Rate Your Music is even more obnoxious. "Generic power/prog" I wouldn't mind having what these retards are smoking. I think the only thing that would irritate me more would be "sounds like Nightwish".

"Genesis" is absolutely beautiful and quite unlike anything I've heard (mind you, I haven't heard much J-pop). I was blown away by that album on first spin and it still remains one of my favorite albums period. Midnight Circus is really damn good too, but a bit short. It feels like a mini-album with a couple unrelated bonus tracks tacked on - Genesis seems like a fully developed album. If you have money to burn, get that "Noah" single too - "Continue!?" is one of their best songs and is worth it for that single alone. "Heartful… <2011>" is pretty nice too.

I like how every song on "Scenes of Infinity" sounds different from one another. I'm really hard-pressed to call that album power metal (4 songs, really). I'm really curious to see how they top (or at least, equal) this.


I bought all of Crying Machine's CDs based on that single and initially felt it was a mistake, except for that single (which I liked both songs immensely) and a couple of songs on "The Time has Come". Fortunately, they did grow on me, for whatever reason. Oddly enough, their instrumentals are my favorite songs by them. "The Sky is Crying" is amazing.


I think they improved quite a bit from "Neo Mystic" (which was still a pretty nice debut). I have "Guilty" on order, but I have to wait til mid-May. I like their vocalist a lot. I put it on an order with the upcoming Aldious single (plus some other things).


I think having mega-centers like Tokyo and Osaka help bigtime. And as you said, the geographical advantage helps a lot. There seems to be no end to venues and shows over there. Their fanbases do seem to be pretty dedicated and they still buy CDs over there (mind you, some people still do over here too). From my observations, it seems more plausible for a new band to get launched over there (for whatever reason) - their seems to be an environment to succeed. Also, metal is getting big over there again, so that's probably a factor too.


I wish they could merge orders and stuff - but I guess that would be a logistical nightmare with coupons/promotions, etc. I guess coupons is a pretty insidious way to keep people coming back - its like I've been on a hamster wheel for a year or so now.


Its strange, really - Galneryus licensed their stuff to a label in Korea. You know, for their next album, I wish they'd do an English and Japanese version. I've seen many instances with other bands doing a local and English version (and of course the domestic one sounds better) - but for whatever reason, some people want stuff in English (accents and Engrish be damned).


I think Yama-B is a bit more epic and emotional sounding. Like songs like "Silent Revelation" just don't sound the same with Sho (it misses Yama-B's grit). Whereas "Chasing the Wind" works fine with both vocalists.

"Reincarnation" - despite being a bit overlong - was much better than expected. Not sure what some people were whining about.


Agreed. Its rather baffling that they used to be more classical/electro/goth based than metal. If you're not familiar with their back catalog, here's an older song that represents their old stuff nicely:




Along with stuff like Anthem and Loudness, they're definitely on my to-get list. I definitely know their song "Blue Blood" which is pretty cool. Not sure why I didn't pursue them more back in the day, because I'm certainly familiar with them. I notice their debut was (shockingly) out of print. Maybe it'll get a blue-spec or SHM reissue someday.

Oh please no. That's a painful comparison to even think about.


Genesis is absolutely a unique album... in a unique way (heh). What I mean is that the album itself isn't just simply “out there” like a lot of avant-garde stuff is. In fact, it simply blends elements together that really make sense if you think about it (pop, prog and power metal can all overlap quite comfortably). But the way it's all seamless blended together is just amazing. Take “Merrymaker” for example. You have this fairly upbeat song with a fairly simple, crunchy riff. Except that the transitions are abrupt time signature changes. Oh and Hibiki busts out a crazy bassline in the middle section that puts most other players to shame. All with Fuki belting out these crazy power high notes. You can sort of describe the rest of the songs on the album in a similar fashion. It's contained in a mostly verse-chorus structure, but you have sudden flairs of technicality and progressiveness and it sounds completely natural. Yeah, this album blew me away on the first spin too. I've only heard Tales of Almanac and Midnight Circus before, and I was not expecting what I got at all.


