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Obviously there are a ton of factors here, but I honestly wonder how much music these people listen to outside of DEG and Gazette. There’s also the question of when did they get into this, because I know when I first started out with Gackt, Malice Mizer, and DEG, I thought everything else was inferior. It’s not that the music was better than what I had been listening to, it was just different. It sounded new. We know the average VK fan can often be blinded by adoration, but goddamn are you really ACTUALLY listening to the music itself when you claim you like every song your favorite band has written? I’ve only been on this forum for a few years, but it’s nice to be able to have real discussions without having to pussyfoot around giving criticism. I don’t know if you guys managed to weed out all the toxic trash over the years, but I appreciate the VK safe space.

As of 2018/08/25, the band has released their 6th EP「だいじょばない」 「だいじょばない」 [TRACKLIST] 01. 甘暴教 02. 性欲うさぎ 03. 好きな人でしかイケません。 04. だいじょばない

I've been digging Dan Mason's music recently. I wasn't aware of the specific genre when I first discovered the artist but now i know. Most of his stuff is free to get on bandcamp. https://danmason.bandcamp.com

What are you doing we’re not allowed to like things here.

This "feud" thing in music confirms how little comprehension people has of music in general... for example I read that people are pissed because Dimlim's singer uses clear notes, claiming that he is copying Kyo, as if only him can sing such in a way... there's a BIG difference between SIMILARITY and RIP-OFF! But in general the fact that people goes out because they hear something "belonging" to previous band is so boring, because music is free expression and we can choose whether liking it or not, that's it. I think there's so much useless drama about that...

dimlim elitism is the only thing i recognize in 2018...thats bc i am one

Watch this performance of an incredible song and just look how tight everyone sounds

And take the Japanese Opeth route? I would be seriously happy with them if they brought in a mellotron.

| What do we say to the god of death? I'm listening to history repeat itself. A heavy visual kei band is a dime a dozen, but one that can do the gritty D'espairsRay x MUCC x KoЯn sound justice is rare. DEZERT was one of those bands I kept in my rotation off the strength of how well they paid homage to what's becoming an increasingly rare style, but I also felt that there was more room to evolve. DEZERT hasn't really innovated on their previous style since 2011, and if they were going to stamp their legacy on the scene they needed to create a groove all their own. My guess is that they suspected this, and took a huge gamble in changing their sound. The risk in changing your sound is threefold. The first is that you always risk alienating some of your fans. The second is that once the direction changes, bands rarely course correct. The third is that preserving the identity of the band - or the identity the scene has ascribed to you - is nigh impossible, so in some respects it's like starting over. TODAY is the day I relive the nightmare that was 12012's MAR MAROON, when a core band decides to go pop rock. This sudden stylistic shift swings in out of nowhere to blindside even the most ardent fan. I suppose we should have seen it coming since they've been going soft since their second album 最高の食卓 (Saikou no Shokutaku), but it's one of the few times the virulent outrage of the international scene has some merit. The fact that it came without warning adds insult to injury, although one can argue if a band actually owes their fans an explanation for the type of music they want to create. This is the textbook definition of "gunning for the charts", a switch in direction more drastic than D'espairsRay's REDEEMER, and while listening to this album I find myself traveling down a familiar road once more. Notice that I haven't talked about the music yet; that's because, at a primal level, it doesn't really matter.TODAY is musically competent, coherent, and well put together when taken at face value, but I do not find it compelling, interesting, or memorable. I simultaneously respect their musical chops and ability to compose music in a new style while rejecting this style entirely. I am not able to separate old DEZERT from new DEZERT. If I want pop rock, I'll find a pop rock band. If I want metal, I'll find a metal band. When I want messy metalcore, I come to DEZERT. With how fragmented the scene is, there's very little overlap between the fans who would enjoy タイトルなし (Title Nashi) and the fans who would enjoy TODAY. There are songs that hearken back to the old days, such as "普通じゃないIII" (Futsuujanai Ⅲ) and "蛙とバットと機関銃" (Kawasu to BAT to Kikanjuu), but they feel halfhearted, and they are nowhere near as heavy as many fans would want. There's not even a single use of harsh vocals on the entire album! Seeing them leaving their roots, substituting harsh growls and vocal fry for oohs and aahs and abandoning the low end almost entirely, hurts at a deeper level than I'd like to admit. Who is to say if this is the music that DEZERT wants to make, or if they feel pressured to find success, but I'm certain they just lost a lot of fans with this move. I won't be surprised if they drop the visuals entirely, or at least tone it down, since they sound like a totally different band. Perhaps they can come out of this with more fans when they lost and end up better off for it, but with how many times I've seen this scenario play out, I can verify that it rarely ever works. TODAY marks the day that DEZERT disbands for a lot of fans, as they retreat into their back log and stick with cuts such as 「特製・脳味噌絶倫スープ〜生クリーム仕立て〜」 (「Tokusei・Noumiso Zetsurin SOUP~Sei CREAM Shitate~」) and 精神科医（拒食症）のスナッフフィルム集 (Seishinkai (Kyoshokushou) no SNUFF FILM Shuu). It's an incredibly difficult pill to swallow, but that's probably for the best. They aren't going back, and to hold out hope for otherwise is foolish. For those that found a new band to love, I hope they find enough success to deliver more. Even if I take it for what it is, TODAY doesn't do anything for me, and it's a shame because I can sense the band put a lot of energy into this. From now on, I'll be watching out of pure interest, but from a very, very far distance. If this marks even the halfway point of their career, I'll be impressed. All I can say is that it's a blessing in disguise that I never got more invested into this band.

