Yasupon

Sylmeria were one of my favorite visual bands, despite only releasing 2 singles. They can be described by their style that was similar to that of bands like Metis Gretel because of their use of synth, or by their vocalists distinct deep voice.
2006-2008
Members:
Vocal - Juri [ex. Яisk un logic → Sylmeria]
Guitar - Kei [ex. Sylmeria → いちご☆パフェ]
Bass - Sora [ex. Christ Laveil → ARHAZARD → バースト → Fils → Sylmeria]
Drums - Kaname [ex. Sylmeria → PRIMEADDICT]
Ex. Members:
Vocal - Hazuki [ex. ARHAZARD → Sylmeria]
Syn. - Miyuu [ex. Berallwarp Rheim → Sylmeria → とわいぬ。 → Medi@lize]
Check them out!

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^ Finally someone posted that. It's so painfully terrible that you won't know rather to cry or laugh.
Nadir

http://www.mediafire.com/?89esoapnpg5koa8
Long song, long ear torture. This guy sounds very similar to William Hung when he really gets going.

Vvqk-pHCWzw
Pain? Yes, pain in my ears.
Diz

http://www.mediafire.com/?vo6igo94y78don8
I don't even have to say anything as the song speaks for itself.
Uggdracil

http://www.4shared.com/audio/nLHKePIm/U ... dropS.html
Once again, bad vocals.

R2Wmg-xXz4A&f


Singing is bad, grunts are even worse.

idiot - Fakkin A http://www.4shared.com/audio/0GIwV88i/i ... kin_A.html

Pretty. Damn. Bad. That's all I have to say.

0oLYdyxbylY


Cool voice, terrible range.

Hi!
 
I just joined so I figured I'd introduce myself! I'm Emma, 27 (*gasp*) years old and I live in the east of the Netherlands (near the German border). I've been into Jrock since 2004. I started out with Gackt, but then quickly got into Dir en grey. I also enjoy bands like D'espairs Ray, GO!GO!7188, Zwei and some random songs from random bands. 
 
I haven't been in the online jrock 'scene' for some while (life got in the way, I guess), but I'm ready to get back in! I need some new bands and things to listen to, while I'm also searching for a lot of old stuff that I lost in a HD crash a while ago.
 
So if anyone has a good recommendation, I'm all for it!
 

I'm not very good at writing introductions, but here we go!
 
Hello everyone, I'm Kagura. I'm 22 years old and I'm from Belgium (Vlaanderen).
 
I found this website through some other VK blogspots and since the community attracted me I signed up yesterday. My musical taste isn't very pinpointed, but you could say my favourite artists are LUNA SEA, Alice Nine, DEAD END (or just basically anything that has Morrie in it) and Buck-Tick. Other favourites include Kagrra, Plastic Tree, 凛として時雨 and 9GOATS BLACK OUT.
 
I hope I'll enjoy my time here, and nice to meet you all!

Nice to meet you!
I'm new on this forum. I was surprised to find an active Jrock forum, since most places seem to be deserted... So I hope I'll be able to talk about music with many people here!
 
I live in Belgium, and I'm currently a university student.
 
The bands I like the most are Kagrra,; Nightmare, Kra, Bergerac and Plastic Tree. But I listen to many other bands, and I'm always looking for new bands to try out.
 
I'm mostly active on tumblr as ponyindreamland.
I translate Nightmare's tweets (sporadically) and I've also done some interviews and lyrics.

I also have a fast.fm account but I haven't been using it for very long.

Um, yeah, that's it I guess, if you have any questions, ask away! ^^
 
Please be nice to me~

Throwing my initial skepticism aside, I decided to give YOHIO's album a spin. Much to my surprise, what I found was something beyond my wildest dreams.
 
The record begins with a tasteful intro track that immediately sets the epic and grandiose mood of the album. As soon as the dubstep break kicks in, we can feel his undying urge to "break the border" which can be attributed as the overarching concept of the whole release. Next, we are treated to a couple of powerful and immensely catchy visual rock tracks. The overall spirit of innovation is present throughout, as the artist breaks those borders that limit genre classifications, melding his art into something transcendental - it's a musical "REVOLUTION" (to quote the title of one of the more outstanding and totally not tired songs of the record).
 
YOHIO shows us his versatility even more in the next segment (this album can easily be divided into separate thematic parts that make up a whole concept, but more about that later) that contains a more poppy type of music. Be it the infectuous power-pop of Heartbreak Hotel or the simply matchless never-before-heard intense beauty of Sakura, falling (penned together with Gackt, another maestro whose innovative song structures amaze us year after year now) YOHIO decides to conquer our hearts, taking no prisoners. Little do we expect the shocking continuation...
 
The album takes a sudden darker turn with the arrival of the next track. INNOCENCE is like the unrelentingly aggressive yet captivating masterpiece MEJIBRAY or the DIR EN GREY guys have tried and tried but failed to conceive over the past years. When YOHIO screams, he screams for all of us, and we immediately make that connection subconsciously - a transcendental and almost religious experience/bond between artist and listener. This feeling is then heightened and pushed to the extreme on the next set of more emotional songs, of which the highlight is TIMESCAPE, a totally necessary and interesting piano instrumental.
 
YOHIO continues with another instrumental number, this time showcasing his impeccable guitar skills. Seriously, for a moment I thought I was listening to Steve Vai but then I realized - YOHIO is the Steve Vai (Su...Suteibu Waii?) the Japanese market never had. Thus, in this sense BREAK the BORDER becomes much more than a mere album (however fascinating it might be): it is a cultural mission statement, a proclamation of creativity and the generous offer to hand down that exceptional creative streak to the thousands... no, millions who will surely be listening! Finally, the album closes with the ever-strong title track, concluding this fantastic musical journey.
 