Yeah, I have all of their stuff tagged as “progressive power metal” for simplicity's sake. I suppose if I really wanted to get pretentious; I could go with “progressive j-pop power metal.”


Things usually don't grow on me (I'm more of a hit or miss kind of guy), but I'll give it some time.


Haha, Japan does actually have some pretty harsh penalties for piracy so maybe that leads to better bands.


Definitely, that last sale they had made me spend earlier and more than I planned. Oh well.


Thanks to the rise of the internet, I'd say that exposure to Japanese is a lot more common (whether it's music, games or more, uh, obscene ways), and I think more people are cool with Japanese lyrics. It's definitely a lot more common for modern Japanese bands to use native lyrics than older ones.


Yeah, Yama-B definitely is capable of a lot more grit while Sho is mostly just clean.


I heard some complaining about that one too. I randomly gave one track a listen once and thought it was awesome. I have yet to hear that album though, but I really doubt it'll be anything less than the usual.


Oh, now I know who this is. Ha, I didn't actually recognize them from the last pv. I've heard this song like a million times before (I think it's an anime OP or something). I'll blame my inability to read those fancy runes on the other link. And whoa, I had no idea they ever got that heavy.


I know right? Fucking X Japan, one of the best selling Japanese metal bands ever, has albums that are out of print. It's a shame that Vanishing Vision is out of print because it's one of their best, in my opinion. I think I shelled out like $40 for it which isn't too bad. According to discogs, there's only the two LP editions released in 1988 and the CD version released in 1989 (which is the one I have a copy of). Pretty ridiculous. Well, at least snatching out-of-print albums makes you feel special. I have Gargoyle's first two albums (and the third one is still shipping to me) which are all out of print as well, it's nice.


Oh boy, I can't wait to get my hands on stuff from these guys. I unfortunately was not home when the mailman came by, but I can pick up my pretty big order tomorrow and I've got no class so I can listen to everything all day long. That shipment doesn't have “Chronostrings” in it, but it's got their previous two albums along with some of the Galneryus albums I'm missing. I'll just be waiting on Advance to the Fall to come in whenever it does.

Agreed. There's a lot of nuances and details that get picked up with subsequent plays. I like it when bands have actual depth, as opposed to cookie-cutter crap whose novelty wears off in 3 plays. I'm still noticing little nuances and details in Light Bringer's music, and I've played their last 3 albums over 40 times each This applies to Galneryus and MinstreliX too (except I haven't played them quite as much... yet!) They also seem to do some improvisations live with their solos - like they're appended to the start or end of a song, or they add an extended bass or drum solo and it just weaves in there perfectly.

Fuki is obviously the other main thing - easily one of the best frontwomen I've heard. Aside from the obvious talent, she emotes like a motherfucker, and she's extremely passionate. Actually, nearly all Japanese frontwomen are pretty damn into it.

But even if Fuki wasn't in the band, I'd still like Light Bringer a lot - I'm a big fan of Hibiki as well.


Oh man, I'm such a hypocrite - I tagged them "power metal" lol Then again, I don't use hybrid tags (I probably should though). I think the middle section of that album is my fave. The 2 Japanese titled songs + Eau Rogue are just amazing. Hyperion is pretty much Galneryus with female wailing - great song (playing that one right now).


I think half the time the problem lies with me - not sure why either. Not gonna overthink it too much I could still be recovering from acute musical burn-out (I think I force-fed myself too much crap in the 00s) - also, stuff not in English tends to take longer to grow on me for some reason. You'd think such learning curves would've gone away by now.

With Crying Machine, they have trailers for their last 2 albums on youtube. They may also not be your thing either, who knows? I won't take it personally if you end up not liking them. They did take some time to click with me - for whatever reason. I have another friend who's huge on them (far more than me - maybe his influence rubbed off on me lol).

