They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate

So GazettE's new CD, DIVISION, came out on Wednesday! I met up with Greta after work and went over to buy the 3 disk (2 CDs & 1 DVD) limited edition at Tower Records. The packaging and photos in the album book are gorgeous. Of course, I listened to the album as soon as I got home! (And I'm listening to it as I type this~)

There's a pretty noticable difference between both disks of the album. The first disk is called Fragment [Vein]. The songs on this disk remind me of somewhat of "Shiver" and "Pledge" (from their previous album TOXIC), which are quite good songs, but have never been among my personal favorite GazettE songs. I felt the same way about some of the songs on this disk. I love "歪" though and "ヘドロ" has really grown on me. "余韻" has a gorgeous dark sound, too. 

Disk 2 is called Fragment [Artery]. It definitely has more heavy, driving songs on it (which are what I generally tend to favor). It also has some electro sounds mixed in. This disk has my personal favorite song from this album, "Gabriel on the Gallows" on it. I love the chorus and it's got a great heavy sound! My other favorite song on this disk is probably "Dripping Insanity". It's got this dark sound that I find really appealing. I wasn't quite expecting it, but once I got used to the electro sounds, I really started to like "Derangement" too.

Both disks are bookended by instumental intro and outro tracks. I think that they're a nice touch and really add to the feel of the album. I really like the end tracks for both disks. "Diplosomia" starts off very quiet and haunting sounding, then BAM- electro sounds! As for "Melt", I really love the beat.

Overall, DIVISION is a good, solid album. For whatever reason, I didn't fall head over heels in love with it right away like I did with DIM, or TOXIC though. It's taken a few more listens, but I'm finally starting to fall in love with it. I'm excited to see the band perform the new songs during the tour this fall. I'm sure that (if I haven't already) I'll fall even more in love with this album when I see GazettE perform it live!

As I mentioned in my last entry, I've been really into K-pop recently. Actually, for about the past month or so. I've poked around the fringes of K-pop fandom for a while (mainly because of TVXQ, but there was a bit of Super Junior and SHINee in there too), telling myself that I didn't need another obsession on top of my Japan obsession. Then there came a point where I just couldn't resist anymore. My downfall was watching SHINee's episodes of Hello Baby, which is a Korean show that takes a K-pop group and gives them a real baby to raise for 100 days. So it ended up being five cute/silly/awkward teenaged boys taking care of one of the cutest toddlers I've seen. It was all the adorableness that I could have asked for. I regret nothing. That did me in. After watching Hello Baby, I just let myself fall into K-pop fandom. Right now, I'm really into TVXQ, SHINee, and Big Bang. I also really enjoy Super Junior and f(x).

Really, I'm kind of amazed that it took me this long to become obsessed. K-pop contains so many of my favorite things: some of the catchiest music I've ever heard (I definitely prefer the more upbeat dance songs that are so popular in K-pop right now, compared to the R&B style songs that are also somewhat common), pretty Asians (I'm partial to the guy groups, but there are also some gorgeous ladies), and ridiculous/fabulous outfits. I also feel that the groups must also be contractually obliged to do dorky and ridiculous things. It seems like they're always doing silly tasks on Korean variety shows. I end up spending way too much time watching their ridiculous videos on Youtube.

K-pop is also perfect for filling up my recently boring days. It seems like there's always something new for me to discover. There are a million different K-pop videos to watch on Youtube. The K-pop world also moves really fast so there's always new news coming out daily. It's kind of filling the recent void I've been feeling in J-rock fandom (with a lot of amazing bands that have been disbanding, or losing their edge when they go from indie to major). J-rock fandom also tends to move slower and doesn't get as much media attention. I still love it, but it hasn't been particularly exciting recently. K-pop is definitely very new and shiny to me right now, much like how J-rock was back in the day. It's making me quite happy.

This post contains some introspective fangirling that gets kind of mushy. It's actually kind of embarrassing because I usually try to contain my hardcore fangirling for the proper place and time, so I'm putting this behind a cut.

( Embarrassing amounts of love inside. )

Feeling a little better today. I finally had a decent night's sleep, for the first time since getting back from Japan. This is the first time that I haven't woken up, for an hour, in the middle of the night. I'm hoping my internal clock is finally re-adjusting itself. I then started off the day right by playing some of my new copy of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. I've already been making woobly faces at the Axel & Roxas interactions. I can't wait to play more of it! I also added some more fabulous to my life by going out and picking up copies of Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster and Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment. The CDs had been on my Christmas list, but as I found out today, my mother had refused to by them because she didn't approve of them. What am I, five years old? Whatever. I bought them with the Target giftcard my parents gave me anyways. I've enjoyed dancing all around my room to the fun music this afternoon~.
 
I found out thatimmelmanturn is currently at Disney too! I'll hopefully be able to meet up with her at some point while I'm there, as I haven't seen her since the end of last school year. I'm leaving for Disney tomorrow and I'll be back the 31st. I expect to find the internet still in one piece when I get back! See ya!

It's time for another backdated post. This time it's all about the incredibly awesome time I had at the V-Rock Festival~.

( Click here if you want to rock! )

I bought a ticket to the V-Rock Festival today! It's an all day long series of J-rock concerts, held in Makuhari (the town I go to school in) on the 24th and 25th. I'm going on the 25th because that's the day Gazette is playing! I finally have a chance to see them live! I'm so super excited~.

I also just learned that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That's pretty damn awesome.

So, I was going to make an entry about my fun weekend, but that can wait until my next post.

Jasmine You, the bass player in the band Versailles, died yesterday. While I am not a hardcore fan of Versailles, I still enjoy their music and am quite saddened to hear about his death. He always seemed very sweet in all of their interviews. Rest in peace Jasmine. You will be missed.

A list, in an attempt to be more cheerful:

Things That Have Recently Made Erin Happy

1. I'm going to Japan in the fall! *flail*

2. My discovery of the band Cinema Bizarre. They are yet another German band that has English songs. I'm in love with them. That's two of the band members in my new icon up there. *points* First of all, their music is like an awesome mix of rock, pop, and electro. They're also gorgeous, with their visual kei inspired look. *_* Check them out!  I was also really amused to find out that some of the band members first met each other at an anime convention. And their lead singer's name is Strify, which is a reference to Cloud Strife. XD Stylish, geeky, pretty boys. Oh, yes. This makes Erin happy.

3. The new FMA anime. I really enjoyed watching the first episode. I think it'll be very interesting to see where this series goes. I can't get used to Roy's new voice yet though. I love Shinichiro Miki, but all I can think of everytime I hear Roy's new voice is Lockon. Roy's new voice just doesn't have that same smirky tone to it that I loved in the original series. I guess I just need to try and let go of the old anime and get used to the new one, so I can get the full amount of enjoyment out of watching it. Overall, I'm just happy that there's more FMA anime.

4. This message from Miyavi. He's such a sweetie. I wish him the best for his new family and his new company~.

5. I get to see melody1228  this weekend!