Reiko

- Recent Nogod sucks, used to be my favorite band.
- Jupiter sucks, they really have no talent to write memorable songs.
- Recent Alice 9 sucks, Diawolf is also very generic and boring.
- Recent Nightmare sucks, what happened to that band?
- Recent SUG & Sid sucks, where did the spark go?
- Gazette hasn't released even one good song the last 6 years.
- Kamijo's solo is better than versailles.
- I miss KuRt

Glay is the best Japanese band of all time.

Wait a minute. Are you saying that X Japan couldn't start VK because no-one sounds like them? Now I don't know nor give a fuck, but saying a band didn't start something because no-one sounds like them are dumb as fuck. If that's what you're doing.
 
Anyway, there's a lot of (speed/thrash/power) metal bands that took after (early) X Japan in the late 80's and early 90's both music- and image-wise. This is a known fact.

That rip-off was definitely tongue-in-cheek though.
 
I like Pride of Mind. They have a couple great songs, but they aren't amazing. 
 
 
 
This is one of the best Vkei songs ever
 
 

Yuyo, I f***ing told you they were bad and to go try Aiolin out.

I have another one: D'espairsray has never stood out to me as a band. They're highly praised by old and new J-rock fans alike and I'm over here like ????????? because I could never get into them. "Forbidden", Maverick and Fuyuu Shita Risou are the only things I can dig. They don't suck by any means, I just don't understand the hype.

I miss the 1999~2004 style of vkei promo pics: super blown out faces that are slightly tinted green or orange with early pokemon card-esque backdrops

D'espairsray is the most unjustly lauded band in the scene curiously with next to no detractors.
 
Started out as a fairly generic band of the times that made one decent EP before essentially making it a career playing vk's brand of linkin park for about four albums. They always looked terrible too, either ruining theoretically fine vk looks by mallgothing it too much or just giving up entirely and looking like l'arc en ciel jr later on. Their last album is the fucking pits.
 
and as a personal note, I've started to dislike hizumi's voice despite really being into it when I got into vk. 
 
edit: I decided to listen to in vain a little bit and it's... it's fine I think. For what it is. So it's not that they were obnoxiously horrible, but that they're regarded as potentially a top 10 vk band and coll:set a classic is absolutely ridiculous to me.
 
I refuse to take anyone seriously who thinks this is even passable 
 
 

One of my go-to albums in "Japanese equivalent to Fantomas" should be up your alley as well:
 
Kinda familiar sound if you know a bit about John Zorn's production and  maybe some other kinda-popular zeuhl outfits (does Bondage Fruit ring any bells? You should get familiar with the whole zeuhl genre since it is pretty much "Fantomas-core" - proggier yet similarly noisy)

To provide further examples on why you should seek things you cited in this genre: Tatsuya Yoshida's catalogue (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei etc. etc.) - very abrasive, noisy, at parts might be reminiscent of various acts - even Boris at some small parts.
If you seek Boris-tier sludgy, noisy stuff, consult these Steve Albini-approved noise metal guys:
 
These guys on the other hand are pretty much proto-Boris - the hell, their main Japanese influence I think?
 
I may have seen Aunt Sally and Cali-gari mentioned in the same context due to their frank similarity (well, influence or not, the hell I know), but you may enjoy Aunt Sally too:
 
 

Multiple bands of the same era will hold a memorial live. 
Details:
松村達明 追悼LIVE 
GAZ presents「Chain」
2018.7.8(日)目黒鹿鳴館
開場16:00 / 開演16:30
前売4,500円 / 当日5,000円
 
『出演』　 
theNightBreezeZinnia
黒蝪蝶 
GRIMM THE CAPSULE（tsubaki,TAKUYA）
堕天使 
superbrunch
Little Vampire
他
詳細は随時発表
拡散希望！

GD some foreign fans are so insensitive.
 

 
Kozi’s talking about how he’d never imagined that his reunion with GAZ would be at his wake and RIP and then you have this dumbass commenting, “Next year (at Deep Sanctuary) sing with Klaha.”
 