Villers La Ville 1st Album will be released coming soon. CLUB 3STAR IMAIKE SET-LIST at 2018/08/12: 1. 『In this corrupt world』 2. To you (new song) 3. 慙愧 -Sense of deep inside- 4. RAPID FIRE - MC - 5. Eternal ties 6. Scream of my pain END SE 胸壊 -kyoukai-

Their new single will be released on 2018.10.16. TYPE A : 1944 yen CD +DVD TYPE B : 1944 yen CD + DVD TYPE C : 1620 yen CD

仮病 (Kebyou) new single "戯言" will be released at 2018/09/26. TrackList: 01.戯言 02.妄想病人間。

I agree 100% with the first part of what you said but then you accidentally said something that ended up proving your own argument: people don't compare Sho to Kyo because he sings "clear notes" (which don't really mean anything to be honest), the comparisions stem for the fact that Sho also alternates between different styles of vocals like Kyo does each particular style (low growls, high screams, the "little kid freaking out" squeals, clean vocals, etc.) Sho does is audibly influenced by Kyo. That's definitely not a rip-off like you said, It's just that some people tend to ignore how each artist is influenced by others due to exaggerated adoration and often hail their favorite artists as "the best" or "the most original at what they do" when it's simply not true. It doesn't mean that Kyo is The True OG when it comes to mixing different styles of vocals in a single song since people like Mike Patton, Jonathan Davis or Serj Tankian have been doing that much earlier than Kyo did - but when it comes to J-rock, I'm pretty sure Kyo is the one who popularized that.

The rivalry only exists in the western fanbase as far as I know. In Japan, The Gazette are firmly viewed as a kouhai band to Dir en grey, and they treat each other as such, despite that Gazette is, as far as I understand it, a bigger commercial success at the moment. Dir en grey was at their peak of popularity in Japan when Gazette started and it only makes sense that they took inspiration, just like Dir did with the peak acts of its era. five years is a long time in the late 90s - early 2000s in Visual Kei. Dir en grey fans in Japan had short-lived rivalries with Pierrot fans, and also with La'Mule fans for a certain period of time, the second of which due to some kind of drama between the hardcore fans regarding attacking each other etc. I don't remember the exact details at the moment. I don't think the band members themselves had any animosity in either case though, although I did get some glances from Kon (La'Mule singer) when I saw him live last year and wore a Dir en grey shirt, heh. When it comes to Gazette I think it's simply the case that both bands became large roughly around the same time in the west with the big "boom" in 2006-2007, they competed for a similar demographic and had a similar style, and since teenagers love to pick sides and create ever smaller groups within already small groups, it was probably easy to force people to identify with either or. I know that as a Dir en grey fan first and foremost, for a long period it was among many of my acquaintances viewed as unacceptable to be anything more than a casual listener of Gazette. Being equally fans of both bands would never happen as you would be fostered into this group mentality from others based on whichever band happened to catch your fancy first. Thankfully, I haven't seen this in many years among people I associate with, but it could be because I no longer am in touch with the youngest generation of fans, and all of us oldies have matured past that stage.

