - 君詩i've always been a fan of them, and this is just their normal style. as one of my friends have noticed as well, nanayu always puts his heart and soul into singing, and his sincerity is 11/10.- Purple Stone - 甘酸っぱいマンゴーtheir comeback single after keiya's long absence. if you like shonenki you'll like them as well ^^---anyway, great list, and i'll definitely check out the rest of the releases that i haven't heard!

yeah terrible news. good bands need to try to last long enough to release at least 10 songs before disbanding

omg i died just preordered too.

haha pretty much my own sentiments. really like deluhi but if i buy this it will only be for the DVD :/

wow apparently this will include 16 tracks including their last 3 singles, with all tracks remastered. DVD includes 7 PVs in high definition.

Just read his ameblo and from the sound of it it seems like someone close to himself and the band (either one of the members or someone in the production crew) has passed away, resulting in the cancellation of recording/production. There's also no mention of Kisaki leaving the band from what I've read. Then again I'm far from familiar with Lin and Kisaki so I might be wrong though. Edit: my translation of his message ↓

OMG nooooo =((((

honestly Shou's singing was terrible in their first few releases, but he improved dramatically after that. 闇に散る桜 is probably the first A9 release that i liked, and while my interest cooled after 2011 i still find most of what they do these day better than average and easily listenable. seems like most people loved 絶景色 most, and a handful GEMINI and "9". so am i the only one who's crazy over their VANDALIZE era? that album has tons of beautiful tracks with amazing guitarwork that i still play often today. singles from that 2008-9 period were just incredible, especially MIRROR BALL and 華【hæ・nǝ】 (dat oriental epicness *_*). and lets not forget 夢幻 -electric eden- from the CROSS GAME single, which is what i still hold as the band's single best track in their entire discography.

welcome! seems like you like the poppier side of vk? i like 彩冷える and Alice Nine as well! haven't listened to much of Megamasso but thanks to eiheartx i intend to start going through their massive discography soon ^^

i know a lot of ppl here hate them but i'm really sad to see them go =( saica mentioned he might be retiring too *sniff*

too much awesomeness for me to handle in that pic :'DD

my own view: i can't help but wonder to what extent these alleged 'metalcore-vk bands' describe themselves as such, and how much of it is in fact ascribed or attributed to them by people outside vk (especially foreign fans). from what i know metalcore as a genre/scene/whatever is hardly invoked self-reflexively by vk bands. when a new band forms, they typically describe their sound in much more amorphous terms (e.g. "heavy", "melodious", etc.) on their twitter/website; and ditto during interviews, in magazines, etc. i haven't seen 'metalcore' being used by band members often, and in the rare occasion that it surfaces, chances are the term isn't being used in the strict sense as an equivalent of its western counterpart. pushing this point further: for me, each time we attempt to transpose a term that originates in one tradition to identify an analogous phenomenon in a disparate tradition, there's always this problem of "incommensurability" since different traditions inevitably have their own historical influences, assimilated elements, cultural roots, etc. of course that isn't to say that metalcore-vk isn't a meaningful label - i guess it's still very useful for gesturing towards a particular kind of 'vk sound' amongst many, and it's perfectly natural to approximate this sound using a term (e.g. "metalcore") that's familiar to most of us. but i'll have to agree with Jigsaw that it's a much weaker sense of the word than it might seem to imply, and perhaps even one that in all likelihood wouldn't make the same kind of 'sense' to the vk members themselves as it would to us. (even here we run into a problem, since "us" is not a homogeneous group at all. the subgenre debates on Mh are the best evidence that even we can't quite agree on what "metalcore" is XD)

awesome news, really like them.

would love to hear something from them

sigh. lets just say that while neither a complete lack of moderation nor obsessive micromanagement on the part of the mods is a very pleasant thing, striking a balance between the two is an unenviable job. so, let us help them by exercising some self-discretion/censorship, especially if you're the kind who take offense more easily than most and are aware that the thread is likely to contain content that will offend you. it's not possible for the mods to keep everyone happy, but it is possible for you to not give others a chance to annoy you.

omg @ the 日本男児 line-up. totally miss shibuya + ren, and they're in the same session with akiji no less

nice selection i'm currently working my way through DOWNER's discography but it's pretty huge and i think i'll go broke before amassing all their cds XD

Reading a couple of books: - Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower - it's a historical fiction based on the life of German Romantic poet Novalis. - Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes. About 1/3 of the way through and it's nowhere as moving as Never Let me Go or as subtle as The Remains of the Day. Probably gonna ditch it if it doesn't improve soon. Also the letters of Arthur Rimbaud. i wish i could read them in the original French :<