Visutox

Artist: Dir en grey Album: ARCHE Score: Diru's ARCHE has two of everything.
It's not at Uroboros levels of good, but ARCHE can go toe to toe with Withering to death. for third best Dir en grey album.

Dir en grey learned a very important lesson with Dum Spiro Spero, which is that sometimes less is more. Nuance and Dum Spiro Spero went together like an axe to the face. Dir en grey have been a constantly evolving band ever since their formation in 1997, but 2011's Dum Spiro Spero was an almost clean break from everything they've done up to that point. While it was an interesting experiment, listening to the band buckle under the weight of their own creative ambitions was an overbearing, unrelenting, suffocating experience. It's a positive sign that Dir en grey have stopped trying so hard to mix progressive metal with deathcore while retaining an ethereal atmosphere and complementing it with well-thought out melodies (for the most part), because the result is pretty damn pleasant to listen to.

ARCHE is their most focused effort in years. It may not be as unrestrained as Dum Spiro Spero, but it is an infinitely more listenable experience. By not trying as hard to replicate the progressive atmosphere they farted out with Uroboros in 2008, they nailed it again and perpetuated their cycle of good album/bad album. ARCHE has hints of the atmosphere explored by Kyo's side project sukekiyo with nods to styles from previous albums now and again. It's no easier to take in all at once, but I can see how Diru's interpretation goes down better with some than the abstract and sometimes plain strange vibes of sukekiyo. Songs like "phenomenon", "懐春"(kaishun) and "禍夜想" (magayasou) are great examples of when the band excels at this sound, being amongst the top tracks on the album.

It wouldn't be a Dir en grey opening without an engaging opener, and "un deux" is exactly that. It's not the tribal acoustic source field intros of previous albums but I find the more direct approach refreshing. With ARCHE clocking in at 68 minutes, unnecessary pretentious intros are not needed. The first four tracks are pretty damn good, remaining consistent in quality and mood while watching Dir en grey alternate between experimentation and straightforward melodies. It's a sound we always knew they were capable of, but only surfaced once in a blue moon with songs like "腐海" (fukai) and "蜷局" (toguro). If the album stayed this course, it would have been one killer record.

But it isn't a true Dir en grey album without some tracks that should have never made it onto the album. The first is "cause of fickleness", which tried to combine the 90's visual kei mental instability antics with the nu-sukekiyo atmosphere and failed. The result is a lame chorus, uninteresting guitar melody and a total departure from the atmosphere that was built up by the first four tracks. To make it worse, the song that follows, "濤声"(tousei), picks up right where "phenomenon" left off, which makes me question why "cause of fickleness" is here. It's the kind of basic error that should not be made after eighteen years of making music. They repeat this mistake later with "The inferno" sandwiched between promotional ballad "空谷の跫音" (kuukoku no kyouon) and album ender "Revelation of Mankind". "The inferno" is junk not worthy of further elaboration but the ballad is a nice melodic break after all the metal. It wasn't the best choice to get people excited for the album though - "Un deux", "咀嚼" (soshaku), or "鱗" (uroko) would have been better choices. "Revelation of mankind" feels like a re-interpration of Dum Spiro Spero's "流転の塔" (ruten no tou). It doesn't get quite as good as "流転の塔", but it's a solid song and ends the album on a high note.

ARCHE's biggest issue is that after two years "輪郭" (rinkaku) is still the best song, even though several contend for second place. "Sustain the untruth" slides unnoticed into the latter half of the album, remaining the most straightforward metal song on the album. It also doesn't fit in all that well but the second half of ARCHE is an identity crisis anyway. All consistency goes out the window as Diru can't decide if they want to be mysterious, straightforward, reserved, or aggressive. It hurts more than it helps and with long albums consistency is important. The silver lining in all of this is that there is no progressive behemoth like Vinushka or Diabolos to inflate the running time further and make ARCHE unbearable to sit through.

The ideas don't work as well if the execution isn't top notch, and with the removal of some tracks and rearrangement of the rest ARCHE could have been in the same league as magnum opuses Uroboros or Macabre. But for a band that's been continuously reinventing themselves for the better part of a decade to be taken as a legitimate metal band, seeing them finally embrace melody and compose without pressure to conform to "metal ideals" is great. All aspects of Dir en grey that fans adore are still here, just devoid of the sprawling, unfocused attempts of albums past.

