Best new releases: August 2016

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Some pretty cool releases here and there for August, I was mostly content with what I heard.

 

As usual, the rules are pretty simple: you can list what releases you thought were the best, and explain why in a few sentences. You can even pick just 1 album if that's all you've got, and try to keep it to a maximum of 5 items. Feel free to add or remove any albums later if you feel like your taste has changed, etc. Oh, and try to include a sample or two so that others could peep those sweet tunes more easily!

 

Aaand here we go~

 

黒百合と影 -「臓器のノゾキ穴。」/ Kuroyuri to kage are a pretty decent band, but they really stepped up their game with this new mini album. The whole thing is just bursting with dirty, crunchy dark sounds and moods, encased in powerful little tunes. The inclusion of the re-worked single tracks was a good choice too, they sound much much better than before. One of the near-perfect indies vk releases of the year for me so far, for sure.

 

雅-MIYAVI- - Fire Bird / Who knew I'd enjoy a MIYAVI album again after the boring disappointment that was THE OTHERS? I sure as hell didn't! I was even skeptical listening to the previews, but song by song the new album won me over big time. I don't know which producers MIYAVI worked with this time, but kudos to the whole team for forging this badass sound. Partly electronic dance music, partly garage-y distorted guitar jammin', and lots of catchy songs. Perfect party album.

 

Ritual Howls - Into the Water / Immensely bleak-sounding goth rock with minimalistic synths and a biting industrial edge. To be honest, I don't remember much of the actual songs now that I think back, but it's just one of those albums that you put on when you're in a certain mood and it washes over you. Great night-time listening.

 

Honorable mentions

 

UNDER FALL JUSTICE - 醜い拒絶 / This almost made my top list. Chaotic, quirky, overdramatic indies vk  that's too ridiculous at times, but somehow still works.
Hellbringer - Awakened from the Abyss / Old-school thrash/black/speed metal. Tbh it's pretty interchangeable with a dozen other bands, but it gets the job done.

[Bear 1817]

Like too many times earlier this year I've barely checked out any music at all, but the few releases I've checked out have been great.

 

Hexenslaught - Demo 2016

I wrote about this fantastic demo a couple of months back, but it actually wasn't released before august. Raw death metal in the vein of Necrovore, Incubus og Morbid Angel demos. This demo sounds like 1987, and if someone had told me this was a lost gem from the mid-late 80's I'd have believed them. Brilliant demo!

 

http://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2016

 

Joel Grind - Fatal Planet

Joel Grind (solo project of Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust fame) started out as a band where he could release some music that didn't belong under the Toxic Holocaust name and it started with a black/speed metal album in 2013, inspired by the likes of Bathory, Sodom, Hellhammer, Bulldozer and Motörhead, before he released a raw, fuzzy and acid-drenched surf rock split with legendary Davie Allan. His new EP, Fatal Planet, steps into the world of ambient/electronica and gives us two track of synth-music inspired by the likes of John Carpenter, Fabio Frizzi and Tangerine Dream. Might be his very best release till now.

 

http://joelgrind.bandcamp.com/album/fatal-planet

 

Bewitcher - Bewitcher

Rocking black/speed metal in the vein of Midnight, Joel Grind, Bathory, Venom and more. Unoriginal as fuck, but they sure as fuck delivers some great tracks that's sure to make you headbang and get out that ice cold six-pack that's standing in your fridge.

 

http://bewitcher.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll come back later with a few words about Abigail's new album "The Final Damnation" as soon as I've heard it. The one track I've heard is excellent and I can not see this album not deserving a spot on my list this month. Really looking forward to this album.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ I only listened to Bewitcher today morning actually, and yup, it's a pretty cool album!

[Shaolan974 6185]

Here we go ! (no specific order)

 

メディーナ (Mediena) — Gothic Cult

It's not the best band ever but I really really like them. I like their "old school" and "UNDER CODE" vibe. It's too bad they are disbanding but, at least, we have a double best album with all of their songs. I think it's one of the best VK album this year to me. There are good songs like moira, Monophobia, SORROW, SUICIDE, etc. 

