Sexy~

OK! Finally some noteworthy news!

Sex Machineguns is back! With an all new lineup that will be announced on Oct. 26th, a new single which will be available by download only, called Jacky, coming out on Nov. 2nd!

I can't wait to hear this, and I'm always surprised by who Anchang can dig up for his totally rad band. These guys have real life heavy metal power!

Hora is coming out with a 2 disc album this November, I seem to really enjoy his stuff, more than Kaya's anyway I hope it's very industrial XD.

Girugamesh is going to be putting out a self titled album (first REAL album?) with 10 or 13 tracks depending on the version you buy. This one is coming on Dec. 26th. I have come to REALLY enjoy and respect this band so hopefully this album will kick some major ass.

And one of the most exciting things I've seen in a while; MACHINE is putting out a new single called Ooh Yeah, on November 21st! It seems like November is gonna be big this year~

I love MACHINE and I can't wait to see what kind of craziness they are gonna drop next.

I'll keep ya up to date~

What's up?

Holy crikey, I won't even try to excuse myself from NOT posting recently.. Honestly though, I've had pretty much nothing to write about in the Japanese Rock world. A new Buck-Tick album, some new Sadie, UnsraW, leeching older music from friends.. but nothing new has caught my ear.

I do however have something I'd like to discuss; Visual Kei. Sounds intense huh?

Well, Visual Kei is somewhat of a super genre, encompassing every band who wants to have a strong appearance. Can that be a music genre? If it's defined by the appearance and not the music? I don't think it could be, BUT most bands have musical elements in common; most are rock bands, usually on the harder side with a similar set of vocal styles, and chord progression.

But wait! What about bands that are NOTHING like 99% of the other visual bands? Guniw Tools for instance, when I was in Japan last month I asked if the record shop I was at had Coaltar of the Deepers, and he said 'no, they aren't visual kei, but I like them', and when I asked if they had Guniw Tools he said 'no, they ARE visual kei, but it's been out of print for years'. I had NO idea that Guniw Tools was considered visual, I mean it seems obvious to me looking at it now, but I really thought of it more as Full's art project than a 'band'.

TO BE CONTINUED..

A trip.

So I just got back from a successful business trip to my favorite country ;D JAPAN. I kicked all kinds of ass, met lots of people and networked my little ass off.

Not much news on the music front, as apparently even being a few weeks behind on whats really going on in the Jrock scene, I was still way ahead of everyone over there haha.. Towards the end of my trip I went to see a show in Saitama at HEAVENS ROCK, which is a nice little livehouse near one of the Saitama-city stations (not sure exactly which one >_>;) I was speaking to the manager about my endeavors and he was extremely impressed with my knowledge but he also told me I was crazy because I knew more than pretty much anyone he knows.

At this live show, which lasted close to 5 hours, we saw bis, MaveRick, meth., Scar., Sel'm, Like absolute myself, Wednesday and heidi. The only 2 bands I was previously familiar with their music were bis and Sel'm, but I had heard of all of the others except Like absolute myself. It was really full of oldschool visual-kei goodness, which is exactly what the doctor ordered ;D

bis- was pretty crappy live, they sounded like they were trying to be extra punky, but the band members were making all kinds of mistakes, and they only played one song I knew hah.

MaveRick- kicked probably the most ass out of all the performers, they were obviously a very small/new/super indie band that I found out later is from Nagoya <3 But these guys honestly had their act together REALLY well, every band member did their part, none tried to steal the show and it was just really fun and pleasant to listen to, I didnt want it to end ;_;

meth.- we got to the show right as meth. (which was the first band up) was starting their set, and let me tell you, GOOD first impression, if they had fucked up or been crappy, I probably would have enjoyed the entire show much less than I did. meth.'s music is good, hard, fast and no bullshit, just enjoyable VK awesomeness.

Scar. - didnt leave much of an impression on me.. but I can say it was enjoyable, but unfortunately there was nothing that really stuck out for me.

Sel'm - was definitely the most popular band that played at the show, I knew a few of the songs, but again there is nothing about Sel'm that really stands out for me... The drummer looked like he belonged in Girugamesh though.. There was a high amount of talent present from these guys, everyone doing their job well, and a large amount of presence. Both meth. and Like absolute myself came into the venue to watch when Sel'm came on.. but again, I really wasn't that impressed.

