DIR EN GREY ANNOUNCE NEW MINI ALBUM

This band just do not stop, do they? They'd already made my year with the announcements of 'Rinkaku' and their ESP signature guitars; I'm not complaining though, and with the announcement of their new mini album, my year is definitely completed. (At this rate they'll probably announce something on New Years Eve) :P


The new mini album will be called 'THE UNRAVELING' and promises to show the 'evolution/depth/genuineness of DIR EN GREY). When I read their description of the mini album, I instantly thought that this could mean either a sort-of-return to their old sound (like Withering to death) or a new sound taking ideas from their whole discography (which is probably more likely given that this is what the band is famous for). Regardless of the final outcome, this is very exciting news. 


It's quite a pricey album, with three different versions on offer: a limited deluxe version, a limited version and a normal version ranging from ￥7,350, ￥3,150, ￥2,625 respectively. I will probably buy the limited 
deluxe version, as it comes with two CDs and one DVD, so I'm guessing the extra CD will be either a live album or bonus tracks, which is always exciting. 

The album is out next year 2013/4/3

BIGBANG Wembley Arena 14/12/12 review

Let me just start off by saying I had high expectations of this gig and I was incredibly excited; I had watched so many PVs and Inkigayos that I felt I had seen them live already... and I was not dissapointed.

I was quite near the front standing, so when 'Alive' blasted out, I had to endure a rush forwards (me  included in the rush). They went on to play 'Tonight', which had the whole audience moving and also gave us our firt glimpse of the members of BIGBANG.

Now, the members of BIGBANG. WOW, FANTASTIC BABY. They are so much hotter and cooler in the flesh, its ridiculous. G Dragon was smaller and thinner than I thought, but along with TOP, the two are literally perfect. Taeyang, Seungri and Daesung were as I imagined, but still hotter than on youtube. By the end of the night two things were clear: they can really sing and they can really dance.

They played a lot of my favourite songs, such as 'Hands Up', 'Stupid Liar' and 'Heaven'. I think with every song they changed their outfits, which was impressive in its own right. The band were incredible, as they added things to the songs that weren't present in the studio versions; for example, during Seungri's verse on 'Fantastic Baby', the drums became slower and were hitting every offbeat, which I liked very much.

The stage talks were fun and a nice break, with Taeyang singing a cover of a Chris Brown song whilst having a tissue up his nose to stop the nosebleed he had suffered earlier on. All the members were good at english and I was reminded just why BIGBANG were so popular globally compared to their other asian counterparts.

But not everything was perfect unfortunately. I thought that there was too much stage time given to the member's solo songs. I am not a great fan of these songs, and I can safely say I am only a fan of Seungri's and Daesung's songs. However, G Dragon's 'One of a Kind' did not fail to get me moving, so I can't really complain a lot about this aspect of the concert.

Overall this was an incredible concert, a truly entertaining concert. It was nice to experience a non-metal/rock concert and as a result I was less tired and in less pain. I kind of wish I had bought tickets to go on the next day as well.

10/10

UVERworld <THE ONE> Review

1. THE ONE (SE)
2. 7th Trigger
3. Don't Think. Feel
4. LIMITLESS
5. 25 Word
6. KINJITO (LIVE intro ver.)
7. THE OVER
8. Koko Kara
9. REVERSI
10. Barbell
11. BABY BORN & GO
12. AWAYOKUBA (LIVE intro ver.)
13. NOWHERE boy

UVERworld are a band that many will simply 'brush over' given their accessible form of rock and anime image. Whilst this description is certainly true of their first few albums, their most recent offerings showcase a mature, modern and yet 'old' sound, which shines throughout on this record. This is a strong record, with UVERworld utilizing (almost overusing) aspects such as rapping and saxophones which have made them such a unique band in the Japanese rock scene.

The album starts off on familiar ground with the opener '7th Trigger', which is a good track listing decision, given the explosive effect of the guitars kicking in followed by one of the catchiest choruses ever composed by UVERworld. This song shows what this album is about: catchy songs and the overall chemistry of the band altogether, which has improved since 'Life 6 Sense'. There is much more emphasis on guitar work on most of these songs, with acoustic solos + riffs galore, as well as nu-metal style chugging riffs. The singles ('7th Trigger', 'THE OVER', 'BABY BORN & GO') definitely show this the most, with the guitars governing the direction of the song and whether the song will go heavy or soft.