Have you heard Cross Vein before? Female-fronted symphonic power metal. Vocals are pretty shrill, music is at times fairly heavy... fairly theatric/dramatic stuff. Nice guitarwork, as usual (actually, with Japan, I expect it now ) Normally I hate symphonic power metal, but I found them pretty good. Here's their latest PV:




Yeah, I think you can go to jail for piracy over there. That would be enough to deter me haha Maybe people buying stuff over there does help. Over here, with every man and their dog pirating everything, if I was a musician, I wouldn't be that motivated to record anything. Piracy kinda annoys me because I was hoping it would act as a Darwinism agent and kill off all the shit bands - unfortunately, the reverse has taken place where the cockroaches and rats survived and most of the bands I like got killed off.


That 25% coupon sale was awesome, I ordered a lot with it. I actually did a small order recently funded mostly by coupons (Ancient Myth, Skywings, Tenrin).

Oh, I'm going after Light Bringer's "Midnight Circus" on Yahoo actions - wish me luck! It'll cost a lot, but it'll be worth it. I hope I don't get into a bidding war with someone over there. I got outbid on "Heartful Message" recently (hence me going after Midnight Circus now).


I certainly notice that this generation of bands (3rd gen?) seem to sing in Japanese more. Most of the metal bands I've heard in the 90s and 00s always sung in English. I think Japanese works really well for rock and metal, so I'm all for it. If bands over there want people to understand what they're singing about, they should include a 2nd booklet with English translations (sorta the reverse of what they do with licensed pressings over there).


Sho sometimes can get a bit of grit on his voice - like on songs like Bash Out and Metal Trigger.


I played that one again today - its growing on me the more I play it. I like the aggression on it. Also, the opening and closing tracks are godly.


Yeah, Yousei Teikoku did one of the more bizarre musical changes I've seen. I like all their stuff a lot though. If you get bored, someone uploaded their latest DVD to youtube - I was quite impressed with it. They made some of their older songs heavier, and the entire presentation/stage show was quite impressive. Yui is an awesome frontwoman.


"Vanishing Vision" seems to be fairly common on Amazon.jp's marketplace, I may go after it sometime. I'm surprised I saw Galneryus' "Rebel Flag" on there. Since they're rapidly becoming one of my favorite bands, I may start hunting down their rarities. Syu's previous band Aushvitz (couldn't have picked a worse bandname lol) I want pretty badly.

時空海賊 Seven Seas is another major priority of mine. I already landed one CD (hopefully its in good shape), 4 more to go. I'll probably get financially raped, but it'll be worth it. Since metal is becoming big again over there, I hope they reform, they rule. One of the rare neoclassical power metal bands with a male/female guitar duo.


I've been playing this album lots lately, very addictive. Some songs are melodic and addictive as fuck. Lord have mercy on your soul once "Saving All My Love For You" earworms. That song is one of the bounciest, catchiest, happy power metal songs I've heard since Light Bringer's "Tales of Promise". Pretty good variation overall and some curveballs. Not sure if its better than Tales of Historia or not yet, since that album is really damn good too.


Hell yeah, I love that album. I think Caterina is my favorite song from that album, but the trio of songs "The Minstrel", "La Bastille" and "Bloody Rose" is the centerpiece of the album. Absolutely amazing stuff. Juliet (The Sins of Ignorance) is an wonderful, classy song too (and a perfect way to close the album off). Blah, I feel like playing that album now hehe

Agreed, I love this kind of stuff. There's just so many different riffs, melodies and little details that make it sound different on every play. I just barely started listening to MinstreliX, and I'm slowly realizing how damn complex their music is.

I really love the way Fuki enunciates her words. I'm hardly a Japanese expert or anything, so I can't really describe it to well, but her syllables are amazing clear and she has a really versatile voice. And yeah, Hibiki is a pretty godly bassist.