 

DRÆMINGS — The Eternal Lonesome

It's a really good surprise. She has a curious style A mix between alternative post-punk with 80's electronic vibes. Her voice is great two. She reminds me Florence + The Machine somehow.

 

 

黒百合と影 (Kuroyuri to Kage) - 「臓器のノゾキ穴。」 (Zouki no Nozokiana.)

Kuroyuri to Kage is one of the best Visual band actually. I really love their first album under Ains/Madwink. This is their first self-produced CD and it's a great job ! It's not a "copy band" like Grieva or Gossip, they have their own style and they try to do something unique and original. Their music is powerful, strange and crazy sometimes but full of good ideas.

 

Storm The Sky - Sin Will  Find You

I didn't know them before this album. Their post hardcore is pretty catchy and there are some interresting songs on this album. Especially this :

 

 

Bad Omens - Bad Omens

If you like BRING ME THE HORIZON or Asking Alexandria, you will surely like Bad Omens with their debut self-titled album.

Their alternative post-rock/metal is  really interresting, catchy and surprisingly good sometimes.

 

 

Lindsey Stirling — Brave Enough

I love this girl ! Discovered her last year on Youtube and I fell in love with her covers and her two previous albums. Sometimes, listenning an instrumental album is really good after a hard day at work.  I usually don't like people who became too famous through social networks but this girl is talented, for sure ! 

 

 

forCroiX — Grimoire

4 years after their formation, forCroiX gave us their first album before... going on hiatus...again. It's really good surprise. These guys from THRITEEN MUSIC are surprisingly good and I didn't expected that ! "Grimoire" has that "old-school" and 2000"s vibe. There are some killer tunes like "Limited Governor" or "月ノ涙". It's a shame they are going on hiatus again. This is a really lack of potential but...well...it's the cruel world of the Visual industry...

 

The Pineapple Thief — Your Wilderness

Progressive rock / indie rock / alternative rock / new prog. Just...Amazing. I'm totally in love with their new album. Try it, it's a really good band.

 

 

バラライカ (Balalaika) — この門をくぐる者、一切の希望を捨てよ (Kono Mon wo Kuguru Mono, Issai no Kibou wo Sute yo)

Because I love Amber bullet, the 3rd Birthday and L. Balalaika gave us a strong...and short...first mini-album. To me, they hade a lot of potential and I love their references to Dante's Divine Comedy. 

 

Make Them Suffer — Old Souls & Lord of Woe

 

 

Delain — Moonbathers

Symphonic metal is one of favorite style of music : Epica, Nightwish, Within Temptation, etc. So... I like DELAIN. Their new album is good.

 

 

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Hardly listened to anything ( in general ) last month. Doesn't have anything to do with the stuff that's out there, I've just prioritised doing other shit ahead of it. This has to have been the least music I've ever listened to in my active music consuming life, which started at around 2005 I'd gather.  

 

From visual kei I enjoyed Pentagon and Diaura. Pentagon took surprisingly little time in finding their own distinct sound and concept after that flop first album. I think it was literally on the next release after that where they adopted their current sound and gimmick that suits them perfectly. The color of the gaudy carnival visuals works for them, and so does the blend of visual kei metalcore and hirokicore. I'm overly simplifying for sure, because I really do think they have an unique thing going that's all distinctly Pentagon. Popcorn Monster is their best track to date I'd say. 

 

Diaura does Diaura. Sometimes it's better and sometimes, or rather often times, it's worse. Recently it has been quite good and I've been very slow in warming up to it, but it's good nonetheless. Playing ballads also masks the abysmal taste in riffs of the guitarists, so everything in this works in their favor here. 

 

What else... Kuroyuri was quite alright, however I decided to symbolically omit them from the previous two because while I really did like the live dist. songs it has ( especially the first track ), I am getting such bad vibes from them. It's going to be the next release or the one after that where I go "fuck this nonsense" and get tired of their shtick. It's working for the time being, but there's only so many times when they can play that song without getting tired and loosening up the quality control. I'm reserving the the chance to take back everything that I've said, since I may just be paranoid from Gossip having exhausted all their energies. 

 

From western music I listened to Young Thug, Frank Ocean and Rae sremmurd and something else or another that I can't recall. First two are great, the third less so but a few tracks bang.