Like absolute myself - these guys put on the weakest set in the show.. I really didnt enjoy the music very much. I have a feeling that this was one of their first live events and they are pretty much super indies n00b band, however the band members approached me and we talked about music a little bit, they were really nice so I have nothing bad to say about the band itself, I really hope they continue making music, growing as a band and get a large fanbase :D

Wednesday - This band was so cracked out, I really had no idea what was going on, everyone was dressed up in Psycho le Cemu-esque outfits doing really strange crap and confusing the hell out of me, honestly though, I can say I completely enjoyed it, they were so bizarre and crowd surfing and the drummer looked like a cross between a dog and boy george. Everyone in the band, despite the massive costumes they were wearing, performed very well with music that I enjoyed quite a bit.

heidi. - wow.. heidi. was probably the best performance of the night, with meth., MaveRick and Wednesday just slightly behind, but in no particular order hah. There were more males that came to see heidi. than any of the other bands, besides the band members who were watching Sel'm (it was like 95% girls 5% boys for basically the whole show) Now, I was impressed like hell by heidi.'s guitarrist (Nao) who i would say is on par with Aie from Deadman and Miya from MUCC, which is saying something, I was mesmerized by his playing. heidi. is 2 ex-members from Kalimero (one of them being Nao) But in any case, heidi.'s live was even better than their recorded material, which impresses the hell out of me.


I highly recommend giving heidi., MaveRick, meth., and Wednesday a try if you havent already, in the oldschool visual rock tradition, these bands kicked some MAJOR ass, leaving me with a greater appreciation for the current generation of musicians. <3

Fresh!

OK.. Sorry I haven't been writing much recently, I have been busy getting ready for my trip over to Japan later this month! As a few of you know, I will be (at some point) opening a live house in either Tokyo or Nagoya, and this trip is basically just preliminary scouting, I have a number of contacts that I will be speaking with while I'm over there and meeting with people who might also help my cause ;D

Now for the real stuff..

Recently I have been enjoying BLOOD STAIN CHILD quite a bit, their album IDOLATOR will be released here in the States later this summer, I definitely suggest giving it a listen. BLOOD STAIN CHILD is a fairly old band, they play what they call "Melodic Death Metal" which I suppose isn't too far from the truth, to me it sounds more like Alternative Metal, mixed with some Trance and electronic elements, which honestly fuse to become some of the most enjoyable and unique music I have heard in months.

Even more recently.. I obtained the new COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS album "Yukari Telepath". COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS has been around since 1991 which makes them one of the oldest Japanese rock bands that still exist today, (Buck-Tick has been around since 1987 congrats to them on 20 years!) COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS is classified as Shoegaze, which I had never heard of before I started listening to them, Shoegaze is a type of alternative rock that was started in the 80's by English bands, and was named because of the bands tendency of not moving around during performances and 'gazing at their shoes. Yukari Telepath is EXCELLENT, it's mostly electronic music with distorted guitars and Nackie's cracked out voice, in one song he will sound like a girl and the next song he will be screaming like the vocalist of a grindcore band. The music is very calming, and works very well for me as music I have on while I sleep or while I am doing something else on my computer.. overall it is really a great album!

By the way guys I plan to post more and hopefully I can write some blogs while I'm in Japan too :D

The Worst and Best

A few days ago MUCC released their 'Best' album and a 'Worst' album. I'm pretty amused that a band would put out a 'worst' album, but in any case these are some REALLY nice albums. I usually can't stand MUCC's newer singles but somehow these compilation albums capture everything I don't mind too much and stick it into an album. Tastefully done with some spice to keep people like me happy :D

My only complaint here is about production, now I've had many discussions with people about 'overproduced' music, and if you listen to the original versions of each song, there is an intangible element, being recorded in a cheap studio with the equipment that they already had and progressing musicianship skillz gives the old songs this added creepiness factor, particularly in songs like Yoru, Tsubasa wo kudasai, Ieji and Shoufu. But holy crap. The coolness factor of these albums is through the roof. It's really refreshing to hear old songs getting some love after all this time. Now I can honestly enjoy listening to MUCC's current musics again, even if they are actually old tracks~

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Best of MUCC


The Best of MUCC is mostly a collection of their major record label single releases and happier songs (usually) on the more recent albums. However there are some completely unexpected tracks like Yume no gai (Yume no machi) and Na mo naki yume. The spice that I mentioned earlier is that most of the older songs are re-recorded and some of the more recent stuff is remixed a bit. MUCC really managed to make this album interesting enough for me to seriously enjoy it. I always look forward to what these crazy cats are gonna do next :D

Best of MUCC gets a 72% on the Awesome meter.

