Himeaimichu

While I'm still in the basic process of forming stuff, I do have some ideas for Visual Kei music projects I want to do. 狐憑キ (Kitsunetsuki) - Means "Fox Possession" in Japanese, it's my main project that combines traditional Japanese music with early 2000's Kote Kei. La'Kyumi:ko - From 九尾狐, using the Kan-on reading for the Chinese word for 9 Tailed Fox, it's my idea for a band that mixes Traditional Chinese (not to get too into detail, but specifically the kind of Ming and Qing dynasty music played by Chinese immigrants in Nagasaki during the Edo period) with Kote Kei. FAERiE KiTTY - My Devil Kitty parody project I'm also working on. I named this after my cat, Faerie lol.

I don't even bother with caring if a band is a rip off anymore. It just seems like the kind of thing 14 year old girls complain about, and within music, almost everything has been a rip off. Plus, with the rise of tribute-kei, ripping off has become more closer to what we'd call sampling in Hip Hop. We know it's from somewhere else and they want us to know too. It's actually fun to find out what riffs they sampled and how they implemented it, as they often change it up. It's still enjoyable music, it still takes skill to play, don't worry about it too much. I mean, Ruki didn't invent the neck stripes all on his own (anyone remember Yuuga from Devil Kitty and Saki from Cuartet?) And ripped off looks from other artists. Also, it seems petty imo to complain about copying looks. I see a lot of fans who always complain when another vocalist has neck stripes, and I'm pretty sure none of them remember when The GazettE had more Japanesque themes and Ruki was trying to sound like Daisuke from Kagerou and were signed to the label of the dude from La'Miss Fairy lol. It just seems petty to complain about. Like, so what if I wear neck stripes and dreads? I'm not copying Ruki, I'm copying Saki from Cuartet. Get it damn right (JK lmao) Basically, don't worry too much about it. Like whatever you want, everything is a rip off of something and no one is completely original. As long as you're not like claiming the entire piece as your own original creation and let people know your sampling, at least. (Or in the case of 90% of Tribute Kei, its implied that there will be ripping off lol) I do believe copyright infringement is a thing, and I've definitely seen some examples of full on ripping off, but when it comes to Visual Kei, the topic is more nuanced than a lot of more prude, puritan fans will realise.

Guruguru Eigakan, for most of their run, has always been a weird mix of Punk Rock, Thrash Metal, Traditional Japanese and Ryukoka/Enka (early Japanese pop), and lead vocalist/guitarist Amano has mostly kept his voice the same. Though, they did go through a small change when all the members (minus Amano) left. Basically, with their first lineup, the other members, notably bassist Yoshikawa, had more vocal parts, while with their 2nd lineup, the other members mainly provided backup vocals (with a few duets between Amano and guitarist Shin).

Luna Sea, Phantasmagoria, Memento Mori, Mercuro

I never bashed them, but I didn't care for their music, but that's mainly because metalcore isn't my thing and they sounded like every other generic metalcore vkei band. But the musicians do have skills at least. Can't say the same for Tsuzuku's voice tho lol

Gill'e Cadith. Even though they were short lived, their music is really important to me personally, and it's sad that Karuna barely does anything that I can vibe with anymore. At least bassist Shigure is playing support for Kimi wa Surudoku, so maybe a revival will come someday? Hopefully?

T-Shirt designs have been revealed

Any of the VHS tapes Cuartet often handed out at lives. I only found one on rarezhut once, but someone else bought it lol. Hopefully another will come around

I never hated them, but I always found their music to be sorta run-of-the-mill Metalcore, which isn't my thing, but it has it's place in the scene. However, I can't speak for other people

CrowXClass. I was (and still am) big into traditional Japanese music, and I used to be a pretty big Wagakki band fan. The lead singer of CrowXClass, as well as one of their Shakuhachi players, would later play in Wagakki band, and that's how I found them. They described themselves as Visual Kei, and through them, I found the bands Kiryu, Memento Mori, ACE, and Kagerou.

Memento Mori. People used to attack them because they were similar to Kiryu, but honestly, they sounded nothing alike. They're actually more closer to a GazettE clone than a Kiryu clone (I mean, they sampled the Hyena riff). I liked R Shitei's early stuff, and I did like some of their more later stuff back when I was more into pop punk and what I thought was emo lmao. I like a lot of Nu Metal bands within Vkei. I'm also a huge fan of Eternal era Gazetto, which most of the fanbase doesn't seem to like as much, which is understandable, because it's some weird sounding stuff, and they did borrow a few Dir en Grey riffs during that era lol.

The only Kpop artist I like is Seo Taji, and even then, I only really like his stuff with Seo Taiji and Boys, as well as his first two solo albums, and those were way more than just pop and forayed into many genres, mostly Hip Hop and Metal. Other than that, I just don't really like Pop in general all too much but hey, to each their own.

This looks really interesting! It's caught my attention

The Muzzle. It's a duo project with Roku that essentially continues Grieva. EDIT: My comment literally appeared at the exact same moment as Manji's lol

So they toned down their aesthetic even more... I'm not optimistic for this, but I'll try it. The band name is kinda meh

It's from "Guru Guru", which means revolving or spinning.

The last track is honestly just Misui with a Memento Mori sounding chorus, and I love it

R Shitei hasn't been really special since like 2012 (and that's saying a lot, coming from a former R Shitty fangirl) and Mamo honestly just needs to like, stop. I'd rather him fade into the void.

Is it just me... or is Hiyori an onnagatta again? I sure do hope so

Long Schlong Massacare

Another drum cam with Ai's vocals more easily heard. The third song sounds like the band's version of Misui, so no need to worry about nothing sounding like Kuroyuri.

To me, even though it sounds different, and definitely R-Shitei influenced, I can still hear Kuroyuri in the riffing, with the Korn influenced dissonant chords. Memento Mori had some influence from R-Shitei here and there, so in a way, it's sort of a return to roots for Ai. I like how the vocal melody feels like a Japanese Children's song. The screams during the chorus are tolerable for me. Listening to stuff like Cuartet and Devil Kitty has desensitized me to bad screams lmao