KING RAGE

This KING∞RAGE MV Is Like a Beautiful Time Capsule

/ Homicidol Maniac / 3 Comments

I hate this week! Weeks at ends of months tend to be pretty busy for ol’ Maniac these days, anyway, but this one has been particularly trying for several reasons. I’ve barely looked at anything other than work, and everybody knows that work is dumb and is for suckers! In weeks like these, you look forward to Wednesday, Hump Day, because there’s a downhill coming soon — and even though I really still didn’t want to do anything extra yet I felt shot out of a friggin’ cannon this morning when I saw that my girls in KING∞RAGE had themselves a new MV. Why? Why not!

It makes me so giddy! This is basically Default Loudol from 2017, all the way from the screechy synth in place of guitars to the unnecessary growls to the synchronized headbangs in a warehouse. And considering that KING∞RAGE’s predecessor more or less debuted in that window and sounded like that, it’s kind of like restoring factory settings on an idol unit, though I’ll be completely honest and say that I don’t feel like KING∞RAGE ever fell all that far from the tree.

Thank you, gods of Wednesday.

This Is How You Celebrate Your National Team

/ Homicidol Maniac

Who all else is watching the World Cup? This is the one guaranteed time (every four years!) when I really sit down and watch soccer. My country isn’t in this time around on account of being terrible, so I’m mostly looking for somebody to root for. For those of you whose countries aren’t international athletic embarrassments, in addition to your home country / place of familial national origin, are you cheering for Japan? They’re doing pretty okay! Yes, they can technically still be eliminated, but they’re in a good place, as their only match left in group play is against Poland, who have been bad.

The point is, Japan’s team* has both been a success, and likely will remain so with enough encouragement! And who better to deliver that encouragement than idols? And who better than just any ol’ ganbare-fist-posing tradol than some loud-ass chika idols who can celebrate your successes and motivate you to new heights? For instance, KING RAGE:

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Yeah, KING RAGE Is Pretty Loud

/ Homicidol Maniac

I ask you on this dreary Sunday, friends, to revisit the resurrected Checkmate, now known as KING RAGE*, who had previously only teased out a little smidge of explosive face-kicking idol power as part of the reveal of their new form. Then I ask you to please press the play button below, and hold on to your butts:

What the crap! What a neatly dissonant song. I feel oddly moved to turn that guitar riff into my ringtone, the chorus into my kitchen buzzer and those growled-up verses into my morning alarm. Good work, KING RAGE. Now keep doing stuff like that.

*Because it’s all-caps, and because it’s a hilarious name, I know that I’ll always say it aloud as KING RAAAAAGGGGGEEEE

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 →