Their official one has some updates in English. But yeah, those other pages are definitely better. But that Aldious one is better than nothing. Gacharic used to have an English one, then the English updates stopped for the longest time, and I stopped paying attention.

Yeah, The Leaps didn't impress me much (and I actually like some J-pop/rock crap). Hell, I own 3 Blistar CDs lol

With Aldious, I'm sure something nasty happened behind the scenes (and of course, no one will ever know what actually happened). Just the way they went about it seemed really harsh/abrupt.

I think this has to do with greater cultural structures. In Japan there is a circular view of things, as opposed to the linear way of thinking in the west. B doesn't follow A, instead everything is dependent on everything else in different constellations.

Since this has kinda become a general joshi metal thread, I thought I'd share this: Band-Maid interview in English.

http://jrock247.com/2015/07/band-maid-interview-2015/

I actually own both of their CDs. Their PVs are pretty misleading actually, since the rest of the material is more poppy. They actually tour with other metal bands. Like Gacharic Spin, their appearance is probably too ridiculous for most westerners (well, at least it isn't as bad as crap like Ladybaby - you couldn't pay me to touch that with a 100 foot pole lol).

I was already aware they didn't write their own stuff, but maybe/hopefully that will change. They actually can play - esp. the drummer and guitarist. That interview already reinforced my stereotype of everyone over there playing an instrument since an early age. I'm hoping their next release will be a 100% heavy direction. They, along with Risky Melody (they don't seem to write anything either, yet), probably have the most potential out of the new crop of bands. ЯeaL, Iris Monde, and Ms.RedTHEATER do compose their own material, however (can't believe I actually typed that last statement!). No idea about Luxion.

One thought I had about Raglaia earlier: their songs are written by "Heaven's Mother". Any idea who that is? I don't know shit about VK or anything, so maybe that's a person in that scene. Or maybe they just credited all the songs to a fictitious entity (and someone in the band wrote them).

Rami is a lyricist and K-A-Z has a long record as a songwriter. I would be shocked if she went outside the band.

And I think westerners would devour BandMaid. 500k views for "Thrill" is not too shabby.

Sorry if this is too off-topic (this may or may not warrant its own thread I dunno), but I thought of something that might be kind of interesting. Regarding the digression about the inherent differences in Japanese music vs Western music, I got an idea. Why not put two samples of songs together and see if people could tell the difference? So I went ahead and picked samples from two different bands (one western; one Japanese) on sections without any vocals to see if people could tell which is which. Obviously, this isn't scientific in any sort of way (you'd need random selection, way more samples, a way to confirm that the test is actually double blind, etc.), but I thought it could be interesting. Another thing; I listen to a fair amount of Japanese math rock bands and despite nearly always being purely instrumental; they always sounded "Japanese" to me. Of course, this could purely be bias, but hey maybe you guys could hear it in a blind test as well. So the first sample is a power metal comparison and the second is a math rock comparison. Nothing is perfect, but I think what I picked is stylistically very similar and reasonably comparable. I can think of PLENTY of flaws (two bands are going to sound pretty different regardless); I just think it'll be interesting. For simplicity and consistency, all of the samples are from the intros to the song which should be obvious upon hearing. And yes, I do actually like all of the songs I picked. I promise I just didn't go full weaboo and picked good Japanese bands vs shitty western ones to try and validate my music taste or something.

Naturally, I removed all the metadata, so these are just "Untitled1" and "Untitled2." Two samples in each track; one power metal and one math rock separated by like 3 seconds of silence to avoid confusion. Of course, both tracks are very short (together the total runtime of both would be a little under 3 minutes). The country of origin, band name and song title are in the comments section of the metadata, so please don't cheat and look at the comment section of the track before you listen (most likely, you can see it in your audio player of choice by just right clicking on the track and hitting something along the lines of "properties"). Take as many listens as you'd like and make the guess before checking if you are right. I'd welcome anyone to give these a listen and report back whether or not they got one, two or both of them right (please say if you just guessed or not). I'm fairly sure I picked stuff pretty much nobody will recognize (you never know; I actually had to struggle on the J-power example because I know Perdition already listens to almost every band I do.. Braino probably does too. Hopefully neither of them recognize what I picked.), so if you happen to know the tracks already feel free to give input just let me know that you know. Please don't spoil which is which; other people might be curious to know. And finally, try to elaborate why you thought which sample was which (and try use non-spoiler language when doing so) to hopefully keep some discussion going. Anyway, here's the samples:
Power metal: http://www.mediafire.com/download/2j859 ... tled1.flac
Math rock: http://www.mediafire.com/download/fvwbl ... tled2.flac

