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traxan
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 12:46 pm 
 



I know some people here like them. Well, you might agree with me that this band is done. This single is the worst thing they've done yet and the video is pathetic. They've gone down the pop road just like Cyntia and Exist Trace. I can't believe this is the same band that wrote "Deep Exceed." Not even In Flames went downhill this fast. I'd had high hopes when I saw they hired Terry Bozzio's stepdaughter to be their new drummer but she can't save this.

Meanwhile, Rami returns from her health issues and kicks ass. So there's hope with her. Maybe Yoshi will come to her senses, fire Re:No and get Rami back.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 1:33 pm 
 

Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking there. Re:NO clearly wrote that song, and to be honest, they should keep her out of the songwriting process altogether (pretty much all of the pop/rock songs on Dazed and Delight were her doing). Keep that shit for a solo project or something.

I don't think they're quite dead yet, because "Believe Myself" sounds pretty good. They certainly need to pick one direction and stick with it.


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traxan
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:01 pm 
 

Well I think one of the problems with "die for you" is that Toki wrote it. This other song is clearly a Yoshi composition. Re:No does the lyrics, Yoshi does the songs. But to accomodate Re:NO's weak voice, Yoshi has been toning it down significantly since "District Zero."

Quite a showing for Marina on that new song. I knew she'd be a good drummer, what with her stepdad (Terry Bozzio).

But Re:No has to go. They gotta get Rami back.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 3:22 pm 
 

I kinda wish Sawa would write more songs - she tends to write their more strange/interesting compositions (Misty Moon, Anemone, and I think she did Galmet's "Another/Mind"). Toki and Re:NO composed Megalomaniac, so they're not completely useless lol

"Believe Myself" was the song I heard first, so I went into this really optimistic. Marina's pretty fucking fast, and makes Aruto's departure much more bearable. She'll have no problem doing the old songs, and may actually be better. Not sure if she can do backing vocals or not (Aruto did, surprisingly enough). "Die For You" was actually was what I was dreading when I first saw their new visual, label change, etc. Next album will probably be a variety-hour clusterfuck again, but I'm pretty used to that sort of thing now.

Re:NO seems to get along great with the rest of the band, so I doubt she'll be leaving (mind you, if their chart positions tank, she'll get booted lightning fast). With the abundance female wailers in Japan, she would've been my last choice for a vocalist though. I cannot fathom ever getting Rami back (even though she and Aldious are still friends) - squandering all the work getting Raglaia launched, it wouldn't make sense. Raglaia has the potential to be at least as big as Aldious anyway (their first single was pretty successful). They have a 2nd single out this summer too, btw.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 5:26 pm 
 

They hired Re:NO one month after Rami left, which really left me wondering if there was more to the story. Well, obviously Rami didn't return and expect her old job back. You're right; from tweets and blog posts, it's clear the girls have bonded with Re:NO, and in fairness she has a beautiful voice. But it's like a reviewer said here on MA, Aldious now sounds like Metallica fronted by Sade (you know, the black woman with the shaved head, sang "Sweetest Taboo" and some other hits I forget). I haven't heard a singer this misplaced since Anette joined Nightwish. And we all know how THAT ended.

I wonder if Yoshi will actually pull the trigger. She HAS to know that things are different. She's writing all these mid-tempo songs to accommodate Re:NO in the first place. The last album sold less than the first, although I blame the shit production. It was AWFUL. Considering Yoshi OWNS Bright Star Records, she knows something is wrong. The question is will she do it. The Japanese are notorious for never speaking the truth to each other. Will anyone there tell Yoshi how utterly ridiculous that video looks, with woman in her mid-20s acting like a teenager crying over a breakup? Or that the set looks like something out of a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu video?

Yeah, it would be throwing away Raglaia, but I would think Japanese music journalists would be relieved they never have to pronounce that name again. :) And her band is full of veterans. They won't have trouble finding work, especially K-A-Z.

BTW, K-A-Z posted this video from one of the Raglaia shows. They only have 3 original songs so the rest of the set is Aldious covers and other stuff. When I saw him playing a 7 string Schecter I thought maybe Loomis was an influence but this is clear Steve Vai.


