Marty Friedman, former lead guitarist of heavy metal band Megadeth and a Japanophile recently shared his thoughts on TVXQ / DBSK / Tohoshinki: (translation cr: mandasoh@iscreamshinki.net / sharingyoochun@wordpress)

"They would sell even if they weren’t good looking! TVXQ’s singing ability is worth its value in money. TVXQ, an accapella dance group from Korea, and who attended last year’s Kouhaku Uta Gassen, can be said to be the representative of “Global J-pop” with their impressive harmonizing. Maybe fans will say it’s bullshit, but to me, if you can sing, you’ll be able to sell even if you weren’t good looking, right? Their song [Bolero], is a great ballad that showcases their super vocals. What surprised me was that compared to other J-pop ballads, the feeling for this song is dark. The beat is slow, and there was no usage of guitars etc. Even so, the song gave off a dark and haunting vibe to me. I like K-pop too, and I listen to it often, and there are of course other songs with dark vibes too. The difference with J-pop is that K-pop uses Classic music as it’s foundation, thus naturally creating a melody with a dramatic feel. At the “ending climax”, one person (Jaejoong) uses an almost feminine pitch to produce the effect of harmonizing between men and women; the harmonization from the 5 of them is amazing!"