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Worst of MUCC

The Worst of MUCC is probably the BEST release MUCC has put out in the past year+, somehow they managed to put all of my favorite songs, save for Nukegara on an album. Zetsubou, Bouzenjishitsu, Hakanakutomo, Tsubasa wo kudasai, Yoru, Suimin, Ieji, Rankyuu, Danzetsu, Dilemma. Holy crap. Again many of the songs are re-recorded, so they gain sound quality in exchange for classic charm but my guess is that some of the songs now sound as they were originally written to sound but unable to because of lack of available recording resources.

I'm not too huge of a 'best of' album fan, but seriously if you're going to put one out, this is absolutely how you do it. They get mad props for this, but if you can remake your old GREAT songs so well, why can't you write new material that's on par? :\

I give Worst of MUCC an 89% on the Awesome meter.

Catastrophe trend!

I just noticed that theres a lot of song titles recently about natural disasters. I wonder why, is this a subconscious message from indie jrock bands telling us that the world is about to end!? D'espairsRay had the Squall single, Gilgamesh had the Volcano single and 12012 had some single about a Cyclone or something. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!?

The other possibility is that they just think its cool to sing about nature beating the crap out of us.. and come to think of it, that is pretty cool. I think im going to go write a song about a mud slide destroying someones shed.

In unrelated news, there's basically nothing interesting happening in Jrock.. save maybe for Buck-Tick releasing a new single celebrating their 20th anniversary.

In a hole..

I was thinking about how much of a self righteous close minded elitist bastard I am about Japanese rock. So this post is to tell you all how I am NOT a self righteous close minded elitist bastard about Japanese rock.

I definitely play favorites, I like some bands and hate others, mind you there is a reason behind all of it, but they aren't necessarily good reasons. (except miyavi.. thats a personal grudge) In any case, it's usually because I don't like the band's sound due to poor musicianship or really dislike the band's songs specifically. I really try to stay away from the band politics.. which doesn't always work, but these things happen I guess ;p

However; if you believe that I am wrong about a band or musician, then please let me know, I am completely open to more musics I can enjoy! The only thing is, you have to prove that I really don't know and I'm actually wrong about said band. Which shouldn't be hard, just let me hear some songs that I enjoy and you've won.

But no miyavi ploz.

On another note, on my attitude towards fangirls, I don't hate the fans of Jrock, at all, but when people start being retarded and listening to bands 'because they're hot' or some lame crap, calling the band members by some pet name and writing yaoi fanfics about the singers you like, then you can GTFO my website and commit seppuku with a rusty butter knife.

I also recieved a picture of me in the line for Jrock Revolution that really amused me, so you can all see it too :D

Revival

So apparently I was even more right than I could possibly imagine.

X-Japan is reviving, and hide is NOT coming back for the revival. Heath, Pata, Toshi and Yoshiki already have plans for new releases, they have a new recording already AND they are planning lives.

I do not agree with the decisions made by Yoshiki. Everyone is losing hardcore points on the awesome meter.. This business with Miyavi joining up with Gackt, Sugizo and Yoshiki pisses me off for one, and now reviving X.. It really seems like a tasteless publicity move, as does having SKIN's first live at an ANIME convention.. This is all leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

I support the Japanese music scene in the USA, REALLY I do. I will go see SKIN just for kicks and I will go see X-Japan as well. I really don't enjoy many of the people who listen to Japanese rock in our country but I can put up with them to support my cause. I just hope everyone can get on the ball and stop being retarded. Some of my close friends are already losing interest in Jrock because of the stupidity involved with its introduction to America.

COMON GUYS! The way you are doing this is just going to breed more retarded fangirls. D:

The revolution

OK so i'm a little late on this one.. but I hope you guys can cut me a break.. I somehow wound up in Las Vegas, where I am right now.