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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 6:25 pm 
 

I think Re:NO's contrast with Aldious' music is rather unique - definitely appealing to me, but I can see how its off-putting to others (ie, like everyone lol). But most of their songs (esp. the fast ones), every single one would've been much better with Rami. The production on Dazed and Delight didn't bother me that much (it was needlessly raw though). District Zero, on the other hand... ugh, that one sounded terrible (and Galneryus' producer was at the helm for that one, I believe.). Every song from it sounded much better on the accompanying live DVD.

I think with Raglaia, Aldious needs Rami a lot more than Rami needs them (much like Marina and Destrose). One thing that concerned me with Raglaia was Rami wasn't waling like she used to (she seemed a bit reigned in). You may have seen this, but if not:



She still has it.

I'm curious to see of Raglaia will re-record some of the Aldious songs that Rami wrote.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:00 pm 
 

Can you explain on Marina and Destrose? Given Destrose essentially broke up and went through a dozen members in its time, that band was seriously unstable.

As for Rami, Toki wrote a big blog update after she and Rami went to dinner and got caught up. She mentioned that Rami had taken singing lessons, probably for health reasons. Rami had an undisclosed brain disease, and screaming like she did must have put pressure on her. By learning to sing properly, I bet she takes pressure off her noggin.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:22 pm 
 

Oh man, I'm not sure what's up with Destrose, but there's something seriously shrewy there. They've had so many complete line-up implosions, like before their first album was even released. To the casual observer, it'd be easy to pin the blame on Mina. But I dunno... there could be something with management (I'm sure that's what killed Albion). Not sure how much of it is due to musical direction. Like Mary's Blood (despite being all over the place) isn't that huge of a change.

Marina technically quit due to "musical differences", but the songs she penned for Mardelas and Destrose are fairly similar. Sure Mardelas had some non-metal stuff (seems to be commonplace over there), but I don't buy the musical differences thing. (This is just hearsay) but supposedly Marina didn't want to be known as "a vocalist for a girl band". I wouldn't be shocked if she got sick of all the girl-band crap over there.

Now with Mina quitting the band she founded ("health reasons" - not doubting her condition, but that seems to be really common over there) and forming Fate Gear (with a promising new vocalist and propped up with support members)... it just seems really weird to me. The rest of Destrose went on haitus (no shock) - I think Lisa had to stop singing due to problems with her vocal chords. That seems to be commonplace over there too... but man, she's as soft as Re:NO. Singing like Marina, Fuki, or Julia (Cross Vein) I can see causing damage though.

The remaining members of Destrose seem to be friends though, so I wouldn't be shocked to see them form a new band. Again, we don't know all the behind-the-scenes stuff over there. I'm pretty sure someone is investing money in these bands, and there could be conflict with who's pulling the strings.

Was Rami's illness ever disclosed? (they sure don't like discussing such things over there, can't blame them though). Regardless of what's happened, I'm glad she's back.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:32 pm 
 

I found this message from Rami shortly after she left:

http://mixi.jp/view_bbs.pl?comm_id=5474589&id=72120559

The salient quote:

HPでは「体調不良」と簡潔に書かせて頂いておりますが
実際は重く、完治が見込めない脳の病気です。
世の中には沢山同じ病名の方がいらっしゃいますが
私には私だけの症状があります。
病名は身内にしか知られたくないので、お察し下さい。

A friend translated it:

"Even though on our official homepage, it is simply stated as 'not feeling well', but the truth is it is a severe/serious condition of the brain that can not be completely cured. There are many people out there that has the same disease as me, but I have symptoms that are specific to me. As to the exact name and detail of the disease, that is something that I want to keep within my family and I, thank you for your understanding."

ブログで、命に関する内容のものを沢山書くようになりました。
それは、私が死の淵に直面した出来事があったからです。

"I started writing entries in my blog regarding life. The reason I started was because I have to deal with the possibility of death directly"

Obviously the original diagnosis was wrong.

I've noticed multiple musicians being stricken with health problems since 2012. Naota from Anthem getting cancer, Rami, Armmy from Gacharic Spin with her autoimmune illness, plus a few more. I can't help but wonder if this is Fukushima related.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:43 pm 
 

That all seems pretty vague - could be depression or something too. But at any rate, at least she's doing well.

