This might be the most unique live album ever. Instead of just recording the soundboard and the audience or whatever, the microphones were placed basically anywhere from inside the venue to the outside and on the roadies too, and then the audio was edited and synchronized. A tour documentary of from the perspective of everyone and everything, one not about just the music and the band but the environment too. You'll hear bits of a song only then to hear the personnel talking about how ... read more

Imagine mid-late 90s Merzbow with harshness and loudness cranked to the max - no breathing room left. But don't imagine Akasha Gulva as Government Alpha's Sporadic Spectra isn't Harsh Noise Wall-y at all. Yasutoshi is assaulting you with here with guitars and electronics, the thing is pretty dynamic (but not much when it comes to volume lol).

Remember Rainbow Electronics, the album that had 21 hours of noise edited down to 73 minutes? Guess what, Merz did another album with that material! Rather than being one massive changing piece, it's 8 different tracks instead - providing a different experience. Take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt as I don't remember the entire original. RE2 is more cut-up than it's predecessor and puts a bigger emphasis on soundscapes, taking things slower.

Masami joins forces with early industrial artist John Watermann. One solo track for each artist, and a collaboration in the middle. Merz's track is full of samples and thumping, noisy outburts. The collab one combines dark ambient and harsh noise, switching between the two. John's track is a cool sound collage.

The duo of Maso Yamazaki (Masonna) and Toda Fusao (Angel'in Heavy Syrup) create an acid trip rather than a noise freakout (something Maso is known for), but that doesn't mean there isn't any noise here! A spaced-out atmosphere, fuzzy guitars and synthesizers - psych rock baby!

"30 years of noise. I believe a connection between us [and] the next generation would be the most meaningful and valuable thing to come out of it. I hope noise music will be passed on to future generations in the twenty-second century." ~Jojo Hiroshige

At the beginning this was supposed to be another disc-by-disc review, but upon reflection I decided to not do that. When it came to the Merzbow box sets, I started mindlessly consuming them at one point, partially thanks to discs that ... read more

After going through the entirety of The Noise, it's time to return to this one (especially because one of the performances here was included in full on there). Do Hijokaidan deserve the title King of Noise? Yes. Does this album? Not really.

The main thing that's holding this thing back must be the recordings themselves. I feel like some of these recordings would've benefited from better sound quality. The other issue I have is that King of Noise is basically excerpts taken from ... read more

Vomiting, guitar walls, organs, drums, bass, Faust covers, screaming - all coming together to make some of the best noise ever.

This is the most fitting film for a band like Les Rallizes Dénudés, with all their mystique and a low count of official releases (and a massive amount of bootlegs), as it's essentially just 2 hours of live performances instead of being a standard documentary. So, a concert film? Well yes, but not really.

Performances are taken from various years of activity and aren't in any specific order. The footage is a mix of black and white and color; the camera work isn't ... read more

Screaming. 30 minutes of it in fact. Or well, 15 minutes as side B is just the recording played backwards. Have you ever heard a Hijokaidan track and thought, I need to hear just the screams? Well, this is perfect for you. Amazing screams and shrieks from Junko.
The Noise review coming soon. (Side A is included on there by the way.)

How can you hate noise artists? Just look at them! Aren't they adorable?

Good performances from everyone involved, with quite the variety due to the line-up. Sound quality improved by the wonderful technology that is VHS!
Good Alchemy Video consists of multiple Masonna live shows consisting of his "freak-out" noise; a good old Incapacitants noise wall (if you're wondering why they're going crazy while playing, it's so the audience has something more to look at ... read more

Loud, noisy, hypnotizing, beautiful—the Les Rallizes Dénudés.
There's something special about box sets that span many years; it's incredible to see an artist evolve. 81-88 Live & Soundboard showcases nearly a decade of the band's live shows, but it manages to be greater than extremely long, career-spanning box sets for one simple reason: consistency. Every performance included here differs, but every single one is just spectacular. The sound quality is ... read more

I may/may not have 💕 ✨tinnitus✨💕. Junko does the thing she's known for here, which is her screaming, and does it well! Mattin's noise fits nicely, being mostly high-pitched just like Junko's vocals, being a tad close to EAI/Onkyo territory; it's deeper into the track where it gets harsher and the texture gets quite different. Overall, Pinknoise is a good album (if you like noise that is), I certainly recommend it to fans of Hijokaidan.

Just a cassette re-issue, nothing review worthy, right? Well, that would be the case if Juntaro didn't give it special treatment. He transferred a YouTube upload of Uguisudani Apocalypse to tape, played it back on a Chinese boombox, and recorded that. Due to this not only are the tracks lo-fi, they also vary in speed and pitch. He also slapped an introduction by Sergey Kuryokhin at the beginning. Everything I said in my original review still applies.
There's also a B-side here, ... read more

First, I'd like to thank the person behind Angura Research Center (https://anguraresearchcenter.wordpress.com) for their work. If not for them, I wouldn't be able to watch the (translated) play!

身毒丸 [Shintokumaru] is a 1978 stage play directed by Shuji Terayama and J.A. Seazer, written by Terayama and Rio Kishida, with Seazer composing the music. It's based on an old legend also called Shintokumaru [しんとく丸] and a sekkyobushi piece called 俊徳丸 [Shuntokumaru], ... read more

With Gackt leaving the band and Kami passing away (RIP), it's no surprise that Malice Mizer went in a much darker direction on this album. Bara no Seidou shifts from the Symphonic Rock of prior releases into Neoclassical Darkwave, with great results, but the former still appears though! Hell, there's even a metal track on here. Klaha's vocals fit the music really well.
An amazing album and a beautiful send-off for a friend.

The punk side of V-Kei should get more attention! Although I guess this album isn't straight up punk from start to finish, like, some songs remind me a bit more of the rock songs from this era of V-Kei. It's mostly a crossover thrash album though, and a good one!

Shoutout to @svse for having this in their list as this goes fucking insane from start to finish. Besides the more usual tracks (which go just as hard) you get ones like: a god damn toy chicken turned into a banger, a distorted lofi chill beat to study to and one that starts reaching harsh noise territory.
If on streaming, turn off normalization for best results.

Thanks to @Stupidrob for the rec, haven't heard this one in a while!
Kinda less start/stoppy than his next album Brick and Mortar, but maybe even more "chopped up" and goofier. In my opinion the cover art fits perfectly as this can get fun, especially when Kazumoto brings out a sample. A great harsh noise album and one of the more "accessible" ones.

Every time I see Gackt I just get reminded of that story about him drowning, accepting his death, remembering he didn't have sex in quite a while and swimming for his life. Combine that with the vampire stuff and the story gets even peaker. Anyway this is a great symphonic rock album, and ignore that story, it's got nothing to do Malice Mizer (besides Gackt being one of their vocalists).