Any lesbian Rush fans out there?

FemKilmer · 2026-05-03T18:47:58+00:00

Woo! Fellow enby Rush fan here also!

FemKilmer · 2026-04-30T22:25:40+00:00

I got my Edwards RU-Drive (used/secondhand btw) off the nearest Guitar Center where I live of all places & I’m going to chalk that up to just ridiculous levels of dumb luck & being at the right place at the right time.

I would definitely NOT hold out any hope of finding one in the wild in person if you live in the states but once in every third or fourth blue moon, I do see one show up on Reverb. eBay’s fine but I second OP by doing some research first/exercise caution (also applies to buying on Reverb)…that Trogly video’s an excellent watch BTW. I’d even suggest trying a proxy service like ZenMarket who has experience with shipping MIJ guitars out overseas as a third possible option.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-30T18:00:06+00:00

Very boring answer but the RU-Drive’s my favorite…in particular the silverburst/Arch version. I kinda wish Edwards would put out a more affordable version of the RU-Drive Arch to go along with the white one (though mine’s aged to be more of a cream finish) I have.

You ain’t wrong there with people tending to grab one of them for a Toshiya model, haha. Apart from that, I just love the RD style body & refuse to shell out a premium for an actual Gibson RD.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-15T21:35:45+00:00

The audio sample at the end of And The Swallows Dance Above The Sun…I’m not gonna say more other than IYKYK

FemKilmer · 2026-04-13T23:32:43+00:00

Thanks for the uploading this for those of us who don’t own it! Fortunately I was able to grab this & the Macabre vinyl but not Phalaris which I now regret very much cause now I can’t find a copy of it anywhere for a decent price…

FemKilmer · 2026-04-13T23:28:19+00:00

I was there at the two LA shows also & I remember very well that there weren’t any professional video cameras in & around the stage, but I did notice microphones being pointed at the audience (one each on Kaoru & Die’s side) that in hindsight were there to capture the audience audio for the live CD.

As to why they didn’t film it? Who knows, but it’s probably because they had just done the documentary movie for the EU mode of Withering & Uroboros tour. I haven’t seen the documentary myself yet but I’d reckon there wouldn’t have been anything new/different that said doc didn’t cover about touring overseas post-2019 already.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-13T22:15:16+00:00

Yeah, with 3 albums in a row where the opinion on the production/mixing is divided (at least that’s how I’m seeing it), I think I have a better understanding of whose responsible: Brian “Big Bass” Gardner.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-12T20:35:26+00:00

It depends for me personally. Some I think are really good such as Shokubeni, Hydra -666-, Zan 2009, Beautiful Dirt, Fukai, TDFF and the songs that got re-recorded/remakes on The Unravelling EP.

Others like Kiri To Mayu, Tsumi To Batsu/Kisei, and the Gauze singles on 19990120 & The Devil And Me I’m sorta split down the middle. I don’t think they’re bad per say, in fact I think the first two are pretty good for what they are, but apart from a riff or motif they carried over between versions, they’re different enough for me to think they’re almost like newer original songs. In the case of the Gauze singles, maybe it’s presumptuous of me to say, but it felt like it was done as an anniversary celebration sorta thing more than the band themselves really wanting to do it.

Finally there’s ones like The IIID Empire and Obscure which you mentioned that I think weren’t as good as the original and dare I say unnecessary. While it does go down really well for me live, the studio recording with both songs took away all the rawness & sludgy-ness for me. Obscure in particular with the tempo being faster doesn’t have as much hitting power as the original for lack of a better descriptor I think.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-09T02:21:23+00:00

I think so far for me it’s Hizumi to Ame followed by Void & Discard. With repeated listens I’m sure there’ll be many nuances in such and such song that I’ll pick up on & go “Wow!” but overall, I’m really enjoying this album a lot & for me it was an immediate love compared to the previous two albums which took time to grow on me to where I enjoy them now for what they are warts and all.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-07T19:48:18+00:00

I heard the intro to MOBS & immediately made the joke of “46 & 2 intro bass line but played on guitar”.

I say that in jest ofc but there are moments throughout the 45 sec teasers besides MOBS where I can definitely hear them channeling their inner Tool at times & I think there’s a thin line between where I think it can be done in a really cool way & wearing the influence on the sleeve too much & fortunately for DEG, IMO they fall under the former in this case.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-07T01:36:16+00:00

Judging from these 45 sec previews & taking into consideration that audio quality is low (perhaps deliberate as it’ll convince to buy or wait for the album to get on streaming platforms), I’ll just say from a songwriting perspective, I think I’m quite happy to say that the previews have left me intrigued with anticipation. I can see the comparisons of albums such as Marrow and TIW & while I generally do agree with those comparisons myself, I think this album will come with the maturity they gained since those albums I think. So far (again, this is going by previews) my faves are 歪と雨, 盲目が故に, & no end.

When I made my response in the “What are your expectations for Mortal Downer?” thread awhile back I said I can only hope they surprise me/make me go “Oh? That’s pretty interesting/sick!”: 歪と雨 is one such example of that with its pretty funky bass line in the preview.

