15 posts tagged “d'espairsray”
Okay I admit this is not so auditory perfect (but it's not it's intention) just about how awesome it is.
Karyu was fantastic in the role of a drummer! So good that I even forgot it was him there on the drums, he really has got a good sense of rhythm and a lot of energy. Hizumi was ok, not perfect but he did concentrate. Where about Zero just cheated, we know bassists are/were in a point of their life guitarists also. So he did kinda got away with it didn't he?
Man I just love role changes, they can get pretty awesome. I wish more bands would do this. Overall I think D'espairsRay would be good even with changed roles like on this video, but I guess they've picked the roles that suit them the best and that it what makes D'espairsRay's sound so powerful and amazing.
Release date: 9.9.2009.
Price: ￥1,260 (normal edition)
NO: UICV-5004
Track list:
1. FINAL CALL [PV]
2. Going on!
3. Ark in the storm
CONGRATULATIONS D'ESPAIRSRAY ON YOUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY!!!
So more-less to mark this auspicious event I shall write a review for their new "Anniversary" single entitled FINAL CALL. Because what is the best way of marking a decade of activity other than releasing a nice single (okay, though for a decade an album would be more fitting, especially in Visual kei where rare bands manage to hold together for a decade, but that would be picky wouldn't it?).
FINAL CALL is a typical D'espairsRay energy-infused, industrial-glazed , uptempo rock piece leaning more to a hard rock sound other than the industrial/gothic metal sound they've always pulled off. The song takes the bits of the best this band has to offer: layered, running and awesome guitar riffs which will make you instantly take your guitar and play along (or at least in my case), a soaring chorus with a gothic-glaze to it, pumping basslines and powerful drums, even a warm and expressive guitar solo. FINAL CALL takes the certain warmth and melody that was featured in some tracks of their latest album REDEEMER and fuses them with the raw energy and rapture this band is known for. Though FINAL CALL isn't exactly another REDEEMER, nor does it have it's explosive energy and fiercness it's nevertheless a very decent and interesting song that won't leave the fans dissappointed.
I can imagine Going on! to melt faces, cause acute myalgia as well as dislocate joints from the excessive jumping and banging on the lives, but as a standalone track Going on! feels a bit undefined. There is this energy and groove that is really appealing and cool, but the song is somehow thinned by the not so good hip-hopish part and backrgound yelling which seems quite pointless. On top the song doesn't really bring anything new (but on the other hand, the whole single overall doesn't do that) and it's a bit ruined by some redundant parts. Though I do fell it eventually growing onto me, though it doesn't have this secret charisma or greatness that B-sides like Scissors, Desert or even Cocoon had.
Ark in the storm sounds a bit ambitious with this "uprising" feel and emotionally colored mood similar to the song KALEIDOSCOPE and MASQUERADE but it simply has got this void in it, sounds like something is missing or like there isn't enough thrust to it to really lift it sky high. The song isn't bad, the riffs and "solo" are awesome, Hizumi's singing is decent, the drumming really keeps the song going but it just feels there.
The overall please with this single really depends on your expectations from this band. The single isn't as energetic as REDEEMER was, but it's less "light and happy" than KAMIKAZE or HORIZON, though those singles have way more powerful B-sides. I am personally pleased with guitars since I like Karyu's style so in that aspect it did match my expectations. But the basic weakness of this single is that it's very uncovincing and almost without any charisma that simply overflows many of this band's songs. If you're able to get over that then you'll get a decent single which is more like a bottle of champaigne opened up for the auspicious occasion rather than a full-blooded serious release.
But overall fans of the band and everything this band has to offer musically won't have too much of complains and will surely play this release over and over to mark a decade long activity of this great Visual kei band. I raise my guitar in your honour.
I have heard about this a bit when D'espairsRay decided to participate, but now that even the GazettE are in I became more curious and decided to see what is this V-ROCK FESTIVAL 09.
The festival will take place in Makuhari Messe on 24-25-10.2009.