Fukoshima has to be a factor, for sure. I did notice that Armmy is back with a new band (Takeita) with Eita from 時空海賊Seven Seas. So I'm guessing she got better and/or Takeita isn't as demanding as Gacharic Spin was (very hard working band with a rather energetic live show).

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traxan
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:29 pm 
 

In another message Rami said her doctors told her never to perform again because she risked collapse on stage.

Armmy's condition was said to be pretty bad. Her immune system was attacking her nervous system. It was a bummer she was taken out. That girl was incredibly fit. She had amazing abs, and you usually don't see hardbodies over there. But her departure was also the best thing to happen to GS because Hana stepped up in a way I haven't seen since Roger Waters stepped up after Sid Barrett went crazy.

I can find nothing on Armmy coming back or her new band. Do you have a source link?

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 11:21 pm 
 

Here's their homepage: http://takaeita.webnode.jp/

She's using her real name (Takae) now, btw.

Aldious better be careful, Gacharic Spin may get more metal than them :lol:

Back to Aldious - I'm gonna go on good faith that "Die for You" is a goof-off song and am not going to take it very seriously (that video seemed really exaggerated, like they're trying to be funny or something). If the majority of the next album is like that, I won't be impressed. They should've made a point in making "Believe Myself" readily available first, so people wouldn't panic (like Raglaia, it was released at HMV Japan's site first).

Its kinda annoying how there's 3 versions of that single (well, Japan has that Type A, B, etc crap) - with different track orders. I guess its a triple A-side. Dearly doesn't appear to have a video - I did hear a very brief audio snippet (someone posted a link in the comment section on Aldious' official facebook) and it seemed ok.

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volutetheswarth
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Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:37 pm
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Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:34 am 
 

traxan wrote:

I don't what band this is but that song is the most generic pop-punk Avril Lavigne/Simple Plan garbage since the early 00's.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:04 pm 
 

Which is why I'm so pissed in the first place.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 4:57 pm 
 

Third song from their maxi single, "Dearly." This is quite good, especially the rhythm section. Sawa and Marina are one hell of a duo.


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Dudemanguy
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:06 pm 
 

Oh, I didn't see this thread before.

I've always had mixed feelings on Aldious even with Rami at the helm. Their balls-to-the-wall, speedy tracks like Spirit Black are great, but they always put in slower rockers in their albums which almost always feel meh to me and dilute my enjoyment a lot.

To be honest, I kind of like the guitar wankery in Die For You and it would be catchy enough for me to give it a pass on an album that otherwise had more respectable songs. That song you posted just now is, of course, way better and pretty good on its own.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:24 pm 
 

I received the single in the mail a week or so ago. I don't hate "Die for You" as much as I should (YAY YAY YAY GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!!!), but I think Dearly and Believe Myself are amongst the best songs they've done. I prefer those 2 songs to anything Raglaia has done so far (well, "Cross" was pretty fucking cool). If their upcoming album is more like that, I think they'll be in good shape. I'm considering "Die For You" as a "goof-off" song until proven wrong otherwise... unfortunately, it will probably be on the upcoming album too, since its a triple A-side.

As predicted, "Die For You" was written by Re:NO (with the aid of a ghost-writer). Toki did "Believe Myself" and Yoshi did "Dearly".

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Liquid_Braino
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:48 pm 
 

^ Ugh, maybe I'll have to get this after all. I suppose that's a good thing, since I don't want to give up on this group.

I'm also curious about the upcoming Raglaia single, and maybe just a bit worried. That cover is telling me to expect something tamer than Breaking Dawn, but you never know with these groups. I'm still thinking it will be killer...but I've been shafted before.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:54 pm 
 

Here's the clip for Aching Memories:

I was underwhelmed at first, but it grew on me (much like the first single). So I'm curious to hear the entire thing. I'm sure Promises will be a ballad... I think a PV for that is gonna be released soon (its not on the bonus DVD, so hopefully the entire thing will be posted on youtube). They're also recording their debut full-length.

I'm glad Aldious still has metal in them - I'd be shocked of Cyntia came to their senses. I'm not sure if you've checked Cyntia's songwriting credits, but Woman was the first album where they solely wrote all of their own material. It makes me wonder if they were a manufactured band and "forced" to play metal.

