Checkmate

Checkmate Is Now KING RAGE, Brutal(er)

/ Homicidol Maniac / 2 Comments

If you recall, lovely people, that we are in a weird era of idol resurrection, you may recall that Checkmate, which had all but dissolved into non-existence over a period of months, was teasing a comeback of some sort or another during the last few weeks. On Monday, they issued the big reveal:

KING RAGE! What a name! That’s right up there with St. Anger in my book, and everybody knows that nothing related to St. Anger could ever possibly go wrong. Continue reading →

‘Tis Apparently the Season for Idol Resurrections

/ Homicidol Maniac

You guys, it’s Golden Week. I love Golden Week — so much happens! I also hate Golden Week for the same reason. Would you believe that I originally wanted to publish this almost a full week ago? Madness. And yet, here we are.

Idol projects, like superheroes, are never guaranteed to stay dead, no matter how gruesome their demise. I bet that if a snap of the fingers wiped half of all idol from existence, a good chunk of them would still find a way to return even without the intervention of some cosmic power; it’s just the way that idol works.

That being said, I currently know of at least three idol projects that are on their way back to life. Continue reading →

What the Flippin’ Heck, Checkmate?

/ Homicidol Maniac

And in news of another nice loud idol project that’s dropping members, I know that some of you guys saw earlier this week that RINA was out of Checkmate:

I was leaving it as a Weekender item until Philippe brought it up and prompted me to look at their official Twitter to see if anything else was cooking, and they at the very least provide a taste of what the group now sounds like as a trio:

And, hey look, November!

I like when idols are irrepressible.

Ahead of Their One-man, Checkmate Debuted a New Song

/ Homicidol Maniac / 1 Comment

There was actually even more nice-and-loudol music to bump into this week, and it’s even new in this case! Checkmate, who are cool as hell and really need to get a bump somehow, tweeted out this clip the other day, and I got really excited … and then kind of forgot about it for a minute because Daichi, but, here you go! Debuted live over the weekend, “KSGK”:

I love when songs are titled with initials; it could mean anything!

That’s not quite as furiously loud and gnarly and hate-filled as you can often get with Checkmate, but it’s still pretty on point in an idol-meets-punk kind of way. I’d have liked maybe one growl here or there, but you take what you’re given sometimes.

Checkmate’s first one-man is Friday. May the gods help us all.

Wake the Hell up to Some Checkmate

/ Homicidol Maniac

Good morning! Are you in the mood for something loud? I bet you are. I am; yesterday, with the whole your-website-doesn’t-work-Maniac thing, that was truly and genuinely obnoxious. I’m working on it! But, in the meantime, I like Terry’s suggestion (even though he tweeted this a couple of days ago):

Raise your hand if you disagree with Terry that Checkmate is awesome.

/counts

Seeing none, I’m going to assume then that all are in agreement that Checkmate is awesome, and this is a good atonement for the terrible website performance that was yesterday. Enjoy your Tuesday!

Checkmate Will Take This Brutality to Their First One-man

/ Homicidol Maniac

Happy Thursday Hurtsday, you guys! For what it’s worth, by some twisted accident of time and space, there’s a lot of hurt this Hurtsday, and I couldn’t be happier. Punish me, senpai!

The first item that I’d like to draw your attention to is Checkmate. It’s been a minute since we last caught up with them, but they’ve been busy, and clearly eating broken glass and stuff, because they sound positively livid about their first one-man, coming up in August:

DESTROY THE LIVE!

Continue reading →

Checkmate’s Newest Is Just Stupid Heavy

/ Homicidol Maniac / 5 Comments

Holy moley, you guys, if you haven’t had a chance to hear the latest (live!) number from Checkmate, you need to take a few minutes right now and —

Sakes. Continue reading →

Who Had Any Idea That Chess Could Get So Brutal?

/ Homicidol Maniac / 3 Comments

I mean, there are “brutal moves” in chess, but those are more you-idiot-now-I-can-destroy-you-in-two-moves kinds of things than you-son-of-a-bitch-eat-steel acts of frustration.

But anyway! Autumn has completely descended on Maniac Mansion, so rather than spend yesterday drinking budget beers and watching football and then cooking a seasonally appropriate three-course meal because that’s how we roll around these parts, I raked and blowed and digged and swore in front of the neighbor’s kids. Delightful! And I was glad that I added some brand-new idols to the playlist to distract myself from the six-inch cut I opened on my arm while being irresponsible with a box cutter:

Continue reading →