Wednesday, June 19, 2002

EMIRU NEWS Yay! Inertia posted this message at her BBS. Emiru (former Lareine) is back and with a new band, Ribbon! ^_^ Visit Ribbon's official homepage at: http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~ribbon/index.html Their first mini-album, Beautiful + Resistance, is scheduled for release August 14 2002. - MS - - Comment - It's 11:55 a.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Sunday, June 16, 2002

NEWS FLASH Dir en grey 02 Aug 03-04 - Live performance in Seoul, Korea. Order tickets through JRS Entertainment. Info from P-chan at the Gauze BBS. Kagrra 02 Jun 16 - Looks like Kagrra's still going strong and will be for a while. Check out the Live report by Halley and the news update by 'kane at Inertia's BBS. ^_^ Malice Mizer 02 Jun 12 - According to Klaha's journal entry dated 02.06.12, it looks like he and Kozi got together recently to celebrate their birthdays. There was also mention of Yu~ki but I couldn't understand enough to tell whether he was present at the birthday lunch or if he was doing something else. ^^ If someone would care to translate that, I would appreciate it. ^_^ - MS - - Comment - It's 03:05 p.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

QUICK DIR EN GREY UPDATE Kyo apparently sent a message via Dir en grey's i-mode service. He is out of the hospital and recovering nicely. The tracklists for the two upcoming releases have also been posted at the official website. Both releases are already available for pre-order at CD Japan. Thanks to Xenomus and Insanity for the heads up. ^_^ MINI ALBUM ｢six Ugly｣ M-1　Mr.NEWSMAN M-2　Ugly M-3　HADES M-4　umbrella M-5　children M-6　秒「」深 (byo '' shin) SFCD-0015 [￥2,200- (tax out)] 発売元：FIREWALL DIV. 販売元：Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. MAXI SINGLE ｢Child prey｣ M-1　Child prey M-2　鬼眼-kigan-[LIVE] M-3　Hydra [LIVE] M-4　羅刹国 [LIVE] (rasetsu koku) SFCD-0014 [￥1,200- (tax out)] 発売元：FIREWALL DIV. 販売元：Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. Both are scheduled for release 2002.07.31. - MS - - Comment - It's 10:38 a.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Monday, June 10, 2002

MOI DIX MOIS LIVE Looks like Mana's solo project is taking off. They have their first live performance 2002.07.31 at Shibuya AX along with Schwarz Stein, another band Mana is apparently producing. More info at Inertia's BBS and Mana's official site, Mana-sama.Com. - MS - - Comment - It's 02:30 p.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Sunday, June 9, 2002