I find this foreign and Japanese Visual rock concept very interesting and a great move to somehow widthen the boarders and concept of Visual Rock, so I am really lookin forward to how this will develop. Most of all I am glad the GazettE will finally (probably) have contact with other bands beside their own strict, closed-minded label (unless PSC decides to repell them from making social contacts) and see what kind of music they make and similar. I am also eager to see the reactions/thoughts of the foriegn acts about Visual Kei bands, so yep, this is gonna be cool. Shame that I have to live thousands of miles away from Japan.
So here is a nice feature program for all of you interested:
Date released: 11.3.2009.
Track list
1. Lizard
2. BRILLIANT [PV]
3. REDEEMER [PV]
4. 琥珀 (Kohaku)
5. KAMIKAZE [PV]
6. Lost in re:birth
7. R.E.M-冬の幻聴- (R.E.M-Fuyu no genchou-)
8. HORIZON [PV]
9. MASQUERADE
10. 夜空 (Yozora)
11. PARADOX 5
12. HEAVEN'S COLOR
Two years have passed since the Visual kei veterans D'espairsRay have released their second album Mirror. The last year's frequent single output has announced that there is a third album on the way and also left a hint about what the third album will be like. The curious title REDEEMER gave somehow hopes to some older fans because with years and especially last singles D'espairsRay's sound has grown less characteristically dark, became more lighter and less wild.
So did D'espairsRay managed to redeem themselves with REDEEMER?
The album opens with the fierce, dark, industrial metal piece Lizard that will pull out a huge smile on every hardcore D'espairsRay fan. It's dark, energetic, vicious and everything you'd associate with D'espairsRay from tense guitars, powerful beats and soaring choruses. Lizard is what DAMNED was to MIRROR, a generic D'espairsRay track set for suiting the older, puristic fans and as such will undoubtuly be one of their favorite tracks on the album.
Right after Lizard we come to BRILLIANT, a track that lives most of the part up to it's name and that was the first single in 2008 since more than a year of release-void since MIRROR. BRILLIANT still sounds bright and rapturing as it did last year, even though this track is more of a sure-shot and with style more bound to the energetic character of the MIRROR era. Nevertheless it's wast guitar parts and hymnic chorus will surely enchant many.
The third track and the undeniable title track of the album is REDEEMER that already caused for a hype before the album release thanks to it's amazing PV. REDEEMER counts to the best tracks on the album and is a sort of a redemption for the light singles of last year. REDEEMER's every second is filled with energy, oscilating between madness, darkness and energy! The track has got BALLS! The riffs are so amazing that you'll be taking your guitar instantly and trying to figure them out, the rocky beats just invite for jumping and moshing while Hizumi's strong voice holds the strings of the song. REDEEMER lives up to it's name and brings D'espairsRay in their most raw core.
We come to the first ballade of the album, Kohaku or amber, which opens with an tense industrial flair and Karyu's typical tense power chords. Kohaku kinda plays it on calm and tense, a bit on the edge of light and dark and the expressive yet somehow unoriginal chorus shows Hizumi's wide vocal range. Unfortunately Kohaku is a bit unexciting and lacks a certain something, a certain uplift, sadly because Tsukasa has composed it and he has pleasently surprised me with a lot of his compositions like LOST SCENE and especially SCISSORS.
And again we face another single, this time KAMIKAZE which esentially delivers excellent and innovative guitar parts and verses while the chorus is pretty much unspectacular, predictive, pop-rock and overall bad ruining that way the original charater of this song. Of course we don't have to wait long for redemption because Lost in re:birth kicks in. I think Lost in re:birth somehow represents the album but most of all a new style of this band very well. Lost in re:birth starts as a melodic death metal tune, well at least up to the rocky pre-chorus.The guitars are very sharp, fast and expressive, the singing soars up into catharsic heights but most of all the thick instrumentations and mood give of a more refined, more layered feeling expression than any of their songs before marking this new, present D'espairsRay sound of REDEEMER.