In the future, I could see ARCHE mentioned in the same breath as VULGAR and Withering to death. as generally good Dir en grey albums, and it is definitely an album I will find myself revisiting again and again. It's just something that could have been a legendary release with a bit more time and care.

it's been a while that i've seen a church from the inside, but when recording blackmetal it just seems appropriate...
 
#swagorgan
 

 
also guitars...
 

 
 
kvlt imagequality

Never mind they put out PUNCH ME IF YOU CAN!!
 

Thanks for your answer. I tried and when I plug the cable in the other way, the left side doesn't work and the right side remains inaudible in any case. Gonna go back to the store and change the product, hopefully it will work. If not, I'll have no choice than to buy new headphones.

If you can, plug the cable in the wrong way so the right side goes to the left ear and vice versa. If the left side still works afterwards then it's your headphones. If the right side goes out, then it's the cable.

KNOCK OUT MONKEY new album "Mr.Foundation" will be released at 2015/01/14 (2,916yen)
 
[track list]
01.Revolution
02.RIOT
03.If you fly
04.Take you
05.How long?
06.Priority
07.Greed
08.MOON
09.街(machi)
10.Our World
11.Wonderful Life
12.Eyes
 

witness is just good, it's easy listening, and I can easily addicted with that album. The aggressiveness come back with FACT's new album!
 
to me, burundanga was very meh, great they can improve more in witness!

My best medium is video and music so I thought I'd post some of my work here.
Here's my most recent work. Finished just this morning!
 
Falling into Winter


 
Fall has passed and Winter is now here to stay.
I wanted to capture the essence of these seasons using my home as the setting. 
Because, after all, isn't home the place we all gather to enjoy this time of year?
 
All video was shot and edited by me.
All music was written and recorded by me.
The food, however, was not made by me.

We all understand. There were bigger fish to fry with the forum last night. Glad to see it's all back as it should be again.
 
Those disclosure teasers had me so hyped and the video when it was on the anniversary site was so amazing. I wish they would have left it permanently so everyone could revisit it. And I agree 100% the album did not disappoint. If I keep playing it as much as I have this year it may end up being my favorite album of theirs so far.

I've been waiting for the review of witness to be posted and finally, here it is. Better late than never! 
Clearly one of the best albums released this year, my expectations were very high and I haven't been disappointed. In any case, disclosure left me such a good impression with its chaotic atmosphere even before the album was released, and the album just confirmed that these guys know what they're doing; and they're doing it right.

Day 15 - FACT - Witness

Release Date: 2014-03-04
Label: Maximum10
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Impressions from :

  Impressions from :

Sample song:

 
Buy the album:
CDJapan | YesAsia | iTunes (Japan)

[CD track list]
01.leather field
02.dunes
03.dot
04.foster mother
05.雨上がりの優詩(ameagari no yuushi)
06.maniera
07.白露(hakuro)
08.celeste
09.focus
 
[official web-shop-limited edition Blu-ray track list]
<Music Video>
・雨上がりの優詩(ameagari no yuushi)
・focus
<LIVE FOOTAGE>
sukekiyo 二〇一四年公演「別れを惜しむフリは貴方の為」
2014年5月6日 京都劇場
01.aftermath
02.hidden one
03.scars like velvet
04.zephyr
05.mama
06.in all weathers
<DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE>
 
[regular edition first press bonus CD track list]
01.雨上がりの優詩(ameagari no yuushi)
02.focus
03.elisabeth addict
04.latour
 
[official web-shop-limited edition bonus CD track list]
01.雨上がりの優詩(ameagari no yuushi)
02.focus
03.elisabeth addict
04.latour
sukekiyo 二〇一四年公演「別れを惜しむフリは貴方の為」
2014年5月6日 京都劇場
05.destrudo
06.elisabeth addict
07.hemimetabolism
08.latour
09.nine melted fiction
10.烏有の空
11.the daemon's cutlery
12.vandal
13.斑人間
14.鵠
 

"This photo is from today with ALDIOUS' new support drummer NANA-A! It's only been a short while, but her drumming is really powerful! Thank you, it was a lot of fun!"

The Google translation isn't very good,except for her name being NANA-A, so I'm not sure if she is full time or a fill-in. But she's full time, then these girls don't fuck around. Rami was replaced in a month and so has Aruto, it seems. Does anyone recognize her? She's a cutie.
 
https://twitter.com/aldioustoki/status/544170855777857536
 

 

 
And the girls are sporting some ridonkulous outfits these days.
 