Anyhow I flew down to LA last thursday for the Jrock Revolution music festival, and waited in lines for a good 30+ hours. But I'll tell you it was fucking worth it.

The first day of the show was Kagrra, Duel Jewel, Miyavi, Alice Nine and Vidoll. Aside from Kagrra, the performances were CRAP. There was nothing in any way shape or form good about any of it. I was looking forward to Duel Jewel honestly.. and I do enjoy their recorded albums a bunch (especially the newest one)... But they SUCK live. Kagrra, was the only redemption on the first day, they always put on a great show, but they also played first, which probably means they are the least popular out of ALL the bands that were playing. For me it was like OPENING BAND day and REAL BAND DAY, except for Kagrra, who kicked ass.

My guess is that you all know about Skin by now, but if you don't, let me inform you. The unscheduled craziness that I had predicted came to pass. In the form of a 'Jrock' supergroup called Skin. We don't have any details about who is going to be doing what yet, but Yoshiki, Gackt, Sugizo and Miyavi (-_-;). Honestly everyone loses points, and they lose even more points because the band's first performance is going to be at an anime convention.......
Miyavi was already low on the list.. and Sugizo and Yoshiki are old (maybe they can still rock, but I haven't seen any recent proof of this).. But Gackt should be ashamed of himself!

The second day however in which Merri, Gilgamesh, D'espairsRay and MUCC played was godly. I had high hopes for this day and I was NOT disappointed, except by MUCC who decided to play nothing but new songs. Merri was great, they sounded great live, put on a sick show making the crowd go nuts and I could tell that many of the fans were new to Merri.

Gilgamesh were the stars of the event by far. They put on one of the best live performances I have EVER seen.. They rocked so hard that people were beating the shit out of each other in the pit, which by the way was pretty non-existant the first day. I saw a few girls get either knocked out or pass out from suffocation, and be carried from the venue. Gilgamesh commanded respect, and did everything right, they sounded better live than they do recorded, which is completely mind blowing. Gilgamesh gets 2 hearty thumbs up and totally broke the awesome meter. Especially with that mission impossible theme playing hahaha. Oh man, everyone else got pwn'd by that live.



D'espairsRay played all songs from their new album, they put on a great show and Zero had the heavy metal power that night.

MUCC played a setlist that didn't fit that night at ALL.

And thank god there was no Miyavi faggotry the second night.

That is all for now.. I'll be writing more on this subject when I am less distracted :D

HUEG LIST!

This is the grand list.. Except for newer bands this is mainly what I like and/or listen to for the most part. I have most of the music released by almost all of these bands.

I havent been very impressed in the past few weeks by any new releases (although I've HEARD about a few worthwile ones.)

Acid, Acidman, Another Cell, Attack Haus, Aucifer, Auschvitz, BeaU, Berry, BIS, Blam Honey, Blast, Bluck-Tlick, Brahman, Blue-3, Buck-Tick, BUG, B'z, Cali=Gari, Calmando Qual, Celia'Xeno, Catchmonchy, D, Danger Gang, Das:Vasser, Deadman, Dead Pop Stars, Deathgaze, D'espairsRay Dir en grey, DJ Krush, Dolly, Dope Headz, Dragon Ash, Due le Quartz, Duel Jewel, Dustar-3, E.mu, Electric Eel Shock, ElDorado, Ellegarden, Exist+Trace, Facizm, Fatima, [FIGURE;], Gackt, Gekigakutai, Gilgamesh, Glay, Goatbed, GOZ VII, Gullet, Guitar Wolf, Guniw Tools/Nookicky/Shilfee and Tulip Corobockles, Guruguru Eigakan, Hanamuke, Heart, Heath, hide, High and Mighty Color, Hi-Standard, Hybrid-Zombiez Husking Bee, I.N.A. Iceman, J, Jakura, Je*Reviens, JILS, Jinkaku Radio, Kagrra , Kagerou, KANA, Kilhi+Ice, Kisaki (Project), Kozi, Kraidhearz, Kuroyume, Kuroyume, La'Cryma Christi, La'Mule, Lab. the basement, Laputa, Lastier, L'arc en Ciel, Lariene, Lunasea, Lynch., Machine, Malice Mizer, Marusa, Mebius, Melt Banana, Merii, Mirage, Moomin, Mortiis, MUCC, Nano, NOi'X, Onmyouza, Orange range, Penicillin, Peelander Z, Pierrot, Psycho le cemu, Porno Grafitti, Quruli, Ra:In Rentrer en Soi, Road of Major Rouage, Sadie, SADS, Sambomaster, Schwarz Stein, Sex Machineguns, Seikima II, SID, Soft-Ballet, Syndrome, Takui, The Black Mages, The Back horn, The Futures, The Piass, The Star Club, The Trax, The Zolge, Tokyo Jihen, Transtic Nerve, UnsraW, VAST, Velvet Eden, Vidoll, Viored, Wyse, X-Japan, Youjeen, Zeppet Store. (There's more too but i'm feeling lazy at the moment)