After Lost in re:birth we come to our second ballade R.E.M-Fuyu no genchou- (Winter's auditory illusion, why does every song with winter in it's title have to be a ballade). R.E.M is fluent, somehow calming but powerful and tense. The chorus soars into heights, delivering a very beautiful melody. Though not as tense nor innovative as some of their other ballads, it's still very touching and interesting (especially the violin touch in the second part) and will surely touch many.
Horizon as the last single on the album shows off a pop-rock side of D'espairsRay, very much sounding like L'arc~en~ciel. Horizon isn't bad by itself, but it's not D'espairsRay so it's quite understandable that it's one of their most hated tracks. How much you will like this bright, positive, light track depends on how much of a dark D'espairsRay purist you are. After the last single interruption we come to MASQUERADE which generally sounds like a more melancholic, darker and thicker Trickstar (oh and I will kick Hizumi in the nuts the next time he uses a verb with out in it like break out, flake out). The guitars are pretty tight as well as the chorus but again, it sounds like there is something missing and if the horrid English won't make you at least a bit pissed (as an English speaker) as well as the lower-than-average growls then... MASQUERADE has got something, should have had something but it seems as though there is a huge unfilled void in it.
We come to the OFFICIAL DOWNER of the album... ladies and gentleman Yozora! I think every D'espairsRay purist, dark, gothy fan took out it's shotgun and , if they didn't shoot themselves in the legs, went to Japan to shoot D'espairsRay. Yozora or Nightsky (totally unsuitable because all I hear are rainbows) is a upbeat, fast, pop-rock track that sounds it has been taken from Alice nine's secret wault, sprinkled with Ayabie's cuteness and glimmering chime and fasten up to sound like Dir en grey's resented JESSICA. Oh yeah this song sure brings Oshare D'espairsRay images into the head, dressed up in candy, rainbows and Hello Kitty. The worst part of it is that it's a must-be ENDING song for lives which means two things: a) it's irritating by default, b) it's unavoidable on lives. ....Daaaaamnn.
We face the last and probably most expressive and memorable tracks on the album, at least in my opinion, which are both quite contrast compared to one another but both very storng in rendering the feelings sewn into them. PARADOX 5 is a really unusual D'espairsRay track and sounds like more melancholic, guitarless D'espairsRay tune (like Screen but different in expression) mixed up with a tribal, ambiental feel of Deep Forest (a French ambiental, world music group that combines the ethnic sounds of Africa and other continets with a chillout, ambiental, electronica music). Since I like both of the bands (and Deep Forest is always very reminiscent for me) this song is a favorite in my ears. The song sounds very wast, almost as if it embraces the whole world, the echoing, female backvocals give off a dramatic seal, but at the same time it sounds distant, cold, sad, somehow helpless as if it is caught in a eternity of hopelesness and transience. PARADOX 5 is definitely one of D'espairsRay most unusual, but very moving and expressive songs.
(Samsara (in Jainism, Japan) : mundane existence, full of suffering and misery and hence is considered undesirable and worth renunciation. The Saṃsāra is without any beginning and the soul finds itself in bondage with its karma since the beginingless time. )
Heaven's Color is on the other hand almost an complete contrast from PARADOX 5, a bright,light tune which on the first glimpse sounds like HORIZON 2, but...different. The interesting mood of the song, a watercolor blend of happy, sad, yearning gives of a very strong reminiscent feel. But this reminiscence doesn't sound sad or bitter at all, it sounds so warm and comforting that you can almost feel how this song flows into you and spreads it's warmth all over you. I didn't expect that such a light song I'd usually despise at D'espairsRay would end up be my favorite on the entire album, better than all of the dark, brooding songs. It owes it's honesty and warmth as well as reminiscent feel that somehow sounds like "Life isn't perfect, but what we had and we have is a reason enough to feel happy in life", sort of.
