Best of 2007!

Okay, so this year wasn't so great for jrock. It really wasn't. But I'll do this anyway because it's December. Why do I say this? Well, most of the releases this year in jrock have been limp and disappointing. Hence the decline in jrock blogging lately! Ah well. So here's the best (and some of the worst) of the year.

Best album: Coaltar of the Deepers - Yukari Telepath. It has heavy moments, pretty moment, zone out moments, everything that a really good album should have. The vocals are absolutely amazing. From high pitched almost whispered singing, to midranged singing, to deep roars, they never bore me. Almost every song is very interesting to listen to, while others only sound dull due to the songs they're next to. There's so much going on here; there's no definate sound or set of rules this album at all. Every song has its own legs to stand on. Amazing.

Runners up: Dir en grey - Marrow of a Bone, LM.C - Glitter Loud Box, Screw - Fusion of the Core

Best single: MaveRick - Silent Death. I've never heard a VK single so solid. It has the somewhat melodic somewhat heavy main track, the weird heavy one, and the (quite tasty) softie. Kray's vocals have gotten so much better since their beginnings. The guitars don't sound like crap. All that kinda stuff. It's actually a single that if I bought it, I wouldn't feel ripped off. It's three really good songs. Which is pretty much what one gets out of a Gazette album. And people pay for that.

Runners up: Dir en grey - Dozing Green, Billy - Butterfly United, pretty much all of the singles xTripx released this year

Best Mini Album: The Piass - Dolei. I was hyped about it and it delivered. It took me a while to get used to, but I love it. I was expecting the new vocalist, Tatsuya to be either really good or really bad, but he's in the middle. A good medium. He has a nice scream, and can sing pretty well. That's all they really needed at the moment. I've never found myself being bored by this mini album. I just have to be in the mood for it, as always with this band. But nonetheless, they are one of my favorites. I'm pretty sure this sounds alot better live, too. Just like almost all of their music. And, as a side note, I actually like the sugary soft song on this. A first!

Runners up: Skull - Ugly Black Showcase, OZ - Six, the studs - studs

Jam of the Year: Koda Kumi - But. JUST KIDDING! Actually, it's xTripx - Room No. I wish I could list every xTripx song from this year here. They have such addictive music. This one sticks out in specific, though. It has those awesome parts that I just can't get enough of. I almost chose Fall to U or Cherry, but I didn't. Because this one is awesome.

Runners Up: Phantasmagoria - Kami Uta (That chorus type thing is ridiculous in an awesome way), Julius - Imitation Scars, Rentrer en Soi - Amongst Foolish Enemies

Artist of the Year: Dir en grey. This year they have grown so much. They've shown much more personality than they have since 2002. Kyo actually looks like he's really enjoying himself (he actually.. dances now), they're working so hard, and not giving in to the negative fan attention. Whether or not people think they're bad, think they're posers, or think they're too noisy, they kept on doing what they love most. Even after people thought they'd disband soon. In actuality, they've never been stronger. They're finally who they want to be, and are expressing themselves freely, no matter how bleak the fans' views, or how skeptic they became of their togetherness. Props to Dir en grey.

Fail: Alice Nine. 2006 was a bit bumpy, and now 2007 is a gravel road. Yuck. All of their music has become boring and personalityless, and the fans eat it up because they're good looking and amusing. After that... album that began with a Z, I stopped caring and just tried them in little taste tests. They may have an incredibly adorable guitarist, but that is not enough to make me want to like them. Miyavi can get away with a whole year (2006) of iffy releases-- however, Alice Nine, you are not Miyavi.

Runner up: Mana. He's stagnant and consistent to the point of staleness.

Lose: D'espairsRay. The Alice Nine of the elite folk. The people that can string together a proper sentence. Not very good, actually quite generic and monotonous, but still majorly popular because of who they are and the music they represent. While Alice Nine is on the prissy rock side, D'esRay is on the side of the generic hard rock. When I first turned on Mirror, I was getting into it until it did donuts. It may be a tiny bit amusing for cars, but in music, that's something I call "lack of creativity". So, in the end, all the people who bitch about how 'western' Dir en grey is... should try saying what is so 'Japanese' about these guys. Not that sounding 'western' is bad, but erm. HYPOCRISY!

Runner Up: Gazette. After all of 2006's awesome, they just did what they do every year. Make three good songs.

Hype for the good: Erm... Uh.. The stuff I actually enjoyed that was hyped even to a small degree was later STOMPED.

Hype for the bad: Abingdon Boys School. I'm sorry, but, when I hear something I never heard, I want to hear just that. Something I never heard. Not the same old crap I didn't like in the first place-- now delivered with zero passion or energy. A cover of a Buck-Tick song I can't stand doesn't help either.

THERE YOU HAVE IT. All the stuff this year everyone either hated or didn't even know existed. I mean-- the stuff I thought was awesome! Have a happy new year! 8D8D8D

The Indies Lineup #2

Waruiyatsu! (c/w old(er) photo from Cure) is a promising young band. It seems they'd be better live, but from what I heard, they're excellent. In a weird way, too. None of them are especially talented, but together they're great. They're basically your average VK band, but they do the average sound so well, it's good. I've been listening to their single, guaku since July, and I still like it. Can't wait to hear more from these guys. Approved!

Lucy seriously needs to release something. I stumbled across a live recording and it was absolutely stunning. Their bassist plays an upright, which is like, the coolest thing ever. The singer has a Mako-esque voice, except he can actually scream and growl (And really well, too!), the guitarists use dissonance in a way that doesn't sound like a cheap metalcore band, and the dark gloomy mood isn't overdone. Moar! Moar!