If no one cares, I won't feel too bad; this didn't take very long I promise. I'm just curious what people would think. I pretty much expect "seasoned veterans" like Perdition or Braino to tell with ease (could be wrong though), but I wonder how obvious this is to someone who's not terribly familiar. I think Opus's earlier description is rather fitting to their music, and I can hear what he means.

And on a completely unrelated note to the above...


Oh that's good. I was really afraid that everything would be in the vein of "Eclipse" (I haven't heard Phantasia or Daybreak). Not that it would be a bad album, but it would have been just kind of decent. Of course, I revisited Eclipse recently and it was suddenly way better than I remembered. I guess Braino doesn't have to feel my pressure anymore; I'll probably pick this one up sometime next month or so.

Main thing I've noticed glaring differences in is with hard rock and progressive rock. Things seemed to have evolved different over there. For example, here's a song from Starless' 1984 demo:



Marge Litch is another one that was pretty ahead of their time and divergent to what went on here (beating bands like Nightwish and Rhapsody to the punch by quite a large margin).

There's many different variations of power metal over there, and I guess it depends on what "generation" its from. The 90s and early 00s is still a blindspot for me. I far prefer the newer stuff, and the interesting odd-ball obscurities from the early 00s are pretty rare/expensive/hard to get. I find the more interesting stuff lies on the independent circuit and rarely makes its way outside of Japan. Like, something like Tengusakura would never exist over here (can't really fathom all-girl Onmyo-Za worship taking flight over here lol) I'm actually surprised there haven't been more folk/power metal bands over there (and believe me, I aggressively hunt such stuff down).

I guess the major difference is influences, genre-combinations, visuals (esp. this) and album-formatting. They seem to lap up anything western for some whatever reason, any genre is fair game (from what I've seen), and old stuff still seems revered there. Like, I cannot fathom "dad rock" being a pejorative descriptor over there (probably quite the opposite, actually!). Mixing and matching genres is done more freely (and naturally), and there's just certain bands that just would not exist over here. Albums are often genre-clusterfucks - I have no issue with this, esp. if it fits the band's artistic vision and has genuine/proper intent behind it, but I can understand it being jarring to most people. Like Eau Rouge was one of my favorite songs off of "Scenes of Infinity", but I've seen people whine about that one. I'm sure "Suite Museum" would've caused some people to run to the skip button, but that was an album highlight for me. Or maybe I should just get off the pot and start listening to jazz


I was hoping it'd all be like that one, initially. That one is pretty good album opener, being thrash-tinged power metal and a rather neat vibe to it (either that or I'm really susceptible to visuals, tones and color schemes). That one is textbook "for the Japanese market" though (in terms of genre formatting). Not as wackfucked as that Perpetual Dreamer though (labelmates, came out at the same time).

Oh man, jrock and progressive rock is like easymode. It's why I didn't do Kuroyume vs Breaking Benjamin or something (lol). As soon as you hear those basslines, you know it's a jrock album. Western prog rock has many different eras (good and bad), but they are pretty radically different from any prog rock you get from Japan. But yeah, I didn't pick anything that would have been super-obvious (like Dragon Guardian or something). I think there are some fundamental differences though. Even in stuff that isn't overtly-Japanese. And I'm going to be that guy, but how in the world does anyone have taste so bad that couldn't enjoy "Eau Rouge" or "Suite Museum?" Geez, that actually would make me angry.


That sounds great to me. Remember this is coming from the guy who enjoys Gargoyle who has funk, thrash, power, folk, prog, etc. all on the same album! Gotta love that one of their songs is literally mid-paced thrash+funky slap bass+Arabian leads with a sitar solo. Maybe I'll summon Crick by posting his upload.

Yeah we're waaaaayyy off topic now. But it's an interesting discussion none the less.

BTW, Monochrome Heaven reports that a new Galneryus album is due in October. That was all the details they had.