I think my favourite tracks off of that album would be Hyperion, If and Eau Rogue. I just adore the chorus in If and the prog influence is that track is awesome. And of course, the other two tracks are there for obvious reasons and the whole album is amazing anyway.


I dunno; all the right elements that I like are right there in their music, so I “should” like it. It's not really clicking right now though, for whatever reason.


I'm good with symphonic stuff as long as the band remembers that they're playing metal (which these guys obviously do). I've gotten used to shrill, squeaky Asian voices long, long ago, so no worries there. I did really like that though. Sounded really good and the solos were pretty nice.


Piracy is a mixed thing. I would have never heard Gargoyle if I never downloaded those albums in the first place (I have them now though). I'm mostly neutral to it myself since I've pirated plenty of anime (hah, I'm not paying $80 for two episodes on blu-ray. That's just insane). I think bands shouldn't really expect to make huge bank on albums unless they are pretty huge themselves. You can't really stop people from sharing.


I simultaneously love and hate that these bands I love have massive discorgraphies. Onmyo-za is my next target.


Oh man, good luck with that. I plan to try for those two albums sometime in the future. The flac rip of “Tales of Alamanac” that I have absolutely sucks. There's a really annoying popping noise at the end of each track; I don't know how you manage to screw up something as simple as ripping a CD, but this guy did it.


I'm not sure if it's 3rd or 4th gen either. Do we count the 80s? Somebody with more knowledge should answer that. I think Dir en Grey was one of the first metal-like Japanese bands to gain a big international audience without using English lyrics. I hope I'm not forgetting a more obvious example, but they're the first I can think of right now.


Haha, now I realize this after hearing “Phoenix Rising” which I expected to be like “Resurrection” and “Angel of Salvation,” but I was way wrong. That album is pretty heavy.


I do actually like the fact that it's like an hour and 17 minutes. Long as hell, but it's good and I suppose they wanted their last album with Yama-B to have a lot of material.


Going through some of her stuff, I'm realizing that I'm recoginizing a lot of it. I'm not sure from where exactly either. Maybe it was from Osu! or something?


Good luck with those rarities. Out of print albums from bands I really love are the bane of my existence. g


Next week is payday for me, and I already know what that means I keep anxiously checking the mail hoping that Alhambra or last Galneryus album comes in.


“Bloody Rose” is one killer track. I definitely did not expect that. I know I was badmouthing melodeath just a few posts ago, but I'm changing my mind now, heh. This album is definitely really great. I also really like “Sari With Mercy.”


It's only a couple of months away (hopefully it won't feel too long).

Light Bringer also effortlessly weave in lots of different influences and everything just works. I'm not even sure how to describe the main melody of "Le Cirque de Minuit" - it reminds me of something. Awesome stuff, nonetheless. A lot of their melodies are pretty unique, or at least pretty different to what I'm normally used to.


Her vibrato, power, and range are insane. She's also very charismatic as well. I think she mops the floor with nearly all female vocalists over here - and most of the guys too.


Indeed. I esp. like his work in Alhambra (that band tends to show off more). He writes most of Light Bringer's songs too (while Fuki does all the lyrics).


Indeed. I didn't even notice it at first - I started to pick up on Tales of Historia's complexity around play 10 or so. I must be dense or something. All I'm gonna say is they hold their own nicely when playing them after Galneryus. My god, I'm really scared to go back and listen to some of my older power metal CDs - they'll probably sound laughable in comparison to what I'm listening to now.


"If" is really nice - super melodic and catchy. Its nice someone finally uploaded the PV for that one. Mind you, I own the limited edition w/ bonus DVD, but I rarely play my bonus DVDs. I really need to figure out how to rip those to an image file one of these days.


I almost prefer female vocals to be as high/shrill/piercing as possible these days. I think my favorite song off of Cross Vein's "Profusion" single is "Red Star". Its really fast with a nice onslaught of shrill vocals. Fairly complicated too - I'm surprised I didn't notice this earlier. Its not on youtube, but some guy did a guitar cover of it there. I think that's the same guy who covered Art of Gradation.

