PV Review: Deviloof's 拷訊惨獄

[The Reverend 3566]

 

 

 

Deathcore-by-way-of-VK youngsters Deviloof are back after some member changes with the first of three new music video singles to build anticipation for their latest album set to be released in May. How does the first chapter stack up?

 

I don't really like the name "Deviloof". "Oof" is just not a pleasing syllable to my ears. Logo isn't bad though; very directly implies this is a metal band while still being legible. 

 

Yes! The very best place to film an indies VK video is obviously the woods. 

 

*Dark*. (Excellent lighting though, I'm encouraged they dragged some real lights to the woods.)

 

I like the dutch angle sprinkled throughout the video. Helps foster the sense of unease.

 

Oh shit they're still alive! (I know you can't tell from the still screenshot necessarily, but take my word for it they all start thrashing.)

 

I'm happy to see someone responsible for making a Visual Kei music video has some familiarity with the rule of thirds.

 

The kick drums in this song have a bad case of 'typewriter-itis'. A shame really because the toms sound really good.

 

Also, how many VK videos have been shot in 4k so far??

 

The group performance shots in this video are mostly pretty staid, and I will defend to my death my stance that vocalists in music videos need a fucking microphone, but...

 

...basically every shot of a guitarist kneeling in this video is gorgeous. Full of pleasing angles and rockstar poses.

 

Didn't the bad vampire guy in the first Blade look a lot like this when he was transforming into some demon thing??

 

There's a scream at 2:21 right after the short harp(??) section that is absolutely disgusting. It's a literal 'blargh' like the vocalist is dry heaving.

 

Someone will need to fill me in on if or why this book is important.

 

I appreciate the precision of dousing a person you're about to burn alive in gasoline from a turkey baster. You wouldn't want to just splash that gas all over the place straight from the can, that's how forest fires start.

 

I really like the staccato delivery of the "adjective adjective motherfucker" lines, but I hate the repetition of the word motherfucker. I know some people like to know the lyrics in VK... but I am staunchly of the mindset that not being able to understand anything is one of my favorite things about Visual Kei. The less I can understand in heavy music from any country about how crazy you are or how heartbroken you are the better.

 

Thankfully they don't show many details of the body burning portions. I don't actually want to see charred body parts like this is some sort of snuff film.

 

I know I've highlighted some lowlights of the vocals so far, but mostly I enjoy them. The emphasis and delivery on "swallowed" at 4:22 has made me repeat that part like ten times.

 

The dissolve transitions with the fire aren't necessary, but I don't hate 'em. There aren't too many editing tricks in this video and I appreciate that immensely. 

 

How many members quit the band last year??

 

Overall I think this video is a win for Deviloof. The current crop of deathcore-with-makeup bands in VK can sometimes sound like caricatures of the genre but there are more parts of this song that I genuinely enjoy than make me cringe.

Edited February 12, 2019 by The Reverend

[helcchi 942]

Lol the body bags don’t represent Ryuya, Seiya and Hiroto but it looks that way xD

 

Interesting to note, the video is produced by bakemono, who made Sick.’s first 4K video a few years ago. More recently, they did MEIDARA’s PV in the same(?) woods and rotated the camera to ad nauseum. They used the same technique and filter for this video, but toned it down a lot 

 

7 hours ago, The Reverend said:

harp(??)

Koto

Edited February 12, 2019 by helcchi

[yomii 834]

On 2/12/2019 at 4:22 AM, The Reverend said:

Someone will need to fill me in on if or why this book is important.

this is a blank notebook for children, so i assume there are children in that bags?

 

On 2/12/2019 at 11:51 AM, helcchi said:

More recently, they did MEIDARA’s PV in the same(?) woods

the same woods are even in their ohp background photo

and apparently that one filmed by bakemono takes place there too lol

 

[zombieparadise 487]

Call me a prude, but I don't dig watching garbage bags twitch around and burn. Too extreme for me - I guess this band is doing its job.

[IGM_Oficial 1964]

On 2/11/2019 at 11:22 PM, The Reverend said:

Someone will need to fill me in on if or why this book is important.

There are some things I'd like to say. So, there are three bags, and two of them have some sort of notebook nearby. You showed one and the other (that appears right after) has something that seems to be a journal.

 

 

The bag that has nothing with it burns later on the video.

 

[Shmilly 519]

Loved the video, didn't enjoy the song so much. It was a little too repetitive near the start and the overuse of 'motherfucker' in the rap section was a little grating (cool vocal insert between all the growling though). Mixing excellent though, despite the over-reliance on pedals the drums sounded really punchy and awesome. The video itself had some gorgeous shots and lighting and managed to tell a kind of story despite the lyrics being pretty much indecipherable.

 

Maybe I'm just not into this level of extreme deathcore, but I prefer a little more structure to my songs. The lack of any kind of clean vocals or chorus-style section makes it ultimately forgettable for me, despite the high level of execution.

[porawantstodie 18]

I don't know if someone noticed but if you pause the video in some specific moments you can see that Keisuke is not wearing one of the contact lenses 😂