Yeah, I read that there (I lurk the news section there from time to time - one of the only places with Japanese music news translated to English). I did see studio pictures and stuff on twitter over the last few months, but assumed they were doing a single. All I gotta say is: damn that band is efficient. Esp. since nearly all their albums clear the hour mark, are released in quick intervals (bar the band implosion after Reincarnation) and there's minimal filler.

I think its a safe assumption that bands like them and Aldious don't have to work day jobs. I read in an interview that Onmyo-Za quit their day jobs back in the early 00s when they signed to King Records (they chart pretty high too and are one of Japan's more popular metal bands).

[edit] On a side-note, looks like the new Mary's Blood drops on October 7th (HMV sent an automated email). Hopefully the production is better than that one clip, but I'm still looking forward to it. That one clip has fairly aggressive and I heard blast-beats in it. They changed labels from Nippon Columbia to Victor - not sure if that affects anything. Victor and King Records seem to be gobbling up metal bands these days. Thankfully the quality hasn't suffered, bar Perpetual Dreamer's album getting censored (got delayed and I think some lyrics/vocals were redone - its all in Japanese so its all Greek to me!)

Also, Zwei (J-pop turned anime soundtrack artists, I guess) are releasing a new album soon. They're kinda sentimental to me (one of the earliest Japanese bands I got into) - but of relevance here, Saki (Mary's Blood) and Mao (Light Bringer) are guesting on it. According to Disk Union's description, they're going in a heavier direction (pulling a Yousei Teikoku?).

I used to follow the Aldious girls on Twitter and never got the impression they worked day jobs. Given they only tour for maybe 2 months, that's a pretty good deal. But they do have endorsement deals, which may help. Toki endorses ESP and I think Hughes & Kettner, for example.

On the subject of Light Bringer, any idea why Fuki hasn't re-teamed with Gacharic Spin? People love that album and have been begging for more.

My assumption is that it's a lot more feasible to live off music over there if you manage to get a well-established following simply because of how efficient touring is. It's nothing like the US where you have travel hundreds of miles across the country just to make your gig. Japan is quite tiny. Well, I dunno how bands handle touring across the different islands (or if they even bother), but it would still be a lot simpler than going across the midwest. Like the Gargoyle guys aren't signed to any big label, but I bet they live off their music simply because they tour all the fucking time and there are a ton of fans willing to see them. I mean, they do own a bar and their own studio; doubt they are hurting for cash. I imagine it would be similar for basically any band on a major label.

Actually, something stuck out at me. Look on YouTube for Aldious videos produced under the label "Future Standard." They show the girls gigging. They arrive at the place in a van and it's just them. Aruto used to be the driver, now it's Sawa, which is funny because I don't think she can see over the steering wheel.

Anyway, they have no roadies. The place they play unloads their gear and sets it up. The girls do soundcheck, then head for the dressing room, where it's just them. They help each other with makeup and wait until someone comes and gets them. There is no road crew at all. Just the five girls, and I assume Yoshi handles the business end of things. After the gig is over, the club's crew disassembles everything and loads their van. Can you imagine doing that in America?

If they have no road crew, well shit, even low pay will go a lot further than it does here.

Aldious also have had songs used for TV shows, so I'm assuming they get some money from that. They and Galneryus are the only two bands I can think of offhand that don't use Marshall Amps (not sure why I notice things like that).

I haven't heard anything about a 2nd Doll$boxx album - their twitter is somewhat active (mainly retweeting stuff) and they have done lives over the last year or so. When Light Bringer went on hold, I assumed that was the greenlight for the second Doll$boxx album, but Unlucky Morpheus went fulltime instead. Didn't see that one coming. That still doesn't rule out another Doll$boxx though. I think Gacharic Spin's metal-cover side project Metallic Spin is active again.


Keep in mind Japan's music market is the 2nd largest in the world (and its nearly the same size as the US now). I guess their sales figures are propped up by creepy idol fans who buy 500 copies of the same CD though lol People just seem to buy more CDs over there than here and CDs are pretty expensive, so I'm hoping/assuming a higher % goes back to the band. With independent stuff it certainly does. You can also get jailed for piracy over there (hopefully they've change that stupid law).

