VK Superstars NIGHTMARE Release New Abum: SCUMS

It’s been seven long years since major Visual Kei band, NIGHTMARE very successfully brough their two albums Libido and Anima to Europe, but they are finally back. Their new album, SCUMS, releases all over Europe today; available on iTunes, Amazon and (ding ding ding!) CD.

Just for one moment, let us have a little reminiscence of days gone by. Days when I used to scavenge CD stalls for Visual Kei. Barely ever lucky (never lucky), but always looking anyway. And then one day, behold! NIGHTMARE CDs! A shining light in the darkness for the impoverished teenage Visual Kei fan. Those two albums, Libido and Anima, still sit on my CD shelf now, valuable as the first European released Japanese CDs I ever owned.

Luckily, sentimental value is not the only value NIGHTMARE CDs have either, they also sound pretty good.

Nightmare have not been slacking in their time away from Europe. With 13 years experience at the top of their game, NIGHTMARE have some impressive credentials. Made famous internationally for their musical contributions to the anime Death Note, the band have become a serious institution, and in recent years they have continued to experiment freely. This album follows their usual path of baseline metal, piled on with funk and jazz elements along with gigantic vocals (ironic, as their vocalist stands a mere four feet in height).

The lead track for the album, ASSaulter, not only has a suspicious name, but also has some strange keyboard accompaniment, and an even stranger music video – which you can sample below if you really want to. However, once things get going, I promise they get better. In fact, they get better immediately with their single from this time last year, Mimic. This not only provides a much better music video, but also less weird synth and some nifty guitar. This up and down quality has existed on every NIGHTMARE album I’ve ever heard; brilliance and strangeness mix together to produce an album which is constantly changing direction.

It’s a very long album though, and there are a lot of very bright highlights. There’s Riddle, which contains some very interesting experiments with electro and ska elements. DISSEMBLE goes hard and fast with impressive rhythmic guitar and some super high-speed drumming. Amongst the softer, more toned down tracks, it really stands out. Deus ex Machina, which was a recent single, is another stand-out. There’s some great harmony between guitar and vocals and the melody is very uplifting. The track which stood out the most though, is 404, which is right slap bang in the middle of the album. Packed full of jazzy riffs and a load of electronic accompaniments, this song is the bounciest, most feel good thing on this album. Vocal participation by all band members is required and the overall effect is set off by an outstanding funk filled bass line.

NIGHTMARE use all their many talents to the full. If they have the faintest desire to make a song which sounds like it has jumped straight out a Disney movie, they will make it (and have, in fact, check out I’m not). If they want to make a pumping hardcore party metal track, they will also do that (Behind The Mask). This whole album has a cheerful sense of freedom about it, like they piled one project on top of another until – tah dah – an album appeared.

So if you need an album in your daily life which contains a great variety of music, lots of fun and no small amount of talent, you should probably buy this one. And who doesn’t need that album?

Title: SCUMS
Tracklist:
1. My name is “SCUM” (1:37)
2. ASSaulter (3:43)
3. Mimic (3:49)
4. Riddle (3:48)
5. Ame to Yoru ni Ochite (5:44)
6. DISSEMBLE (3:31)
7. ERRORs (3:41)
8. Owaru Sekai no Hajimari ha Kinari (4:22)
9. Droid (4:32)
10. 404 (4:35)
11. I’m not (5:12)
12. Deus ex machina (4:25)
13. Black Out (3:59)
14. Behind The Mask (4.03)

Release Date: April 12, 2013

Available from: Amazon (CD), Amazon mp3, iTunes

DIR EN GREY’s New Mini-Album THE UNRAVELING Released Today

Japan’s best progressive metallers, DIR EN GREY are releasing their new mini-album, THE UNRAVELING simultaneously in Japan and Europe today on OKAMI Records. The album contains seven tracks in the digital version, and better yet, there will be a physical edition released across Europe in the very near future which will contain four more tracks.

Just two months after the release of their last single, RINKAKU, this album continues to flex the bands’ muscles style wise. With a heavy, complex sound this mini-album is a good continuation from their last full album DUM SPIRO SPERO and strong follow up to the surprisingly gentle RINKAKU. Lead track, Unraveling is especially impressive with some brilliant guitar leads and a deceptively simple melody.

There is a perfect balance with this album between frantic heaviness and more solemn, slower tracks. The second track, KARMA, is super hardcore with a drum rhythm like a bulldozer and deep, speedy guitar. In contrast, other songs are more gentle and have cleaner vocals, or a mixture of both within one track. There is also a mixture of styles, alternating drum-heavy, bass-heavy and guitar-lead tracks, which prevents the standard metal procedure of one song running into the next. At one point, there is even a strange dive into some very mellow accoustic guitar (Unknown.Dispair.Lost), but it soon tumbles down very quickly into some glorious dark and sticky metal once more.

Constant changes in tempo and style make this album. Another shining features is the grand finale, a re-recording of the 2004 single THE FINAL. Unlike their re-recording of Kiri to Mayu on their last single, this re-recording is not a complete re-working but rather the band seem to have gone to some lengths to recreate the style of the original recording. As THE FINAL is one of the greatest tracks in DIR EN GREY’s discography, it’s amazing to hear it given this new lease of life.

After their year of silence in 2012, DIR EN GREY seem to be making a very impressive comeback, bursting back onto the scene with a cascade of great music.

