paradoxal

what's his face from para:noir

literally pied my pants

many camwhore
much selfie
wow

Artist: FIXER Single: PARADOX 1. White and Black (Prologue) 2. Paradox 3. Libido [Type A] 3. Verity [Type B]
Rating: | Familiar faces, fresh sound
 
I wasn't sure what to expect from Fixer as PARADOX was my first foray into their short discography. But a band that houses ex ReivieЯ and Signal members has a lot of potential in my book. I'm happy to say PARADOX didn't fall too short of my expectations, either.

The single opens with a somewhat generic and predictable electronic instrumental. Even for an SE, it's rather long. It's not really that the track is bad, per se. There just isn't much to evoke the rest of the tracks that follow it. The SE feels placed there because it's expected to be there, which is never the best idea. Things like this are better left to hype up the audience in a live setting. I've never found them to work the same way on a recording. But the rest of the single makes up for it. By the time the title track begins, you forget that there was an SE in the first place.

"Paradox", the title track, has great energy that kicks in with a machine gun drum beat and a scream. Jey's voice is powerful and even when he turns to his falsetto it carves out its own place among the dueling chugs of downtuned guitars. The song has great dynamics and bounces back and forth between heavy and quieter melodic segments in the verses. The more traditional visual kei chorus maintains its melodious aspects but in a much fuller arrangement between all of the instruments. As for the second track, "Libido" has a super catchy chorus, and more contrast of melody over thrash-y drums. Even at its heaviest parts, harmonies are layered over screams and the song never loses any intensity for it. In a short single Fixer is showing a lot of complexity and fresh approaches to a genre that desperately needs it.

The alternate song on the Type B version of the single, "Verity" sounds just like it was treated. B-side (or in this case, C-side?) filler. Not horrible "delete-this-and-pretend-it-doesn't-exist filler", but something that didn't quite fit with the other two songs and takes a few more spins before it grows on you. The verses are arguably more generic and the song even sounds like it didn't get the same production treatment as the Type A songs did. But if given a little bit of TLC in a re-recording with the right tracklist beside it, "Verity" could make for decent album material. This is only Fixer's 3rd single, after all. They get a little bit of forgiveness from me for having to skimp on what can be expensive studio time.

All in all, PARADOX is a strong showing that makes me want to continue watching this band as they grow. I will hold out hope that they pursue new and interesting ways to keep visual kei fresh and relevant. I'd love to see them branch even further from some of the vk mainstays it seems they are trying to cater to, as it may end up holding them back. However, Fixer are on the right track to a strong following and promising career as they are, and I'll be cheering for them.

Check out "Paradox"

Support the band! PARADOX @ CDJapan
PARADOX @ HMV
Fixer OHP

A victim of a random deletion o__O. Anywho, here I am once more. In my red Serial Experiments Lain shirt and my yellow Minimoni wristband. Be jealous.
 
 

 

We'll be having future unboxings and auctions, we're letting people's bank accounts respawn for now though.

I am in the chat, and we are just about to go live.  Let the pillaging of rarez commence!
http://www.hitbox.tv/RarezHut
 
We'll be going for 6-7 hours, so don't worry if you can't make the start.  We'll be here all day XD

Welcome to MH! Don't sweat it, you'll find tons of new awesome bands in MH!

Hello, I'm Rilakkuma - Linh-chan desu.

IDK MY FRIEND MADE ME POISON APPLE EARRINGS... AND ASKED ME TO TAKE PICTURES. I don't do make up like this often anymore.... so.... idk here
 

My take on the gazette's logo. the flies represent people who like the gazette

I have a friend who started liking VK because of me, but he also likes KISS and AC/DC because of some other friend, so he basically listens to what his friends do I'm pretty positive that he's the only one I've even partially converted.
 
But nowadays I feel somehow extremely uncomfortable trying to "share" my songs if the person isn't already into VK. There are a few songs that are so personal and emotional to me that if a non-VK friend listened to them and ended up hating them, it would really feel bad. I do listen to VK sometimes when I'm with my non-VK friends, but I always end up choosing a band which isn't among my favorites. Somehow revealing my favorite songs would be way too personal for me or something.

I think it's done xD
 

because going to work sucks but feeling perfect in your skin once a week is win
 
 

Why are you doing this to me...... ;_;

Why are you doing this to me...... ;_;

Details on the next stream beamed to your eyeholes!
 
There are still nearly 150 items left in The Crate, so we are going to be streaming another live auction on Saturday, April 4th beginning at 10AM MST/12PM EST/4PM GMT. 
We decided to start it two hours earlier than last time in recognition of our European brethren
When registering at Hitbox, please use your MH username if you haven't already created an account.  I'll try to /whisper you in chat to get your contact info if you win an item, but it would be awesome if you could.
 
It'll be at Hitbox again: http://www.hitbox.tv/RarezHut
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/477008009118257/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RarezHut

New clothes and random crocs 8'D
 

I think the preview sounds really nice!

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. I REPEAT: THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.
 

 
Remember to join us Saturday and Sunday for our first live unboxing! We've created a facebook event over at https://www.facebook.com/events/744440822321360/as well, so let us know if you lovely people will be showing up

As has been mentioned a few times this week, RarezHut will be hosting it's very first livestream this weekend! It has been requested multiple times by our customers that we do unboxing videos, so we decided that, as we have nearly 600 items arriving tomorrow, we'd share the experience with all of you!
 
Due to the amount of items, we're expecting that the stream might need to be spread over two days. The stream will go live at http://www.hitbox.tv/RarezHut at 12 PM MST(6 PM/18:00 GMT) on Saturday, March 28th for 5 hours. If it looks like it's going to run longer than that, then we'll stream again on Sunday March 29th at the same starting time and go until we're done. You can figure out what time the stream will be for you over at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
 
During the stream, we'll allow people in the chat to buy items straight out of the box if they like. Valerie(Valicious) will be in the chat and assisting with marking down sales. There will be a starting price displayed on the stream for each item and if multiple people want the item then it'll go auction-style and they can bid up until someone caves and loses out on the rarez.

Welcome to MH! Nice to see a neighbor join us, there are tons of finns here!

Stage one of my half-sleeve complete!! It's Versailles-themed. Six roses, one for each member. Stage two will be the band name on the other side of my arm and stage three is an incredible color scheme. What do you guys think?

Hi.
 
Pic from earlier this year in one of my graduation parties.