Tetora

Don't want to fight in the thread, and technically this is on topic as it regards the review itself, so:I disagree that someone liking something, or liking something ALOT makes them 'biased' in a way that invalidates them. Does a review or just a view of something have to look for flaws or have some negativity to be valid? BD obviously put time into writing this, and I enjoy reading it even though I don't listen to Lycaon much, as I come here to share my love of VK and other Japanese music. If people want to write their own reviews and say their piece nothing is stopping them, so I don't see why we should attack the poster. We got the perspective of a big fan, and we see the album didn't let them down. Now other people can chip in. Also a review technically does not have to even be a critique, though the terms aren't distinguished as much in journalism. Hopefully you can see my point of view.

Live limited CD 「BARメルヘニズム」 to be given as a present to those that attend Taizo's birthday event on 2.15 at Moon Romantic.

Can't get over how fresh they look in this pic.

Yeah that's why I said somebody should tell them that's not how it works. I had no choice but to know this unfortunately with all the Math classes shoved down my throat to get in school, then for finance.

Favorite PV`s: SuG – Missing SuG – B.A.B.Y VAMPS – Vampire`s Love BORN – SON OF A BITCH Uwakimono - HELL YEAH Favorite Production: SuG - MISSING SuG - Cry Out MuCC – The End of the World SID – OUTSIDER Girugamesh - gravitation Best Value: Resistar Releases (all three tracks and karaoke on one cd for regular price) Miyavi – Real (two tracks, and five live tunes for a low price) Biggest Money Stealers: VNeu (so many versions) SuG – Cry Out (three versions, one bonus track, although 2 come with a DVD, but no trading card) Most Shocking Moment: Aki is Danger Crue`s mystery artist. Akane is in and out of retirement in record time. Favorite Live`s: Stylish Wave Resistar Three-Man Favorite Label: Resistar P.S. I removed a lot from my lists as they were even huger, you can probably guess what would have made the honorable mentions list. P.P.S. Pardon the format issues like pics of every size and so on... hehe.

FAVORITE ALBUMS: MEJIBRAY - THE ”420” THEATRICAL ROSESThe youthful atmosphere of this album attracted me most on the first few listens. It captures a distinct emotional range, and although the tracks start to vary greatly, it is the most cohesive sounding Mejibray release to date, in my opinion. A melancholy runs through it. アルルカン–ニア・イコールAt first it seemed very similar, then the hooks and differences in the songs started to come to mind. A very dark album that still has a lot of energy. Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas – PHASE 2 A very, very diverse album, where one track can have more variety than entire albums recorded by other bands. This is the album that made me a big fan of the band, and is the one I can play all the way through, then let play again. High energy, and musical adventure. ギルガメッシュ– LIVE BEST This one really had to grow on me, I am a huge fan of newer Girugamesh, since Incomplete, and the sound of every track except Evolution had to grow on me, but it did. Lately Girugamesh has been releasing music that I just can`t get enough plays or volume out of. ViViD – THE PENDULUM Although different than the original ViViD many fell for, I found this album full of beautiful tracks, some good heavier tunes, the usual interesting guitar parts, lots of hooks, and a long list of great tracks. UVERworld – 0 CHOIR Another album that I love by the band. More laid back with a little less attack than other releases, but full of great tracks that you groove to more than rock or bounce along with as you would with previous releases. VAMPS – BLOODSUCKERS A great distinct, nostalgic sound, as well as lyrics that long for the past and look back at things people wish they could change. As usual for me, I start favoring certain tracks much more than others, and then those `skippable` tracks start to grow on me. ムック– THE END OF THE WORLD An album that is diverse in true current MuCC fashion, but much more grounded to a certain atmosphere than their two previous full length works. This one is darker, heavier (one of the best rock albums to pitch the sale of a super-woofer with), and more serious. The sound of the band, the vocalist`s voice, and the production are really amazing on this. コドモドラゴン – CHILDREN`S DOPE Really surprised by this one. I started to be a big fan with RIGHT EVIL, yet when I first listened to the album it didn`t fully set in yet, and I am not always the biggest fan of sharper sound, or things rough around the edge`s in terms of tone. But the album really became one of my favorite`s, until it shot up to being one of my top favorites. The singles don`t really give a clear enough description of the band and their album really is something else, in my opinion. Royz – CORE The main soundtrack of my summer. This was full of great rock tunes with a lot of attitude, and ballads that were very well done and delivered emotionally. They have a dialed in sound, and the vocals are great, it plays like an album comprised of singles, really. ALSDEAD – IDEA Every album by them plays out like it has a whole new concept. Seperator was more about imbedded sorrow, and this one was more about standing up and doing battle with whatever is haunting you, or holding you down. I love the attitude, the strong lyrics, and the great musicianship. The whole thing plays out like it is winding up to one big attack, with a some short breaks for softer songs along the way. Tracks like Kill the King and Behind The Pride pull off the theme of rebellion without coming from a childish angle, and describe something many can relate to. シド– OUTSIDER Another beautiful album by SID. As always a mixed bag in content but not in quality. It doesn`t have any of their harder tunes on it, and it isn`t the album I listened to most, but there`s just a certain quality to it that makes me think highly of it.

FAVORITE MINI – ALBUMS: BORN – THE STALIN -666- Rocked hard, plain and simple. REDMAN – Flame Of Life Well made and unexpected. A completely softer yet still strong kind of rock from what we are used to from Satoshi. LM.C – Perfect Rainbow Great release after one I did not enjoy as much (Perfect Fantasy). This features LM.C at a medium setting between their most straight-forward work, and their most `quirky`. FANG – evolutionary Process Not sure if this is a mini, or full album, but it is short so I will put it in this category. Didn`t know of this band until someone introduced me to their music. Really great youthful feeling and catchy tunes. Kra –サタヒナト Really different work featured in this concept album, with a huge emphasis on piano, while retaining lots of the band`s known amazing playing and vocals. Deep and dark atmosphere, which I loved, though the hidden track steals the show. girugamesh – gravitation Absolutely awesome album that rocks hard. Heavy and dark atmosphere, but is hard to find any negative vibe in it due to how much headbanging it induces and how much the catches get stuck in my head.