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Dudemanguy
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:10 pm 
 

I dunno; that song instantly hooked me. Man, I think I'm going to have to get those Raglaia singles now. I like how out of place the drummer looks (he should be in a dudebro slam band or something), but he kills it behind the kit.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:19 pm 
 

The guitarist looks totally out of place too (he's a big fucker too) - they both completely contrast the girls in that band. With the first single, its rather odd that I like the B-side (Cross) more than the 2 A-sides. Just as a warning with that one, the regular edition has no tray card (that's actually somewhat common with singles there) and there's that Type A/B bullshit (one having one PV, and the other one having the other one). I pre-ordered the limited edition for "Promises" because there's only one limited edition this time. Plus for some strange reason, CDs with DVDs are discounted at HMV Japan.

The other thing I really hate with singles is most (maybe even all) of the songs will be on a future full-length. At least with western CDs, we don't have that problem - but singles are still quite rampant in Japan.

Like Dominator, I'll have Dearly and Believe Myself played 30-50 times long before the pending full-length comes out.

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Dudemanguy
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:29 pm 
 

Yeah the guitarist looks goofy too, but at least he matches the riffs he's playing. I'm totally expecting the drummer to do a slam or something any second. It's a really interesting image either way, but I certainly like what I'm hearing so no complaints from me. I really don't care about collecting all the videos, but I usually get one of them anyway if I like the band enough just to throw them a couple more yen assuming I don't lose a full track or something. Normally, I decide based on which album cover I like better (Type B in this case). They're actually kinda cheap on Amazon, so I just went with that.

As long as the B-Sides are still good; I'm okay with getting singles. At least it's not like older visual kei bands where the b-sides are almost always remixes of the same song. But then again, having worthwhile b-sides does cause you to spend more money so maybe it is a bad thing.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:47 pm 
 

Sometimes singles turn out being exclusive or better than the succeeding album (eg, that Albion one). Aldious' exclusive B-sides are ok, but nothing to lose sleep over. Personally if one had to get their latest single, I'd get type C. Better track order. Dearly -> Believe Myself -> Die For You (can be perceived as a goof-off B-side). I have type B and Die For You is sandwiched between the other two songs - no continuity whatsoever.

Onmyo-Za has some fucking awesome B-sides (esp. ones like Manji). That exclusive song on their latest compilation is pretty good too.

With Raglaia, I'm gonna guess Cross will stay exclusive.

[edit] Galneryus has some really awesome B-sides too, come to think of it (namely Metal Trigger and Bleed in Chaos). Oh, both B-sides on their last single are really good - better than most of Vetelgyus, even.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:18 am 
 

Perdition666 wrote:
I prefer those 2 songs to anything Raglaia has done so far (well, "Cross" was pretty fucking cool).


Come now, be fair. Aldious has been a functional band since 2009, Raglaia isn't even a year old. I had an issue with Rami coming back and immediately starting recording. The band should gig around Osaka (where she lives) and gel as a unit before they start releasing material. Then again, Broderick is doing the same thing with his new band so i guess the old rules about solidifying as a band don't apply any more.

I follow Rami on twitter and if the useless translations are correct, a full length album is in the works. Personally, I would have preferred a second guitarist in the band to do the back and forth play that Yoshi and Toki do so well (when Toki isn't pointing incessantly at the audience. That gets old after a while).

BTW you guys know that Raglaia's guitarist K-A-Z was the producer of Aldious's atrocious "Dazed and Delight" album right? I can't figure out how he fucked up so badly. The dude is a veteran, he knows his stuff. That album sounded like "St. Anger."

Cyntia... time to give up on them. Although that "Return to Myself" video is worth repeated viewing. Even Katy perry doesn't have that many boob shots in her videos.

Have you guys heard the preview of the upcoming Mary's Blood album? They sure as hell aren't going soft.

Perdition666 wrote:
The other thing I really hate with singles is most (maybe even all) of the songs will be on a future full-length. At least with western CDs, we don't have that problem - but singles are still quite rampant in Japan.