Ta-da!

Well there's a few I dont particularly like but.. All of these bands have at least one song I enjoy.. I am also willing to share my collection to spread the Jrock love~! Wow a band for each letter of the alphabet too. hah.

I will also take requests for a discussion on a band, band bio, band history, or if anyone wants a review written I would be glad to think about it ;p

Disturbing Trends

You always know that when a band member gets cornrows, things are going to go downhill fast, if they haven't begun to already. Lunasea is a great example, Sugizo gets cornrows, Shinya gets fat, and J starts thinking he's some kind of American rock star. Apparently Inoran and Ryuichi just went crazy.. in fact I think that Sugizo's cornrows may be responsible for all of them going insane.

Other bands have met the same fate, Dir en grey got lame after one of the guitarrists (I dont remember which at the moment) grew cornrows. Hyde from L'arc~en~ciel had them too and look at his solo work (ick D:). Zero from D'espairsRay had cornrows too but D'espairsRay actually got better.. Well there's not any kind of law here or anything, more like a barely noticable trend, but I really don't like cornrows. ESPECIALLY on Japanese people.

So I really dont like Dir en grey's new music or their new image, as Jrock/Visual Kei is a very broad "uber-genre" which doesnt have a specific sound, why would you drop your visual act? It is one of the main reasons people enjoy these bands so much. If you dont have good music at least look cool, but dropping the visual act AND becomming lame just sucks.

Blink

Hay guys!

Today im feeling bad for not posting as much as I should, but I have some great news and insight for you all! (and my cigarette brand finally came out in Japan!)

I recently wrote about The studs, which is pretty much a Nagoya-kei supergroup. The lineup is; Daisuke ex-Kagerou on vocals, Aie ex-Deadman and Kein on guitar, Yukino ex-GULLET and Kein on bass, and Hibiki ex-BLAST and Kein on drums.

Wow anyone notice that its a similar lineup to Kein? :p

I really dont think Daisuke's voice works for this music though, but we will see soon~!

Their premier mini-album 'The studs' is due out July 13th.
You can also check out their official web for some song samples.

http://www.the-studs.com/

Tokyo Jihen is releasing a new single after more than a year of silence, its called "Osca" and It'll be out on July 11th.

I also wanted to mention that D is coming out with a new single on July 18th, its called 'Ouka Saki some ni keri' Everyone should be looking forward to it~

Looks like July is the month to beat! Some great releases coming for our melty love to envelop.

Into the dark.

Today I was thinking about the future of Japanese Rock and the bands that currently exist, are forming and whats happening there.. I suppose this fits into the category of predictions and magical monkfish insight.

We all know that the average life span of a Japanese Rock band is like 3 years.. Which is probably 1-2 albums and a few singles. I would assume that the reason for such an ephemeral existence is pride. Japanese people have lots of pride and definitely will never intentionally lose face.. so the result is that when an arguement happens internally in a band, rather than come to a conclusion and work together, people will leave and as my friend pointed out, musicians in the Japanese rock world don't really like talking about past projects. So we never really find out why these things happen.

Anyway here's my insight for the day:

MUCC is going to keep expanding and putting out whatever they feel like, until someone decides to grow cornrows, and MUCC disbands.

Gilgamesh is going to get a bit more popular, but never become HUGE.

D'espairsRay is going to start playing many shows overseas, get steadily more popular, but never break out of the indie scene. I also see the future music being excellent :D

Sadie is going to get a lot more popular, but put out not as good music, and lose steam. (they are putting out a new mini album in July too)

Dio is pretty interesting, I can't really tell whats going to happen there.. but I don't see them sticking around for too long.

