Saga became the main point that make me come back to them… I just love this guy
The song is quite interesting and sounds like they try to do differents things, which is a good thing. But as often Shou make things sounds flat. It’s evident when the chorus hit, it just doesnt work, nothing happen emotionnally. I’m sure this kind of song with a good vocalist could be amazing.
I’m actually a Shougya but I burst out laughing, OUCH
I think Shou’s been both a distinguishing feature and flaw for them from the beginning. There’s no denying that he doesn’t have the natural talent of the seniors he admires-Hyde, Ryuichi, to name a couple.
In the last 8 years or so, he’s getting better in terms of technique/control, at the same time, having been singing for 20 years, and with zero training for a good chunk of it, the damage has set in.
Akira Kurosawa once said : ’ Talent cannot be teach '.
Lol I’m very thick-skinned when it comes to arisu and Shou. I myself critise him often. He’s never going to be a great vocalist. You need talent to reach that level.
On the other hand, does arisu or Shou need to be objectively great for me to like them? No. Their songs connect with me, that’s all it matters. So I’ll carry on ‘bad mouthing’ them 
It’s good you can be clear about it.
The funny thing about them… Actually they already have a good singer and he is in front of their eyes ;
It’s probably his speakers recorded with his phone. I often come back to this haha…
i would dream to work with a singer like this.
I love his solo works as volland gump, he does have a lovely soothing voice. BUT, having listened to Saga sing in a live setting, his voice was almost completely overpowered by the instrumentals. I could barely hear him. He’s a good vocalist for CD recordings and as backing vocals.
It could simply be a problem of mixing, like his microphone was set to low compare to the instruments. I was not there but It’s a possibility.
Who knows, if Shou decides to retire and become the new 4-member arisu’s manager some day, it might be what they need XDDD
New song’s not bad. I like the slightly mathy breakdown in the middle. Not sure what they were going for with the video, it looks like it was shot by Jonas Åkerlund. The new look kinda reminds me of late-period super-heavy 12012, for some reason.
I don’t know if I like this track necesarily but it sounds pretty much like something I would respect.
The construction of the song is pretty interesting, and to have such obvious kote-kote vibes in such a down washed band is very unexpected and improves them in my eyes so much.
No I respect a lot of the parts of this song and I like the effort (and of course the video) but as a whole it’s completely at odds w/ itself and I have difficulty remembering anything much about it (it stopped playing 30 seconds ago) that chorus was a nightmare and it played twice in 2 min lol
there’s no way they’d be able to recreate their 2004-6 Era with their current sound, especially if you’ve heard what they’ve done with recent renditions of Yami ni Chiru Sakura
I suppose kote-kei is what they’d have first listened to. Saga discussed this in the youtube live vid apparently. I don’t know Japanese so this is from my friend’s loose interpretation. He said Funeral was meant to be a call-back to the visual kei he first came across in high school. The music that left such an impact on young Saga.
After a few more listens, I’ve decided that the verse just before the first tempo change is quite charming both in terms of the melody and the overlaying guitar sound. The issue is the tempo change happened too many times, giving the listeners whiplash. My personal preference is to only retain the ‘ballad’ section after the bass and guitar solo. It would have made the song flow better and allow the mood switch to stand out.
What an excellent Chanty b-side!
Daaaaamn, I didn’t expect this from current Alice Nine! Really digging Funeral. 
I can totally hear the old-school vein, sounds heavily inspired by LUNA SEA and their contemporaries.
If they released a whole album in this style that would be amazing~
Great instrumentation but Shou’s voice just feels so bland in this, the chorus feels hollow.
This was actually so good and refreshing especially compared to some of their most recent releases haha. I dig it.
I quite like the direction that they’re trying to head towards! I hope the upcoming album doesn’t disappoint