And you know it’s def a foreign fan because of the icon and unnatural Japanese. Like gtfo with that shit  

Hey guys! Been aware of this forum for ages but only now getting into participating. 
Me casually and me being vk, haha. We have some fun annual vk nostalgy nights in Helsinki, so it's a cool chance to dress up!
 
   
 

Hi all, I wasn't aware that there is such an elaborate forum for J-rock/VK stuff!  Glad to be here!
I'm Ken; I live in rural Ibaraki, Japan.  I've been a fan of visual rock since I was in high school (early 00s!)
These days I work all the time but I occasionally find time to go to shows or play as a support bassist for local bands.

Recently I'm working on a YouTube show about late 90s/early 00s VK.  In addition to doing reviews,
I would like to analyze various tropes and aspects of the genre .  It's still a little rough but I'd  appreciate any kind of
feedback or support.   Thanks!
episode 1
episode 2

 

We djent yet?

That new and hyped Sufjan Stevens record is a summary of everything I strongly dislike about that sentimental singerysongwritery "indie" rubbish.
 
I really TRIED but failed to see what's so appealing.

They revived when diru was worth listening to && brought back what made visual-kei good in terms of visuals. What made it work is that they didn't even remotely try to hide what they're doing and their music isn't a 1:1 cover with different lyrics. Plus it pisses of diru-stans and the amount of tears it created has been phenomenal. 

Conclusion of Studies on Humanoid Subjects in Dimension 113XR:
 
Music, like drugs, simulates emotions and feelings, triggers chemical responses, and can often replace the need to actually accomplish things in life, experience things outside of the Humanoid`s own head, and so forth.
 
Even feelings such as sadness become wired so that the user starts to enjoy them, and latches onto sad songs or certain drugs to re-live those feelings, to feel that sadness, and perhaps bring them closer to something they lost, as that sad feeling is all that they have left.
 
Eventually the chemicals associated either stop firing, or lose their potency.
 
Subjects move on to the next song, the next drug, pursuing an endless cycle that is first attached to their current station in life, and then morphs into their very station in life.
 
Bach, later heralded as a great genius, created a new composition weekly as the people would prefer to not be inconvenienced by hearing the same composition two weeks in a row, despite not being able to play it out on their yet-to-be-invented MP3 players and smartphones.
 
Humanoids take issue with the disposable nature of current music, and debate issues of quality in the music created by certain artist-bots, yet do not discuss how they helped perpetuate the disposable nature of music, and devalue it with their current electronic ecosystem of downloading as much music as their computers and patience can handle, for free, and decide that they hate an artist or release after listening to the creation a grand total of quite possibly one full rotation, or less. The humanoid then proceeds to either delete the files, or leave them to mingle with countless other files in a forgotten corner of their computer drive.
 
If it amuses the user, they may partake in spreading ill words about the work and artist for as long as they can continue to receive attention for it. They can often spend more time partaking in this activity than actually listening to the work itself.
 
The subjects often place listening to music for pleasure higher than consuming drugs, although both often provide similar results, and unfortunately, Humanoids can not be as socially accepted for an act which is more obviously based around instant stimulation, similar to masturbation, and can not as easily argue that they are entitled to free drugs, or download drugs for free and cut profits for the grower or meth-lab industry in half.
 
The subjects argue that music can spread emotions and ideas in a unique way, yet this is left out of most critical review and analysis, where technical aspects are often favored. This also perplexes older Humanoids who wonder how Bach and The Beatles made way for Dubstep and works that fall into the current Pop Top 40.
 
Humanoids have also failed to create an agreeable criteria for rating music or its quality, despite having centuries to do so, and often resort to arguments or acts of downright hatred when they continuously re-discover that they are unable to share or sometimes even communicate their feelings and tastes to others without disagreement.
 
All of these issues and the striking similarities between music and drug-use have led us to come to the conclusion that music should be removed from the dimension that Humanoids inhabit, and that their brains should also be altered in order to remove the sectors that enable what they identify as taste`s and opinions.

Metalcore, ugh, absolutely - but what I mean was that I like rock and roll drumming in VK; big bombastic groovy and emotive (Shinya from LS, Sakura from L'arc, Minato from Dead End), and not the supertight almost-drum machine like metal drumming sound that you hear in a lot of modern stuff.
 
