Crumble is the release I wanted to review initially. The album was constructed from home recordings made between late 2024 and January 2025. The members this time are Wataru Kasahara and Hatori Tomo. It takes the more somber and musical parts from Fafrotskies and goes further with them. I'd say it's a sibling of that album, but despite similarities in sound, the two are somewhat different. Fafrotskies featured multiple differing takes on its theme (animal rain), while Crumble feels a ... read more

It has been a few weeks since my last review, but I'm back! Well, at least for a short while. I've intended to review a different album, but it made more sense to tackle this one. Fafrotskies is the first proper Amenonuvoco release I'm reviewing, as the previous one was only 10 minutes long and contained two solo pieces, one by Hatori Tomo and one by Wataru Kasahara. This one is 50+ minutes long and features Akiko Naito, Kasahara, and Tomo working ... read more

A split between Wataru himself and one of his aliases.

As the title suggests, Vox is made entirely out of Wataru's voice. I'd say all three of its tracks could be called drone. 歌 [Song] consists of a loop of Wataru going "ERGH" being slowed down and sped up, with some mumblings on top. It's a nice and short opener. Hi, Ra, Boo is a much more developed track. I mean, it's 10 minutes and not half a minute long. It's mostly these meditation-like sounds with ... read more

Based on the short description for this album and interviews Wataru has done in his career, 心霊動物園 [something like Ghost Zoo or Haunted Zoo] is dedicated to the small animals—like fish and frogs—he killed as a child, trapped in a cage placed somewhere in the back of his head. I hope I pieced that together correctly since his English is a bit rough. This is the oldest release of his I've reviewed so far, as it entirely comes from 1987 (Requiem was recorded between ... read more

Less sadness and scum seeps through 魔方陣の軋み [The Creaking of the Magic Square] as compared to the albums I reviewed previously. It's also not as electronics-focused, with more acoustic instruments and other objects being in the foreground. Does the math term have anything to do with it? Probably not. 悪魔祓いのリハーサル [Exorcism Rehearsal] begins with a barrage of stringed instruments; this is actually a pretty short moment, as the track becomes a bit more stripped ... read more

I decided to check out Kagerou mainly due to DIR EN GREY's Vanitas off of DUM SPIRO SPERO. Hell, Kyo is credited as Specialist on here! I couldn't get into them at first, I probably just landed on some softer tracks and my goblin brain wanted something else, but recently I got XII dizzy recommended to me on YouTube and it rocked. So I listened to the album it's from, and well, it also bangs! Ah, I'm a sucker for the alt/nu metal sound V-Kei bands had in the 2000s. I think ... read more

Wataru's work usually has this "off" feel to it. It's like listening to a transmission from another world, one with a kind of sadness lying underneath. And even if it isn't present, the music is still a twisted form of something. You'll see more of that when I delve deeper.

Requiem also taps into this realm, although it's the only release so far that really feels like a ruin to me. I initially wanted to say it's more "violent" due to a few ... read more

The second Wataru project I listened to, mainly because it's only 10 minutes long and I was probably trying to find something to cram into the end of my commute. Amenonuvoco as a whole has a few members, but this tape only contains 2 solo tracks by Hatori Tomo and Wataru Kasahara, respectively. Tomo's Lost & Found feels like wandering through your brain, going from warm childhood memories to the odder parts; the segments on here remind me of old video games, cartoons, and movie ... read more

I knew this album was coming out and had heard all the singles when they were released, but I didn't really go into Madmans Esprit mode prior to the release. Hell, I'm not even doing that with the upcoming DIR EN GREY album… maybe I should change that. (Really fitting that I mention them, isn't it…) I should've done that; I would've had some more references besides distant memories! Especially since Madmans Esprit is one of the few "modern" ... read more

Last @brainbombs rec! Really sorry to anyone who sent me some in the past year, I'll get to those eventually, trust.
I think this is the first band with a female vocalist in this run of reviews, at least in quite some time! Sadly, it doesn't look like much is known about the band and its members future endeavors besides the vocalist Kaede apparently having passed away. Being the reviewer I am, I don't really have much to say, it's kote kei alright. The vocals definitely make ... read more