No kidding. I know I'll get shit for this but I don't care... Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's last album featured four singles released months before the album. When the album came out I was like, WTH I've already heard half of this.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:37 am 
 

As mentioned earlier, I don't find "Dazed and Delight" to be that bad. I've heard a hell of a lot worse (like District Zero :P). One good thing about the new single is - it has their best production. I didn't bother to see who produced it though. I honestly don't care much for Raglaia's production either, but its not enough to ruin the material for me.

I did see that latest Mary's Blood clip and the production (guitar tone) on that one sounded really off, but the music seemed pretty good (nice and aggressive). I liked their previous one a lot, so I have high hopes for the upcoming one. Eye keeps getting better and better.

Exist Trace and Yousei Teikoku are pretty bad for single/EP overlap with full-lengths as well. I actually own both versions of Diamond (don't laugh) and I'm probably gonna flip them on ebay or something - no exclusive material, mastering is better on the album, and the music isn't really that great anyway.

Cyntia I'm gonna allow one more album before bailing, but I'm not holding my breath. I didn't hate their last one, but to be honest, I can't really remember to much from it. Played it 3-4 times, filed it in my CD collection, and forgot it existed. I really hope bands over there get criticism for when they fuck up and actually listen to it.

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OlderBudweiser
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 7:07 am 
 

I Always find ^female Japanese ( power/ speed))metalbands to be very "beating around the bush". you have Spirit black from Aldious, and i very much enjoy it. Blasts pretty often through my headset. On the other hand you have tracks, that you need to double check if you are dealing with the same band. This was already the case when Rami was in the band. I only take Aldious as an example of this fact. But i guess people who are into J-"metal" know what i mean. Lightbringer is also a premium example.

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Dudemanguy
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:42 am 
 

I get your point, but I felt that Light Bringer stopped "beating around the bush" after the first album (maybe the last album too depending on your perspective). Well, I guess if you don't like their poppier numbers, but that's sort of the point of the band.

Perdition666 wrote:
Onmyo-Za has some fucking awesome B-sides (esp. ones like Manji). That exclusive song on their latest compilation is pretty good too.

Please don't remind me of all of the singles I'm missing. Trying not to go too broke here. Ugh, there's also that compilation with exclusive tracks. :lol:

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:03 am 
 

Japan doesn't seem to be quite as obsessed with genres and partitioning things off as over here. Plus they don't have the same aversion towards pop as people over here do (mind you, J-pop is no where near as castrated and dumbed-down as western pop). Personally I feel they pull genre-hopping off well, whereas most bands over here would fall flat on their face. I can definitely understand how it would be off-putting to a lot of western metalheads, at any rate. To add insult to injury, a lot of bands over there are fundamentally sound (ie, being well-versed in 70s and 80s rock and metal). Oh yeah, they haven't divorced themselves from their rock parent like they did over here.

The only Aldious song on the first 3 albums that was a bit out of place was Wish Song and maybe Scabby Heart (I never had a problem with either one). Variation can be a good thing, but they got too unfocused with their last album though. The last Mary's Blood is probably the limit of variation a band should have. Bands like Aphasia are probably too fucking jarring.

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Dudemanguy
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:11 am 
 

I'm perfectly a-ok with wacky genre hoping. I like stuff like Sigh and Unexpect after all; you just have to do it well. Hard rock songs on power metal albums hardly counts as genre-hopping anyway. For me, it just seems like Aldious's softer songs are kinda meh. They might grow on me more though; I admittedly haven't listened to what I have a lot.

On a semi-related note, I think Marty Friedman said in an interview that J-pop can have up to like 60 different chords while western pop has like 6. The dude has been listening to that stuff for decades, so I'll trust his judgement on that.

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~Guest 76452
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:40 am 
 

Aldious' slower songs and ballads I actually like a lot. Then again, I like "The Breeze at Dawn" (good atmosphere/mood on that one). Albion's ballad off of Campanula is better than any of Aldious' though.

Yeah, I may've read the some interview with Marty. He also said J-pop isn't afraid to throw in distorted guitars and solos, which is true. I also notice it runs at faster tempos and will use odd beats and time signatures as well. Mind you most of that stuff I'm really hard-pressed to even call pop (like, is Gacharic Spin or Doll$boxx really pop?)