And solos are essential! Just the mix of the things I was describing turns me wayyyy off.... reminds me of Belle Ame from the Beck anime.

VAMPS is really not that great of a band, period. I tried listening to them but everything ive checked out is nothing short of mediocre, just boring rock. At least to me, it feels like a lot of their fan base our just blind Hyde stans...or people who miss L'arc and feel like VAMPS is the next best thing to cling to (which they aren't). 

Moi Dix Mois: How many times do you think I can remix this Bach song?
 
Shazna: When you finally land a joke that makes all your friends laugh, so you keep telling it in order to relive the high it gave you.
 
NoGod: Clown metal

MUCC (old) - Kermit the Frog sings about his struggles with depression
MUCC (new) - dude did u ever watch anime lol
 
Dir en grey - Sashimi Slipknot
 
sukekiyo - rowdy primate gets accepted into art scool
 
deadman - Chinese Marilyn Manson fronts a grunge band

Midori: Jazz/classical piano music lessons gone wrong by courtesy of Japanese schoolgirl "in her flowers" and her punk misfit friends.
 
Fishmans:  S P A C E dub music as interpreted by a stoned guy doing his best dying cat imitations
 
The Pillows: "Hey do you know that Japanese Weezer band from FLCL?"
 
Gesu no Kiwami Otome: emo pop songs about my sidechicks: the soundtrack feat. cutie-patootie drummer
 
Yapoos: imagine if The Pop Group was fronted instead by the kind of unpredictable schoolgirl weirdo, with whom you wouldn't necessarily share the same seat

Give a sentence meant to compel someone to try out one of your faves, but do an awful job at it.
 
Versailles: Japanese men in dresses pretending to be French vampires singing in English sometimes.
 
Merry: Ska, but like, sad.
 
Cali=/=gari: If the 80's came back to tell you "I fucked ur mom lol"
 
Jupiter: Versailles in space.
 
LuLu: Tone-deaf man lists medical terms in Japanese.
 
Dir en Grey: huurryguugjgugjh suuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKḞ͚͇̠̿͌̍U̸̡̻ͧ͌̆̄C̡̯̦̖ͪ̂̔K̵̡̺̤̩͙̟̗ͤͣͦͭ̐̀̒F̡̪͇͎̣̣̘͕̝̠̖͎͗͐ͫ͛́͌͋̈̇̕͟U̶̢͔̦̳̫̥̣͊̃ͨ͒̍̽̇̓̃͋̐̏ͨͣ̽ͮ̄͐͗̕͞͝C̸̡͇̫̦̠̖̣͓͖̥̲̪̞̘̠̱̄ͦ͐ͫ́̎̋͆ͯ́͜͡ͅK̴̨̝̳͉̙̳̰̺͓̙̝̣͋̿̆ͤ̌̌̀ͅ
 
D=sire: Feelings of love and regret recycled for 25 years.
 
Luzmelt: Ｉ＇Ｍ Ａ ＲＯＢＯＴ ＡＮＤ ＭＹ ＰＡＮＴＳ ＡＲＥ ＭＩＲＲＯＲＳ
 
BLOOD: When you're an asshole and have to get a new group of friends each school year in an effort to not sit alone at lunch.
 
Metronome: **SOUNDS OF DIAL-UP MODEM**
 
Rentrer en Soi: The musical equivalent of a t-shirt that says "I'm turning my puff into tuff."
 
Deshabillz: Social commentary on the averse effects of narcissism on the human psyche, the push and pull of the ego and id, and a grotesque pin-up of internalized desire left to the wayside for the stronger influences of conformist nothingness.
 

Disney-washed people seem to be rather dismissive about childhood figures of other cultures etc. (which is kinda funny seeing as how Soviet/Russian product like this would resonate with Japanese people very well but not with...Japan-o-ficionados? ("weeaboo" is way too offensive in my book))
 
 

I'm not sure what lynch. and their mediocre albums can contribute here that nightmare with their annual shit LPs haven't already