ALBUM: ｢鬼葬｣ [DIR EN GREY] I think a few people around the net have reviewed this already but I figured I might as well add my two cents for those of you trying to decide whether to buy the album or not. ^_^ I recommend it but it's not for everyone I think. Romanizations of the titles are in parentheses when applicable. Enjoy! [1] 鬼眼 -kigan- (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Dir en grey) Starts off strong with low-key drums and bass, the guitars riding above them in a rhythmic wave. The music is intense, almost foreboding and Kyo comes in low for the first verse. The refrain swells into pure headbang material, the others chanting along in the background. The drums are loud and punkish, the guitars raw. Great way to begin the album. [2] ZOMBOID (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Kaoru) Shinya heads this one off, bashing away, letting Kaoru come in with his shredding guitar. Kyo laughs manically and the song begins in earnest. The distorted answering vocals lend an interesting flavor to yet another hard and fast song, as well as Die's plunking notes. Again, the refrain inspires much headbanging, if you hadn't been already. More chanting, shouting, and screaming complete the track. [3] 24個シリンダー (24ko Cylinder) (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Die) Die starts this one, strumming a guitar riff that continues through the rest of the song. The verses are low, mostly bass, perfectly accenting Kyo's hoarsely whispered vocals. Toshiya shines during the instrumental with a haunting bass solo, backed by Kaoru's endlessly repeating riff. Towards the end, Kyo alternates between singing and speaking the lyrics. the entire effect- mesmerizing. The whole song has a heavy, gut-wrenching sort of feel that has made it one of my favorite tracks on the album. [4] FILTH (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Dir en grey) The first things you hear in this are distorted vocal and guitar noises. Shinya bashes in early, establishing the fast beat. Of the guitars, Kaoru comes in first, shredding. Die follows a little later, as with Toshiya, carefully cutting under the guitars with his bass. The verses are mostly comprised of Kyo's distorted vocals, further mangled by a swirly sound effect. A short chant leads into the surprisingly melodic refrain which reminds me somewhat of "Jessica" a few tracks down. Die's guitar towards the end is vaguely reminiscent of "24ko Cylinder" but Kyo's frantic strangling noises make it more intense. [5] Bottom of the death valley (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Toshiya) As can be expected, considering he composed this next piece, Toshiya starts this one soft and low with a gorgeous bassline that follows through the rest of the song. Shinya comes in for the first verse, backing Kyo who stays pretty low-key. Kaoru plays one chord, Die a little more, but the guitars don't really come in until the refrain. The entire thing is very bass-heavy, Die staying low even as he rips out chords. Kyo screams often but it is a throaty, hoarse scream as opposed to a high-energy spastic one. The guitar solo goes to Die, a nice medium-paced piece with mostly isolated notes and harmonics. It ends with an anguished guitar shriek courtesy of Kaoru. Excellent, emotional song. [6] embryo (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Kaoru) I reviewed this when it was released as a single so I won't go into it too much here. The lyrics for this version are different from the one on the single, mainly because THESE lyrics were too controversial for radio airplay. Still one of my favorite tracks on this album, and definately one of my top 10 jrock songs of all time. [7] 「深葬」 ('shinsou') The first of three instrumental tracks, all pronounced the same way but written in different kanji. This one's got a street-beat feel to it. Lots of drums and synthetic noises over bass. Kyo raps(?) a little but it's so low, it's almost a sound effect. [8] 逆上堪買Pロイドミルク (gyakujou tannou keloid milk) (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Kaoru) This is one of the strangest, sweetest, surprises on this album. Die starts off with a very flat distorted guitar thing (it almost sounds like a sitar) that accents the rest of the song. Kyo comes in on falsetto backed by light drums, some strange but perfectly blending percussion I can't identify, more distorted bass, and some hard, fast, chords from Kaoru. The refrain is hard, fast, and oddly melodic despite some of the screaming. The sitar-ish sound and Kyo's use of his higher range give this song a fresh, exotic feel. [9] The Domestic Fucker Family (Lyrics: Kyo M: Kyo) What can I say? This is pure Kyo. Chant "FOOKAH! FOOKAH! RADICAL FOOKAH!" a few times, complete with fist pumping in the air a few times and you'll get the gist of this song. Backed by hard, heavy guitars, some chanting, rapping, and a driving beat, and you have the perfect soundtrack for some seriously frenzied headbanging. [10] undecided (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Die) The first of the two more acoustic efforts on this album, Die starts this one strumming two chords to Kyo's voice. Keyboards, drums and bass come in, Toshiya riding above the guitars in the second verse. Kaoru enters during the refrain but lets off again in the second verse, playing only a few notes here and there. The real treat comes after the second verse, around the 2:05 mark, where the rest of the instruments drop off, leaving Die to play a melodic solo on his acoustic. Kaoru comes in a little while later, playing mostly chords but he starts plucking as well, the two acoustics playing beautifully off each other. I can't emphasize how truly exceptional that instrumetal bit is. You'll just have to listen for yourself. [11] 蟲 -mushi- (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Kaoru) Kaoru's answer to Die's acoustic piece, this is my favorite track on the entire album. It's also the slowest piece on ｢鬼葬｣, the closest to past Kaoru epics like "Mazohyst of Decadence" or "MACABRE ― 揚羽ノ羽ノ夢ハ蛹 ―" as the album gets. The acoustic work by Kaoru and Die on this song is just amazing, not to mention Shinya's drumming. His bass drum during the instrumental is almost intoxicating. The vocals actually end pretty early in the song, leaving it to end with a second instrumental solo. Kaoru switches back to electric at this point and he literally wails on that axe. Kyo had established a certain mood with his anguished vocals and that mood is carried on superbly by the guitar. This is a beautiful, haunting piece that stays in your mind long after the last note has faded away. [12] 「芯葬」 ('shinsou') The second of the instrumetal tracks, this one carries on the same theme as the first. Vaguely reminiscent of something you might hear on gang-saturated or inner-city streets. [13] JESSICA (Lyrics: Kyo M: Kaoru) This is probably the pop-iest/punk-ish sounding song on the album. Shinya just bashes away back there making as much noise as possible. Kaoru and Die try to stay somewhat melodic in their riffs but the end result is the same as Shinya's. The song is in a major key for once, making it sound much happier than anything else on the album. The chanting is more bouncy than threatening, and some of the general sound is similar to "Taiyou no Ao," with that slightly hopeful, optimistic feel. Very... cute. [14] 鴉 -karasu- (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Kaoru) This one has a blue-sy almost jazzy feel anchored by Toshiya's heavy bass. Almost something right out of a techno-spy movie, at least until the refrain. Then it just explodes into loud, heavy, headbanging material before dropping back into the more "mysterious-sounding" verses. It gets kind of chaotic after that but there's an interesting-sounding vocal bit after the instrumental that draws your focus in for a while. [15] ピンクキラー (pink killer) (Lyrics: Kyo Music: Dir en grey) Get ready to hurt something. *L* This is the song where it sounds like each member has just completely thrown musicality out the window and tried to make as much noise as possible. Die has some melodic bits and I'm sure it's all carefully coordinated chaos but you will probably be too busy headbanding or moshing to notice. Little things like harmonized vocal bits and the occasional guitar riff add some variety but the chanting (ala "Schwein no Isu") and the general noise generally overpowers it. Finishes with Kyo screaming all sorts of intelligible things in his typical frantic strangled fashion. [16] 「神葬」 ('shinsou') Easily my favorite of the three instrumental pieces. Light drums and percussion accent a beautiful minor piano piece. Very soothing after all that screaming and jumping around. *L* Nice, if unexpected way to end the album. Though MACABRE remains my favorite Dir en grey album, I definately recommend this one to those of you well into the harder side of jrock. Long-time fans will be able to appreciate how much all of them have grown as musicians and artists, especially in the light of Kyo's newest composition, Toshiya's gorgeous ballad, and of course, Kaoru's and Die's acoustic experiments. I do stress that it's not an album for everyone in general as some of the tracks do take some getting used to if you're not familiar with Dir en grey's typical sound. I should probably note that this review was done under the assumption that Kaoru's guitar stayed on the left channel and Die's on the right as customary for them. If they switched places at any time and I credited the wrong guitar to the wrong person, my apologies. It's all good though! ^_^ Album Information: ｢鬼葬｣ (kisou) Released: 2002.01.30 SFCD-0012 [3,000] 発売元：FIREWALL DIV. 販売元：Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. Edited 02.06.10: Thanks to Insanity for correcting the info regarding Kyo! ^_^ - MS - - Comment - It's 04:04 p.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Saturday, June 8, 2002