Standout tracks for me are 'LIMITLESS', '25 Word' and 'REVERSI' (out of the new songs). 'LIMITLESS' has a oddly satisfying fluidity about the whole song, and Takuya's voice is soothing and he uses a brilliant mix of rapping and singing (I think he also has an effect on but I'm not sure). This song is very modern, taking influence from contemporary rap to contemporary rock (the chorus especially). The saxophone is used to great effect here, with a fast paced solo at the start, followed by a beautiful short acoustic interlude. If this is one of the directions UVERworld could go in, I'm absolutely fine with that!

I heard a leaked version of 'REVERSI' before the album came out, and it caught my attention instantly. It has a 'metal' overtone to the song, and is like 'Just Melody', 'Gekidou' and 'THE OVER' mixed with poison; this is a dark track for UVERworld. The drums on this song are great and you hear the drums being hit with a ferocity not heard before. Don't get me wrong, this is still very much UVERworld, and again there is a catchy chorus and the singing is lighter than the music.

'25 Word' is an interesting song, as it has a flute (or similar) in it, laying down the foundation. It has a 'lounge' feel to the song, like something you would listen to on a plane or somewhere relaxing. I absolutely love the vocal melody on this song, and the phonetic emphasis on certain words, especially in the chorus (TENgoku, etc). The outro caught me completely off guard and is almost jazzy, ending the song on a relaxing note.

'NOWHERE boy' and 'Koko Kara' are two songs that I am not really a fan of. I found them hard to get into and they didn't captivate me from the get-go. I feel bad, as I skip them almost instinctively when they appear on shuffle.

Sorry for this short review, but I'm slowly losing time to do this, as I'm about to leave school and there's a lot of work to do.

8/10

DIR EN GREY 輪郭 Rinkaku first thoughts

When I logged into my YouTube and saw this, I was extremely excited. I've been longing for this day to come, probably even more so than when the full single is released. I've been waiting to hear how DIR EN GREY have changed.

And I wasn't dissapointed. As I expressed in a previous post, I said how I hoped that DIR EN GREY would not simply go heavier than their sound now; thankfully (for this single at least) this is not the case.

This song sounds like a power ballad, and I instantly thought of their hit song, 'higeki wa mabuta wo oroshita yasashiki utsu' - but a speeded up, slightly more progressive version. Kyo's singing, which is completely falsetto, is beautiful and it adds to the atmospheric sound that they achieved so well on DUM SPIRO SPERO. He actually sounds akin to a whole choir, and he is singing very much like he did on songs like 'Vinushka'.

The guitars sound distorted, complimented by Die or Kaoru's clean guitar (I can't tell at the moment). This adds to the overall texture of the song, which combined with Kyo's singing has a 'building up' feel about the whole song, as if about to explode into a heavier part of the song. I'm quite sure at this moment that this preview may be the pre chorus or chorus, but I may be completely wrong.

It sounds as though Toshiya isn't playing his slap style in the preview and it sounds much more 'UROBOROS' like with slides and he is following the drums more.

Shinya's drumming sounds IMMENSE, and they sound better than ever. I always thought the drums on DUM SPIRO SPERO, especially the snare sounded a little 'distant' and 'flat', but here they are full and warm (the snare actually sounds like a snare!). That's actually a good word to describe this song, 'warm'.

DIR EN GREY have thrown another curve ball, and overall I'm very happy with the potential direction that DIR EN GREY are moving in. I can't wait for the full song and single.

9/10 (I wanted more, not just 12 seconds!!!)

Lynch. LIGHTNING Review

1. LIGHTNING
(I'll only be reviewing the track 'LIGHTNING', not the full single).

This is Lynch's latest offering and the first since their successful album 'INFERIORITY COMPLEX'. There are two things that are clear from this single; Lynch have definitely matured and they may be going 'soft', but given these are only two songs, the latter statement may not be true for subsequent releases (I hope so).

'LIGHTING' puzzled me at first. It had all the trademark Lynch sounds, but it sounded like a standard rock song you would hear on Music Station or HEYHEYHEY. There are no breakdowns, lots of clean guitar and I think one scream in the whole song. Although I love bands like UVERworld and Nightmare, I was a bit dissapointed with this song, given it was coming from Lynch and not a band like the two mentioned just now.

