ONE OK ROCK O2 Academy Islington 26/10/13 Review

ONE OK ROCK deliver on their first show in London

I've always been surprised by ONE OK ROCK's 'lack' of success both in their own country and worldwide; don't get me wrong, I realise they play huge arenas in Japan and have a dedicated global youtube following, but for a band that can sing in both English and Japanese (perfectly) and churn out such great music, they aren't as big as they should and deserve to be. 

The audience today seemed to be mostly non-Japanese and judging from some conversations I overheard, had found out about the band from 'Rurouni Kenshin' and subsequently downloaded their entire discography. 

The band came on in classic Japanese fashion i.e. on time and opened with the explosive "Ending Story". As soon as the audience started to sing along to the Japanese bits, Taka gave a huge smile as did the other members, and throughout the whole show you could tell they were happy and astonished by the overwhelming reaction they were getting.

Despite the band's heavier offerings such as "No Scared" and "Deeper Deeper", there were a surprisingly low number of mosh pits. During ballads and slower songs such as "Be The Light" and "Wherever You Are", everyone swayed in unison with hands raised in the air, which was a sight to behold. 

Every member was on top form tonight and the three instrumentalist's (Toru, Ryota and Tomoya) talents were fully showcased in a jam session during the middle of the set. Taka sung better than he does on record for most if not all of the songs, with "c.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h." and "Clock Strikes" being particularly emotional and standout songs. 

For a first show in London, arguably one of the most prestigious of locations for a Japanese band to play in, they nailed it with their likeable brand of hard rock and their effortless confidence. Another aspect that puts them head and shoulders above other Japanese bands who have played here is Taka's ability to speak English, which obviously allows him to interact with the crowd in a way that bands here do. If you had never heard of them and wandered in during their show, you would be forgiven for thinking they were an American band. Here's to them coming back soon.

10/10

DIR EN GREY NEW SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENT 2014

Ohh it's that time again, that time I've mentioned again and again; the time when DIR EN GREY announce new stuff!

This time round it's another single but it's hard to complain as their post-DUM SPIRO SPERO stuff has been excellent and with DIR EN GREY, nothing is below excellent.

The single is apparently called 'Sustain The Untruth', and no more information has been given as of yet. 

Fingers crossed for more remakes!

The GazettE -FADELESS- Single Review

A disappointing effort from The GazettE

For the past few years, The GazettE has been storming through the visual kei scene, leaving behind many of their peers. They've released something every year, which is something most bands find hard to do, and they've played some of the biggest shows in Japan including slots at Summer Sonic and now Europe is on the horizon with their tour extending to countries such as France and Russia. After the successful 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION' and now the announcement of a new album in October 2013, The GazettE has set the bar high for themselves and they have a lot to live up to; sadly this single doesn't deliver.

'FADELESS' is a single made up of three tracks which weirdly all sound like B sides rejected from 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION'. The title track is an incredibly boring song which follows a basic riff, with no sudden changes or breaks. The sound is more hard rock unlike the electronic sound that was present in 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION'. The guitar work from Aoi and Uruha is particularly disappointing and uninspiring; the song reminded me a lot of 'ROTTING ROOT' by DIR EN GREY; both songs fail to pick up any pace and end up sounding like extended jam sessions. 

'QUIET' starts off with a very promising intro, reminiscent of other GazettE ballads such as 'Kago No Sanagi', 'Cassis' and 'Guren'; however this is the problem. 'QUIET' sounds too similar to 'Kago No Sanagi', so much so that I was able to predict Ruki's vocal melodies the first time I listened to the song. The chorus is forgettable which is a shame, given the promising intro I mentioned. Ruki's vocals and vocal melodies are actually disappointing in both songs; they're not catchy or interesting, and if the singing were to be omitted from the songs nothing would be lost. 