In a way (as I have predicted it, meaning either I have ESP or I read people really well) REDEEMER is a slight bipolar album because on one hand we get thick, dark, pretty heavy tunes like Lizard, Redeemer, Masquerade and on the other light, bright, positive tunes as Kamikaze, Horizon, Yozora, Heaven's color and some of which are neither bright nor dark like Kohaku and R.E.M. Their last singles were somehow bipolar with a bright A-side and a rather dark B-side (sadly, they should have taken the better B-sides which outmached the A ones in many ways). This polarity does show some versatility this band posesses but at the same time breaks a certain cohesion that would bind the songs, just like it was the case on [Coll:set] and Mirror. But that is not the only flaw of this album: almost every song is like a lit firecracker that sparkles all over but doesn't go out with a bang, making potentially excellent songs and classics sound like there should be something but isn't.
Also the songs with the charactersitic sound don't really flow naturally like they did before, The industrials are somehow blandly used, the growls are pretty insecure and the charming, strong yet simple riffs are drowned in several guitar layers that somehow blend into one mass.
REDEEMER doesn't really bring total redemption by D'espairsRay, but it certainly has got it's virtues. Primarly it's this certain sound and mood thickness which gives up more complex layers of feelings, more worked out than it was before. REDEEMER brought partially the mood back that was lost in the loudness and energy of MIRROR, but it still isn't the cohesive and brooding mood [Coll:set] had. The best thing would be if the elements of all three albums would be combined in a way so the songs would be filled with energy, with a strong and clear atmosphere but thick sound that allows a lot of flexibilty to the songs emotions.
Though not their best album, REDEEMER is definitely a must listen for every D'espairsRay fan, regardless of experience. As for D'espairsRay, REDEEMER is just another step on the border between what they are and what they want to be.
The very turbulent 2008 is coming to it's end and I think it's a good time to see which releases and bands marked the 2008. So sit back and hopefully enjoy my little summary of what I think is the best-of-the-best this year (with other stuff that for some certain reason marked the year) has delivered.
BEST SINGLE
1. the GazettE - LEECH
2. D'espairsRay - Kamikaze
3. -OZ- - Bulk
Best underground indie debut single of the year: Lucy - Discord
This year has delivered a mass of excellent singles from various bands (some bands releasing several excellent singles) that it was a really hard decision to decide which single had the balls, the oomph, the wow and awesomeness painted all over. I think LEECH was the single that really stood out this year because each track was pure dynamite, totally in-your-face, simply bombing you with energy! A Visual kei rock firestorm!
Among other great singles was D'espairsRay's bipolar Kamikaze with the best B-side that has ever emerged from this band: Scissors. Also -OZ- showed their fangs with the intense, aggressive and overall awesome metal-compound single Bulk. In the special category I have Lucy, a small and relatively new band with a big and broodingly dark single Discord (which can be also considered as the darkest single of the year).
1. Rentrer en Soi - MEGIDDO
2. Dio ~Distraught Overlord~ - Heaven's Call
3. Deluhi - Surveillance
Most ear/eye piercing mini-album: SuG - I SCREAM PARTY/punkitsch
Rentrer en Soi closed their final chapter and became legends with the epic last mini-album MEGIDDO which makes both fans and non-fans get the chills before this great and brilliant masterpiece. Among the runner-ups was Dio with their first and amazing Heaven's Call that delivered a full-pack of metal spiced hard Visual kei songs in the outstanding Dio manner. Also the newcomer's DELUHI first release Surveillance was just an announcement of this band's intention to take over the Visual kei world with their version of strong power-metal fusions and technical perfection.
Oh and there is a band that caused a lot of brain/ear hemorrhages with both it's releases and mini-albums and that is
SuG. If the color/kitsch overused album artwork wasn't enough of a warning to you, you'd be left off in a sugar coated mass of sticky, E-colored candy-punk mass. Do not listen unless you have an insulin syringe with you.
BEST ALBUM
1. Dir en grey - Uroboros
2. Kagrra, - Core
3. MUCC - Shion
Best album not reviewed : Sugar - Sweetest
What? You thought that the best album part wouldn't go without the legendary Dir en grey and their highly anticipated Uroboros, did you? When Dir en grey releases and album, you can be almost more that certain that is predestined to be the album that will mark the year and that will stand as a new level and measure in Visual kei. Though slightly dehumanized and a skillful showing-off nerve play, Uroboros is definitely an album which sets new borders, both in Visual kei as in the music world overall.