MUSIC NEWS Aioria 02 May 30 - Disbandment notice posted by ミサ (guitar, keyboard) on his BBS. 02 Aug 02 - Last live at Shibuya ON AIR WEST. Due'le quartz 02 Jun 08 - Disbandment announced during the live at Shibuya ON AIR EAST. (Posted by ben on Inertia's BBS.) 02 Sep 22 - Last live at Shibuya AX. Dir en grey 02 Jun 06, 08, 09 - Shows at Chiba, Ibaragi, and Gunma cancelled because Kyo is ill. As of today, shows are rescheduled as follows: 06/06 -> 07/02 市川市文化会館 [Chiba] 06/08 -> 09/02 結城市民文化センターアクロス [Ibaragi] 06/09 -> 09/03 群馬音楽センター [Gunma] Two shows have also been added to the MASTER OF MONSTER Tour. Both at Zepp Tokyo, 07/29 & 07/30. Eve of Destiny 02 Nov 02 - Live in Vienna, Austria. More details soon. I was planning to review Aioria at the same time I posted the disband notice but then Due'le quartz made their announcement and I figured I might as well do a short news post instead. I wish I didn't have to. >_< At least Eve of Destiny is doing well... ^^ - MS - - Comment - It's 10:25 a.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Friday, June 7, 2002

VOTE FOR SHIROI HEYA'S NEW LAYOUT Since I'm totally uninspired as to what the next layout should be, I was inspired (by meme at the BBS ^_^) to conduct a poll. Who would YOU like to see on the next layout? The band/artist must be considered "jrock" and you must have a picture ready to submit or can point me towards one you like. To vote, EMAIL ME at tsukinouta@yahoo.com and put this in the SUBJECT line: Shiroi Heya Layout: [band/artist name] You don't need to write anything else in the message body if you don't want to. I'll just read the subjects and count from there. ;) You have until June 15 to get your vote in. Once all the votes have been counted, I'll be contacting those who voted to pick the picture to be used. Barring any major difficulties and to give time for me to get permission, work out the html, etc., we should get a new layout up sometime before June 22. Replies at the BBS WILL NOT be counted so please be sure to email me. ^_^ Hope to hear from you guys soon! - MS - - Comment - It's 09:42 a.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Monday, June 3, 2002

EVE OF DESTINY UPDATE Hey guys, Tsukamoto-san updated the Biography page for Eve of Destiny. Aside from some excellent background on their frontman, Haruhiko Ash, this little tidbit towards the end caught my eye: "then, near future, EVE OF DESTINY will have live shows actively in Europe and the US. And now, EOD are planning for release within this year." *grins* Excited does not begin to cover this. - MS - - Comment - It's 06:30 p.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant

Sunday, June 2, 2002

DUEL JEWEL LIVE REPORT As many of you know, indies band, Duel Jewel performed at A-kon this weekend. This was their first US appearance and, as far as I know, the first performance of any jrock band at a US convention. Thanks to Nightmajik, we have a live report of their first concert, as well as the autograph signing sessions and the Q&A. Enjoy! ^_^ - MS - - Comment - It's 10:06 p.m., and Teru's still hugging his plant