I really hope that this isn't a path that The GazettE are planning to continue on and is just a glitch in the system. These two songs are missing the unique and innovative sound that was explored on the last two albums; don't get me wrong, I'm all for change in bands but changes need to be introduced subtly and gradually, and this is is too quick for my liking.

3/10

*I'm not reviewing 'FORBIDDEN BEAVER'

Missing Dir En Grey for the THIRD TIME.

The first time I came into contact with Dir En Grey was in 2010, when a friend asked if I wanted to go to their gig at Koko in London. At that time I didn't really know them and so I politely declined.

As you may or may not know, I am a HUGE fan of Dir En Grey, but my much-delayed border-line obsession with their music only begun in August 2011, right after their second gig at Koko in London. I was kind of annoyed I had missed them again but I figured that they would be back.

And now as I write this rather pointless and pathetic (in the truest sense) post, I am missing them yet again in 2013 whilst they play at Download Festival. Even though it would only be a 1/2 hour set, words cannot describe how badly I want to see this band.

I just hope that they'll do their usual August Koko gig...

Maximum The Hormone New Song + Album Announcement

HURRAH! After six years (of no albums) MTH are back, with new material. 

They released their new music video 'alien' through a frustratingly time-consuming campaign released 02/06/13 which involved clicking on tons of clicks to find the 'Atari' (correct) link. 

The song 'Alien' is probably one of the craziest MTH songs, yet weirdly one of the most accessible. The first half sounds almost like a mess, kept in line through Ryō and Daisuke-Han's vocals and there are breakdowns (incredibly heavy ones) galore. The lyrics are as weird as ever, referencing Jedis at one point. The first half closes with a much-missed slap part from Ue-chan. The music video shows them playing to an audience. 

Now, MTH are known for their unique mixture of hardcore and j-pop influenced music. HOWEVER it would be safe to say that the second half of this 'Alien' is one of the most j-pop choruses to come from MTH. The music video also changes, showing an blond anime princess while the drummer Nao takes over, singing the word 'Alien' in her most teen-idol way possible. It's almost like a lullaby. The song then progresses into a huge sing-along of 'Winny stop' (Winny is a p2p site in Japan), with the band playing on stage as if on a Japanese music show. This theme is further continued when the whole video ends with MTH logo shown in the style of the NHK logo. 

Finally the video ends in classic MTH style with an joke-y argument between Nao and Daisuke-Han on 'Winny'. 

A new album was also announced, for a release on 31st of July 2013, with 15 new songs!!

The GazettE -DIVISION- a look at the limited edition... (Very Late)

I wrote this post last year, but I had forgotten that I had drafted it for some reason so here it is (rewritten and amended).
Like the limited edition of 'The Unraveling' by DEG, 'Division' also comes in a book format, but much bigger and bulkier. It's quite an impressive thing; however, most of the content is pictures, which is okay but there are definitely way too many pictures. They could have done member interviews or something.
Picture 1: The front cover, I think it's the same as the cover on the normal CD box.

Picture 2: These are the sort of pictures included. They're very nicely done and most are either pictures of water or the geisha-type girls.

Picture 3: This is the way in which the CDs are encased. (Here it is Fragment[Vein])

Picture 4: Each song has a double page to it. Here it shows 'Ibitsu' with an accompanying picture.

Picture 5: This is the double page for 'Derangement'.

Picture 6: This is perhaps my favourite page of the book, the pages for '[Melt]'. I think the picture captures the sense of the song perfectly.

Picture 7: Various interviews from the band.

DIR EN GREY -THE UNRAVELING- a look at the limited edition

So being a huge DEG fan and all, I bought the limited edition of 'THE UNRAVELING' which finally arrived today! It's really cool and it comes in a nicely packaged book format.

There are three parts to it: a cover box, CD case and a book. The lyrics in the book are in both English and Japanese (here it shows Kasumi). And lastly, most annoyingly, this is the ticket to the special gig on the 24th of May, but because I live in England I can't go!!! :'(