01 「剥離」 — 「Hakuri」
02 THE INVISIBLE WALL
03 A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN
04 LEECH
05 泣ヶ原  — Nakigahara
06 「エリカ」 — 「Erika」
07 HEADACHE MAN
08 紅蓮  – Guren
09 「子宮」 — 「Shikyuu」
10 13STAIRS[-]1
11 DISTRESS AND COMA
12 「感触」 — 「Kanshoku」
13 白き優鬱 — Shiroki Yuutsu
14 IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS
15 「朦朧」– 「Morou」
16 OGRE
17 DIM SCENE

「Hakuri」 lights up the album and reminds us a bit of SA BIR by Dir en grey mixed with the instrumental version of Kugutsue that the GazettE had on their homepage a year ago. It’s quite eerie and sinister and it leads us (quite strangely) to THE INVISIBLE WALL. It’s the promo song for DIM and you can get the PV with the limited edition. It’s quite similar to DISTRESS AND COMA, the GazettE’s latest single and this mellow track certainly isn’t a bad start at all. It has an excellent drum roll and other melodic parts. Apart from Ruki’s typical (horrible) Engrish at times, this track is another favourite to add to your list. Some scratches and a catchy bass take us to the rock ’n roll party; A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN. The chorus is fun, the guitar slides make you tingle and there is enough weirdness to call this track ‘typically Gazette’. It’s followed by LEECH, the second single. An aggressive, up-beat song with a trashy break down in the middle.

Nakigahara, the first ballad on the album, shows you the lighter and emotional side of DIM. I can’t help but relate this song to Juunanasai (Gazette’s very first ballad). Despite its length (7.19) it doesn’t get boring. The song is dramatic, emotional and beautiful. The instruments stand alone to bring a powerful image of despair (most noteworthy the bass and a traditional Koto guitar) and an electronic sample is added to the whole with success rather than failure.  「Erika」 traces away the lingering drama with its electronic bells and sets the mood for the next song; HEADACHE MAN. The b-side must have been very popular to make it to the full-length. HEADACHE MAN is a hardcore party with bits of Nu Metal and Punk. Turn this up louder and let the adrenaline flow. It makes a 180° when Guren starts, their first single, and another ballad. It’s an emotional piece filled with a traditional Asian string melody.

「Shikyuu」 taps into the sinister mood again. The agonizing baby wails and eerie bells forebode you for 13STAIRS[-]1 . The vocals haunt you, only to terrorize you a second later. The guitars couldn’t sound more evil and aggressive. It’s a trip into a dark abyss and delivers a fantastic climax. DISTRESS AND COMA lifts you out of the darkness. It is familiar (see THE INVISIBLE WALL), but still emotional. The chorus is either catchy or boring; you have to decide that for yourself.

「Kanshoku」, a simple piano is followed by the softest track of the album; Shiroki Yuutsu. It is a bit poppy with an orchestra to guide the song and has a strong bass presence. IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS is a punk rock fest (I might be totally delirious but the verses remind me of Basket Case by Green Day).

「Morou」, the fifth and last interlude, breaks the sense of peace brought by the last two tracks. It’s short but vile and followed by OGRE. It spits in your face and is fast and aggressive. It leaves a disgusting taste in your mouth, but in a very good way. But did anyone notice? The first part is almost an exact copy of Disasterpiece by Slipknot. Finally, DIM SCENE drops the curtain. This last track feels epic and might as well be the end to a very melancholic story. Ruki’s vocals are powerful, the strong instruments are tragic and the violin let’s you know; the end is nigh.

the GazettE delivers a very sinister album in the middle of the summer. Shiroki Yuutsu and IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS can lift the mood but it would be better to listen to this album at night. It has an overload of interludes but luckily they fit in. Listen to this album, NOW!

rate: 4/5
+  Nakigahara, 13STAIRS[-]1, DIM SCENE
-   IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS

RENTRER EN SOI (French for ‘return in self’ or ‘self-reflection’ as they stated)  started out in 2001 and released 3 full-length albums and 4 EP’s. During their career of seven years, their music evolved a lot. From classic visual kei to experimental rock, always combined with a melodious and emotional undertone. Satsuki went from high-melodic and dream-like notes to despairing growls and scream. Heartbreaking ballads and energetic hardcore songs and everything in between.  Their looks also changed drastically over the years. They started as a visual kei band with medieval period inspired costumes but in the latter years of their career they adopted a more mature and casual look. In 2008 the band felt they had fully spread their message and decided to conclude the chapter named RENTRER EN SOI.

Satsuki opened up a new door with his solo-career. The main concept is that singing purifies the soul. Satsuki, so he claims, uses his voice and words to shine light on the souls that are filled with darkness and hesitation, guiding them to the future. His first single AWAKE (released in May ’09) is a reminiscence to RENTRER EN SOI‘s early years, but it also creates something new.  It has a classical, rock and ambient mood. Don’t believe me? Listen to Veil of MARIA.

He held an early first solo concert on the 16th of May and another one at the anime expo in Los Angeles with the visual kei band auncia on the 4th of July. His next single named CRYSTAL will be out next month, followed by his third performance Peer Into Your CRYSTAL Heart. It will take place at SHIBUYA VUENOS on the 24th of August.