Mary's Blood and Gacharic Spin were opening acts for Marty Friedman's band awhile back. Both Marty and Takayoshi Ohmura (his support guitarist) joined Saki and Tomo-Zo (at each respective concert) for a jam session towards the end, which was pretty cool.

The really strange thing I noticed is quite often you get (underground/indie) pop bands touring with metal bands over there. Aldious is big enough where they strictly do one-mans (and sometimes festivals or whatever). This looks like a fun concert. And this I have no words.

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traxan
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:15 pm 
 

Perdition666 wrote:
The last Mary's Blood is probably the limit of variation a band should have. Bands like Aphasia are probably too fucking jarring.


That MB album is a bit schitzo too. In the middle they have that distinctly 80s song and then slowly go back to heavy again.


Dudemanguy wrote:
I'm perfectly a-ok with wacky genre hoping. I like stuff like Sigh and Unexpect after all; you just have to do it well. Hard rock songs on power metal albums hardly counts as genre-hopping anyway. For me, it just seems like Aldious's softer songs are kinda meh. They might grow on me more though; I admittedly haven't listened to what I have a lot.


In "Global Metal," Marty noted that X Japan would go from thrashy songs to sappy Barry Manilow ballads next, something you'd never see in western music.

Dudemanguy wrote:
On a semi-related note, I think Marty Friedman said in an interview that J-pop can have up to like 60 different chords while western pop has like 6. The dude has been listening to that stuff for decades, so I'll trust his judgement on that.


Right here.



Perdition666 wrote:
Mary's Blood and Gacharic Spin were opening acts for Marty Friedman's band awhile back. Both Marty and Takayoshi Ohmura (his support guitarist) joined Saki and Tomo-Zo (at each respective concert) for a jam session towards the end, which was pretty cool.


Marty personally CHOSE them to be his support acts. Says a lot about those bands.

And I would kill to see that jam. Tomo-Zo is so goofy I still don't know how to rate her but Saki is fucking incredible.

The GS girls released instructional videos on how to play their song "Sekira Liar" and you can see how baka these girls are, especially Reona, who is credited with "vocals / keyboards / sexy."








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Liquid_Braino
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Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:25 am
Posts: 596
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:38 pm 
 

Perdition666 wrote:
Bands like Aphasia are probably too fucking jarring.


I reread my Wings of Fire review and I'm still not sure if I make any fucking sense trying to describe that album musically to a westerner.

Bands like Aphasia aren't wonky and weird per-se...they just have this really wide range of what they consider to be metal, rock or pop with lots of overlapping as well as decade hopping in terms of influences. It makes review writing fun in that describing what the band actually sounds like is more of a challenge than expressing my opinion on them (that Mardelas full length has been a bitch to write about...I keep putting it off).

As for Cyntia, it is interesting that they wrote all the songs for that Woman album (honestly for album sleeves, I gander at the photos while I upload the disc, then into storage it goes). Considering how much I loved Limit Break, it was a real downer to hear not just pop, but pretty much generic pop. I'm wondering if that's why Kanoko really quit Cyntia this year, apparent "health reasons" aside.

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traxan
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
Posts: 1434
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:44 pm 
 

Another musician quitting for health reasons? Either Fukushima is worse than we thought or that's the generic excuse to quit a band. It could go either way... did you see those mutant flowers around Fukushima? Yeah it could be fucking up the country. Then again, the Japanese are notorious for never saying what they really mean.

BTW those girls in Band-Maid don't write their songs either. They perform them for sure but the songs are written by a non-member.

Braino, just read your Cyntia reviews. You kill me. :)

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Dudemanguy
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Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 7:19 pm
Posts: 2449
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:13 pm 
 

traxan wrote:
Right here.

This kind of stuff makes me wonder if there's any actual academic research on this. Would be interesting to see random samples of music from various countries and see how they look like structurally in terms of music theory and all that. I have no idea how that'll get any funding though.

Oh and no pressure Braino, but I'm totally waiting on that Mardelas review to decide whether or not I pull the trigger on that one. I totally felt the same way about the Eclipse PV as your review of the single. 3 out of 10 songs isn't a very promising ratio. Perdition very obviously likes it from what he's telling me though.