Shit, with stores/chains closing all the time over here, they're still alive and well over there. Shit, I think Disk Union opened a new store recently. Those stores also have pretty good metal departments (who actually know their shit) and Disk Union has a few metal labels and has done a lot to help facilitate the independent scene over there.

THey buy CDs because A) Japanese don't steal from the bands they like, and B) Internet isn't as readily available. Many Japanese don't have land lines in their homes.

Anyway, here's a few of those shows I mentioned, one featuring Aldious with their opening act, LoVendoR. hate to say it but LoVendoR are a lot cuter.





I get a kick out of how Aruto walks on stage in this one.



But you can see what I mean. They don't appear to have any road crew.

i still find it very weird when you see japanese petit, fragile women play metal. And i don't mean this disrespectfull at all. If you look at western women who play metal, they have tattoos, piercing etc, Japanese women don't have that, at least i didn't discover it yet. And they are a lot cuter then western women... I mean: Aruto? Rami? The singer in Liv Moon? Won't kick them out of my bed

They aren't fragile. Don't confuse petiteness with fragility. I used to be a big fan of Japanese pro wrestling, and their women put on better shows than the men. Unlike WWE girls, none of them were particularly well built or hardbody types. They all looked like women you'd see on the streets. And then they would routinely do jumps from the top rope to the floor. There was one girl, Mayumi Ozaki, who was known for having matches where she and her opponent would have 20 feet of chain tied to their wrists and they used the chain a LOT. Japanese women are tough little things.

And while Akane Liv is a great singer, she is not attractive. Armmy from Gacharic Spin, on the other hand... wow.

I guess they don't need a huge road crew if they're just touring locally or elsewhere in Japan. I'm assuming any stage props or whatever are shipped to the venue ahead of time. From what I've observed, what they do is pretty standard for bands over there. Onmyo-Za - who's actually more popular - does the same thing (saw one behind the scenes where they arrived to the venue in a small van). Hell, on that last Galneryus DVD where (where there was a documentary of their European tour) it was just them plus their manager (who I think is their guitar tech). I saw some Aldious "making of PV behind the scenes" videos (on one of the DVDs) and it seemed weird seeing Yoshi hauling her gear which was bigger than her lol Losing Aruto is gonna suck - she was a pretty big (well, compared to the rest of the band) and was probably quite useful with hauling stuff. At least Raglaia has that behemoth KAZ (well, he's probably average size by western standards, but whatever).

They're all workaholics over there and I'm sure that applies to the women too. Aldious work as hard as the guys, no doubt in my mind. They (and a lot of their peers) may look ridiculous to western audiences, but on a musical/business level, they're dead serious. I was kinda surprised that Lovendar band was doing the same thing (carrying their own gear, sound checks, etc) as Aldious. I watched another one of those behind the scenes things (where they showed parts of the performance) and each band watched each other play live and exchanged CDs with each other at the end of the show. Really strange seeing such solidarity between a metal and J-pop band.

For reference, the average height of an adult male in Japan is 172cm (5' 7.5") and women are 158cm (5' 2"). Assuming a standard distribution, my mom is taller than a little under half the guys in Japan. They're one of the taller Asian countries; the other SE Asian countries are even shorter. (Taking this from wikipedia by the way.)

I found this a while back. The Aldious girls wrote short bios for each other.

http://www.musicjapanplus.jp/specialfea ... o/page/13/

Aruto said she is 170cm tall. That's 5'7. Plus she had some curves. That girl is built. And yeah, K-A-Z looks like a six footer.

BTW, Rami made an interesting admission in her bio. She's mixed Okinawan and American.

http://www.musicjapanplus.jp/specialfea ... hi/page/3/

Losing Aruto sucked, but her replacement is more than capable. Marina is very impressive just in the two decent singles (fuck "die for you"). This was a much better replacement than Re:GO.

I really don't think the average height for men in japan is that tall. I'm 190 cm( 6'2'') and i see a lot of Asian tourists in the cities nearby me, and i never seen one that even reached my armpits lol. i've read somewhere that asian females prefere western men because they are taller than Asian guys. In more then one way .

You can't really argue with statistics (page 112). Other SE countries are shorter due to nutritional reasons. Supposedly, the average height for OECD countries has been steadily increasing, but the US's height has been stagnant and is not accounted for by immigration. Completely off-topic, but facts are nice I guess.
http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/ ... 828CF1D386

Yeah, I saw those articles awhile ago. Kinda wish more stuff like that was done.