The physical CD release promises to bring a further four tracks of awesome, and don’t forget that DIR EN GREY will also be touring Europe in June with a UK appearance at DOWNLOAD Festival.

Title: The Unraveling

Tracklist:
1. Unraveling (4.42)
2. KARMA (3.43)
3. KASUMI (4.08)
4. KARASU (5.36)
5. Bottom of the death valley (6.25)
6. Unknown.Dispair.Lost (4.47)
7. THE FINAL (4.15)

Release Date: 3rd April, 2013

Available from: iTunes, CD Coming Soon

 

Tomoyasu Hotei to Return to London this November

After bringing his star studded show to London’s Roundhouse last December, Tomoyasu Hotei has announced he will be returning to a London stage in November. One of Japan’s most famous guitarists, Hotei is most famous internationally for his track, Battle Without Honour or Humanity, the theme from Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill. The show will be at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 9th and promises to be even more spectacular than his last show here.

Hotei’s list of achievements is so long, we probably couldn’t fit it all on our website (although we did try in this post). Over his three decade career, he has collaborated with David Bowie, performed at the Atlanta Olympics with Michael Kamen in 1996 and arranged the music for the box office smasher Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. And after his star cast last time, including The Stalin‘s Tatsuya Nakamura and TOKIE from metal outfit RIZE, we’re definately looking forward to finding out who might be gracing the stage of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire along side him.

We can’t wait to experience the next level from Hotei!

To keep up with his news, check out his international Facebook and bi-lingual Twitter.

Tickets available from Ticketweb now from £28.50 (excluding fees).

Check out this video of Hotei performing with a symphony orchestra to get you in the mood for a brilliant show:

 

DEATHGAZE Announce Europe Dates for Their 10th Anniversary Tour

Nagoya metal band DEATHGAZE have announced that they will be bringing themselves and their tour to Europe in celebration of their 10th anniversary. And they’re set to hit London, UK on July 7th!

DEATHGAZE European Tour 2013
04/07: Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic @ Rock for People
06/07: Paris, France @ la Boule Noire
07/07: Lonon, UK @ the Underworld Camden
09/07: Cologne, Germany @ Werkstatt
10/07: Hamburg, Germany @Knust
12/07: Wroclaw, Poland @ Firlej
13/07: Wien, Austria @ Szene Wien
15/07: Munich, Germany @ Feierwerk
17/07: Moscow, Russia @ Plan B

DEATHGAZE are our favourite combination of ridiculous gothic looks and amazing music and we are looking forward to seeing their live show a lot. Fantastic deep vocals and many seven string guitars await. We will see you in the pit.

For tickets to all of DEATHGAZE’s European dates, click here.

If you aren’t farmiliar with DEATHGAZE, we’d recommend them to fans of lynch., SADS or Gojiro. Check out their latest PV below for a taste of just how great this show is going to be:

New Album from Matenrou Opera, Out Now in Europe

Magnificent symphonic metal band, Matenrou Opera (Skyscraper Opera) are bringing their new album, Kassai to Gekijou no Gloria, to Europe with Gan-Shin Records. Don’t let the long, complex Japanese name put you off though, these guys are here with good purpose. If you do not believe it is possible to blend heavy metal, choir and electro, you have to listen to this album, if only to prove that it can be done. And it can be done well.

We mourned the end of the glorious Visual Kei project Versailles just a few months ago with the announcement that they would be ceasing activities at the end of 2012. But after signing to Versailles’ record label, Sherow Artist Society, Matenrou Opera have learned a lot from their metal mentors. Their sound has grown more and more complex, combining their signature operatic sound with hard metal styling, plus some surprising electonic mixing.

This album features several singles as well as a couple of B-side tracks and a couple more original tracks. The sound is varied, but it seems that Matenrou have been writing singles keeping an album theme in mind, as there is a definate thread throughout. The same combination of choral vocals along with complex riffs and heavy drumming feature in most tracks. Matenrou’s greatest asset is the huge, operatic voice of vocalist, Sono, which truly gives the band their name. His range is very impressive and his style, which is very quintesential to Visual Kei, is totally different from that of your average metal band singer. Furthermore, Matenrou Opera specialise in writing very fast, long songs. Every track by them resembles a small musical marathon. All of this combined makes for a very exciting, dramatic album. Our favourite tracks are Inovational Symphonia and lead track Kassai to Gekijou no Gloria, as well as the two intstrumental tracks, which are super impressive technically.

We feel that Matenrou Opera are quite a ‘love them or hate them’ kind of band. Metal styled opera singing isn’t for everyone. However,if you enjoy the huge vocals, and the grand choral accompaniments, then you will probably love this album through and through and through again.

Check out the music video forKassai to Gekijou no Gloria below.

I would recomment Matenrou Opera to fans of Versailles, A(Ace) or Nightwish.

Artist: Matenrou Opera

Tracklist:
1. -overture- (2:10)
2. GLORIA (5:05)
3. Plastic Lover (3:59)
4. Akuma no Tsubasa (5:00)
5. Freesia (5:07)
6. CAMEL (4:39)
7. Merry Drinker (4:44)
8. SWORD (5.12)
9. Innovational Symphonia (3.47)
10. Eien no Blue (7.44)
11. Midnight Fanfare (4:21)
12. Kassai to Gekijou no Gloria (6:16)

Release Date: 6 March 2013

Available From: Amazon mp3, iTunes, Spotify