Following Uroboros we have the excellent album Core by the neo japanesque kings Kagrra having both their traditional oriental flavored songs as well as some new rock experiments that were successful. Also the most versatile album of the year Shion by MUCC came out as a pleasant surprise with a showcase of such a variety of songs, different in genres but united in a board, recognizable MUCC-style.
Ironically the only five star album this year wasn't reviewed and that was Sugar's SWEETEST: a balanced out, unique, jazzy influenced rock piece with songs that take the breath aways both in style, refinement, expression, paired up with the incredible talent of each member, especially the astonishing voice of the singer LOKI and the guitar-hero skills of the guitarist SIZNA. If it was reviewed, Dir en grey would have been pushed in a one-on-one fight party to the top with Sugar.
BEST PV
1. the GazettE - LEECH
2. Dir en grey - Glass skin
3. alice nine. - Rainbows
Most sexy (fangirl-unfriendly) PV: SCREW - Gather roses
What makes an excellent PV? Well a lot of things. When your jaw literally detached from your skull, the complementary fusion of both the visual and auditory aspect, a unique concept, an artistic approach, a certain aesthetic and of course the omg, wow! aspect. And I think the PV for the song LEECH has it all and leaves everybody simply breathless with one of the most interesting, aesthetic and symbolic PV's around. Also their PV Guren was pretty damn great, but we have to leave the places for other bands right?
Glass Skin by Dir en grey wass a soothing, transient and floating monochrome PV that just seems to take you into a different world, where time stands still. A very pretty and interesting PV. The PV with the fun-factor was definitely Rainbows by alice nine. with all of it's flashiness and energy, fitting for such a loud and energetic song.
And one of the most entertaining and hot PV's around was Gather Roses by SCREW which have almost literally screwed the chicks in the PV. I have never seen so many sex-allusion and subtle sex scenes in any Visual kei PV as in this one. Sex, boob-grabbing, masturbation, lap-dancing as well as cxxk-suxxxing, all is presenting a very subtle and TV friendly way, but enough to drive rabid fangirls wild. SCREW you are my personal heroes because of this.
BEST NEW BAND
1. DELUHI
2. Lucy
3. Vistlip
Label with the most failing new bands: UNDERCODE
You've got to admit that no one has expected such a great band to emerge this year and to have so many excellent releases it's almost not natural. Well DELUHI have proven us wrong, thanks to their unique power-metal flaired songs and uprising lyrics. Though present with only one yet very valuable release, Lucy also gave us hopes for the dark Visual kei with their single Discord. Vistlip had the excellent debut release and a few weaker others but it was still a band that is better than the other new rest.
Oh and a label who hasn't really contributed to the Visual kei scene was UNDERCODE with their heavy mediocre-to-bad oldschool Visual kei bands that all sound the same. But like Kisaki cares, as long as he is making money.
BEST BAND
1. the GazettE
2. D'espairsRay
3. Sugar
Greatest sound change: 12012
Man, deciding on which band deserves to get the prestige title best band was really, really heavy and I had to think very good about it to make a good decision. After some thinking I have decided that the GazettE deserves the Best band title. Why? Because not only have they released (only) two excellent singles (and as such repented for the last years Stacked Rubbish), but the band also had a full scale of various live performances that peaked in performances such as the two-day final in Yoyogi, the midsummer Gazerock Festival and the secret live in Shinjuku that was halted after two songs because the police had to stop (due to 7000 people coming, instead of laughably 250).
Among the other bands that marked this year were also the veterans from D'espairsRay that released three excellent singles and toured a lot, as well as announced a new album for the 2009. It's great to see them active, though not so dark as they used to be. And not to forget a band I discovered this year and that turned into one of my favorites: Sugar! You just have to have wrong ears if you can't get into their elegant and refined jazzy-rock tunes that sound incredibly sophisticated and good.
The band that has experienced the most greatest sound change this year (unfortunately on the worse) was 12012 that went from dark hard-rock to carefree sugary pop-rock, becoming more and more ligther with every single. Such a sad waste of talent and reputation unfortunately.
