Awesome / X Japan

• The Madison Square Garden performance in 2014. Not only did they flat out wow the world but it showed to everyone that X Japan is here to stay.
• To put it mildly, their entire existence. For a band are the definition of Dysfunction Junction with a slew of mental breakdowns, differences, and even death twice in their career, to see them still continue on with no trouble at all shows how strong the band is.
• Yoshiki's drumming, even if it's fatal. That is all.
• Three words: Art of Life. One song, one CD, 29 minutes. At no point will you be checking the time stamp to see if it's over yet, the whole thing is awesomeness from the soft guitar intro to the chilling final high note from Toshi. There's an 8-minute piano solo that effectively displays the fragility of life, and the other 21 minutes are speedy, brutal as fuck Power Metal with guitar melodies that would make Iron Maiden moist, powerful vocals and mysterious spoken word. That there are no other songs on the CD, and that the song even has its own live release should say something about how much of an artistic statement it is. Also, it’s entirely in English.
  • And then there's the live version that clocks in at an impressive 34 minutes, with an extended piano solo that is somehow more mind-blowing than the album version.