Report and review

21 October 2022

On October 5, MIYAVI returned to The State Theatre near Washington DC. This show kicked off his 20th-anniversary tour, a whirlwind circuit spanning 18 cities across North America.MIYAVI played at this venue...

Report: BAND-MAID turn Aftershock Festival into hard-rock Japanese café

G Andrew White

13 October 2022

A bright sun shines on the Coors Light stage at the Aftershock Festival as BAND-MAID arrives for a small and dedicated crowd. Starting earlier than scheduled on a hot October 9 in Sacramento, CA, the all-female...

Report: NEMOPHILA shred at Aftershock Festival, announce North America tour

G Andrew White

10 October 2022

On Friday, October 7 at Aftershock Festival 2022, NEMOPHILA took on the U.S. West Coast from the DWPresents stage. This explosive event at Discovery Park in Sacramento, CA featured a meteoric list of metal and ...

Review: JROCK NEWS jockeys over BAND-MAID’s EP “Unleash”

G Andrew White and Nori

29 September 2022

Releases, Report and review

Japan's extraordinary hard-rock headliners BAND-MAID let loose the next chapter in their musical conquest with the eight-track EP Unleash, available worldwide since September 21. Coming in under 30 minutes, the...

Report: NEMOPHILA kicks ass at Whisky a Go Go part 2

G Andrew White

13 July 2022

Featured, Report and review, Tour and event

On July 1 NEMOPHILA, in their first international performance, stepped onto the stage of the world-famous venue Whisky a Go Go. Confidently, they stood before a sold-out house with fans hypnotized and stunned i...

Review: Earthists’ album “Have a Good Cult” displays beautiful side of metalcore

NBT

4 July 2022

The metalcore band "Earthists." has delivered quite an interesting work this time, to say the least. The latest entry is the album "Have a Good Cult" which was fully released on June 22. Binding together melodi...

Review: DIR EN GREY forges brazen album “PHALARIS”

Nori

30 June 2022

Releases, Report and review

DIR EN GREY’s 11th studio album PHALARIS bares the richest culmination of metal from the Osaka quintet’s quarter-century career. Contrasting the battering ram blitzing throughout its predecessor The Insulated W...

Review: Is DIR EN GREY’s album “PHALARIS” the next step for an ever-changing band?

Mazohyst_Kyo

24 June 2022

This is so familiar. But why?The second the intro to DIR EN GREY's latest album PHALARIS kicks in, I feel like I am being ripped back into a better time. For the first time in a while, I can honestly say th...

Review: Is Yoshiki’s energy drink “Real Gold XY” really revolutionary?

NBT, afaenia, Mazohyst_Kyo and Omatsu

22 June 2022

Entertainment, Report and review

Back in May, the legendary drummer and leader of X Japan, Yoshiki, teased and claimed that with the Coca-Cola collaboration project, we would allegedly be able to witness something "revolutionary". A week later...

Report: Mary’s Blood reign supreme in final show

afaenia

25 April 2022

Bringing a chapter to a close is never easy. How do you adequately convey all that you have achieved during that time? Mary’s Blood has, over the course of 13 years, released seven full-length albums and two mi...

Review: Omnibus album “Chaos Collection” finds harmony in chaos

13 January 2022

In October 2021, Chaotic Harmony set on a mission to crowdfund “Chaos Collection”: a 13-track omnibus album gathering 13 visual kei bands from Japan. While the omnibus includes previously released songs, it als...

Report: MIYAVI storms the State Theatre in Washington DC

1 December 2021

In June, MIYAVI announced his first North American tour in almost two years spanning 19 cities across the US and Canada. On October 29 MIYAVI played an intimate show near the US capitol at the State Theatre in ...

Report: HYDE creates art in motion at Heian Shrine

7 August 2021