1. the GazettE -虚無の終わり、箱詰めの黙示 (Kyomu no owari, hakodzume no mokushi)
2. Deluhi - Vivid place
3. D'espairsRay - Scissors
Auditory Nirvana: Dir en grey - 蜷局 (Toguro)
And what has certainly made this year special was the amount of excellent songs from which some took the breath away, while others provided nirvana and chatarsis. Therefore, it was very hard to decide which songs were exceptional. The best song of the year , for me, was the GazettE's Kyomu no owari, hakodzume no mokushi, an apocalyptic piece with a mesmerizing mood, soaring, intense chorus and a aloof, yet present feel, accepting the end of the world with no regrets.
While Kyomu was quite pessimistic, the wast and positive song Vivid Place by Deluhi was an undeniable proof of their brilliance and ability to make songs that literally shine! While I was pretty displeased with the positive-less-dark style D'espairsRay has had on the song KAMIKAZE I was literally blown away by the sharpness and tension of Scissors. If anything else Tsukasa should write more D'espairsRay songs!
And reaching a mantric nirvana through music was never so near and so vivid as in Toguro by Dir en grey, a vunerable and calm song on their overall slightly dehumanized album. A wonderful, mesmerizing song with floating riffs and a lot of chanting.
And that would be it for my Best of 2008. I hope you liked it. You might have agreed on some spots with me, on some not, oh well everybody has got their own taste and favorites. So now I'm wondering what are your best of the best in this year! Which songs, releases and artists marked this year for you?
I hope the next year will be either as good as this one or preferably better!
Date released: 3.12.2008.
Track list
1. HORIZON [PV]
2. Bullet
3. 闇に降る奇跡 -Classical White Ver.- (Yami ni furu kiseki)
If you can't do it better do it different is a premise D'espairsRay are more than obviously following not just in their previous single Kamikaze but also in their new, this year's third D'espairsRay single HORIZON.
Oh Horizon is a neat L'arc en ciel song there...wait.. what the fuck... THAT'S D'ESPAIRSRAY?!!!!?!!?!?! would be a very close reaction from anybody who has heard HORIZON for the first time without reading the artist tag on it. The cute riff on the start, the drowning they-keep-on-going riffs in the verses just shock and the wast, feather light, totally pop-rock chorus will cause a short-circuit in your brain. That is, if you are familiar with what usual associations the name D'espairsRay envokes. Can you feel/looking for the new world... what? Fuck you Hizumi, I'm not interested in your shitty prospective searches for flowers and sunshine, I want swearing, screaming, shouting, darkness here there and everywhere kind of songs. You know the one you USED to make BEFORE you went all larukish all over. Fuck. AND WHY THE FUCK DOES EVERY VISUAL KEI BAND NOWADAYS HAVE TO HAVE A RAP PART IN THEIR SONGS! The only thing that does for me of this song is the excellent guitar solo and parts as welll that little scream in the end. HORIZON isn't bad (eventually I'll be smashing it on my guitar like every second Despa song) but it's not D'espairsRay. Period. Fuck.
Bullet comes as a song that is dark for dark's sake so it wouldn't end up like D'espairsRay is going all pop on us. Bullet is in it's core Fuuyu shita risou with the thwack thwack thwack distorted-to-the-max kind of guitars that I associate with Merry and their mosh-pit songs, switching paces like the GazettE. The first verse is kind of a true, dark and gloomy D'espairsRay kind and is really good, but that is the only original point to the past. The rest of the song is just hysteric, breaking any hints of atmosphere with loudness and with an empty chorus, not charged as it was in Fuuyu shita risou. But I can't deny that the song isn't good, on the contrary it's has got a lot of awesomeness, but it's not dark with soul. If D'espa is going to do dark, gloomy, gothic kind of songs then at least do them dark like you mean it and not dark for darkness sake.
