After going through two albums once more to finally pick some songs I can post my list (or whatever it is).
The order by numbers doesn’t mean anything but I guess it’ll help identifying the switches from one band to the next.
Let’s start easy with mini albums, there’s just one.
Luv PARADE - JOKER
It definitely gives me some Despa vibes even though it still doesn’t exactly sound like them (which it shouldn’t anyway). But that’s why it’s not surprising I liked it right away.
Picks:
“INTO THE FLAMES”
“MIDNIGHT SUN”
It’s just my most favorite songs from the mini that’s why. More a matter of taste than anything I easily could explain.
Next are singles.
- DIVIM - Dictator
This single immediately had me, all three songs but especially the title song and I loved it all year through, even still by the end of the year (or right now while typing and listening to it from copying the link). I love how you can keep on sticking with clapping the rhythm from the beginning without interrupting throughout the whole song and no matter how often the rhythm changes it always gets back to the one from the beginning. I also love these changes.
It was the first single I knew I’d put on my list.
- キズ - 鬼 (Kizu - Oni)
A bit similar than with the previous one, and I’m so glad, that “Bee-autiful days” got released in 2023 so I didn’t have to decide between both.
I loved the song right from the very first listen and still love when it comes up in my mixed playlists (that partly consist of more than 600 songs).
So it was clear, this would be part of my favorite songs for 2024.
- 黒曜日 (Kuroyoubi) - Infinite Echoes
I fell for that band with that song. I actually knew them before and there are so many great songs. But this one holds the heavyness partly in how the song is written and played but especially regarding the mood. Combined with a few more things I can’t put into words. It just clicked right away, perfectly meeting my taste. I especially love how it works up from 1:50 into the chorus.
- CHAOSS - FACE TO FACE
That’s a song that got released just recently but out of what I’ve been trying out or re-checking for this thread it made its way here. Still curious what’s to come in the future.
- sugar - Cacao92%
Right at the beginning I wasn’t sure but around 0:50 as soon as the song goes on it clicked. It’s not too surprising with me liking キズ (Kizu) a lot and the similarities especially with this song. Since this band is just new on the market it’s again just about waiting and seeing.
Then it’s about albums.
- NUL. - AVA
That was the first album coming up my mind when thinking about the best of. They delivered as usual. I picked my two favorite songs.
“Gravity”
“THE LAST DAY”
- XANVALA - BANQUET
I never listened much to that band but I really immediately liked the album. So in the end it made it here. One of my picks was clear because I loved it right from the beginning, for the other I just listened to everything once again before I started typing (after doing so yesterday already). Picking was so hard.
“ジャバラ” (JABARA) was the easy pick.
The second one turns out to be “クロコダイル” (crocodile).
- ν［NEU］ - N.ever
I hadn’t expected to put this band here but I had to.
Out of the songs on that album I only listened to two when they got released. I might have missed one because I didn’t pay too much attention at some point.
What’s different on that best of is Mitsu’s voice. I got to know it before he joined ν［NEU］ and I always missed it a bit. So finding this back in these re-recordings was something I had not expected to experience in 2024. But let’s get to my picks. I leave out “PULSE” even though I love it a lot as well.
First one is “LIMIT” which I also immediately loved in 2010 or when it got released back then (I’m curious how “想” (Sou) would sound now which’s my most favorite song but since I’m always very tense about re-recordings it’s also fine they didn’t put it on the album).
The one I might have missed in the past and therefore surprised me now is “APOLLON”.
- Deathpair - Despair
Alright, they renamed from Zeile but I don’t know, if I ever tried them out before (was there anything, I don’t remember). But when “BONDAGE” got posted, yeah, I immediately loved it. Not posting it now because it already got posted by someone else before.
That’s the other album I had to go through yesterday and today again to finally pick two songs.
I was close to even pick “2405101830” because I like the title but also it’s like two and a half minutes long but then it’s just an SE so I didn’t.
One pick is “R.I.P.”, I love the guitar at the beginning and also so much more, the low singing in the beginning, followed by the talking and yeah. Not to mention the bass drum. xDD
The other one is “増悪” (Zouaku). Again the bass drum but also the toms in the beginning are part of the why. Aside from this I just like the song.
- 黒曜日 (Kuroyoubi) - UGLY BORDER
I’m glad they released the singles from this year on a physical album in December so I can list more of their songs here. I wouldn’t have decided on another song for the singles though but didn’t want to post more than one for variety reasons.
So here’s two more of their songs because I just listened to them so much this year and really love their songs.
“忘却と深淵のドレス” (Boukyaku to shinen no DORESU) is definitely a song easily matching my taste. A bit of a heavier mood (I’m just not a positive type) is a good first step.
“言霊” (Kotodama) is such a beautiful ballad with very wonderful lyrics (all their lyrics are and those I took a closer look at aren’t very positive as well).
Honorable mentions:
First one is a another song by 黒曜日 (Kuroyoubi) that didn’t get released in 2024. Beside me listening to their music a lot, it’s been especially “Gravity” that stuck in my head so much while I was planning a fanfic for a Halloween collaboration that I used quite some themes from the lyrics for the plot after just starting out with the costume for one of the characters and that turned the thing into a song fic.
The other one is a song by the GazettE.
Those who know me for a while know it’s my most favorite band. And with everything happening in 2024 listening to them was tough. But since I’ve been through not doing so with another band years ago and it took me months and still lots of pain when I started listening to them again I decided to not wait at all. I gave two or three days with not listening to music at all and then just played the mixed playlists. So there was lots of other music as well but a significant part of the songs is by the GazettE though. I also let it just play while doing other things so sometimes I didn’t realize them playing too much, sometimes I still did.
This also happened for “ABHOR GOD”.
Back when the album came out in 2018 I immediately mainly had Reita on my mind for the chorus, shouting “TOO FAST TO LIVE, TOO YOUNG TO DIE” and that’s what made the song very tough to listen to but also it’s the reason why I want to put it here right now.
