This is a bit late to write, but for me Behind the Tales feels kind of new since I didn't get a chance to see it until february.
The DVD was pre-released at Velvet Eden's live gig on the 31 October and officially released on the 26 November.
This DVD is the bands second since the revival (I don't count the Sad Mask DVD) and contains 6 live videos and a PV for the song Marionette Waltz.
Me and a friend talked about the livevideos for some time, we both got a bit annoyed and confused by the way they've edited them...
Most of the time it looks like the above, several images a top of eachother, making it rather hard to focus on one thing.
I thought that was rather sad, it felt like the images got blurry after a while.
The setlist was good though, we finally got to see Street of Alice, old style.
Dada and Kalm used to fence during this song and so did Dada and Chro.
The DVD also included a PV for Marionette Waltz, which I have to say is my favorite of their new PV's. It's not recorded as a selfie, and it's in black and white.
I've noticed Behind the Tales haven't made it up on Starwave records topchart over sold items, and it doesn't seem like that many international fans have ordered it, how come?
Setlist:
1. Street of Alice
2. Freakshow
3. La fin
4. Luzifer
5. Masquarade Alone
6. Confession of Mask
7. Marionette Waltz PV
For those who follow Közi on Twitter it's not that much big news to say that he once again made a piece for an art exhibition.
This time it's for a Czech artist and filmmaker named Jan Svankmajer. I made a quick search and he's making short films which recembles Dali's art (seems interesting and Közi-enough).
I don't know how many remember Közi's last piece of art-music, but in short it was an almost 20 minutes long piece of sounds. Yes, I do not want to say piece of music because he worked with a lot of sounds, creating a sort of horror feeling. Same with this.
17 veins spliced an ecstatic mind is about 17 minutes long and sounds pretty much like it's from a horror movie (not the over dramatic american ones of course). A lot of squeaking noises and dripps of water, and we even get to hear Közi this time, making some atmospheric sounds.
I wouldn't recomend this to those who just think Közi's an okey musician and likes to listen to him at times, probably not worth the money since you're not likely to put this on that often, but of course I want everyone to support Közi's work, so concider buying it if you want to hear it at least. Of course a must have for all Közi fangirls though.
So, how did I buy it?
To be honest, it might be tricky for those who do not speak japanese since their whole webpage is in japanese and I'm not sure how well the staff manage english. They offered SAL and EMS shipping, and also only credit card payment.
Here's a link to their webpage , click on the こちらのメールフォームより>> in the square which mentions this cd and just write what it is you want and they'll reply with shipping method and payment. The price of the cd itself is 1500yen.
Since I can't be reporting from funfun Tokyo anymore *sob*, and I want to keep this blog going, I was thinking about what I could possibly write about that would be interesting. I do update when I buy stuff, but besides that? I hate those boring blogs which posts a link to a song and goes "check them out, they're awesome", everyone can find new bands by looking through youtube for endless hours (been there, done that unfortunatley). So I thought since I want to recomend bands I might aswell do it all the way, from presentation, recomendations to discography.
First up is a new crush of mine, Rentrer en Soi ~
Out of a very random happening during my last week in Tokyo I decided to check Rentrer en Soi out. They're one of the bigger, modern visual kei bands so of course I've heard of the name before but to be honest I never really listened to anything from them. So I checked some songs on youtube and then I downloaded the complete discography. (That's how you do it when you have too much freetime) Rentrer en Soi began their activities in 2001, and because of their connection with BAISER member Katsura (who also was their drummer until Mika came along), the band was heavily influenced by BAISER (to be honest, in the early days Rentrer en Soi looked a bit left behind compared to newer visual kei bands). In sound the band also had a sort of 90's visual kei touch to it, aswell as visually. Have a look to a PV from their early period, Sincerely.
By this time the guitarist Ao had left and been replaced by Shun. I have to honestly say I'm not a big fan of their early sound, In my opinion shit started happening in 2005.
Their sound changed a lot, one of the fanfavorites, Protoplasm was released and in that you get a preview of what their future releases would sound like. The song itself is very catchy, and Satsuki changes from singing beautifully to screaming, this was a love at first hear for me, totally. (In other words, I listened to it nonstop for hours...during a couple of days)
Their visual style also changed, from very typical visual kei in old manner, to something more modern. Check this one out for sure, it won't disapoint you.