Hello, List goes in descending order until my top-favorite at the bottom of each section. Instead of filling the pages up with stars, just think of the lists starting with albums in the 4 star range, and heading towards a possible 5 at the end. I made the write-ups real short, as it is a long list (still had to cut a lot of favorites though) and hope you get the jist of what I liked about the album, and, (if you haven`t heard it) if you`d like it too. Thanks for reading. FAVORITE SINGLES: Moran – but Beautiful Very nice, potent title-track with a weightless yet emotional atmosphere. 葵-168- – 必要惡 Well made, laid-back tunes. One of his softer releases. L’Arc～en～Ciel – EVERLASTING Awesome atmosphere and sound, an otherworldly tune that calls on their old sound while mixing together their more recent approach. BugLug – 骨 Three great tracks with very different directions, as usual for the band. The punk sound on the second track was really my favorite. Royz – Supernova More great tunes from Royz, one of their softer sounds on the title track, yet all tracks still rock regardless. BORN – Son of a Bitch Another bad@ss tune from BORN, one of the tracks that rocked me the hardest this year. They pulled off the electronic breakdown better than most. NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST – Strike in fact, DESPERATE, Libra Great releases from the band, which has taken a direction I prefer more, putting their heavy sound together with more melodies and hooks. Strike In fact is the catchiest, DESPERATE is the heaviest, and Libra is the more heartfelt. DOG inTheパラレルワールドオーケストラ – TOKYOエレクトリックパレード Amazing single that puts DOG`s current sound together with a Disney atmosphere for this single. On another level than their work in 2013, in my opinion. ムック – 故に、摩天楼 Quite different from their last album, the title track has a nostalgic and emotional sound without going down a depressing route. Beautiful and catchy. シド – ENAMEL Not much to say, as awesome as every other SID single. More of a rock feel than their previous album, and more of a `Visual` delivery. Shounenki – Gazelle, BANG ME Two singles with a great rock sound, and some of the best melodic hooks I have heard in a while. Really surprised by this band, and anyone who likes soaring vocals and lots of hooks should have already heard it. ユナイト– レヴ/ice After my least favorite album from them they came back with what I love from them: Diverse tracks and songs that leave an impact through amazing playing (guitar esp. for me), amazing vocals, lyrics, and a distinct approach to making music. The way they come out with so many different sounds without it seeming amateur or like they just threw in elements of other musical styles reminds me of SID. DIV - You, Butterfly Dreamer, 漂流彼女, Point of view Very different singles, and I enjoyed them all. POV is one of my favorite up-beat tunes of the year, Hyouryuu one of my top atmospheric songs, and Butterfly Dreamer is one of my go-to songs when I want to rock. SuG – Missing, CRY OUT Amazing singles that did something very different from everything else in 2014. Both are more serious and emotionally driven than what many expect of SuG. The production is also top notch. DOG inTheパラレルワールドオーケストラ – 魁!! 祭izm One of my favorite singles ever. Listening to it the first time, I said `this is why I listen to music `. Hard to think of anything that expresses itself so well to me. I hold this one close.

What`s the deal with item drop rates? I mean, first of all, if an item has a 20% drop rate, people tell me that you have a 1-in-5 chance of getting that item each time you kill that monster, so after 5 kills you should have that item... Somebody should tell these people that that is clearly not how odds work because I have personally killed that monster 5 times and he didn`t drop a thing. Not a single thing. What`s the deal here? I even see items nowadays with things like a 1% drop rate or less... Is there some kind of recession that the monster`s don`t want us knowing about? Because logically they should all drop the same thing every time, seeing as they are all identical right down to the last digit of their HP... But no... They`re hoarding these things away somewhere, and it sure isn`t in any treasure chests. since all I get from those things is stuff I never wanted in the first place. Speaking of treasure chests, who`s leaving these things lying around? I mean, someone had to go into the hardest dungeon in the game, dragging that big chest with him. He picked the right spot to leave it, sure, there`s no doubt about that, but if he went to all that trouble surely he could lock the chest? They always seem to forget that part... Back to item drops, I`m starting to doubt this whole recession thing, seeing as there sees to be no shortage of beast fangs and monster ooze. Yup, you`re going to be getting about 99 of everything you don`t ever need in the game, just like the bright idea someone had to hand out potions 40 hours into the game when you`re level 50, and have a couple thousand hp... Yup, a potion that heals 100 hit points, that should do the trick... You know who I blame for all this? Someone just said the government, no they dodge the bullet on this one; who I blame is the Battle Planner, because somewhere along the way, they decided that it was a GREAT idea to stop it with all the epic hidden bosses we knew and loved that gave us good weapons and armor, and thought it would be a great idea to take the material collecting system from MMO`s, where logically, they make you pay more the longer you play, and put that whole time wasting system in offline RPG`s where you only have to pay once, basically making you waste hundreds of hours of your life for nothing, as they don`t even see a dime for it. Yeah, great idea, now I can tell all my friends that it took me 120 hours to beat the latest Final Fantasy, and oh, by the way, 30 hours of that were spent enjoying the game, the other 90 were killing endless wet rats and flans in the sewers waiting for one stinking item to drop. I`d like to have a word with whoever came up with this idea...