In conclusion, we can say that YOHIO's debut album is not only a flawless set of songs but a concept album chronicling the inner drive and torments of the artistic mind. The first segment (tracks 1-3) does what, indeed, is in the title of the album: it breaks down the borders with its unusually innovative approach. The second part (4-9) symbolizes the conflictual emotions and desires he carries, a genius bogged down by the mere earthly elements of this world, the artistic spirit forever tied to ever-fallible physicality that entraps it. After we have broken all borders what remains? This fascinatingly diverse musical "anarchy" is calmed and concluded by the ending segment (10-12) that delivers the message of purity and staying true to oneself. The artist is reborn like a phoenix from the ashes, and can begin his musical adventures anew, sometime, somewhere...
 
A truly beautiful album if I ever heard one. This will no doubt be mentioned among the classics, when we take a look back a few decades later.
 
Fooled ya? ;D Happy April 1st!

Score:  | It's like they forgot how to be melodic


The fandom is very averse to Dir en grey remakes. Either they nail them perfectly like they did with the acoustic rearrangement of undecided, or they butcher it beyond all salvation as they did with OBSCURE. So when Dir en grey announced that they were unleashing a whole mini-album full of remakes and one new song, I immediately grabbed my riot gear for fear of the oncoming shitstorm.

It's really not as bad as I was expecting it to be, with Unraveling kicking off the mini sounding like a DSS leftover. It stays away from the maddenly introspective "I write for me and I'm so progressive so let's place together sections of song that don't work at all to be artistic and experimental" songwriting that made the last album such an insufferable cocktail of inventive but poorly executed ideas to listen to. Karma isn't new at all, but the original sounded like it was recorded on tape a monkey wiped their ass with, so it feels like a new song too. However deep they ventured into their back catalog to pull this out of some dark orifice doesn't change the simple, repetitive structure of the song. Considering what they limited themselves to working with, it's a wonder it even turned out this decent. So is that good or bad? You decide.

The main portion missing for some of the remakes is melody. A good portion of the songs they've chosen to remake are melodic in their original incarnations, yet here Dir en grey seem fit to turn up the crunch on their guitars. This leaves us at a crossroads with some very awkward sounding song segments since the tone doesn't match the intent. One could say that this was accidental, except the remake of MACABRE and the two unplugged tracks keeps all the melodic sensibilities intact (and in some cases add some). Therefore, what are songs like Unknown.Despair.Lost doing with thinly disguised chugs and a needless breakdown over Kyo's much improved English?

Other songs like Karasu and Bottom of the death valley are barely recognizable in their new incarnations. My biggest disappointment was the atmosphere of the latter track - what I loved most about the original track was how the bass created a nice "Western" atmosphere - which has been replaced with more of a "Borderlands-styled deserted planet what am I doing here?" feel. Karasu erred on the forgettable side (but is still better than the original) but Bottom of the death valley stuck out in a good way and is a worthy remake, with the bluesy solo easily being my favorite part of the song. Before I move on, I must point out Kasumi here for them upping the cheese factor. The original was perfect. All the reverb, wah-wah pedal and Kyo-crooning takes away from the somber atmosphere. Sometimes it's good to leave something the way it is and re-record it without having to put it through the Dirufier.
Now on to the good things - I am so pleased by the lack of tacked on, awkwardly sandwiched MIDI synthesizer garbage on this release. Amon was done terribly. LOTUS was done terribly. No song on this release is as bad as those two, or OBSCURE, or whatever AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS was supposed to be. The unplugged version of Unraveling strays close to it but it stops short with piano and some flutes, which hints that maybe they realize that over the top style symphonic arrangements do not suit them. Plus points for that.

The new version of MACABRE is amazing. The first ten minutes are an almost straight rendition of the original version found on the album featuring the same name. This is all positive, since they took one look at it and realized that it is perfect the way it is and needs absolutely no tweaking. Then the last six minutes feels like a natural extension to the song, featuring some of the greatest songwriting I've heard from them ever. It trumps the original in every single way. Likewise, the unplugged version of THE FINAL sounds almost theatrical, which is a new for this band. I can detect no semblance of the original melody in the instruments, and if you removed Kyo's lyrics I would not be able to tell at all that this is the same song. However, the reinterpretation of this song is so excellent I simply don't care.
 
A step up from their last full-length, Dir en grey are finally learning that questioning everything doesn't always mean the end result is immediately good. Now if we could do something about their badly placed deathcore influences and persistent THE MARROW OF A BONE-esque "turn up the crunch and get metal" attitude, we could have a winner on our hands.
 
Also Shinya, tune your fucking drums.

With my friend, Fanny, before going to the venue where the competition is being held.

Here's me with my wannabe vk hair
 

Welcome to the forum!

This fits the subject even if the The GazettE is used as an example, so I shall keep going here. 
 
What I think Augie meant, is that music is a whole. Aesthetic choices are conscious decisions on how their work should sound, and approaching it in the manner where the reviewer picks up a few various things, tells how much they suck and concludes with the work not being up to par or whatnot is not very constructive. I feel this way is flawed and often leads to missing the point, and the reviews ending up as laundry lists of various things perceived as problems seldom elaborated further, and the vomit laced icing on the cake of fail being attempts at wit. And you know, I wouldn't even mind, unless the reviewer tried to appear as an
authority. Not having this "knowledge" is fine, but trying to come off as if you do is not. 
 
If your thoughts weren't even close to this Augie, I'd like you to expand upon what you said. 
 
 
ALSO!  Many people often yelling "Opinions!" and "This fucking sucks u ignorant stan!" in the same breath. You can't have both.