The band kept releasing some of their best works, in my opinion,the selfnamed album Rentrer en Soi, The Bottom of Chaos, and they also played in the US and gained some international fans (VK-sized but still). The previously mentioned cds both include a heavier sound, Satsuki mixes growling with his normal singing style alot. What also made me very interested in this perticular era of Rentrer en Soi is that the lyrics got way more darker than the previous releases. For those who enjoy shouting I can highly recomend the song I hate myself and want to... (also called I hate myeslf and want to die on The bottom of chaos)
Everything seemed to go great, they released the amazing single Stigmata, and it seemed like they tried to loose the visual kei style a bit (I'm sorry but Satsuki looks so much like a host at times), normally that means bands are aiming to go major-MAJOR. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for Rentrer en Soi. They announced their Millenarism tour in Japan and then they left the very sad message on their official webpage that they would stop activities after the last concert in Shibuya on the 25th of December 2008. Earlier that year they released their last minialbum Megiddo, which includes one of my personal favorite songs Baptism. It's very hard compared to other Rentrer en Soi releases and also a huge contrast to the sound they had when they first started.
In 2009 Satsuki went solo and changed sound completly, he's a bit more pop/rock, I'd even say he reminds me a bit of Gackt's early work. Takumi and Mika is now active in the somewhat famous band Sukekiyo .
To get a full discography I recomend to check their webpage out, also they have 3 free videos to download! If someone decides to check Rentrer en Soi out, please leave a comment and tell me what your impression was/is!
I woke up by the doorbell this morning and since I understood what it was I rushed up, received my package and ripped it open.
Today is the release of Velvet Eden's new minialbum blanc et noir in case anyone missed that!
So I did what any other sane person would do, I just said fuck it to sleep and ripped open my package and then put the cd in my computer.
Anyhow, this release includes 6 songs, but only Misery and Goodbye Alice have not been shared on youtube so blanc et noir doesn't really include that many suprises, you know what you're paying for.
Overall, I think the sound is very varied, but I think we can sense a new sound for Velvet Eden in general. Since Chro joined the music is electrnic (of course) but with bits of electric guitar. Luzifer has grown on me, to be honest I wasn't that into it but I'm guessing hearing it live 3 times left some sort of impression on me because now I really enjoy its darker sound combined with Chro's guitar melody.
I have to admit though that the first song I put on was Toxic Queen, I just love it. It reminds me of Black Butterfly, but much better. I don't have many comments about it rather than it's pure awesome.
Those who read my livereports know that I was a bit confused regarding a song they played live, which later ended up being Jailed Prince. It's very rock for Velvet Eden, and the lyrics is all in English! Anyhow, the songs everyone know about isn't that interesting to discuss, so what about Misery and Goodbye Alice?
Misery is a bit slower, but in the middle, my personal favorite part, yet again it gets a bit more "rock" than Velvet Eden normally is, (or maybe I should say was now?), the melody gets a bit darker and the electric guitar more noticable.
As for Goodbye Alice, the beginning reminded me of Paraph, kind of slow and dark, but later the melody gets pretty catchy with the sound of an accordion and the chorus feels almost a bit pop.
The song which has left a big impression on me is No.15. At first I didn't really pay that much attention to it, when it was shared as a demo on youtube, but as always, I downloaded it and listened to it at random and found that I acctually really like this.
Dada said it would sound like old Velvet Eden, I don't know if I agree with that but it's truly great in its own way.
The melody is catchy in the beginning but around the chorus is the interesting part. First before the actual chorus starts, but the chorus itself is my favorite part as that's the part when Dada's vocals makes the song most interesting. The rythm of No.15 is kind of fast and constant and Dada sings sort of fast through out the song but in the chorus it changes and Dada takes longer tones as the melody continues fast in the background which I think sounds pretty cool. I think Dada's voice is at it's best when he doesn't sing that fast to be honest. (my explanation is probably very confusing but I guess you'll get what I mean when listening to No.15)
Tracklist
Luzifer
Toxic Queen
Jailed prince
Misery
No.15
Goodbye Alice
Darkest Labyrinth was kind enough to send the postcard which was announced after I put my order
So, I acctually got 2 free bonuses with my order, first the postcard which was announced some time ago, but also a DVD with the Starwave's bands new year greetings, and Velvet Eden was among them! At first I thought it was the same as the video shared on youtube, but it's not. Nothing that special was announced. The above pictures are screencaps.
Also, as always Velvet Eden did sign the copies bought through Darkest Labyrinth, so if you care about that maybe it's worth getting your copy from Darkest Labyrinth instead of CdJapan, or Amazon! The booklet was full of pretty photos, most has been shared already on Chro's and Dada's facebook accounts though.