However the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me. Hazuki's vocals seem to have less of a 'visual kei-ness' about them, which is actually quite refreshing to listen to. Unlike 'INFERIORITY COMPLEX', which was loud and in-your-face, this single is a step back from that and has a 'crisp' sound to it; everything is just right, not too loud and not too quiet, although the bass is not as audible as on previous releases.

However I have a few problems with this song. It sounds 'overproduced' and too polished, and for me, Lynch have lost the raw sound that they captured on the previous album. A polished sound and overproduction is what I listen to UVERworld for, not Lynch. Secondly, as I mentioned at the beginning, this is quite a 'soft' offering from Lynch. I just hope they haven't ditched the heavy sound that they do so well.

8.5/10

The GazettE deluxe review

So I know I've reviewed the actual album, but that was a downloaded copy (don't judge me). Yesterday the physical copy of the album arrived in all it's glory.

It's basically a large book, split into four sections:
1 Pictures (with an introduction).
2: Lyrics for disc 1. (pictures)
3: The DVD.
4: Lyrics for disc 2. (pictures)

There's a bit at the end comprising an interview which I haven't read yet.

The pictures are very nice and each song has it's own picture. The picture for [Depth] is particularly fitting as it shows underwater bubbles (it looks better than I've described).

Overall it's a very professional looking thing, but if you couldn't read Japanese it might be a waste of time as the interview and introduction are in Japanese.

Sorry this is a short review, I wanted to say that I'll probably translate the intro and interview in the near future and post it here so STAY TUNED.

The GazettE <DIVISION> review.

Ruki, the vocalist, stressed that the album should be listened to straight after 'TOXIC', and it's easy to understand why after listening to both 'TOXIC' and 'DIVISION' in quick succession. But this album is not a 'TOXIC part 2'. This album is a different beast, in good ways and bad ways. I got the limited edition, where one disc has the Japanese title songs and the other disc has the English title songs, so I'll be reviewing that.

[Disc 1] review.

1. [Depth]
2. Ibitsu
3. Kago No Sanagi
4. Hedoro
5. Kagefumi
6. Yoin
7. [Diplosomia]

Disc 1 is an exciting disc for me, and easily the better of the two. It basically contains the 'ballad' tracks of the album as a whole, and people wanting more songs like 'untitled' will be pleased, as they've chosen to experiment with that sound a whole lot more. It's also nice to see the other band members composing songs other than Ruki. What I'm really happy with is that some of the songs on this disc, like 'Kagefumi' and 'Kago no Sanagi' see a short lived return to their 'STACKED RUBBISH-ballads', such as the song 'CALM ENVY'. A lot of these songs also use little in the way of electronic sounds in contrast to Disc 2.

The disc could've done with a better opening tracks(s), as the track 'Depth' isn't as explosive as 'INFUSE INTO' was, but it does leave you wanting more. 'Ibitsu' is the love-child of 'RED' and 'LEECH' and is an average fast paced song. What is clear though, is that Ruki's voice has drastically improved in such a short time, and he is more controlled. The guitar work has also improved: the song 'Hedoro' has a 'spy-themed' verse riff, and the interplay between Uruha and Aoi on 'Kagefumi' and 'Kago no Sanagi' works beautifully as it doesn't sound as though they're battling  it out like it did sometimes on their previous albums. Given that this disc was a ballad-orientated disc, I was disappointed by the lack of a strong bass from Reita, and it sounds like he is playing root notes most of the time.

[Disc 2] Review.

1. [XI]
2. Derangement
3. Required Malfunction
4. Dripping Insanity
5. Attitude
6. Gabriel On The Gallows
7. [Melt]

On a first listen I thought, 'No, The GazettE have ruined their heavy sound'. But after a few more listens, a few of the songs grew on me. The auto-tune on these songs is ridiculously high and a lot of the songs have that 'Gazette chugging riff', found in songs like 'Filth In The Beauty'. Nearly every song starts with an electronic intro, after which the guitars come in, chugging and playing the odd note or harmonic. What really grabbed me about some of these songs were the catchy choruses and the shouted chorus parts. The screams are used much more effectively on songs like 'Required Malfunction' and 'Attitude', especially at about 0:38 on the song 'Attitude', where Ruki answers Reita's screams. The chorus in 'Required Malfunction' is extremely catchy, and Ruki's English has definitely improved.

