The possibility of sabotage crossed my mind too, it's kind of hard to believe that you'd produce an album with that kind of drum sound. Unless you just want to be controversial for the sake of it, but these are Japanese people we are talking about not Americans It does suck that she left though. There's a lot of really nice drumming in that album, and losing a good songwriter is never a good thing.

My favorite tracks on the Album probably would be either Witch & Angel or Paranoia (the carnival-esque one). That latter was a really nice surprise on my first listening. And yes, I can agree with that the drum sound is the worst on the third track (by far actually). I think it gets better on the latter half for some reason although I guess that could be me getting used to it.

Oh 8-bit remixes. I'll never be able to take those things seriously ever again. That highlight was pretty much exactly what I'd expect from Dragon Guardian. Anime-esque narration+power metal.[/quote]
All of the KoR collabs sound a bit samey (not a bad thing though) - it makes me wonder if they're all following a story-arc or something. Since its all in Japanese, I'll never know. One of them had a fight scene on it though


Normally I'd hate vocals like that, but I'm a hypocrite. I don't mind Dogen though. I think with that Tears of Tragedy, the backing operatic wailing stood out a lot for me. I almost thought that was the chick from Alhambra (they're label mates and all), but it was another girl doing that.


MinstreliX is probably one of the only power metal bands that and utilize melodeath elements properly. I notice when bands over here try that, it sounds hella lame (hello, Elvenking!). Actually, their melodeath songs are amongst my favorites. I also like how some songs (eg, Maria, Caterina) build up to a melodeath-ish crescendo.


That song seemed to grow on me with each listen - I'm holding off until my CD arrives (my order is tied up by the 2nd Skywings, of all things). I'll give my thoughts on it when it arrives.

Oh, Velmentia uploaded a full song here


Gargoyle kinda scares me - too many albums and some are out of print. I tend to be kinda all-or-nothing with discographies, which is not a good thing.

I still have a bunch of stray bands I need to mow down. Liv Moon (Japan's Nightwish, except they're actually good!) I should get sometime. Ancient Myth, Knights of Round, Skywings, and Tenrin I'm working on now. Valthus I should get sometime too. Fortunately all these bands don't have many albums.


Cool, glad you liked it. I think they're recording, so that may be another new album to look out for. I'm not surprised there is a quick turn around between the last and next album, because there was such a long gap between album 1 and 2.

I like how their vocalist uses a keytar as regular instrument. Actually, keytars seem to be pretty normal in Japan. Its like the 80s never ended!


Indeed! Damn, looks like DenKare is doing a new album soon (going by their homepage): Red Box (I think). I already have the white and black one. I think a red one would stand out a lot in my CD rack. They have a lot of material over the last 2 years. Yousei Teikoku need to do another anthology too - they have a pile of uncompilable singles, video/anime tracks, etc. Mind you, most of those are from before they changed musical direction.

Some of their older stuff is really quite beautiful. Its funny, I listen to a fair amount of anime music and I don't even watch the stuff. Strange haha


Oh, picture a special ed class trying to emulate Dragonforce and Rhapsody and you'll get Pathfinder. They're one of the bands (along with Ancient Bards) that caused me to permanently give up on Euro power metal. The 2 0% reviews of their debut I agree with wholeheartedly.


I've already heard a few songs from "Re:Generation" from past singles, but there's still a few new songs on there for me. Their other singles have to be ordered from Disk Union via a shopping service (and supply is usually pretty erratic). 3 of them are pro-printed CDrs, just as a warning. Actually, official CDrs are pretty common in Japan. Initially I avoided them, but its a good thing I started getting those, because stuff on them often remains exclusive.


Did you ever get their debut single? If not, I'd highly recommend doing so (esp. since its a self-release and those go out of print pretty fast). The lead song I like more than the Campanula version, and the 2 exclusive songs are very good. Actually, I think albion 光と闇を纏うDUEL may be my favorite song by them.


I'm inclined to agree. Also, the slower songs, the drums are more bearable. I like track 4 quite a bit too (despite not having a guitar solo). I think they went a bit darker on Campanula, and Yuri lowered her voice a bit (to sound more like Fuki, maybe?). Saki's compositions differ quite a bit from Rino's.

Yuri's old band Tengusakura is really good too.


The sound quality is pretty raw, just as a warning. This is pretty much all-girl Onmyo-Za worship. Its a pity they split up (or went on hold, not sure which).