Oh, I remember when Mizutani trolled everyone postmortem, including the people working on these rereleases, leading them to initially name YaneUra Sept.'80 as MARS STUDIO - The First Session. Well, now we actually got a proper studio album—not recorded at a venue like '67-'69 Studio et Live—and it's the rumored 4th Rivista disc! Obviously, it's a reconstruction based on master tapes and tracklists left by Mizutani, with the sources used being the same or ... read more

A Boris with Merzbow live show predating all of their releases! According to the info file, Wata is on guitar & electronics, Takeshi is on guitar & E-bow, Atsuo does feedback and... Masami is on the laptop. I do know that he bought a computer back then due to the Merzbox, but it was only 1999 when he dropped analog completely, so I'm a bit unsure about this. And there are drums on this thing, which aren't credited. Wait a minute, they suspiciously look similar to the Megatone ... read more

Penultimate @brainbombs rec! Satsui fooled me at the beginning that it'd be a somewhat straightforward album (I mean, it was released by Yoshiki's label after all + my knowledge is bad so that's probably why I thought that way) until it became a bit less X Japan and a bit more gothier and punkier. The more "usual" tracks slap by themselves, although it's certainly the darker and more differing ones that make this album for me. A fine kurofuku kei release.

Okay, here's another one of those @brainbombs recs I was talking about before; only a few are left. Jigoku no Kisetsu might be one of the more interesting Kote Kei albums I've heard, even if it isn't as good nor as wild as other ones. The variety and especially the way it's structured are the things that make it stand out in my eyes. Okay, maybe "variety" is the wrong word, since most of these songs are your usual rockers with gothic leanings you'd expect ... read more

First HNW review in a long time, but don't think you're going to get any more from me just yet. It'll also be short, especially considering the release is almost 4 hours long.

Sometime in 2006, Vomir released Living Dead Noise in a quantity of only 5 copies; due to demand, he followed those with 10 more, including a second disc from the same sessions. Finally, both discs were reissued a year later with two new recordings as Deliverance - The Living Dead Noise Box (20 copies, 50 ... read more

The first time I actually listened to an omnibus album! I saw it while browsing hell:near's RYM page, so obviously I clicked on it, as it's the only compilation added on there. When I noticed GURUGURU Eigakan and QP-Crazy on the tracklist, I just knew I had to give it a spin. And… the first few tracks made me disappointed by the rest. I already heard GURUGURU Eigakan's track before through a music video upload on YouTube, but I definitely appreciate it more now. It's ... read more

Despite what I said in the previous review, this is NOT another recommendation. Taiheiyou Belt is a band formed by former GURUGURU Eigakan member Masatoshi Yoshikawa a few years after he and all members (aside from Amano Tonbinaru) left the band. You can still feel the Angura inspiration (faces painted white, rising sun imagery, and spoken word interludes), but it goes away from the school uniforms and Seazer-influenced rock of GURUGURU Eigakan, opting for looking like sailors and playing ... read more

Yeah, it's Brainbombin' time again, expect the next few V-Kei reviews to be @brainbombs recs too. I don't have anything to say about the band, just look at the barren vk.gy page yourself. This two track demo is probably the most obscure thing reviewed in this series yet. The first track is pretty punky/thrashy, with a drum machine instead of proper drums. The vocals are what take it to gothier territory since the guy is singing instead of constantly screaming and they're run ... read more

I only learned of Wataru Kasahara's existence around half a year ago, when a friend sent me this album. It took me a while to get around to listening to it, and I felt a bit conflicted when I finally did. It had some cool moments but felt too disjointed. So I listened to it a few more times. I tried reviewing it back then and on some later dates, but ultimately I didn't really write anything. Could've been laziness, anger with my writing capabilities, both, or something ... read more

Well, here it is, the final review and the last porn release.

Juntaro really focused on the DIY aspect for Shinjuku ni inochi sabi shimu uta ōshi. The box is foldable and made out of cardboard (?) instead of being a nice engraved wooden box; the liner notes are handwritten; the tapes are recycled old ones wrapped in someone's poetry collection. This must be why Juntaro released it himself instead of getting a label like Urashima to do it. After the eavesdropping tapes of Anxious ... read more