The guitar work on this disc is nothing special, and I was more impressed with the structures of each song, with each part in the song coming at exactly the right time, just before you get bored of a riff. 'Dripping Insanity' showcases this brilliantly with short verses, choruses, etc: it's the best song on the disc for me, as it's a song similar to 'Chizuru'. I only wish that they could have done more songs like this, as a lot of the songs are 'Headache Man', all-hell-breaks-loose type songs. The only song I don't like is 'Derangement'. It depends too much on auto-tune and there is no clear-cut structure compared with other songs on the album.

8/10

AQUA TIMEZ <つぼみ> (Tsubomi) review.

1. Tsubomi
2. Heikou Sekai
3. Isshun No Chiri (Kawasaki Electro Academy Mix)
4. Tsubomi Instrumental)

Aqua Timez are a band best known for their opening songs for Bleach, but they also make great music outside of the anime domain, which is why I am surprised that when Japanese music fans list their favourite bands, Aqua Timez is seldom one of them. Some people would say they are repetitive, given that their formula for songs are strong inspiring lyrics, pianos, funky guitar and a strong bass. However Aqua Timez is far from being repetitive, and each song by them has it's own character. Their two most recent singles, 'MASK' and 'Tsubomi' prove Aqua Timez are still very much in the game, and have set the standard high for their new album, out in September.

Whilst 'MASK' saw a heavier Aqua Timez enter 2012, 'Tsubomi' is a back to basics song, and is similar in sound to arguably their one of most famous song, 'Niji'. It's hard to describe what the 'Aqua Timez sound' is, but in a nutshell it involves a catchy, epic chorus, 'half-rapped' vocals,and short, snappy verse/pre choruses.
Easily the stand out feature of the title track are the lyrics. They are incredibly inspiring, both in meaning and the way Futoshi, the vocalist, can say what he wants without being all mysterious and using long Japanese words that I've never heard of or use in normal day-to-day life. But this song does not sound like a rehash of 'Niji'. It has the stronger guitars and drums that 'MASK' had, and the one of the only disappointing thing about this single as a whole is the lack of a strong bass, as their bassist, OKP-Star, is easily one of my top 5 bassists.

The song that really impressed me was the B-side 'Heikou Sekai'. The opening riff throws you off balance, and I thought the song would be a slow song by Aqua Timez which would develop into a strong, distorted chorus (like the song 'One'). I was wrong, and the song is a mid-paced rock song with a BEAUTIFUL pre chorus. The song changes key at the pre chorus, but the way Futoshi harmonizes his vocals created an image in my mind of the sun breaking through storm clouds. His voice is very smooth and calming and sent shivers down me. I would really like them to experiment with this sound more, as it works very well for them.

The third B-side stumped me. It's a remix of a one of their songs which has an immense opening, 'Isshun No Chiri'. This remix is so distant and gravelly in sound that at first I thought maybe the disc had scratched when I had tried to upload it into my computer. You can't hear the lyrics, the music or anything really. It's probably similar in sound to chalk scraped onto a blackboard, which is a shame, as this remix prevents the single being an easy 10/10.

9/10

Killer Evil Stigma Bass Review

So I recently got my third bass, a bass made by a Japanese-only company 'Killer'. I had to get it imported.

This bass is very nice, as I wanted a Les Paul style bass. It's a passive bass, a first for me, and it's very basic in terms of controls with a volume knob, a tone knob and a pickup selector. The body design is a sort of camouflage grey and its interesting to have a pattern for a bass design.

It sounds ace, and the neck is actually quite narrow in width. It's very easy to get around the neck, and it's perfectly rounded for my small hands. I tried playing it with a pick, fingerstyle and slap, and all three styles work great with the bass.

The only problem I have with this bass is that it's neck heavy. All this simply means to me is that I have to have the bass higher up, more so than my other two, so I'm not used to playing a bass this high.
I still need to play around with the bass some more to decide whether it'll replace my white Ibanez as my main bass.

I'm missing the Green Day gig!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(((((((

GAWWD. I only found out today that Green Day are playing in London this week (23/08)! It's way too short notice for me...

I'm still kicking myself as to how I didn't realise that the first band I properly got into were playing! They really got me into the notion of bands: I own all their albums, play them daily on the guitar and bass..... GAWWD!

They were also my first ever gig, back in 2010 at Wembley. That was one of the best gigs I've ever been to. And now I'm missing this gig, where they'll be playing NEW SONGS!! I'm really hoping for there to be like a second leg of this tour and they come back!!

