So finally one of the CD jackets has finally been unveiled


It's... okay. It's not GOOD, nor is it BAD. It's just... indifferent I guess. Maybe the other one will blow me away. But it's nice to see they didn't just reuse the same image from last album.

As for other news regarding the album, well, the set list from CD Data is, in fact, final, much to my dismay, but the track descriptions make some of the more silly names totally forgivable. Also of interest, the DVD in the Limited Edition will feature the PV's of DEVIL SIDE and ANGEL TRIP as well as the DVD-exclusive PV's of REVOLUTION and MY FIRST LAST. Wait, what? Seriously? Sounds cool, but was not expecting that! No wonder they've looked so tired in recent TV appearances.

All this and more can be read at VAMPS' Official Website. (They've even updated it with a nice new picture. Interestingly, it features K.A.Z in the position you'd imagine HYDE in and vice versa)

(06-19-2010, 02:11 PM)VAMPkito Wrote: So finally one of the CD jackets has finally been unveiled


It's... okay. It's not GOOD, nor is it BAD. It's just... indifferent I guess. Maybe the other one will blow me away. But it's nice to see they didn't just reuse the same image from last album.

As for other news regarding the album, well, the set list from CD Data is, in fact, final, much to my dismay, but the track descriptions make some of the more silly names totally forgivable. Also of interest, the DVD in the Limited Edition will feature the PV's of DEVIL SIDE and ANGEL TRIP as well as the DVD-exclusive PV's of REVOLUTION and MY FIRST LAST. Wait, what? Seriously? Sounds cool, but was not expecting that! No wonder they've looked so tired in recent TV appearances.

All this and more can be read at VAMPS' Official Website. (They've even updated it with a nice new picture. Interestingly, it features K.A.Z in the position you'd imagine HYDE in and vice versa)

I like the cover. At least there is not some half-naked woman parading on it.

Come to think of it.....how about Hyde or K.A.Z showing us their Devil Side on the cover......lol.

(06-19-2010, 02:22 PM)cathb Wrote: I like the cover. At least there is not some half-naked woman parading on it.

Come to think of it.....how about Hyde or K.A.Z showing us their Devil Side on the cover......lol.

Because that would be ga... I mean, too much excitement for the fangirls to bear.

What gets me about this cover is just that it looks so... Japanese. I mean, it's just sort of hard to show introduce people to them when the cover pretty much screams "WE'RE JAPANESE!" all over it. It looks more like something Asian Kung-Fu Generation would put on their covers.

But like you said at least it's not a naked woman, but the only reason that annoys me so much is because of how overused it's become. I forgave it on LOVE ADDICT, because I felt it fit the mood of the title song. I was kind of upset because I GOTTA KICK START NOW was just a modified cover of the same box art (but with a different girl in a different position and the characters stacked even MORE oddly than before) but I forgave it because it fit the biker mood which was apparently what they were aiming for at that particular single. But then EVANESCENT and SWEET DREAMS came out and it's like... wait, really? This doesn't even seem fitting. Now it's just customary to expect a single to have some kind of naked/half naked woman on it. At least ANGEL TRIP's was artistic, but most of them are just blatant.

I'll just address right now that while it doesn't really matter to ME what the CD art looks like, I talk about these things all the time because it shows the thought they put into the production and marketing of an album. In a way, it's like the title sequence to a movie. To someone who is EXPECTING something good, it means nothing, but to someone who has no idea what he or she is in for, it can mean everything. If you saw a title sequence full of cute, charming characters in a field of green and open, blue skies and sunshine, would you expect the movie you're about to watch would be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Similarly, if you were browsing through a CD store and saw a red box art with sexy legs and snakes on a red background with an artist name like "VAMPS," would you expect it to be a sweet, heart-warming ballad unless you already knew better?

So THAT is why I go on about it! It honestly doesn't really doesn't matter to huge fans like pretty much everyone on this board, to people casually getting into them, presentation means a lot. Although, it appears that it hasn't been affecting their sales at all, but then you see how repulsive the promotional posters for Twilight are and they still sell well. (Well, why not? It's a repulsive movie, therefore the art should reflect, right?)

(06-19-2010, 03:01 PM)VAMPkito Wrote:

(06-19-2010, 02:22 PM)cathb Wrote: I like the cover. At least there is not some half-naked woman parading on it.

Come to think of it.....how about Hyde or K.A.Z showing us their Devil Side on the cover......lol.

Because that would be ga... I mean, too much excitement for the fangirls to bear.

What gets me about this cover is just that it looks so... Japanese. I mean, it's just sort of hard to show introduce people to them when the cover pretty much screams "WE'RE JAPANESE!" all over it. It looks more like something Asian Kung-Fu Generation would put on their covers.