The Studs are going to be a huge hit, even though their music isn't going to be amazing (Sorry Daisuke D:)

D (I have to say I've been really enjoying D recently) I don't see them as horribly ambitious but I think they will continue putting out amazing music and making me happy :D

UnsraW can go in one of two directions, either going back to their earlier musical style and kicking ass, possibly becomming hueg in the indie scene, or they will continue with the style of their last album and fall on their faces.

And last but not least I don't see much of a future for Dir en grey. Mostly because after Withering to Death, which I liked mostly because I was in Japan and seeing their live when it came out, they are trying to become an American sounding band. Unless they can put out original delicious stuff with the creativity of their old music, its over. (they will struggle, still being successful but musically laem, until the band members realize whats happening and leave.)

I see a rising star, for definitely Syu of Aushvitz, Galneryus and Animetal is going to join or start some kind of super band and become legendary. At least if he leaves the indie world he will.. and I'm all for it, I want to see this guy succeed.

Flight

Salutations intarweb.


Today I shall be reviewing MUCC's new single 'Flight'.. I haven't officialy stated this but, MUCC is one of my top 3 along with Cali=Gari and Guniw Tools, but in no particular order, I am friends with Yukke, and I've met all of MUCC on a few occassions, they even published a photo of Miya and I in some magazine. (credits to Kristin for finding this for me~)


Ok well enough with the shameless self promotion, and on with the review :D

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MUCC - Flight



MUCC's Flight is release 3 out of 4 in a consecutive release campaign to celebrate MUCC's 10th anniversary.. wow 10 years and these guys are still rockin hard.


In another one of those seriously rare events, the B-side is what really shines on this release, Flight is one of those silly, lighthearted tracks that sound more like some happy Tokyo-kei bands.. I won't name any names but you all know who you are. This feels more like Utagoe or some of the laem songs from Hoyoku, which we will pretend never happened. Anyway there's nothing particularly catchy, exciting or amazing about flight. Sorry D:
Now the B-side Kanashii Hanashi, it kicks ass, not majorly but minor ass kicking is abound. This song pronounces MUCC's sarcastic, darker side, while the music isnt really heavy, the content* however is heavy, with a hoarse, grungy bass line, a solid, catchy beat and twinkly guitars accenting that bass line. Tatsurou also often sings like hes got a smirk on his face while he's singing, like he's secretly laughing at you. (which I personally enjoy)

*on another note I should explain the content, business.. I've said this a few times now, basically the music isnt full of super hard guitars and crashing cymbals but instead the songs chord progression makes the song sound darker and less laem and cheery.

Overall this single doesn't live up to my expectations.. Which ARE ridiculously high, but MUCC has proven to live up to them on many occassions.


I give MUCC's Flight single a 44% on the awesome meter.

Jrevolution LA

As I'm sure you all know, there is a massive 2 day Jrock festival ('Jrock Revolution') in LA at the end of May, which I am required by powerful forces to be at. This is seriously the event I've been waiting for, for years. MANY YEARS! So anyway here's the lineup:



Alice Nine
D'espairsRay
Duel Jewel
Gilgamesh
Kagrra
Merri
Miyavi
MUCC
Vidoll

(I've already seen Alice Nine [opening for Kagrra at the Shibuya AX], D'espairsRay and MUCC live shows, but I am looking foward to seeing these bands play together :D)

And I'm pretty sure there is going to be some interesting exciting unscheduled craziness (perhaps an announcement about X-Japan reforming) I know Yoshiki is planning on doing SOMETHING crazy, maybe like X-2 or something.. He's been talking about Gackt, Sugizo and Toshi a lot.

On the subject of X-Japan, I know that Heath and Pata would probably be down for some new project, and recently I read Toshi's blog about how he started talking to Yoshiki again and they are interested in working together. HOWEVER I do not forsee hide returning to X-Japan for obvious reasons, and just because hide isn't gonna be part of it, it will be impossible to successfully reform X in any way.

I also have to add that I really dont like Miyavi or Alice Nine, but I enjoy all of the other bands to some degree, especially MUCC, D'espairsRay, Gilgamesh and Merri. But going all the way to LA for a show is kinda silly, but this is a first I can't afford to miss (under pain of death x_x;)


P.S.
I have a special review blog planned for the comming days, so stay tuned~!