I'm off to cry now...

ESP RELEASE NEW DIR EN GREY SIGNATURE MODELS

Now forgive me if these instruments have already been out for some time. I just decided on a whim to check out ESP Japan's website and, BAM, there they were, DIR EN GREY's new instruments available for us mere mortals to buy.

For those that don't know (probably most of you), Toshiya is my all time favourite bassist, and a huge inspiration to me: my whole bass playing style is based off of his! I can't even begin to describe how I felt when I saw Toshiya's 5 string bass on the ESP website... I think I yelped...

This bass is just beautiful, but also slightly pricey. I'm hoping for either a cheaper version to come out, or I'll save up over a few years (4000£!!) to buy the proper ESP model.

The three new guitars, Kaoru's 7 string, Die's 6 string and 7 string are also gems. Kaoru is my favourite of the two guitarists, but I prefer the design of Die's guitars more, that kind of 'metal-telecaster' look. As much as I would like to get these guitars, all my attention is on the BASS.

This, and the announcement of a new DIR EN GREY single, has made my year.

I better start saving up...

The Shy Bassist

Alright so it turns out that my band is playing our first headline gig in Camden. This will be our 5th gig. The two guitarists and the drummer are brilliant on stage. When they don't move around, it's usually because they're playing complicated stuff.

However...

I am a 'stare-at-the-feet' bassist, and it's starting to bug me and my bandmates. They want me to move around more (I will if there's a big stage, I'm just not much of a headbanger). My bandmates understand that what I play is hard and not just root notes, but to the crowd, they just see me as a 'boring' member of the band :(

What will I do??????

RADWIMPS <シュピレヒコール> (sprechchor) Review.

1. Sprechchor
2. Dokuhaku
3. 22:20:12:5:14:2012

This is another band that I love. They are just a perfect band: great lyrics, singing, guitar, bass and drums.
I really like Radwimps 3 and 4 (the albums), but Altocolony or zetai zetsumei didn't cut it for me (don't get me wrong, they were still great, just not their greatest). Their single 'hakujitsu', which they released earlier this year was also a disappointment for me, and it sounded way too much like Flumpool. So when I heard the announcement of this single, I wasn't that excited.

The main track, the title track includes all the usual characteristics of a Radwimps song: a repetitive guitar riff, soothing and catchy vocals by Noda, and a strong rhythm section. It all explodes early on in the song, but it's nothing impressive. If this was on album, I probably wouldn't consider it a single. It's simply an average song (for Radwimps) and towards the end, it gets slightly boring. Hopefully, this song will grow on me as I listen to it more, it just didn't have that 'first-listen-blow-away' effect that songs like 'dada' and 'magic mirror' had.

The second track, 'Dokuhaku', just baffles me. It's an 8 minute long track, but it's Noda speaking over music. Now, knowing Radwimps, the 'lyrics' are probably very meaningful and resonating. However 8 minutes of listening to someone speak isn't really my cup of tea, and I've only listened to it the whole way through once.

Surprisingly the track I enjoyed most was the instrumental, '22:20:12:5:14:2012'. It's a refreshing listen, and it's back to rock for Radwimps. It's got some particularly nice guitar work in it.

Sorry this is such a short review, I've only listened to the single about 4 times.

Rating: 6/10

DIR EN GREY NEW SINGLE "RINKAKU" ANNOUNCEMENT

Right, so fans of this band will probably know that there's been a countdown on Dir En Grey's website. Well, today it hit 0 and it's the ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW SINGLE. As you can see (well, read), I am INCREDIBLY excited and this is the best piece of news this year so far. They are and will be my favourite band for ever and I can't wait to hear their new style.

As much as I love their deathcore-esque music, I really hope they don't just go heavier in this new single, which has been happening really since WTD. I'm really curious as to how Kyo's voice will sound after his problem, and whether the others will keep the same style and instruments from Dum Spiro Spero.

For those curious, 'Rinkaku' means 'outlines' in English, but knowing Dir En Grey, it's probably got a different meaning.

New Music

So yeah I'm on my summer holidays and I'm pretty bored... it doesn't matter that I'm in Spain right now.
So I decided to do one of the things I do when I'm bored: rack the internet for new music, usually Japanese.


I discovered two bands so far: BORIS, an experimental band and ONE OK ROCK, a sort of hardcore rock outfit.


