desparejo86

Kagerou. They had some incredible songs that, to me, defined the era (KAKOKEI SHINJITSU. SHIROI KARASU), but they came up WAY short every time they did a full length. Their albums were lazy shit jam packed with filler.... never even came close to having a classic, genre defining visual album. Which sucks, because they definitely could have.

So far they haven't released anything live-online; the singles are for sale online at http://zoisite.shop-pro.jp/. I'm guessing this will be too after the gigs. As far as I know, STEREO.C.K. is Alab Records' only band. So, I could be wrong here, but I'm guessing STK doesn't have/want a record deal and is just self releasing on their own imprint, which would explain doing more limited releases (less up front cost).

M10M has announced a new album for this year, wonder if it'll be any good.

a remake album? lame.....

Overseas fans can grab their stuff from http://zoisite.shop-pro.jp I'm sure this single will be for sale there once it's released, just like "in secret" was.

If I knew what these assholes were singing about I probably wouldn't like them. Place of silence, moving shadows Crimson eyes are strangely gleaming in the darkness Madness starting to awake Playful desire starving of blood Get down limitless night Beast of blood Along with the scream from the death throes Sharp claws are shining brighter Dually obscene breaths continues And rips apart the silence of the night Crossing the uplifty night Get down limitless night

Timeless Love: Zi Kill, early Kuroyume, L'arcs first two records, Dead End, Luna Sea, Die in Cries, Oblivion Dust, most Malice Mizer, New Sodmy, "Endless" Aliene Mariage, Kagerou's singles Used to Love but Never Want to Hear Again: L'arc's "Heavenly," Hyde's 666, Kuroyume's punk era, SADs, anything Anna Tsuchiya, Lareine, Malice Mizer's Voyage, anything else by Aliene Mariage, Due le Quartz

Whistesnake because I'm old. Shut up they kicked ass.

Gackt was just one of three different singers Malice Mizer had, he had nothing to do with their breakup. Never heard that rumor before; 100% started by a western fan who was pulling stuff out of her ass. Anyone with a musical ear can tell that Mana and Kozi had no hand in writing Gackt's solo material. Apples and Oranges. Gackt was likely not at Kamis funeral for the reason listed in my reply below. I don't know what official statements Gackt, Mana, or Kozi have made because we don't really need to, ya know? None of them will tell you what occam's razor will, because it's not flattering to either party. Nippon Columbia decided that Malice Mizer were small potatoes and Gackt was the star. And they were right! Gackt wrote the highest charting single on Mervilles, Le Ciel, which also happened to be the most commercial song on the album. Gackt had the great voice, incredible looks, a legion of female fans and he wrote the biggest hit on the album. He was poised for stardom, Malice Mizer could hold him back. So Nippon Columbia put their money on Gackt solo and ditched the band, and their gamble paid off in spades. People tend to gloss over/forget, possibly due to Kamis death, that not only did Malice Mizer's label give Gackt a solo deal, but they dropped Malice Mizer. That wasn't a coincidence. It is what it is. I hate Gackt solo, but wouldn't trade Bara no Seidou or the Klaha singles for anything. I just wish we'd get one more album out of MM.... instrumental, with Klaha, a new singer... I don't care.

Stereo CK's live-only single "In Secret"

ooooo i like you

I wish Mana would win the lottery so he could afford to reunite Malice Mizer. I'm sure they would have got back together by now if the money was there. I wish Stereo CK would cut a new album I wish Oblivion Dust would cut a new album (fuck Vamps) I wish Luna Sea would cut a ~decent~ new album I wish Creature Creature would cut a new album I wish J would rehire Franz I wish Die in Cries would do a reunion album, but sadly there's much more money in D'erlanger

I hate Angelo. Angelo were a lazy, low rent GARBAGE band when they debuted, and now, even with Karyu in the fold, they continue to make GARBAGE a decade later. And people buy it (apparently)! Their best songs sound like songs that weren't good enough for a Pierrot album ten years ago. Versailles is a freakin' joke. They're how I imagine a Saturday Night Live skit mocking Visual would sound. If I had to genre-tag them, I'd label them Anime Convention Rock. Inoran should be publicly stoned for this bullshit. This is the guy who wrote Gravity... and am I watching a music video by him or, like, Pitbull? I hate Kiyoharu releasing garbage ass new songs and calling it Kuroyume because Hitoki's playing bass. COULD YOU FUCKING NOT THANKS.

Chino is the most underrated frontman in rock. This interview made me love and respect him even more; he doesn't give a fuck. DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno spoke to Revolver magazine about the group's stint on the upcoming Summer Sanitarium trek. "A big problem for me was opening for LIMP BIZKIT and LINKIN PARK, two bands that wouldn't exist if it weren't for me, straight up!" the singer is quoted as saying in the magazine's August 2003 issue. "But in the end I'm seriously energized and I'm not going out there to make friends and kick it. I'm out there to leave people with their jaws on the floor. And I know we can do it. I know we're the best live band on the tour." Asked if that includes the tour's headliners, Moreno said, "Hell yeah. METALLICA have a vast catalog. But live? Motherfuckers just stand there and play. We're gonna rock out their shit. We're gonna blow that motherfucker up." In the same interview, Chino talked about wanting to distance himself from a lot of the bands that the DEFTONES were being lumped in with and offered an opinion on why the lackluster sales of such releases as KORN's "Untouchables" and PAPA ROACH's "Lovehatetragedy" shouldn't be a barometer of how many units DEFTONES will shift. "Those records weren't good — it's that simple," he said. "As far back as when we were making 'Around The Fur', I remember already being sickened by what was going on with the bands we were grouped with. But if you make good songs, it doesn't matter what style it is — if it's good and heartfelt, it will sell." "Honestly, I don't think KORN made a good record. And PAPA ROACH made a boring record. With KORN, it sounds like they tried to be more commercial and they lost their energy. Old KORN records had so much intensity. As they go on, it's the same thing — bad childhoods and mean moms. It gets old after awhile. How old is Jonathan? Thirty years old? How long has it been since he lived with his parents? Try to go somewhere else. If you're genuine and write about whatever is drawing the emotion now, you can't be fucked with."