The only song that really got me the chills sort of is the renewed version of one of my D'espairsRay's favorites Yami ni furu kiseki (A miracle raining in darkness) done in a gentle, expressive, transient piano and strings manner with Hizumi's voice floating over it. I love this song. It's very calming and soothing almost like a lullaby lulling you to sleep, taking you in a some other world, puting your mind on peace, really beautiful. I love those kind of songs. They really make a nice calming contrast and cleansing from the usual hard stuff I listen. A perfect soundtrack for a long and snowy winter night.
Sometimes having favorite bands is really unthankful. It's one of the main sources of my ambivalental anxiety. You love them for their music, their unique style, for something that makes them sting out of all of the other bands. And then they change. Change is unavoidable. I'm not against change as long as you stay true to your essence, your roots and your core. True to yourself. I found it ok when D'epairsRay released Squall or Mirror, sure it wasn't as dark as their previous releases, but it was D'espairsRay. I can live with such changes, but for D'espairsRay pretendining to be an optimistical band with songs that are more light than darkness, when D'espairsRay used to be the very synonym for darkness in Visual kei, that's just not right. But I know that eventually this single will grow onto me, but with a bitter aftertaste with it.
HORIZON is their weakest single this year, that doesn't quite live up to the name D'espairsRay but isn't catastrophically bad. Though it does leave a certain bitter aftertaste behind it. I really miss the times when they used to fuck off everybody around them, didn't care for any rules, had music that took you on a venture into the darkness saying that it's good to be angry, if it can make you withstand all the shit happening to you....
I hope you can forgive me the big delay of August's issue. My computer had technical problems so I was way unable to release Baku at time. I hope you don't mind it too much.
Since I'm currently pretty busy I'll just post the pages so you can download.
I'll edit this post once I find time.
Please participate in VOX populi.
Track list
1. KAMIKAZE [PV]
2. Scissors
3. BRILLIANT -Live Dec. 07-
Hey it's not so often that we get D'espairsRay releases in a period of just a few months. And so D'espairsRay release their new single KAMIKAZE containing the song KAMIKAZE that apparently is a big hit on live performances (don't know, haven't seen it).
KAMIKAZE is a very interesting and intense song, filled with various cool and genius parts that will just make your jaw drop. The drums, the guitars, the bass part in the beginning just before the song explodes... ah perfection. Not to mention the unusual, but very effective electro-effects and Hizumi's distorted voice. And the passages in the middle filled with chunky riffs that make a person who has recently been practising HOLLOW on her guitar more than euphoric. The song would be probably one of their most original and coolest songs if it wasn't for the goddamn fucking cheap chorus where I want to smack Hizumi right in the face and tell him to shut the fuck up. No, the chorus is so damn simple and so like the last 15 choruses they have made on their songs that it really frustrates. It's like having a class filled with wiz-kids and one retard. Sad...sad... But still a strong rocking song that you have no choice but to listen over and over again.
And just when you think you've caught D'espairsRay in their moment of uninspiration you get Scissors, probably the best thing this guys have come up to in the last two years. The song has got this lead, catchy, electro melody that caused me to have a short Ayabie flashback (cause they always use this sweet and cool electro melody in their songs). But on that melody you get growls, great singing and awesome riffs and a refrain with such rapture that it simply takes your breath away. Unpredictable and original! Damn why couldn't you do the same thing on Kamikaze? But the charm of Scissors lies in it's dark-despa feel, taking you back to [Coll:set] but topping all of the songs on that excelent album. In short Scissors takes the best of violence, impulse and mood from old D'espairs and the energy and strenght from new Ray making it a song that shows the best D'espairsRay can make from both their past and present sound. I hope they'll take that path also in the future.
The live version of BRILLIANT is almost the same as the recording, but just with Hizumi's hilarious singing that made me chuckle a few times. He yells like an idiot, which is kinda charming.
So yeah, the symbolic logo change (from coolness to just cheap freeware font crap) showed the certian and predictable sound change from dark-rapeage tunes of the past to bright, rocking, positive yet a bit predictable tunes of today's D'espa. That could have been a rule if Kamikaze was the only song on the single, but Scissors proves it wrong, bringing out the best of D'espairsRay from all periods of their career.