Basically, people claim that he is a huge asshole and even for bangyas to sleep with Naru is hardly an achievement or something to brag about (from what I understand, for bangyas Naru is the lowest point of any semi-famous j-rocker).

At some point it's just just a matter of persons trying to obtain acknowledging of others for the things they love. Also, consider that this is a central issue specially within teenage years (I'm sure 90% of the fanbase we are taking about are teenage and young adults), a period of life where happens a deep reconstruction of oneself's identity. Yet vk is far from being a mainstream scene, so the amount of said acknowledging you can take from being enthusiastic about it is perhaps null. And also you really can't wait from them to understand, for example, the recalling aspects of same bands with, for example, Kuroyume. In my own experience, it took me almost ten years and a deep understanding of musical theory to actually come to realize the specific criteria and values of the scene in terms of music, lyrics and performance, and the system of genealogy relations between certain artists, and so on. But before then... I must say I was a rabid 2009 AN Cafe fan lol

I remember the fan rivalry all over the internet around ten years ago and then nothing. People going out of their way to tell you not to listen to the Gazette in Deg circles and whatnot. Funny stuff. This was around the time when Kyo's live performances mostly consisted of throwing shit, wearing a bucket, and bleeding, and boy did Deg fans think they were so HARDCORE because their favorite band featured an absolute madman. I'm not surprised that Gazette fans felt they were being bullied by those dinguses. There's always been elitism with vk fans around the internet, but I guess the worst of it gravitates toward the deep circle of hell that is Youtube comments.

Disposable nailed it, it’s the YouTube crowd. Gazette fans lose their shit whenever Gazette is compared to DEG, and the claim it’s because DEG fans are rude to them. Which, honestly, is probably the case. But then Gazette fans take the passive-aggressive approach and spam Gazette songs in comments for DEG videos. It’s just really weird. Especially considering the fans think that both bands are totally not ripping anyone else off. Also a weird but funny thing. Criticize a Gazette song and you’re met with “if you don’t like it then why comment? Gazette works hard and they don’t deserve the negativity” Criticize a DEG song and you get “fuck you.”

Man, angel halo being this good is making me SO MAD at yuina being inactive for such a long time. Dude is so fucking talented.

It’s fitting, because X has been dead for like 25 years

Sounds amazing! I wish there was a way to collect all of these some how!

The title of their new single is 「Unlimited World」 !

Pretty sure he has pink eye. He’ll be okay soon.

GLAM GRAMM@R (who disbanded back in Valentine's Day 2017) will revive for one day at Ikebukuro EDGE on December 9. ex-イロクイ。(Irokui) members will also participate~ イロクイ。セッション (irokui session) Vo.ゆーり (yuuri) (ex-イロクイ。 (irokui)) Gt.しゅうた (shuuta) (ex-イロクイ。(irokui), Glam Gramm@r) Gt.ひヵる (hikaru) (ダウト (D=OUT)) Ba.TACC (LEZARD) Dr.琉霞 (ruka) (ex-姫苺 (himeichigo),トランスノート (trance note), Dearest CROWN) Gt.はづき (hazuki) (ex-イロクイ。 (irokui)) will also perform

CANIVAL will release their 1st mini-album again as "Black theater (sound remake ver.)" on 2018.07.16 (5 songs, 2,000yen) Tracklist: 1. MOTEL 2. 激痛 3. replica 4. 楽園 5. FAITH NEVER KILL US.

Thank you so much!!!:)

I never knew Syndrome's "Search for・・・" was so beautiful, crying here in the morning light...

I wanted to forget...

"Comical" is the word that comes to mind.