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~Guest 76452
Metal freak

Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:40 pm
Posts: 4414
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:36 pm 
 

traxan wrote:
Perdition666 wrote:
The last Mary's Blood is probably the limit of variation a band should have. Bands like Aphasia are probably too fucking jarring.


That MB album is a bit schitzo too. In the middle they have that distinctly 80s song and then slowly go back to heavy again.

Campanula is actually one of my favorites from that one. XOXO and Black Cat kinda stick out like sore thumbs too. Saki wrote most of that album. I had Mari pegged for Coronation Day, but it turned out Saki wrote that one (and Campanula). Well, she likes pop, metal and jazz, sooooo....

Quote:
And I would kill to see that jam. Tomo-Zo is so goofy I still don't know how to rate her but Saki is fucking incredible.

Tomo-Zo rarely shows off, whereas Saki wanks like a motherfucker lol EITA (時空海賊Seven Seas) is probably my favorite female guitarist over there, followed closely by Hanako. Hell, Saki and Hanako have played together in a few live cover bands before. After she left Albion, I was hoping she'd join Mary's Blood.

Did you ever see this:

First 4 minutes, Saki having a guitar duel with some guy (I think its Isao from SPARK7) at some wrestling event or whatever. I wish we'd get stuff like that over here.

Liquid_Braino wrote:
Perdition666 wrote:
Bands like Aphasia are probably too fucking jarring.


I reread my Wings of Fire review and I'm still not sure if I make any fucking sense trying to describe that album musically to a westerner.

Bands like Aphasia aren't wonky and weird per-se...they just have this really wide range of what they consider to be metal, rock or pop with lots of overlapping as well as decade hopping in terms of influences. It makes review writing fun in that describing what the band actually sounds like is more of a challenge than expressing my opinion on them

No argument there. It just seems really weird having songs like FUN☆FUN, followed up by Crush and Burn. Seems doubly weird having women well in their 30s pulling that stuff off with a shred of conviction. Good band, but certainly not for every everyone. Not sure if that band even exists anymore. They did some lives a year or so ago with new material played, but that's the last I heard of them. Their vocalist is in a new band called SeRafiL. No idea what genre they play, but I'm guessing/hoping prog.

Quote:
(that Mardelas full length has been a bitch to write about...I keep putting it off).

That one is actually my album of the year, so far. But yeah, its a clusterfuck. Come to think of it, it does remind me a lot of Aphasia musically. You know, you could write a couple paragraphs on the high note at the end of D.D.C alone. :lol: Songs like Hyperfly I didn't like immediately, but the stupid thing grew on me.

Quote:
As for Cyntia, it is interesting that they wrote all the songs for that Woman album (honestly for album sleeves, I gander at the photos while I upload the disc, then into storage it goes). Considering how much I loved Limit Break, it was a real downer to hear not just pop, but pretty much generic pop. I'm wondering if that's why Kanoko really quit Cyntia this year, apparent "health reasons" aside.

Yeah, I'm not too bothered by Japanese bands going pop, but at least be good at it. Woman just seemed unmemorable and half-assed. With the health reason stuff, from what I gather, most of the time its bullshit (usually to cover up an internal dispute).

So with Aldious, Rami probably left because she had a spat with Yoshi (probably over $$$). Its weird how they seem to be friends now. Unless that's all PR bullshit too. Also a chance K-A-Z helped them mend fences. I did notice that Rami's label "Across Music" is linked to the same label Aldious is on (and that label was in Aldious' special thanks list even on the early albums). It just seemed really fucking weird to me Aldious essentially "firing" their own label and going to another label. BrightStar was their label initially, then they merged with Spinning (another label over there). Aside from Aldious, that label really hasn't done much of anything lately (they used to license Euro metal like Pythia for Japan's market). All this fucking side-drama is almost as interesting as the actual music itself. :P

Dudemanguy wrote:
Oh and no pressure Braino, but I'm totally waiting on that Mardelas review to decide whether or not I pull the trigger on that one. I totally felt the same way about the Eclipse PV as your review of the single. 3 out of 10 songs isn't a very promising ratio. Perdition very obviously likes it from what he's telling me though.