Marina is definitely a good replacement. I like the solos on both songs a lot too, esp. Dearly. Re:NO sounds her best on that one and throws a lot of emotion into it. I personally like her, so if they continue with that elegant speedy power metal with neoclassical flourishes like they've been doing, I'll be happy. Wouldn't mind seeing them continue to step up the technical game a bit more though - they certainly have the rhythm section for it. So as I said earlier, they need to pick a direction and keep Re:NO out of the songwriting process (either that or teach hear how to properly write metal songs). She does limit the band somewhat - like Yoshi is quite into thrash metal, and I can't fathom Re:NO singing (or snarling) over that. God, I just visualized her trying to do a Mustaine impression. Lord help us all.

Oh, looks like KAZ is releasing a solo album in August. No idea what style it'll be or who'll be guesting on it. Not gonna get too excited until I hear a sample or two.

Yoshi's favorite band is Overkill. Can you imagine Re:NO trying to scream like Blitz?

Yeah, that'd be pretty hilarious. She is using a bit of a snarl here and there lately, but I for the life of me cannot fathom Re:NO properly emoting anger lol

Any idea what Toki listens to? She can construct metal songs properly, so I'm assuming she has to listen to something in that regard.

I dunno but she is the most un-metal looking/acting metalhead ever. Constant grinning, all pink outfits, pink guitar, pink amp trim, her personal site address is tokidious.pink. I didn't even know .pink was a TLD And if you look at the site she comes off like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's big sister.

Her old blog is lost but I have a translation of her post regarding a dinner with Rami when Rami first resurfaced:

I went to dinner with former member Rami.

She is starting a new band named Raguraia and they will be releasing a CD soon. Rami is working really hard.

I really feel happy for her!!

When she had to leave Aldious, her doctor said that she won't be able to perform live anymore. In the three years since then, she has worked real hard to overcome her condition and also did a lot of singing practice, so now she is able to sing again.

I am just so happy.

To me, music and my band are the most important part of my life; so when I think about the possibility of losing them, it would be like losing hope and dream. It would probably be more painful than dying.

Rami feels the same way as I do, that is why she worked super hard to get back to where she is now, I am so proud of her and I am really happy for her.

Congratulations

Even though she is not part of our band anymore, we will continue to push and encourage each other, together we will show the world just how wonderful metal and music is.

I'll be rooting for her and please everyone check them out.

Since we haven't seen each other in a while now, so it was nice to catch up and it brought back a lot of good memories.

hard to believe that was written by a 28 year old woman.

Yeah, she has the dubious honor of being the least metal-looking person in any metal band I listen to (and that's not from lack of competition). Japanese women do have serious maturity issues compared to the west though. Like, Toki isn't really that abnormal for over there. You get women in their 30s with "hello kitty" purses and shit. Did you see that one picture tweeted by one of the members last year (I think) with Sawa shooting (photoshopped) lightning bolts at Re:NO? According to her, she was empowered by Satan. She really likes Satan for some reason. Ehhh, Japan is strange... I'll just leave it at that.

An Aldious/Raglaia two-man with Rami joining Aldious in an encore to sing Spirit Black, Disclose and Mermaid would be pretty cool, come to think of it.

I forget who said it, might have been Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, but someone once said of Japan "Either we bombed them too much or not enough." There are times when I totally concur, especially when watching "Kawaii International."

i seriously doubt they will do something with both singers. Fans will immediately ask if Rami is coming back. That would be awkward for Yoshi.

Finally got the single....not bad actually.

"Believe Myself" in particular is really good, maybe the best Re:NO sung number I've heard. Weird how the soft vocals actually work for this speedy bugger. "Dearly" is cool too. "Die for You" sounds like a typical SCANDAL single, but at least Re:NO puts in effort to sound tough at times...winding up sounding cute instead but whatever.

"Die for You" works better listening to without the video. Sad thing is, there's worse shit in my collection. Now if that was the band's overall new direction, I'd be rather pissed off too. Unlike Cyntia, at least they're still very much metal.