Today, as all my fellow Moi Dix Mois or/and Malice Mizer fans knows, is Mana's birthday! I've spent my day listening to Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois, and ended it with coffee and icecream (didn't have a Mana sama cake unfortunatley).
After long days clinging to my kitchen window looking for the postman to
deliver Hora's new CD COCYTUS it finally arrived last night!
I got home late but made sure to listen to it before going to bed,
eventhough it was 2am, so I figuered I should post something about it
here too (since I'm not in Japan anymore to post about fun stuff like
gigs...)
My happiness over receiving the new CD was soon to turn into
disapointment when I noticed mine was cracked, again. So far I've got 3
cracked cases from Hora and to be honest i'm starting to wonder if he
sometimes get cracked cases because usually sending 1 cd in a padded
envelope works just fine, without damages on the case.
The 100 first to preorder COCYTUS received a photo, and I'm pretty sure
the photo is from Schwarz Stein's oneman in November! I really liked
the picture because it was a close up, but would've been nice if Hora
would've faced the camera.
COCYTUS consists of 10 new songs (see setlist at the bottom), and
overall I think Hora's gone back to his old sound a bit. Since TYRANT,
or even as early as on WISDOM, Hora's given us a more brutal and darker
sound, but COCYTUS has more similarities with his older CD's.
I haven't had the time to listen to the full album more than 2 times,
mostly because I usually want to repet my favorite tracks for a couple
of hours until I feel satisfied enough to go through the rest again, but
the 2 tracks to catch my ears are FROST and BABEL.
Hora announced earlier that this cd would contain deathvocals so I was
hoping for several songs, unfortunately not. BABEL is the only song but
also one with a darker sound. The intro sounds a lot to me like
IGNITION, which also is an all time Hora favorite for me, so no
complains. There's parts before the lyrics which made me think of
MODULATE GOD ~DEFORMED~ aswell. Both IGNITION and MODULATE GOD in the
same song, recipe for success.
The song FROST is just awesome, the song keeps developing as you listen
which I think is really cool since a lot of Hora's songs, or this kind
of music in general, can seem a bit repetative. Sometimes I feel like
the repetative ones must've been made when Hora's been in a Schwarz
Stein mode because they seem like they're made to fit lyrics.
Like I said though, I can clearly hear as if Hora used parts from older
songs and developed those ideas and made them into new pieces on
COCYTUS. The titletrack as an example reminds me a lot of Magnificent
from domiNATE.
I miss the darker sound a bit, but I just love FROST and BABEL so much
that I can't really care so much about that. I'm pretty sure the rest of
the songs will grow on me when I have the time to give them a chance
(FROST and BABEL is so awesome I can't stop listening to them).
Make sure to buy this cd, if you like Hora you need to support his work! (and he do ship everywhere)
I'm really happy Hora hasn't forgotten about his solowork just because
they revived Schwarz Stein, and I hope for more cd's in the future
(soon).
I'm back in boring and cold Sweden, that's why I haven't updated in a while (not much to do here), but this weekend I acctually went to a gig with the Japanese duo ADAMS!
ADAMS has become sort of a big talk around different communities because of their BL theme, the duo claims to be lovers and there's always some fanservice in PV's or even naked photos like in their previous album 69 (I mean just look at the title...).
I went to their last gig in Sweden which was in April 2014, and eventhough I'm not a fan I quite enjoyed them and they seemed sweet.
So back I went.
This time the gig took place in central Stockholm so I assumed, and hoped, more people would show up, but unfortunately not.
I really liked the new album SEXPLOSION, I felt like they went for a more electronical sound than before and to be honest the songs could be any western pop acts so maybe they can reach beyond Japan-fanatics with this.
The setlist was really good and I'm impressed that they keep giving it their all eventhough there's about 30 people intront of them. Yet again they explained the bands concept of two Adams rather than an Eve and an Adam.
Highlights of the evening was Romance, Seseragi, Boku no sei and Baddest Crown, but I think the opening with the new song LOVE ME really set a good start for the evening and it showed how enthusiastic they are.
Just like last year Adam and Shota showed up behind the merchtables to sign the items being sold, and they acctually also shock hands with everyone aswell.
I was there to write about the evening so I couldn't have my eyes on the stage all the time, but I can say that they're totally worth seeing, so I recomend everyone who can and want to go see them if they stop by anywhere close! You wont regret it, they're very kind and have a sound which is easy to enjoy.