If it was for my mind, this single would have gotten a four star. But if it was for my heart it would get five. Don't you just wish that you weren't born with a heart...
Baku hits second issue! Yeah!
So again I've had fun and haste in making this issue but I believe it has come out quite well (though a bit compressed in article space and similar). I had to hasten up with this issue, but the next issue will probably be widen up to 3 pages or more. So look forward to it. Right now enjoy Baku!
The boys have not just released a new single this month but they have also toured the world going from Europe all the way up to America. I am certain that some of the Baku readers have been a part of this tour. To support Ayabie and to honor their achievements in this month Baku featured them as a cover artist.
But two more bands made it to the cover. The J-rock stars Kagrra,, who will certainly mark the summer both in Europe and Japan, and the jazz-rockers from Sugar. Sugar turned out to be the discovery of the month and as such they are this month's featured artist in Baku.
This time Baku had even more music reviews that really took the most space out of the mag. But in the next issue I'll make sure there is enough space for everything so the whole magazine won't look as a frontal crash of various articles.
Single: chariots - 独 ☆☆☆
Album: Nightmare - Killer Show ☆☆☆☆
Single: born - [-tHiNk-] ☆☆☆
Single: since1889 - DIABOLOS ☆☆☆
Single: 彩冷える - ミカヅキノキセキ ☆☆☆
RELEASE OF THE MONTH
Single: Sugar - antlion ☆☆☆☆
OHP: Sugar
Visunavi profile
Sugar on Rockerica
Founded: 2005.
Label: Graveyard Records
Status: Indie
Vocal: LOKI; Guitar: SIZNA; Bass: 真悟 (Shingo); Drums: 篤人 (Atsuto)
D'espairsRay - BRILLIANT
Even tough D'espairsRay have said that there won't be a new PV, it looks like they have changed their minds. Partially...
BRILLIANT PV is actually the live footage of this songs performance used as a PV. Though not even half as spectacular as the song itself the PV is still decent and shows how brilliantly D'espairsRay perform and put their heart and soul into it.
I have also reviewed this PV whose review and a few screencaps can be seen here.
Hopefully the guys will make a flashy, hardcore PV for their upcoming single KAMIKAZE. D'espairsRay rarely do have PV's but all of them (except this one) and mindblowing. So I'm wondering which is your favorite D'espairsRay PV? Mine is definitely Garnet :) because the PV perfectly fits the song and shows the disturbing, true side of Visual kei.
Listen to the Top 5 songs of the month
(okay momentary not, because I have got limited bandwidth and I can't upload them all but I will try to upload them on summer one day when I go to my dad's place where there is unlimited bandwidth internet. Sorry)
1. Sugar - Blossom
2. Sugar - Danshou to kuroneko
3. Nightmare - Djainism Batsu
4. Nightmare - TrickSTAR
5. Since1889 - celtic
Get the rest of the Baku here! Just click on the images and view them in original size. You may notice that the images are a bit bigger, I've made them like that so you can read Baku easier. And as always I look forward to your comments, suggestions, feedback, ideas and similar. Enjoy this issue of Baku.
As from today up to 12.7.2008. I won't post anything on Rockerica because I have to learn and I really don't have time to spend here. But after the short hiatus I will post reviews and everything else from this two week period. Thank you for your understanding and support.
And while I'm here please wish me luck in my entry exams for medicine college. If I pass I'll celebrate it, of course, here on Rockerica. I'll make a huge party on this site and you all are invited to party with me.
Till next time! ジャーネー!
Asari.
And they've said that there will be no PV. AHA! YOU LYING BITCHES!!!!!
But then again this isn't a actual PV, just the live performance of Brilliant from one of their recent lives mixed up with the CD version of Brilliant. LAZY BITCHEZZZZZZ!!!! In their almost ten years of existence they've released like what 6 PV's but each was a true little masterpiece for itself so this 5-minute edit feels as made just sio that the guys would get some screentime on TV. And I already had imagined the PV to be all flashy, like trickstar but with some broken glass, lotsa light effects and our boys looking as fierce as ever...
Oh well....
To the not so brillant PV for Brilliant.
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