Deftones are one of the rare bands that are fresh, exciting and relevant every single time. So few bands can keep it up, but Chino and co. never fail to knock me out.

Help me I'm old. Old school fan; LS, Kuroyume, Dead End, etc. The last VK band I was crazy about was Kagerou. I really like Yuana's Stereo CK, but other than that I don't really have any current bands that I like. I mostly follow the little offshot projects of bands that were popular a decade ago. So what do you recommend? What's awesome? LIKE: Big chorused gorgeous, melodic vocals, strong songwriting DISLIKE: Metalish Vk, screamo VK, bands that sound like Versailles.

Runaway Five, baby! And oh yeah, Roentgen was totally his "I am Secrets of The Beehive-era David Sylvian" phase. Again, totally shameless, but it's awesome. I actually asked Steve Jansen (Japan Drummer, Sylvian's brother) if he was aware/irritated by the heavy Japan copying in the VK scene; he was polite and diplomatic and may have thrown just the slightest bit of shade at a VK band or two.

Glay fucking sucks. Always have, always will. They're the kale of visual kei.

Strongly disagree with that suggestion. The money isn't there. The visual scene has a very efficient little business model that has developed over the past 25 or so years. The market is niche, but the people in the industry have done a great job of finding ways to maximize profits (multiple cd versions, FC, merch, etc) while operating a business model that helps+encourages the formation of new bands, and streamlines their growth until they either make it and go major or disband. The management, labels, etc make enough to keep the doors open, the band members might not make much but that's the gamble when rolling the dice at becoming a rockstar, and the fans ultimately decide who goes major and who gives up and gets a job. Japan being small is actually a benefit in that they can tour and reach all their major cities (potential markets) for a much lower cost than touring in, say, America. Arch Enemy sing in English but more importantly there is a proven market for heavy metal in the USA and many other places. Visual kei not so much. Playing overseas is risky, and is certainly going to be a massive financial loss for anyone not named Dir en Grey, Gazette, X Japan, L'arc, Luna Sea, ONE OK ROCK, etc. Tens of thousands of dollars would be sunk in, and what is the possible future upside? Smaller bands might make a decent deal and end up playing in America at an Anime Con (thinking Blood, Phantasmagoria) for a profit, but that's a fluke. Rammstein did make it and tour here at a profit, but they also had massive massive massive worldwide hit song in "Du Haust." What about all the other big German acts? Bakkushan, Jennifer Rostock, Montreal, etc? Oomph has been very successful for decades, but they only came to America once and haven't been back because they money isn't there.

Huge Duran Duran fan as well, hi! I think the consensus is that Japan's "Quiet Life" album is the album that had a huge impact on Duran Duran (you can Google this debate and seeing it played out on countless message boards if you like). Songwriting-wise, Japan and Duran Duran have little in common because Japan's songwriting style was experimental/outlandish to say the least, while DD went on to strive for the perfect pop song. But sonically, in terms of their playing style and sound, they were heavily influenced. The look too, of course! Check out the Quiet Life single and album, as well as incredible stuff like Ghosts (UK #5), Life in Tokyo, Still Life in Mobile Homes, and Art of Parties (4:33 was probably the moment a normal Japanese kid died and Sugzio was born, haha).

Did you just namedrop EARTHBOUND???? The greatest videogame with the greatest soundtrack ever? Let's be friends. And shit, it totally does sound like Earthbound.

Cool thread. YMO is excellent (as is almost anything Sakamoto's done). In the same vein, here's Japan. Duran Duran directly admitting to stealing their outlandish sound and repackaging it as something more commercial, and then in the midlate-eighties, a whole generation of Japanese youths who were adolescents when Japan broke up made up the classic visual kei era. Notable "offenders": Sugizo (Owns Masami's Japan-era guitar, had Mick on his solo records, etc), Morrie and Kiyoharu were obv influenced by Sylvian's vocals, Die in Cries was a shameless Japan copy band in look and sound. Japan started as a shit glam band out of place in the punk scene, but at some point they discovered Roxy Music, Brian Eno, synthesizers and world music. Just as they were finally hitting the charts they broke up due to the vocalist stealing the bassist's Japanese girlfriend, but their influence on the 80s music scene and later the VK movement was already cemented.

I think that all the bands from that era have lightened up and are finally embracing their visual roots. Luna Sea put on their old stage clothes and rerecorded their debut, and Dir en Grey seem to be experimenting with being a visual kei band again (in their own way and on their own terms, per usual with them) In the 90s visual kei was an exploding fad, and no band wants to admit they're a part of the fad, because it both puts them in a box musically and also suggests they didn't entirely make it on their own merits. Many landmark bands from other movements like goth, emo, metalcore, numetal, etc. have rejected being called such as well for similar reasons.

1. Morrie (Dead End, Creature Creature) 2. Morrie (Dead End, Creature Creature) 3. Morrie (Dead End, Creature Creature) 4. Morrie (Dead End, Creature Creature) 5. Morrie (Dead End, Creature Creature) It's all about Morrie, guys.

New music already? What a treat.