Chariots, the new project of Riku, the ex-singer of Phantasmagoria, still minion to Kisaki. I suspect there's a Pumpkin Head guitarist in this band. I can sense his style. But when it comes to these guys, three of them are very talented. The singer and the guitarists. The bassist and drummer are just.. there. Their single, Jade/Cold Pray is pretty interesting. It has something for all kinda of fans. Jade for the people who like hard VK (Like me!!!) Cold Pray for those symphonic-type-VK-people.. and Marvel for people who like boring vonus trucks (with bits of awesome!). Approved.. for now.

Dali fell WAY off of my radar a while ago, but they look super cool right now so I decided to at least poke at their new mini album, the world is mine. It came on and I wasn't really expecting anything special, but I was pleasantly suprised by it. They sound more.. slick and maybe a little badass right now. Except.. All of their awesome was concentrated into two songs, and the others are sub-par. But that's alot better than they've been before December 12th. Approved!

Suicide Ali, who doesn't have good pictures, and has really hard to get music hasn't impressed me with their recently surfaced single, Representa. It's not bad, but it's not really good either. It's just.. an average industrial-influenced rock song. But.. their re-recording of THIS NEW ORDER is absolutely horrible. The song was good in the first place, so why re-record it with ameteur mixing, bad vocals, and horribly recorded basslines? There's basically no point in that. So.. next.

I honestly expected Billy to suck. It didn't. Butterfly United is amazing. Their musicianship and cooperation is so nice. The notes they choose are very.. unusual. It's hard to predict where they're going with a song, which I like. Tons. The only actual complaint I have about them is one I've been thinking about many a time lately. Tsubuku, their bassist is not as prominent as he used to be anymore. This seems to apply to many bass heavy VK bands as of late. The sample that was on their site honestly had me worried. It was oshare-covered syrupy cheese. Which would taste pretty bad. But.. like Dozing Green, it had me fooled! It turned out to be really good. Nice job, Billy. Approved!R-15 a.k.a. R-18 a.k.a. Catheline a.k.a. make up your frickin' minds is an example of a band who makes no progress. Their mini album, Beautyful Sad Song is not only spelled wrong but not very good. Mamo can't sing in that voice. He should sing more naturally or.. not at all. He's good at the growly stuff with the singety sing chorus, but a whole song where he keeps trying to actually sing? no thanks. It worked on their single-type-thing, Nihil Party, but on this one, he isn't singing the right notes and it sounds just awful. It's not even the adorable kind of "he can't sing" like early GHOST recordings. Well, at least they look nice.

Vidoll - Bastard

Vidoll is a band of ups and downs. And it's hard to appreciate their work on first listen. That's okay. Because it's always worth it. Here, I'm not sure. Here's why.

Bastard, the title track isn't how I.. expected it to be. It's just generic Vidoll. I was expecting a ballsy rocker with maybe a bit of shouties and growlies. Nope. None of that. It's just.. bleh bleh sugary melodies. It's not interesting in the least. Giru and Shun are good guitarists, but they can't save this song. Next.

At Age 13 reminds me of oldschool VK in many ways, even down the key it's in. The fast-disco-beat thing that EVERY visual band uses isn't even offensive here. The little screamy thing was pretty cool, but it makes the potentially cool chorus sound out of place. It's not a bad song, really, but nothing I'd go out of my way to put on. It sounds like it's almost there but.. not.

D.J. "HERO" is another title that fools me. I'd expect it to be better. And the lame rap thing is lame. Jui does not have the voice. Maybe he could do like in Pierrot's Window and have the kinda creepy voice thing.. but this isn't right. The scratching sound implanted. I can't bear to listen through it.

Innocent Teens still sucks.

Hatsuyuki has an ok chorus but it goes down generic street.

Cokeheads-under the society- was what I thought would be THE song. It starts out like it should be. The rapping thing is tolerable, because I said to myself "It'll get better" but it falls for what most of this album does. Lame chorus. Nothing catchy or creative. Doesn't even belong in this song. Another wasted cool title.

Lost Voice starts out so friggen cool. The unusual sounds of it make me want to keep listening. Then Jui starts singing. This song doesn't need him. I love Jui and have found myself admiring him both vocally and asthetically. But.. this isn't a song for him.

Neo Cindarella is irritating.

Sarah is.. Lolz. I love Rame and Tero's work in this song. The chorus is actually awesome. I like this one. It came on and I kinda.. was blown backwards by the VK cheese. But this is done right. Not trying to be anything except.. awesome! The solo sounds like it was mixed incorrectly, though. It was too loud and made the other guitar sound like cardboard rubbing against sandpaper. Actually... the right side guitarist was too loud for this whole song. Still good though.

Worst should be labelled the "Yes, we use ESP guitars" song. It just drips with ESP sound. Boring, though.

Tree is so bleh. It sounds like it should be a bit better but it does nothing I haven't heard before. The chorus is like "Hmm.. interesting..." but then I end up almost WAITING for it. And I don't like waiting for parts of songs to occur again. It's just.. missing that.. something.

OH DEAR NO. CLOUD IS HORRIBLE. Befbf8eif3nrg.

This album has alot of sore spots. It is definately no V.I.D. It's like a sweet scent. The kind the flows into your nostrils then you realize that it's cheap perfume and the person is wearing way too much of it. And my biggest complaint is...

RAME WHERE ARE YOU