But like you said at least it's not a naked woman, but the only reason that annoys me so much is because of how overused it's become. I forgave it on LOVE ADDICT, because I felt it fit the mood of the title song. I was kind of upset because I GOTTA KICK START NOW was just a modified cover of the same box art (but with a different girl in a different position and the characters stacked even MORE oddly than before) but I forgave it because it fit the biker mood which was apparently what they were aiming for at that particular single. But then EVANESCENT and SWEET DREAMS came out and it's like... wait, really? This doesn't even seem fitting. Now it's just customary to expect a single to have some kind of naked/half naked woman on it. At least ANGEL TRIP's was artistic, but most of them are just blatant.

I'll just address right now that while it doesn't really matter to ME what the CD art looks like, I talk about these things all the time because it shows the thought they put into the production and marketing of an album. In a way, it's like the title sequence to a movie. To someone who is EXPECTING something good, it means nothing, but to someone who has no idea what he or she is in for, it can mean everything. If you saw a title sequence full of cute, charming characters in a field of green and open, blue skies and sunshine, would you expect the movie you're about to watch would be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Similarly, if you were browsing through a CD store and saw a red box art with sexy legs and snakes on a red background with an artist name like "VAMPS," would you expect it to be a sweet, heart-warming ballad unless you already knew better?

So THAT is why I go on about it! It honestly doesn't really doesn't matter to huge fans like pretty much everyone on this board, to people casually getting into them, presentation means a lot. Although, it appears that it hasn't been affecting their sales at all, but then you see how repulsive the promotional posters for Twilight are and they still sell well. (Well, why not? It's a repulsive movie, therefore the art should reflect, right?)

I guess it depends on how you view it. I see it as more of a stained glass effect. Plus the double-image thingy.....do you see the VAMPS going around the edges or do you see the hand in the middle doing the V? My mind sees the edges first and then goes to the hand.

(06-19-2010, 06:52 PM)cathb Wrote:

(06-19-2010, 03:01 PM)VAMPkito Wrote:

(06-19-2010, 02:22 PM)cathb Wrote: I like the cover. At least there is not some half-naked woman parading on it.

Come to think of it.....how about Hyde or K.A.Z showing us their Devil Side on the cover......lol.

Because that would be ga... I mean, too much excitement for the fangirls to bear.

What gets me about this cover is just that it looks so... Japanese. I mean, it's just sort of hard to show introduce people to them when the cover pretty much screams "WE'RE JAPANESE!" all over it. It looks more like something Asian Kung-Fu Generation would put on their covers.

But like you said at least it's not a naked woman, but the only reason that annoys me so much is because of how overused it's become. I forgave it on LOVE ADDICT, because I felt it fit the mood of the title song. I was kind of upset because I GOTTA KICK START NOW was just a modified cover of the same box art (but with a different girl in a different position and the characters stacked even MORE oddly than before) but I forgave it because it fit the biker mood which was apparently what they were aiming for at that particular single. But then EVANESCENT and SWEET DREAMS came out and it's like... wait, really? This doesn't even seem fitting. Now it's just customary to expect a single to have some kind of naked/half naked woman on it. At least ANGEL TRIP's was artistic, but most of them are just blatant.

I'll just address right now that while it doesn't really matter to ME what the CD art looks like, I talk about these things all the time because it shows the thought they put into the production and marketing of an album. In a way, it's like the title sequence to a movie. To someone who is EXPECTING something good, it means nothing, but to someone who has no idea what he or she is in for, it can mean everything. If you saw a title sequence full of cute, charming characters in a field of green and open, blue skies and sunshine, would you expect the movie you're about to watch would be The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Similarly, if you were browsing through a CD store and saw a red box art with sexy legs and snakes on a red background with an artist name like "VAMPS," would you expect it to be a sweet, heart-warming ballad unless you already knew better?

So THAT is why I go on about it! It honestly doesn't really doesn't matter to huge fans like pretty much everyone on this board, to people casually getting into them, presentation means a lot. Although, it appears that it hasn't been affecting their sales at all, but then you see how repulsive the promotional posters for Twilight are and they still sell well. (Well, why not? It's a repulsive movie, therefore the art should reflect, right?)

I guess it depends on how you view it. I see it as more of a stained glass effect. Plus the double-image thingy.....do you see the VAMPS going around the edges or do you see the hand in the middle doing the V? My mind sees the edges first and then goes to the hand.