His current support band members are guitarist Yuuichi (ex-Viored, ex-Shulla), bassist Rin (ex-Schmelz Cure), and drummer Kuro (ex-Velbet).

websites: official site [THE MOON] — Official MySpace

Not nearly as much information is given about the other members but Takumi and Mika are working hard. You can hear a beautiful instrumental on Takumi’s MySpace. a lingering imagery of the war marks a transition from MEGIDDO to Takumi’s work, and you can also find various of remixes of RENTER EN SOI songs written by Takumi.

Mika has started his own project ‘forbidden days rhapsody’ and recently opened his own webpage where you can see a video and hear a rough instrumental named REFILL. His work Canticum is coming out on 23th of December and will feature ex-(fellow member) guitarist Shun.

It’s clear that all three are keeping the melancholic, yet beautiful classical music traces of RENTRER EN SOI alive. It’s also rumoured that Ryo (遼, ex-bass) will start a project soon. Whatever’s the case, let’s hope for more releases of all of them soon.

Willem Dafoe (Spiderman, American Psycho, The Boondock Saints, Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, Shadow of the Vampire) will play the ominous Frank. The rest of the cast is unknown at this moment, but this is likely because most of the cast will be Japanese since Frank is the only western character in the novel.

The German director Wim Wenders (Don’t Come Knocking, Paris, Texas) will handle the screenplay and they will shoot in Tokyo to follow the novel’s setting. It’s not his first time to visit Japan. He already managed to capture Japan in his documentary Tokyo-Ga and his road picture Until the End of the World.

The story follows Kenji, a twenty year old Japanese guide who navigates foreigners around the sex clubs and hostess bars of Tokyo. His latest client, an American named Frank, is so odd that Kenji begins to suspect he has murderous desires. Kenji unwillingly descends with Frank into an inferno of evil, from which only his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Jun, can possibly save him.

In the Miso Soup is one of my all time favourite novels. Let’s look forward to this movie. I’m sure Willem Dafoe can portray an excellent Frank.

While some were expected to hear an announcement of a new single, Dir en grey surprises us with another live DVD release. Their latest DVD TOUR08 THE ROSE TRIMS AGAIN was released worldwide barely 3 months ago but that won’t stop them to give their latest tour digitally to their fans. During these last months they brought their newest album UROBOROS to live by touring in Japan and Europe. Their fanclub [a knot] can wait eagerly for the live document titled TOUR09 FEAST OF V SENSES. A three disc bundle of joy.

The first DVD will feature fifteen songs from their live at Shinkiba STUDIO COAST on May 3rd (incl. INCONVENIENT IDEAL, VINUSHKA and HYDRA-666-), while the second will feature a total of nineteen songs from their live at KYOTO MUSE on February 26th (incl. THE FINAL and Mr.NEWSMAN) and their male-onle live at CLUB CITTA’KAWASAKI on March 25th (incl. Child prey and 残-ZAN-) . The third disc is a CD with thirteen songs from their 「a knot」-only live at CLUB CITTA’KAWASAKI on March 24th (incl. 冷血なりせば and GARBAGE). (source)
Fans (and I for one) will especially look forward to see/hear the new version of 残-ZAN- which was one of their first singles and hasn’t been played live in years. Excitement for sure.

I could list prices and different editions but sadly, why bother? Unfortunately, those who are not part of the [a knot] can’t order the DVD. And the fanclub is only open for fans that live in Japan. Too bad? Yes, kind of. But at least, thanks to the wonders and blunders of internet (and some very good souls that share the fanclub DVDs), we’ll be able to see it after all. No release date has been given though, but pre-order will be taken until end of October 2009. Just survive summer and fall and it will be here around winter.

Coin Locker Babies is the surreal story of two boys, Hashi and Kiku, who were both abandoned by their mothers during infancy and locked in coin lockers at a Tokyo train station in the summer of 1972. Both boys become wards of the Cherryfield Orphanage in Yokohama, where the tough and athletic Kiku comes to the defense of the slight, and often picked on, Hashi. They are adopted by foster parents who live on an island. At the age of 16 both move into a diseased urban wasteland named Toxitown. Hashi becomes a bisexual rock star, employed by an eccentric producer named D. Kiku becomes a pole vaulter and gets to know Anemone, a model who has converted her condo into a swamp for her crocodile. (source)

After thoroughly enjoying Piercing and In the Miso Soup, Coin Locker Babies was another excellent trip. It’s the first story I’ve read by Ryu Murakami that doesn’t have the one-night-shot feeling, so it felt new and refreshing. The surreal story develops over years and you meet a lot of interesting, twisted and emotional unstable characters. Anyway, go read it, you won’t regret it.

side-notes

• The creators of the survival horror game Silent Hill 4: The Room stated in an interview that this book was an influence for that game.
• A film adaptation of the novel is currently in development. Not much is known up until this point.
• Japanese V-Rock artist Miyavi stated that he never read Coin Locker Babies but his debut album does have a track named ‘Coin Lockers Baby’ where you can hear baby screams on the background throughout the song.
• The sci-fi anime Eureka Seven based Anemone, an equally unbalanced young woman on Kiku’s girlfiend in Coin Locker Babies. They both kept a pet named Gulliver.
• An entirely personal opinion but I can’t help to relate the events and setting of Toxitown to infected Manhattan in the 2009 action game Prototype.

Or like dear Ryutarou said:

[ハロー、ハロー、
何処かにいる君と僕、
ワンダフルワールド。]

[Hello, Hello,
To wherever you and I are
in this wonderful world.]

angel sanctuary 01