To be honest, a friend had suggested ONE OK ROCK to me, but the singer's voice just did not appeal to me, and the music itself was very standard rock, nothing special. However I gave them a go with the album 'Kanjo Effect', and the first track "Koi no Aibo Kokoro no Cupid" blew me away. It had a catchy riff and he sings in Japanese most of the time. I'm still getting used to 'Zankyou Reference', where it seems to be mostly English...


No words can describe how happy I was to discover BORIS. I actually discovered them by accident, after sending an e-mail to a magazine about Japanese bassists; the editor replied that he was currently doing an interview with the Japanese band 'BORIS'. So I subsequently searched them on YouTube and BOOM, I fell in love. To me, their selling point is that they sound like a heavier 'Yura Yura Teikoku', a psychedelic rock band that I LOVE already!

Lynch. <INFERIORITY COMPLEX> Review

1. Moment
2. The Fatal Hour Has Come
3. Mirrors -We're Not Alone-
4. New Psycho Paralyze
5. Anima
6. They're All Afraid
7. Experience
8. Frozen
9. Inferiority Complex
10. A Flare

I won't be doing many reviews or stuff like that, but this album seriously impressed me.

I would say that I am a mediocre fan of Lynch. Their last two albums were okay, and were hit-and-miss in my opinion. However 'MIRRORS' blew me away and so I was very eager to hear their new material.

This album showcases a new, more mature Lynch in my opinion. The production is top class and you can actually hear the bass as opposed to past releases. This album is the first with a full-time bassist, and it is clear that he is continuing the visual kei trend of playing slap bass. They have also become much more atmospheric with their sound since their last release. Instead of the 'tank' approach of 'SHADOWS', they have created a new sound, which firmly places them as a unique band amongst so many similar-sounding Visual Kei bands.

Hazuki's vocals have definitely improved, and from the first song 'MOMENT', you can hear the full extent of his improvement. His cleans are more defined, and his screams seem to have more sonic power behind them.

I also think that they have finally found their 'sound', which they found in the single 'MIRRORS'. Lynch do this brilliant thing where they play heavy metalcore with upbeat choruses; however this is not a 'pop' upbeat, it is still heavy and simply serves to make the song more memorable.

That's another thing, this new album is INCREDIBLY catchy. I've always thought Lynch were great at catchy choruses, but this release steps up the mark. After just one listen, I knew how most of the melodies went.

I'll talk about some of the standout tracks now. I'm really happy with what they did to 'MIRRORS'. Rather than just noise (like the single was), you can hear both guitars distinctly and the drums also. This is also a small point, but I LOVE the spoken bit at the very end of the song, it sounds really professional.

'THEY'RE ALL AFRAID' is also a song I really liked. The guitar work is top work, and it's a nice break from the heavy first few songs. 'FROZEN' is simply a solid track. This song for me is a real improvement on the sound they achieved on 'I BELIEVE IN ME'. The bridge section is immense, with a strong bass and acoustic guitars.

The only fault I found with this album was the song 'ANIMA', which sees a short lived return to their very old sound, before 'SHADOWS', which I find boring and unimaginative.

Rating 9/10

[1] Japanese Film and why I love it.

I've decided to do a 'Japanese (____) and why I love it' type of series where I'll discuss differences between Japanese culture and Western culture.

I've always thought Japanese films are on the whole much better than western films. I have a soft spot for Japanese films which are weird or have a sombre atmosphere.

Some of my all-time favourite films are Japanese, like 'Love Exposure', 'Battle Royale' and 'Kagemusha'. The list is long, but all of these films have a distinctly 'Japanese feel' about them, which couldn't be emulated in a Hollywood remake.

Japanese films tend to also pay more attention to minute details, such as extended shots on facial expressions and scenery. Extended dialogue is also common (about nothing in particular). I watched 'Seven Samurai' by Akira Kurosawa, and although the running time exceeds three hours, it felt worth it and the brilliant cinematography got through even the black-and-white picture (I also love black-and-white films, but that's another story).

Don't get me wrong though, I also like the Japanese films that are adapted from an anime/manga. The most recent example of this is probably 'Smuggler', which starred one of my favourite actors, Satoshi Tsumabuki. This film was a live-action one, and so had over the top fight scenes and was quite violent (as usual).