I initially preferred Believe Myself, but I almost like Dearly more. Not sure if either of those will dethrone Dominator as my favorite song of theirs (must've played that one over 100 times now), but they're up there. I'm very curious to see what their next album will be like - if its mostly like these two songs, they'll be in good shape. Considering how good Marina is with fast stuff, I hope the entire album is like that. Only slight problem is I played those 2 songs too many times when I first got them, so I'm burnt out now (same thing happened to that Mardelas). And you know full and well these songs will be on the next album.

On a side note, now that I'm aware Toki constantly points at the audience, its something that cannot be unseen - god its annoying. She must do that like 50+ times per song. BTW, she got added to ESP Guitars musician gallery recently - she's in pretty good company there (and would probably have to be pretty good to just be listed there).

Really? Damn. I have no Re:NO era favorites. For me it's "Yachou" and "Shion" from the first album I play over and over. I had them translated by a Japanese-speaker. Interesting stuff.



Hahahaha! How did you never notice?

BTW, here's a new video of Raglaia practicing Aldius's "Spirit Black." Sounds rough though.



And on the subject of Cyntia, ever see this amusing video of Yui giving a lesson in pentatonic scales? Nice cat ears.

It was a much simpler time, I tell you. I own two of their DVDs, watched them both several times each, and didn't notice until yesterday. Man, how I wish I could reverse that lol

My favorites from the Rami-era are the fairly common/popular ones (Spirit Black, Disclose, Defended Desire, Ultimate Melodious, etc). Despite all the Japanese music I listen to, I find myself unable to learn romanized titles (sometimes I refer to things as their translated titles though). I also listen to things as an album, so if a Japanese titled song is one of my favorites, it'll be hard for me to point it out to someone else. God, with bands like Onmyo-Za, Ningen-Isu, and Inugami Circus-Dan, figuring out what song is on what album is a nightmare alone for me.

As much as I enjoy being mostly extricated from the English language, it can be a stumbling block sometimes (with Japanese music, I'm going completely on vocal lines, tone, "intent", emotion, etc).

Shion I like a lot - pretty cool vibe/mood on that one. Historically, I've always preferred Determination, but Deep Exceed grew on me over time. I think with Re:NO, they're just a different band period. The entire vibe/dynamic/intent of the band changed (for better or worse - I still like them a lot though). Unfortunately, the same applies to Raglaia - what Aldious had on the first two albums isn't there either. They're still a good band though. Like, what Rami is emoting/expressing is much different than what she was doing for Aldious.

[edit] Yeah, I saw that Spirit Black one. Safe assumption they'll do a version of that on their upcoming album. I didn't see that Yui one though - makes that last Cyntia even more depressing. Super curious to see if they can redeem themselves, cuz that band is clearly a waste of Yui's time now. Sawa sometimes does the cat ears thing too.

Gotta admit, I would LOVE that ESP Forest-GT guitar (and I haven't played in years and have little incentive to remedy that). I don't know, just the way "Believe Myself" is written is pretty interesting. It's neat when the music gets chill for a bit but the Marina still keeps things fast behind the kit. I usually don't buy singles since I might as well just wait for the full-length (unless it's something like Destrose in which I waited years for a full length after a bunch of singles and junk), but I'm getting into their appeal. Same with mini albums; if there's any release I burnt myself out on, it's Bridear's Overturn the Doom.

I own the District Zero DVD but didn't buy the D&D one because I hated the album and didn't like how they dropped the metal look for something utterly ridiculous. Toki looks like she can barely move in that frilly silliness. I'd love to get the Determination DVD but it's something like $70 on Amazon.

Rami's lyrics are something. Here's 3 I had translated

Yachou


Shion (my translator said this was extremely hard to translate)


Wish Song (Re:NO changed the lyrics. Me no likey)

Oh, another YouTube gem to share. Saki from MB doing her solo from "Marionette." I could cockpunch the editors for this. They needed to hold steady on her hands and the fretboard, not do all those dumbass cuts.

Yeah, I've seen some spastic camera hackjobs over there, ugh.



Eita is probably my favorite female guitarist over there at the moment (Hanako has a chance of dethroning her though). I still can't fathom her in Gacharic Spin (she was in their initial lineup). She gives Toki a run for the money in the pink department though.

