If you
prefer more melodic varieties of heavy music, let’s turn to IA’s cousin, ONE.
Kiesca (aka Yandere-P) has released (after a year-long break) a nice symphonic
metal piece full of piano, guitar solos and similar stuff. Can’t say anything
bad about ONE’s vocals either. Though they belong to the other end of the
spectrum – instead of IA’s blood-curdling screams we have mellowness, gentleness
and cushiness. Whocoodanode – visually the girls seem to be almost the same :)
Why, “Sweet Sweet Cendrilion Drug” again, and again a cover by UTAU. This time it’s an attempt by Ooka Miko – a Vipperloid, a werewolf and (SUDDENLY!) a singer. Miko-san isn’t much popular on UTAU scene. Perhaps that’s because of her vocals being extremely similar to that of her big brother – Ritsu. Well, you can hear for yourself. I find this cover very bright and energetic.
Youtube:
TheGrayKiwi: “also, why does Miko look like a bunny?” Srsly, why??? ;)
Video by TheGrayKiwi.
“Sweet Sweet Cendrilion Drug” was originally releaseda long time ago in a galaxy far, far away in 2009 by uz-P. Those days Miku was singing it, and that’s not surprising: back then ‘Vocaloid’ in most cases meant directly Miku. Miku was only V2, no appends existed, and let’s be honest uz hadn’t used top-notch studio equipment, so you can guess the quality wasn’t the seventh heaven. Yet, even given all of this, the song was rather impressive, and got pretty healthy number of views for the genre.
Fast forward to 2012 when Muryoku-P decided to enhance the uz’s piece. The remix, besides the improved sound, featured Megurine Luka as a singer. As for me, the progress in vocals was evident too. Now, almost five years after the original release, we have the chance to compare Miku and Luka with their UTAU colleague. Gahata Meiji isn’t a very popular voicebank. And that’s a pity, because, at least in Tetsuwo-shi hands, she sounds awesome! Her variant is much more powerful and energetic than previous Vocaloid releases, which I think fits well to the nature of the song. And a little detail: Meiji’s canon states she is a witch. So a special kudos from VMW! ;)
Ha-ha, u-z (the producer) claims he made the song three years ago and have managed to upload it only yesterday. Why, you are quite in time, my dear friend! Because it’s Miku again. And we haven’t yet listened today to how Miku tries her luck in power/sympho metal. Well, she succeeds, I believe. The only obscure part (except for all the lyrics which are in Japanese) is the meaning of the title. But I suppose it’s some technical issue connected with the waiting three years for the release ;)
The vocals will satisfy Miku’s fans at last. Because we all know you have to have some skill in singing when it comes to power metal, much unlike that barbarian metalcore :) And of course, I should notice the video, which required a lot of effort. I’m not a big fan of gothic cityscapes, but you may find it worth attention :)
Finals of the 12th MMD Cup have started today. This means we might get some great videos from the metal side. I’ll try to pinpoint some random entertaining works as well, but this’ll require time. Which is a scarce resource (surprise, surprise!).
So, for now, more fitting work. “Choir - Dedicated to BRAVEs” was released initially by Minatsuki Toka (aka Pandorist-P) in October 2013. ig_k, the creator of the MMD version, has made quite an impressive story. It features our golden-eyed boy in a role of a bride... Wait, WHAT?!! Well, yes, bride, though unlucky one. Or maybe it’s for the good that his boyfriend haven’t returned, or he would discover some new facts about his pretty darling ;) Other than that, we have some technically challenging war scenes, some half-clothed string players for back-up, half-clothed (but in more explicit way) Lily for *extra* back-up, church and graveyard scenery because FUCKING GOTHIC ATMOSPHERE and a couple of other things. Why, I like it. At least ig_k saved us from watching half-clothed Ritsu :p
Graveyard. Not a single sane person would come here at daylight. Because, you know, it turns so GOTHIC at nights… And no, I do not consider Ritsu a sane person.
First Vocaloid work by k1mu-san. It is somewhat symphonic/progressive metal. “Dream Theater”'s influence is evident here, but it’d be surprising if there wasn’t one given the mentioned style :) . So the question is, does “Doomsday” send a challenge to the American gurus of prog? Well, I suppose the attempt is solid. At least “DT” doesn’t use Vocaloids in its works, which is a grave, grave omission… :)
Why, guys, even without digital young sexy vocalists in miniskirts my sympathies will always be on the underground scene side rather than on the side of some posers metal gurus selling albums by millions… Damn, initially this post was intended to bring on some work from underground, and not to rattle on my loose preferences for the length of the Vocaloids’ skirts. So back to the business. k1mu made a great work on mixing, both ‘live’ and synthetic parts sound exceptional. In fact, I think the producer reached a nice balance between traditional metal sound and digital sequences. Only Miku and Gumi seem to be given less attention. There is not much room for the two of them, the duet composition itself hardly brings any additional gains. But it’s common for progressive to give low priority to vocals. And, as I’ve said already, this is the first k1mu’s experience with Vocaloids. So I hope next time the guy will outstrip “Dream Theater” as easily as you please :)
Wait, and that’s all?! No young sexy female vocalists in miniskirts? Man, I’m wounded… Progressive metal, you say? Not a single miniskirt on the whole scene, Vocaloid or not? Fuck, guys, how do you live with that... ;)
Lesxpaulx’ attempt on crossbreeding modern classical with metalcore. The outcome is a nifty symphonic metal (hoocoodanode? :) ) This is the cover again. The original theme is from the soundtrack of Persona 3 video game. Given the incoming material, I should say lesxpaulx’ alchemy works rather impressive. Well, I’ve expected nothing less from the guy, he is gross! As for IA, there is not much work for her there, but she manages it well.
[red*fox] continues to rejoice us metalheads. This time it’s an overhaul of “I'll Take You Away”, his very first published Vocaloid song. Well, almost three years has passed, and the progress could be clearly seen… Besides far more enjoyable sound quality, new version has got fine instrumental background. It casts a new spin, pushing the music a bit closer to symphonic metal.
Miku wasn’t sitting idle these three years too. So the vocals were rerecorded with ver. 3 of Vocaloid software. Of course, it’s for the good, but I think the vocal part isn’t the strongest point here. And what is? I like more the jaunty, spirited atmosphere, which at the same time feels rather steady and solid. A quite unique blend, if you ask me. So it was definitely worth all the effort.