However, having said all this, only a handful out of the many Japanese films I have watched have made me really think out it or want to see it again. There are a LOT of bad Japanese films. One of the worst I saw was called 'Hanamizuki', an 'epic love story'. It was more like two hours of boredom; predictable and frankly terrible acting. These mediocre films really bring out the brilliance of directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Sion Sono and Beat Takeshi.

Band Music

Hey

Right now I'm working on a song for my band (a metal band). To be honest though, it's more of a 'ballad' type track with clean guitars and strings.

I seem to be able only to write songs that are either REALLY heavy or REALLY soft, there's no middle ground. I've written three songs fro my band so far, two ballads and a deathcore-esque song. :(

I'll post what I've come up with in a bit

Download Festival 2012

(this will be a long post)
Right, so last week I went to Download Festival for five days. The first two days consisted of our group miserably setting up tents in the rain. The three days of music that followed however.... WOW they were good. Rather than going through each day in detail, I'll pick out my favourite moments.

The first band I saw on Friday I had never actually heard of. My friend dragged me to see 'Silent Descent', a trance-metal band that turned out to be amazing.

After that I saw a few different bands such as 'NOFX' and 'Nightwish', but the highlights of the day were 'Machine Head' and 'The Prodigy'. Machine Head were simply BRUTAL. They produced some of the best mosh pits of the festival and 60000 people head banging to Halo was a sight to behold.

The Prodigy was a bittersweet moment however: I loved every minute of it, but nearly all the songs they played were remixed versions. 'Thunder' for example was played as a sort of dubstep remix, which was good, but not brilliant as the original is. To be honest though, I was intoxicated at this point, so I didn't really care.

I saw more bands on Saturday, due to there being no delay in getting in like on Friday. The mud was also clearing up. The day started with a laugh seeing 'Black Veil Brides'. Seeing them getting bottled and booed brought a tear (of laughter) to my eyes, as did the legions of Pre-pubescent fans telling us to 'stop'!

'Trivium' was an honour to see. Although they have a place in my mind as being 'a brilliantly average' metal band, seeing them live showed that they were better than that. I had honestly only gone for the song 'In Waves' to see Matt's face when he screamed, but the whole set proved to be solid.

'Corey Taylor' was another laugh, but this time in a good way. He played a particularly inspiring version of 'spit it out', and instead of 'JUMP THE F**K UP', it was 'HOP ON ONE LEG'. I went to see the new stone sour song, which was as depressing and radio-friendly as I expected, but a masterpiece nonetheless.


There were three disappointments for me on the Saturday: these were 'Metallica' and not being able to see 'Killswitch Engage' and 'Steel Panther'.

The reason for missing the latter two was that I didn't even know that they were playing (despite the poster everywhere and stuff, yes I'm an idiot). Metallica, for me, are a good band in studio, but not very engaging live. Yes it's all very good to have pryos at that point in 'Enter Sandman' where it all goes heavy, but that's all they really have. The only crowd interaction Hetfield does is to check whether Metallica fans are still there. Their choices for their setlists will always baffle me, as they play the hits, but no songs from 'Death Magnetic', an album which is up there with their best. The 'Black Album' is also not a very good one: sure, there are songs like 'Sad but True' and 'The Unforgiven', but the middle of the album is a bit stale, and you could hear it in the audience as everyone simply muttered the words to 'My Friend of Misery' and so on.

Sunday kicked off with a guy giving us about 30 cans of cider and me getting completely drunk (I'm an extreme lightweight). It was in this state that I went to see 'DevilDriver', and went into every circle pit. They definitely should've been higher on the bill.

'Lamb of God' was the band I wanted to see most during the whole festival, and see them I did. 'Redneck' and 'Black Label' were brutal and energetic and 'Desolation' was simply a brilliant opener; it was like driving at full speed into a brick wall (+ Randy looks so metal with dreadlocks!)

The 'Dropkick Murphys' were a real treat, and it was as sweaty and Celtic as I expected (no connection between the two).

I missed 'Black Sabbath' (Yes I know, I'm annoyed too) due to... reasons.

All in all, the festival was a real experience and I met loads of nice people throughout and discovered lots of new bands. My shoes are also encrusted in mud and my face is burnt and bright red. :P

Introductions.

This blog is really more for myself, rather like a notebook. I am using this since I use a computer more than an actual notebook and pen.

I will be posting random things, mostly music-related but also things like books and food.

Oh, and the title 'maniaku' is simply the Japanese for a collector or someone obsessed/knowledgable with regards to something.