I'm listening to the instrumental version of "Forget Me Not" - its neat how the instrumental versions kinda showcase how involving these songs actually are. I'm actually starting to appreciate having instrumental versions of songs now (they normally come with singles over there). I guess that's a good sign that a song stands on its own when you subtract the vocals.

Their first album "Birth of Romance" is recommended as well. Some songs are surprisingly heavy and there's a blast beat here and there.


I have fairly mixed feelings. On one hand, I still download (not as much as I used to though), but I still buy stuff. I do find with most Japanese stuff, I have to buy CDs because it hasn't leaked (and probably never will). Thank god I've had a really good success rate. I'm fairly against uploading Japanese stuff though (that stance doesn't seem that uncommon amongst J-metal/J-rock fans who actually buy stuff, for whatever reason).

DVDs are too damned expensive and I'd pirate them if I could - mind you, I will buy them, eventually, if I like them enough. Like, I own Light Bringer's, Alhambra's, 4 Onmyo-Za, etc. I need some Galneryus soon.


The great thing is their discography (like most long-standing Japanese bands) is very consistent. I nailed all their stuff last year, and I recently finished Galneryus off. I'm just mowing down assorted bands now before moving on to Anthem, Inugami Circus-Dan, and a few others. There's no end to this stuff haha


I won! No bidding war either, thank god. 7200 yen (before fees, shipping, etc) isn't too horrible. That's the most I've ever spent on a CD though (trumping Septic Flesh's "Mystic Places of Dawn" (1st press) and Pan-Thy-Monium "Dawn of Dreams"). I just hope its in good shape, reaches me fine, etc.

I have a 320 CBR rip of Tales of Almanac which doesn't seem too bad... for a mp3 rip. At least I didn't notice any defects. I may try to buy this one eventually, but I don't know if I can bring myself to spending 200-300 dollars for a CD. Maybe once all my wants are taken care of or something. In the meantime, here's to hoping someone reissues the damn thing.


Haha, now I realize this after hearing “Phoenix Rising” which I expected to be like “Resurrection” and “Angel of Salvation,” but I was way wrong. That album is pretty heavy.


Plus if people want more, there's always that Alsatia EP - that one has one of my favorite songs by them "Wings". Pity they didn't do more songs like that one. There's also another single released around that period called "Shining Moments" - I don't think it ever got a CD release. I may have to open an itunes account for the sole purpose of getting that (it has 2 exclusive songs).


They've done a lot of openers for Anime, songs for video games, etc. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HB6Xj5fZSI]Kuusou Mesorogiwi[/url] is probably their most popular song and there's a very good chance you've heard this one. I learned how to count to 3 in German thanks to this song!


I check my order tracking obsessively (probably causing me much anxiety in the process haha). My next order arrives on Monday or Tuesday: new Gacharic Spin, Disacode (female-fronted J-rock), Hurly Burly (all-female hard rock), Velmentia (power metal), HERe:NE (all female J-rock... maybe J-goth, we'll see). I like Japanese girl-bands for some strange reason.

That Velmentia may be of interest - going by the trailer, I hear a bit of Gamma Ray, Galneryus and others in their sound.


MinstreliX can actually do melodeath well. Normally when most power metal bands try that stuff (hello Elvenking!) it sounds really dumb. Some Japanese melodeath is actually pretty good. I'm pretty fond of Veiled in Scarlet, My Material Season, Thousand Eyes, and Serenity in Murder.


Fortunately there are some great releases to come to make the wait seem bearable. That Mahatma I want damn near as much as that Light Bringer haha Once a PV is released, I'll post it here. Here's a live crossfade - I wish they'd show the entire thing instead of jumping around from song to song (better than nothing though). And yeah, that's Hibiki on bass there.