Oh, I do. But Eclipse, Phantasia, and Daybreak aren't totally representive. I guess DCC and Scapegoat are in line with those two. It kinda does what Mary's Blood did with the middle of their last album. Fortunately, some of my favorite songs are towards the middle (namely Moonstone and Waves). I swear to fuck "Deep-G" rips off the chorus to Light Bringer's "Just Kidding!". However, Hibiki does no songwriting whatsoever on it. I think Marina does 3 1/2 and the other guy does the rest. I'm really hoping Masha (ex-Crying Machine) joins the band full-time - that guy is extremely talented.

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traxan
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
Posts: 1434
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:49 pm 
 

Perdition666 wrote:
So with Aldious, Rami probably left because she had a spat with Yoshi (probably over $$$). Its weird how they seem to be friends now. Unless that's all PR bullshit too. Also a chance K-A-Z helped them mend fences.


Got anything to back that up? I mean, she was talking in other places about her health and for 2.5 years she was dead quiet. it is odd that they picked Re:No so fast when it took them forever to replace Aruto. Plus, using a cover story of health would mean getting the others to go along with it.

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~Guest 76452
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Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:40 pm
Posts: 4414
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:57 pm 
 

Nope, just assumptions and speculation (like there's any way to get concrete evidence, c'mon :P) And there's no way we'll ever know what really happened. Its like Rami didn't exist after she left the band (I guess she couldn't have went too far since they'd have to pay her royalties for any song she helped write anytime they played them live). Re:NO was a very strange case - either their label pulled the strings or it was something they were working on behind the scenes for awhile. Not the best choice, but there's nothing we can really do about it (and she's settled into the band nicely now, for better or worse).

Aruto's departure seemed a bit more abrupt. Initially I was hoping that NANA-A would've been her replacement, but Marina is doing a good job. Aruto has went pretty silent too, except for when her twitter got hacked by some spyware/spambot thing.

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traxan
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:30 pm 
 

How could the label pull strings when Yoshi is the owner of Bright Star? Plus, I dug up a comment of her somewhere saying "Some day Rami and I will share a stage again" or something to that effect.

Aruto's departure made sense. She got married and moved away from Tokyo where the band is based. I heard Nagoya. She decided it was best to just retire. Don't forget, Japanese view on family is a little different. True there are some women who continue to perform after getting married and having a kid - Kumi Koda is still shaking her ass on stage even after having a baby - but by and large, when women over there get married, careers end. One day after Aruto's announcement, Destrose's drummer said she was quitting music to get married as well. And Aruto's departure was announced months in advance. There was a great band shot of them at her final gig. Everyone wore purple like she does so they all matched. Was weird to see Toki not wearing pink.

I thought Nana-A was gorgeous but I never heard her play with the band. But they got a killer drummer in Marina. If her dad can help them out, so much the better to have an ally like him. Notice she plays DW drums and has an endorsement with Vic Firth sticks. So does dad.

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~Guest 76452
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Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:40 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:47 pm 
 

Well, when Brightstar and Spinning merged, I think something changed with management. I have seen pictures posted of members with some older guy (who I assumed was the label owner). All these bands are really well organized/coordinated (and funded), I've noticed.

Didn't Haruna also have a problem with her ear/hearing as well? She's still friends with the band. Not sure what's up with Lisa - she's still listed on the bandpage. Since they're on hiatus now, I'm expecting/hoping they'll just form a new band. Narumi and Miho are too talented to just do nothing.

Last year, Nana-A played in an all-girl cover band called GALneryus where they covered Galneryus (surprise!), Alhambra and a few others - you need some serious skill to pull shit like that off. She was in Koga's old band The Pink Panda (and later Blistar). Marina lived up to my expectations though (and they were pretty high), and she seems to be getting with the rest of the band well (I wonder if its her who does all the English translations on their facebook?).

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traxan
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
Posts: 1434
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:58 pm 
 

What Facebook? They don't say shit. Gacharic, Raglaia, and Band-Maid are far better at English updates.

Nana's main band is a real waste of her talent. Basically a White Stripes clone, and we all know how little talent is required for that.

Yeah, Haruna did cite her hearing problems along with the marriage for leaving.

What I wonder about with Aldious is what caused that blow up earlier this year where they abandoned their fan club, old web page, all their blogs and management.

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