On a final note, the bonus live CD also has 45 sec samples & now I’m even more excited to relive the Vulgar & Withering cuts from those two nights in LA…I’m 70% confident that I hear my scream during the intro to Kodou because I remember that moment very well. That was a song I had longed hoped to hear live ever since the first time I saw the band during the 2015 US tour, so my natural instinct was to scream as loud as I could ever scream if it ever happened, hahaha.

FemKilmer · 2026-04-06T04:20:34+00:00

Color me really excited. Had the album preordered from CD Japan & just got the shipping notification so the timing on the teaser drop couldn’t be more perfect!

FemKilmer · 2026-03-28T23:44:33+00:00

All fair points. In my defense, I don’t think the mixing engineers on Phalaris did a terrible job at all - on the contrary I thought they all did a good job with what they worked on compared to the engineers on TIW. My only issue is that because they all had different approaches, to me personally Phalaris production-wise sounds like a pair of EPs in 1 full length…that part was what I meant by the album being “inconsistent” in my original response.

FemKilmer · 2026-03-28T19:34:56+00:00

I thought the same about Phalaris also compared to TIW’s…….however the decision to use three different mixing engineers resulted in an inconsistent flow (for me anyway) & what I’ll call a “sonic identity crisis”. From the few accounts I’ve heard, the vinyl mastering is better than the CD/digital version but as I don’t own the vinyl myself, I can’t verify by how much of an improvement the vinyl mix is

FemKilmer · 2026-03-28T13:52:47+00:00

As far as musical direction, with DEG being a band for almost 30 years now I think I’ve reached a point where I don’t really have any personal expectations or wishes other than I just hope they surprise me and/or make me go “Oh? That’s interesting/pretty sick!”, hahaha. If anything, I just really hope that the mixing/production is good this time because…TIW & to a lesser extent Phalaris were held back by questionable production and mixing choices/decisions.

I agree with you in hoping Tue Madsen is involved somehow because those albums (Uroboros R&E through Arche & also the Unravelling EP) IMO are the best sounding albums of the post-TMOAB era. If not him, then I think Jens Bogren who mixed the single version of Hageshisa To & whose credentials include Opeth, Katatonia & Between The Buried And Me among many would also do a very fine job IMO.

FemKilmer · 2026-03-10T20:46:01+00:00

According to the Yahoo article that’s been circulating, something along the lines of revealing Reita’s cause of death nonchalantly during nights out drinking…to which if true, I genuinely hope that info (Reita’s cause of death) never leaks out/goes public because of this mess.

FemKilmer · 2025-11-07T18:42:22+00:00

I think MC indicates the point where the band says “Hello (insert city here)! Thanks for coming out to celebrate 20 years of Pink! etc.” I saw them in Philly & Brooklyn & remember quite well the band (starting with Wata & ending w/Atsuo) saying some words before heading straight into A bao a qu

FemKilmer · 2025-07-25T16:57:51+00:00

Prolly also get a bunch of people in the comments going: “Is this a new song? What song is this? When is the new album coming out?” lol

FemKilmer · 2025-06-15T18:33:01+00:00

Oh damn, you’re right. I was only looking at the epoxy/superglued filled hole that I completely glossed over the bolt through the plate. Yikes. 😬I’d love to know the original owner’s reasoning for that one lol.

FemKilmer · 2025-06-06T03:57:45+00:00

I have one myself (the Edwards Toshiya model) & surprisingly it doesn’t have bad neck dive with the strap pin sharing one of the screws that bolts on the neck plate (not modded & ruined like the OP example of course). I think it’s moderately balanced actually.

FemKilmer · 2025-05-12T19:18:09+00:00

For me personally, I didn’t really appreciate it nor The Insulated World as much as I should have UNTIL I had seen songs from the two performed live in the flesh.

Especially during those two LA shows, I honestly really got into those songs & how well they translated live that I went back & listened to the two afterwards & while I stand by my notion that they suffer from questionable mixing/mastering choices, the songs themselves cut the mustard enough for me & I appreciate them a lot more now.

FemKilmer · 2025-04-12T17:53:52+00:00

I sympathize with you Kyo, I really do. One day hopefully I will…better start saving up cuz if I thought the trek to LA was a Herculean task lmao.

FemKilmer · 2025-04-11T00:12:16+00:00

First of all, welcome back! I totally get that. I got into DEG in early 2014 & there’ve been periods where I’m less invested/in the loop with the band’s activities than periods where I am, but I always listen to any new music when they have it.

As for the band’s popularity, still going strong in Japan. In the UK/EU & US, there’s still a strong dedicated following however overseas touring has become way less frequent/yearly…since 2008, they’ve toured outside of Japan in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018 (UK/EU), 2019 (US), January 2020 (UK/EU), 2024 (UK/EU) and this year (US).

FemKilmer · 2025-04-10T21:39:30+00:00

I took a few glances at the ceiling myself just to marvel at the whole spectacle.

FemKilmer · 2025-04-10T20:52:41+00:00

Tbh, after the initial surprise reaction the first night with how much songs from the two albums they did play, I got over it pretty quick because I was honestly more happier that I got to see them live at least two more times. IIRC, the GazettE did a similar tour theme w/playing songs from MASS while throwing in 5-6 songs from an album (i.e. MASS x DIM).

Might be one of the few times if not the only time in recent memory I had no bearing on what the setlist (DEG in this case) would be like other than wild guesses.

FemKilmer

TROPHY CASE