I'm very happy reading this. First, Disposable is actually acknowledging that there certainly IS a particular sound for visual kei (And that is a hard thing to realize, considering the fact that no matter how the majority of the fanbase try to simply deny its existence, or else try to "explain" it reducing itself to nonsensical and very vast categories like "Japanese goth" or even "Japanese metal", or ways like that). Second, he also gives a special place to this kind of sound into Dir's arrangement genealogy till today. Happy.

its out x

joppin:cal new live-limited single, "まいごのからからねだり" (Maigo no karakara nedari) (1500 yen) will be released at their live on September 7. [tracklist] 01.殻殻 (karakara) 02.迷子の少女 (maigo no shoujo) 03.亡い者ねだり(naimono nedari)

He is sick and won't be able to play at some lives

pretty sure biosphia broke up too because of naru LOL

Loooool. Now we can definitely conclude that Naru is the reason why everyone leaves the band =D Even the bassist who is from their previous lineup left him =D

Still think DEG should go analog prog rock and Kyo should primarily stick to his low-to-mid range with the occasional falsetto for color. Like I said, fucking reign that shit in fellas. Try to age gracefully

novel idea - they should hire Mao from the X3t33n to do all the live vocal work, which would mean no derivative bullshit bijuaru-kei from them and no struggle whizzing killing every performance from Deg it's not like anyone from the crowd will tell the difference between two

He's worked closely with both Ki$aki and Kam€jo, so his release pattern bullshit shouldn't surprise me, in retrospect.

in real talk all this talk about post-core amphibian dainty-punk is getting very tiresome, especially since the main proponents of creating these inane subgenres and categories and marketing gimmicks come from people who've been listening to metal for two weeks and think they're now on the up and up for discovering ritual ambient or some shit like that. A band like Dir en grey is impossible to strictly, or at least in a very definitive way, to categorise because they're a combination of two very amorphous musical traditions of visual kei and metal anyway. Their nu-metal base acquired somewhere midway through their career has been almost completely transformed thrice over due to the accumulations of sounds and techniques they've kept on acquiring over the years, and while visual kei is a strange case in of itself ( like, you can still hear the influence of X and Luna sea from almost every band, namely in vocal melodies and how guitar solos function, or that even in 2018 a vk song exceeding 2 minutes in length would not be caught dead without a chorus ) Dir en grey is unique even within that context. They've had progressive elements and done weird shit through mazohyst to hotarubi and then revisited these techniques again and again later on ‑ all the while having songs seemingly contrast in genre on the same release; and despite this there's still a common thread and heritage running through their stuff, but it just defies simple category since they're quite unique. Even if what I just wrote doesn't make any sense, the point still stands that there's else you could call THE UNRAVELING other than visual kei or alternative rock/metal, and neither of those in today's context mean much of anything.

Ah I thought they sounded really different lol. It seems while vk is strongly discouraged in china because of the government, korea just has an extreme case of bad taste. But it's not just vk, it seems the korean underground is so small it's virtually non existent. Makes me wish TRAX took off back in 2004 or whatever (Paradox and Scorpio were great imo).

Jesus that's fucking rank. I want to say yes, but for some reason I recall these, almost wing-like things at the far ends of the D and Y. There exists a shirt for this tour ( Unwavering something of tomorrow? ) with just a straight up band pic with the logo. It was easily the worst shirt from them I've ever seen. This was at least for the 2010 London show edit: found it

Lyrics: Aoi Midori Music: Aoi Midori Kanji and romaji: peffy English: Total Darkness At dusk, see the street lights flickering? Heavy footsteps, my heart feels like a rain pattern I'll be waiting ahead at home Two foolish people look down on me To me, they're adults with a life not worth living Total darkness, in a room full of darkness Pain and loneliness are my friends "...What fun." Morning glow, another gloomy day begins Heavy footsteps, my heart feels like a rain pattern Before my eyes, in deep sorrow Facing away reality, lined up words like "Dreams" and "hope" mean nothing to me Total darkness, in a room full of darkness Pain and loneliness are my friends Total darkness, in a room full of darkness Pain and loneliness are... "To tell you the truth, it hurts so much." --------------- Translated by me, enjoy! ^^

Here is a very bad lighting bad quality picture of my vaporwave collection. Not in pic: SAILORWAVE, A Million Miles Away and FANTASY LP's I'll make a pleasing one later! That will include the Vinyl's and items that still have to arrive.

Brilliantly done.