[hiroki 5521]

i don't think i've posted in these threads before but i have to do it this time because August was simply a phenomenal month for hirokicore lol. it wouldn't be an exaggeration at all to say that August was the best single month for me since i started listening to vk :')

 

My top 5

 

Purple Stone - パニックパニック. The title track is insanely addictive. B-sides are milder and more restrained but still distinctly Purple Stone. Basically this was the perfect balance between the band's new eclectic mixture-kei & their older straight-up rock style, with some jazzy elements thrown in (i wonder if it's because they've been touring quite a bit with アンフィル and グラムへイズ lately lolol). Take a look at the PS artist thread if you wanna read what I think of individual tracks!

 

アンフィル - Step bye step. Truth be told, I wasn't a big fan of their last single パロ二リア (it sounded like an amateurish attempt at グリモア's kind of music), but Step bye step is all about what Anfiel does best. I still can't get over the 気分転換 (how do i translate this... 'mood change'??) at the exact moment Shogo's vocals came in after the opening instrumentals. His light and hazy vocals give an incredible amount of texture to the song and it's unbelievable how he's able to create so many vocal details with perfect ease. Probably my favorite Anfiel song (for now). VK will surely be a poorer place without Shogo. Ok i'll spare you my gushing. B-sides are also very very good, especially Sense of wonder.

 

FoLLoW - FoLLoW. This was an amalgam of their single tracks + a handful of new tracks. Honestly their old tracks were better than the new songs, but i'm not complaining at all because there isn't an outright bad song in the entire album. And as their first full album--one that's appropriately self-titled--it definitely gives the newcomer an excellent taste of the range of sounds FoLLoW traverses with ease; from their energetic dance songs to heartbreaking ballads to Masashi's signature rap. I'm still obsessed with ピノキオ so that's the standout track for me.

 

CLØWD - TENDERLOIN. I was not impressed with their mini album, so thankfully their first full album was 1000 times better. Tomorrowland is absolutely stunning. We all know that Kou's best with the upper register of his chest voice (as opposed to his cringeworthy Elmo squeaks in some of their ballads) and coupled with an extremely memorable chorus that's impeccably arranged, there's literally nothing I can think of that would make this song better than it already is. I never thought they would ever make a better song than #夏の微熱 after they entered a mini-slump after that single but they did. The only questionable thing about this album is its title... I'm still trying to figure out what it refers to.

 

ペンタゴン - 絶叫! - I've already commented copiously on this in the Recommended tracks thread so I won't repeat myself. But yes, Teenage. is the kind of song i live for :')))) (500 plays already...) I listened to their full album again after peffy urged me to, and I found it better than I ever remembered it being, but this mini album is on a different tier altogether. I'm also becoming badly addicted to Chizuru's vocals....

 

Other releases that would ordinarily be more than good enough for my monthly top 5, if not for how great the releases ^ were:

 

Anli Pollicino - Alternative Mirage.

ZON - Re:Night

ATRUS - LUST VAMPIRE

i.Rias - L.L.サマー!!! (thank god they've given up on writing songs that sound like 3 songs in 1)

CANIVAL - 悩殺毒的ロマンティック

 

I still haven't listened to BLESSCODE's CD, so August's releases can only (belatedly) get better.

Edited September 6, 2016 by hiroki

[The Reverend 3566]

For Japanese releases both KtK and Under Fall Justice were pretty good in my book, but not great. Worth a listen but not all-timers.

 

The release I've been spinning the most that came out in (at the very end of) August:

 

 

Subrosa - For This We Fought The Battle of Ages

 

A doom/sludge band that does the dichotomy of pretty vs. ugly and loud vs. soft super well. Not as great as their 2013 album, but that one is like a top-5 doom metal release to me, so saying this one is not quite as awesome is not an insult. I don't know many bands in this genre that feature a front-woman who composes most of the music, and I think that provides a unique perspective (and I'm a sucker for female vocals within such *heavy* tunes). Check this out if you're into doom, or think you could be, but appreciate a band that embraces interesting melodies as much as simply trying to blow your speakers with slow riffs.