Can't say I'm too fond of when bands change the lyrics - it makes me wonder if they wanted to screw Rami out of royalty payments? Or maybe the lyrics were too personal to Rami and Re:NO didn't feel comfortable singing them. HMV Japan had Aldious' 1st DVD in clearance for cheap a few years ago and I nearly bought it but held back. I will never forgive myself for that. Oh, I saw "Dear Slave" sell for $400 US on yahoo auctions awhile back


Believe Myself as a lot of nuances to it - there's a lot of details that reveal themselves with subsequent plays. I swear there's an optical illusion where the song speeds up as it goes. The solo on that one is really nice - I like the flourish Sawa adds at its conclusion. There's some interplay with Marina (cymbals) and the guitars here and there, which I liked.

Destrose is a strange case. Fenixx had Hanako on guitars (whereas the studio version has Narumi) - I have no idea which is better, to be honest. Nostphillia has an exclusive track "Heart's Grave", which is one of my favorite songs by them. I prefer the original version of Lifer to the album one (more raw). Deathless Memories sadly wasn't re-recorded. They did play that on their live DVD - which was nice to hear Marina singing on it. But that version is considerably different from the album one. Fate Gear (Mina's new band) re-recorded that one along with Winds of Fall (which Lisa didn't sound too good on). Just a few more days until that order ships (along with new Raglaia and some other stuff). If bing translate (lol) serves me correctly, Miho is making an announcement soon. So I'm hazarding a guess the remaining Destrose members are forming a new band, we shall see.

I haven't played that Bridear MCD as much as I should have, but their 3 singles I've played the living fuck out of. I actually prefer the single version of Thread of the Light (more heavy/loud) and its B-side "Roulette" is one of their best songs. The demo version of Pray and Another Name are a lot louder/rawer than the album versions - but I think the album versions are better (songs are more polished). Their last single I really liked though - I guess YMMV with Misa's harsh vocals though. They apparently have enough material stockpiled for a full-length, so I'm hoping they'll do an album soon.

Oh, get that Octaviagrace, in case you haven't snagged it yet. They're probably the best Light Bringer-esque band around at the moment and the bass (rhythm section actually) is really damn good. I agree 100% with Dudemanguy's review on that EP - its probably my favorite release from this year so far (can't really put it in the album charts though, so Mardelas trumps it on a technicality).

That review is probably my favorite one that I've written, but I still feel like I didn't do that EP justice. There's so much packed into those little songs; it's rather amazing. I haven't been a big connoisseur on what's coming out, but it's also my favorite so far (some stuff on my latest order might dethrone it, but we'll see).

As far as songtitles go, seeing them in romanji confuses me even more. I obviously can't read or pronounce kanji; just some of the basic katakana and hiragana (I'm sure I've forgotten most by now), so that rules out most songtitles for me. But as long as their some characters that are distinctive enough, I'll recognize what you're talking about. For example, 人の為 and 天長地久 look pretty distinctive to me. Onmyo-za's titles all look the same, so I'm pretty much just screwed there. The worst band on this is probably Te'. With the exception of one song, all of their songtitles are like 30-character long sentences (so are the album titles). That shit all looks the same lol. I can't really remember songtitles that are in English by western bands anyway, so there's that.

Marina Bozzio's mom is rather active on IG, it seems, and her English is perfect. She's quite proud of her daughter, too.

https://i.instagram.com/mayumibozzio/

Yeah, I can understand that - this is Marina's big break. Aldious landed probably one of the better female drummers over there and Marina joined one of the most popular metal bands over there at the moment (assuming Oricon is anything to go by).



September and October are gonna be super busy for me. Not gonna say this year is bad or anything so far, but there hasn't been too many releases I'd score 9/10 or higher. That new Kelly Simonz Blind Faith was pretty good, btw. Yama-B does vox on half the songs on it.


I can usually get the band name (unless its really fucking long), but that's as far as I can go. Some album/song-titles I can almost half-pronounce, but when typing them, my brain just malfunctions on me. It doesn't help that all of Onmyo-Za's album titles are 4 characters long. At least Ningen-Isu mixes tihngs up a bit. I still refer to albums by their cover or theme. Like with Onmyo-Za, "Thunder God", "Wind album", "Mother of Devils", etc.

I'm curious on how Aldious is pronounced. On one of those documentary links I watched, it almost sounded like it was pronounced "Ah-lih-dee-us". That sounds better than "All-dee-us", actually.