Day 9 - chouchou merged syrups. - clepsydra

Release Date: 2014-06-25
Label: Zankyou
Genre: Rock/Indie/Female Fronted
Impressions by @Ito

Impressions by @Original Saku

Impressions by @CAT5

Sample song:

Buy the album:
CDJapan | Amazon | iTunes

Day 10 - asobius - pray & grow

Release Date: 2014-03-19
Label: RX-RECORDS
Genre: Rock/Alternative
Impressions by

  Impressions by

  Sample: 

 
But the album:
CDJapan | HMV | iTunes

Day 11 - Royz - Core

Release Date: 07-02-2014
Label: B.P.RECORDS
Genre: Visual Kei
Impressions by @Linh-san

Impressions by @fitear1590:

Sample song:

Buy the album:
CDJapan | YesAsia | HMV

Day 12 - 陰陽座 - 風神界逅 / 雷神創世 (Onmyo-za - Fuujinkaikou / Raijinsouse)



Release Date: 2014-09-24
Label: King Records
Genre: Metal/Power Metal/Visual Kei/Angura Kei/Female fronted
 
Impressions from :

Impressions from @Zeus:

Sample songs:



Buy the album:
CDJapan | YesAsia | Play-Asia

Kinda, yeah. I have nothing against the character but at the same time I honestly think that it's somewhat exaggerated for such game (you might say that a game having a Panda or a Kangaroo as fighters on it could make everything else look normal, but yeah). There are some cute characters on Tekken but this one is really from another level above, I feel like she has no place in the game. Still, the fact that she will be added in Tekken 7 doesn't bother me at all. Of course, as long as some new DECENT characters are announced.    
That's so good. lol
I'm really wondering what should we expect concerning that "idea"...
 
Btw, to have a better preview of the graphics, a new video of the game has been uploaded turning at 60FPS. Knowing that the graphics are around 70-80% of their power (according to Tekken's programmer, in Harada's tweet), I think that's pretty good overall. We can easily notice a graphical refinement in the fighters. The first thing which leaps to the eyes (or at least, to my eyes) is the sweat, new graphical detail that is finally here. Seeing it for the first time in-game looks kinda weird (not awful or anything) so I need to get used to it, which will be a matter of time.
 

Familiar with a lot of this list,actually. But Hendrix, Portishead, and Bjork all have special places in my heart. 
 
Blu-BiLLioN - "深愛" Maroon 5 - "One More Night" Mudvayne - "Death Blooms" Head Phones President - "Enter The Sky" Noeazy - "Genocide" about tess - "shine" Schwarz Stein - "lapiz lazuli" 한해 - "I love your girl" Sadie - "GIMMICK" MONKEY MAJIK - "U.F.O" Not a whole lot in this shuffle I'm crazy about. But the Mudvayne song got me through a lot back in its day. about tess and HPP are my 2nd and 3rd favorites on this list. Actually the only other ones I find worth mentioning, tbh.

https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/542583593776599040
 
US fans, look out...

Here's a gameplay of Metal Gear Online (60 FPS!!).
 
http://youtu.be/61cqE53jbOc
 
Looks to be so fucking awesome, can't wait anymore. I've been missing playing MGO since they turned off the servers of MGO on MGS4. My hype level is over 9000.
 
Btw, that selfie tho. 
 

Here's a gameplay of Metal Gear Online (60 FPS!!).
 
http://youtu.be/61cqE53jbOc
 
Looks to be so fucking awesome, can't wait anymore. I've been missing playing MGO since they turned off the servers of MGO on MGS4. My hype level is over 9000.
 
Btw, that selfie tho. 
 

^ I don't agree with you on one point. What if people who liked that post (including me) might have found it funny, without necessarily agreeing with it? So from now on, I want these buttons on MH: "I agree", "I disagree", "I find it funny" and "Not funny" so that we'll stop trying to interpret the meaning of a button... C'mon, this is ridiculous. Both of them are wrong about what they've said, one posted a pointless comment of what he wants the band to do and the other one felt offended by those words. And that's all. Not a big deal, huh? Let's try to stay on topic and stop bullshitting about pointless stuff, ffs.