..With a bang.

Since today is the beginning of my Visual Kei blogging odyssey, I will start off with 2 whole album reviews; D'espairsRay's MIRROR and Lynch.'s THE AVOIDED SUN and a discussion on the trends I am seeing.. with a general overview of my perceptions.

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D'espairsRay - MIRROR

MIRROR is D'espairsRay's second full length album, the first being [Coll:Set]. Really, I view [Coll:Set] as a real masterpiece and since its release I have looked foward to ANY new D'espairsRay releases and haven't been disappointed once. This album is definitely up to par with their recent releases, delivering a solid, enjoyable experience through and through. I have to warn though, there are a lot less electronics present in this release for those who enjoy the industrial element, which for me is a big part of why I enjoy D'espairsRay so much. Usually that would bother me but this album really feels balanced and there are still electronics, but the emphasis is on the amazingly orchestrated ROCK this time.

I have to say, MIRROR is less industrial/metal than [Coll:Set] and is slightly more on the softer side musically. Content wise, MIRROR is just as heavy as anything D'espairsRay has put out. Putting less emphasis on the electronics and super heavy guitar/bass and more emphasis on emotion and melody make this album feel a lot more human. This album is beautiful and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys D'espairsRay.

The tracks that stick out for me on MIRROR are DAMNED, ANGEL DUST and the already established single songs Kogoeru Yoru Saita Hana and Squall.


I give MIRROR by D'espairsRay 86% on the awesome meter.

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Lynch. THE AVOIDED SUN

THE AVOIDED SUN is Lynch.'s first full length album, being preceded by the mini-albums, Greedy Dead Souls and Underneath the Skin. Lynch. is still a relatively new band in the Nagoya Kei scene, but have quickly gained popularity and a reputation for holding killer live shows. I look foward to any release Lynch. puts out because they are one of the few really hard bands around and are also completely super talented and respectable. I have to say I was minorly disappointed by this album; it doesnt feel very long and overall it seems less brutal than most of their previous releases. However this music is the cream of the crop, Lynch. is some of the real interesting music that has been coming out of Japan and my expectations are ALWAYS unrealistically high for bands that I really enjoy.

Overall you have to be in a certain mood to be able to listen to Lynch. (at least for me to really enjoy it) but when I am in this mood, THE AVOIDED SUN is absolutely amazing. After Lynch.'s initial releases, the band has lost the sort of stiff feeling the music had and everything sounds more fluid and comfortable, which makes listening easier. This album is a great example of that, you can feel the synergy between the musicians now and it's very enjoyable. THE AVOIDED SUN is slightly lighter than previous Lynch. musics, but that doesnt hurt the album too much for me. Again content-wise this album feels very rich, like huge amounts of thought and care were put into creating it.

I also have to say that the vocalist and composer, Hazuki is damned talented and one of the few musical geniouses producing music in Japan these days. I love all the bands he's done vocals for. (including Berry and Deathgaze)

The songs that grabbed me from THE AVOIDED SUN are Liberation Chord, Anemone (Laputa: Castle in the Sky anyone?) and Prominence.


I give Lynch's THE AVOIDED SUN a 73% on the awesome meter.

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I hope you guys enjoyed my first album reviews :D

This post is dedicated to Nata-bot for introducing me to both Lynch. and D'espairsRay.
(I had heard of both bands but had never listened to either one until she insisted that these bands were amazing.)

Visual Kei Siege: The Beginning

Salutations internets.

Japanese rock music is evolving and becomming increasingly known in the western world, and I am here to herald the epic arrival.

I have decided to create a blog to bestow upon the masses some of my knowledge of the Japanese rock world, provide you with news and share my insight into what is happening in this incredible musical culture.

So far, all of my predictions about bands becomming successful have come true, and people are always asking me for my oppinion on different bands, albums and come to me about news. So the only obvious course of action is to share my wealth of knowledge with you, internets.

In this blog, I plan to:

-Report up to date, accurate news about bands, new releases and events.

-Provide insight into the future of Japanese rock.

-Review new (and occasionally old) singles, albums and lives.

-Discuss existing bands, band formations and band direction.

-Berate you with my personal oppinions and possibly exciting stories of my experience.


I hope you enjoy~