---------------
i like the cover image. if you had grown up in the 60s and 70s like i did, this type of cover art would seem perfectly normal. a lot of bands during both of those decades used similar types of artwork that might have seemed exotic to western and especially american (USA) eyes. even more exotic were the concert posters of the 60s.

i think the artistic rendering of the band name around the periphery is very clever and lovely, while the V sign is easily recognizable to fans. if i were not a fan, i would probably have picked this one up before i chose last album's cover cd, even though i had no problems with that either as it was obvious to me what the content would turn out to be. but this new one might turn out to be just as incongruous in relation to content as VAMPkito's description of SWEET DREAMS. i still like it anyway.

I liked the cover :-D It also reminds me of a clock that says it is around midnight :-D

It seems only the fan girls get worked up about the girls on the artwork. Us 'male' fans enjoy it. XD...

kidding.

Album cover is better than the first album I think. Hyde did go to art college and he's also a really cool visual artist. I'm sure the booklet and disc will look awesome...

(06-20-2010, 03:36 AM)Guest Wrote: It seems only the fan girls get worked up about the girls on the artwork. Us 'male' fans enjoy it. XD...

kidding.

Album cover is better than the first album I think. Hyde did go to art college and he's also a really cool visual artist. I'm sure the booklet and disc will look awesome...

Not only the fan girls....it just seems like they could come up with other concepts.

I wasn't particularly annoyed with the nakedness on the past singles since it was more like a modern version of the pin-up girls by the way that the pictures were showed [outlines, no color and as part of the background and not the main subject] and maybe we are only thinking that they are topless and/or naked, and not seeing the artistic side.

But hey, the new album's CD image looks pretty groovy, and even when someone said that it was "too Japanese"...ummm....aren't HYDE, KAZ, Jun-Ken, Jin and Arimatsu....Japanese?O.o

It was a very cool image...I love it!!

(06-19-2010, 06:52 PM)cathb Wrote: I guess it depends on how you view it. I see it as more of a stained glass effect. Plus the double-image thingy.....do you see the VAMPS going around the edges or do you see the hand in the middle doing the V? My mind sees the edges first and then goes to the hand.

HOLY FFFFFFFFF
I didn't even SEE the name! I thought it was just a bunch of squiggly lines! XD - So, now that I see that and can't get it out of my head, I actually really like it. It's very nice, and actually it improves on some complaints I had on their previous box arts. Those being-

1) over-abundance of girls
2) unfitting colors and imagery (well, from the two singles we have, it seems pretty fitting anyway)
3) lack of creativity
4) Overly-Simple fonts (typically, the font is just Impact; I've always had a motto that if the average consumer can immediately recognize how you did something, then it's a bad piece of art. Here, there's actually a lot of creative design behind the lettering that matches the concept)

So yeah, this album art is pretty much an answer to my hopes @_@

(06-19-2010, 10:27 PM)mamikochan Wrote: i like the cover image. if you had grown up in the 60s and 70s like i did, this type of cover art would seem perfectly normal. a lot of bands during both of those decades used similar types of artwork that might have seemed exotic to western and especially american (USA) eyes. even more exotic were the concert posters of the 60s.

Interestingly, I saw the original box art to Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" and it pretty much personifies what you just said. Funny thing is that while I didn't grow up in the era, I did grow up listening to lots of music from the era (as well as modern music) and didn't even notice the similarity.

(06-20-2010, 03:36 AM)Guest Wrote: It seems only the fan girls get worked up about the girls on the artwork. Us 'male' fans enjoy it. XD...

Yay, I'm a girl now? Just in time for my sex change operation! *I kid!*

(06-20-2010, 11:09 AM)vegetapr69 Wrote: But hey, the new album's CD image looks pretty groovy, and even when someone said that it was "too Japanese"...ummm....aren't HYDE, KAZ, Jun-Ken, Jin and Arimatsu....Japanese?O.o

I realize that the band -is- completely Japanese and composed of Japanese members, what I meant is that every time we think we're finally getting somewhere in our quest to expose overseas audiences to their music, they do something that makes our goal just that much harder @_@ - Again, to someone who has no idea what they're getting into, presentation is everything.

It astounded my mother when she saw VAMPS and she was like "They don't even LOOK Japanese!" So it showed her that although they were from very different parts of the world, it was not... you know... THAT different, and that's what initially vexed me about the box art. You tell them they're from Japan, they're like "Oh god wut" then they see the box art and they feel like "Oh man, I'm going to be soooo lost @_@"

I dunno. You see, Americans can be very stupid. When we think of Japanese music, our minds, for some reason, initially think of classical Japanese music. We don't think of modern rock n' roll or anything like that. But what REALLY vexes me is when they say something like "OH JAPANESE? YOU MEAN, LIEK, WITH THE INSTRUMENT?!" ... You know, because Japanese people only have one instrument!