Himeaimichu

The GazettE. Unlike most, the GazettE was not my starter band. I got into Vkei through CrowXClass, Vampire Rose, ACE, and Oz. But, I was often told how legendary the GazettE were, but whenever I was pointed to their music, it was stuff like "The invisible wall" or "Chizuru", which didn't tickle my fancy any. I was thinking to myself "What's so great about these guys? It's not that unique. They must be popular because they're major label." (I was such a hipster at the time..) Fast forward to a year later, and while searching for Kiryu's "Onigokko", I accidentally clicked the music video for "Sentimental Na Onigokko" by the GazettE, and I liked it, a lot. I literally have not heard anything like that before. So I was surprised to find out it was the GazettE. I soon checked out their other early stuff, and found they used to be quite creative. I now know why they're legendary. It's just, no one pointed to what made them legendary. Songs like "Shiikureta Haru Kawarenu Haru", and "Anata no Tame no Kono Inochi", being both unique and widely influential on visualkei. While I don't care anything for the newer stuff, because it just doesn't catch my ears, the older stuff is pretty good.

Don't also forget that Black Metal is notorius for having potato quality recordings xD And some of the Norwegian bands take the imagery WAY too far. I really would like black metal, with its thrash influenced riffing in arabesque, "demonic" scales, if only the bands didn't try to be so edgy, and they learned how to scream. The raspy screams, they don't make you sound demonic, they make you sound like a Scene Kid who just discovered Asking Alexandria xD

*Note: Anything Dir en Grey after Kisou will not be used, just to keep things fair. So here, we're gonna have two of the most influential Vkei bands from the 90's duke it out. Dir en Grey (fka La:Sadie's) and La'Mule. Both are influential in similar ways. Kon from La'Mule popularised the black tear eye makeup. Though originally from Kiyoharu of Kuroyume, Kon did multiple tear strokes. Kyo would also later use the style. Dir en Grey would later go on to be major, while La'Mule stayed with Soleil until they failed, and for a short while, signed to Matina. However, they both share quite a similar influence. Whereas Dir en Grey would often be the first influence cited, many can see La'Mule influences throughout modern Vkei in bands like Kiryu, AvelCain, and Grieva (The Tokage PV mostly derrives from La'Mule's "Inspire" and Kuroyume's "Autism", even though the song uses the chorus from Cage from Dir en Grey) Both have similar influences, from D'erlanger, Kuroyume, Zi:Kill, Luna Sea, and X Japan. Though, La:Sadie's and Diru were more Metal based, whereas Gothic Rock and Alternative Rock were La'Mule's main sound. Though, La'Mule did often play many gothic influenced Metal pieces, such as Mirror Mirror, and Dir en Grey is famous for their alternative rock songs, like Yurameki. Diru never had much gothic pieces, but some songs, like 304 Goushitsu, Hakushi no Sakura, definitely show a gothic rock influence. And finally, both progressed toward newer sounds, while keeping a 90's feel. Gauze for Dir en Grey was an important album. Other than being the first, it showed the full potential of the famous 90's Vkei sounds. Songs like 304 Goushitsu, Hakushi no Sakura, Tsumi to Batsu, Yurameki, and Zan take the sound we associate with most 90's visualkei, and gives it more complex compositions. Kind of a "progressive-KoteKei", if you could say. La'Mule also did this, starting after their first album, Inspire. Curse is when they started to show the progressing sound. The songs that came from Curse, and the following releases, sounded like they would have came from a major label band, not an indie band. Like Gauze, the songs were complex compared to most 90's Vkei, but still retained the sound. After Gauze though, Diru progressed the sound further, with Macabre, which included elements from Industrial music, and Kisou, which had sort of a 2000's feel, but had a lot of 90's composition and a slight 90's feel. Elements from 90's Vkei would continue up into their Nu Metal era, including chorused guitars and changing of keys in the chorus. Now for the actual duking it out, I'll leave that for you guys to do. I want to see your thoughts

I say 2017 has been good and bad for Vkei. Kuroyuri, Kiryu and GossiP have awesome singles, Nightengeil is back, and the 20th anniversary of Dir en Grey came up. However, the Yoshiki surgery, disbanding of many bands, the two recent accidents, etc. Yeah those are the bad.

Ah. Seems like Kamijou to make up a meaning xD

On the subject of Diru using other people's riffs, I'll is suspiciously similar to Tsuioku by D=Sire, and Miss Moonlight by Kuroyume. What's really ironic is how Grieva used the main riff for I'll as the basis for the song "Wish". A copy, of a copy. Copyception, am I right? Also, Dir en Grey used the riff to Kuroyume's "Yuri no Hanataba" in Mazohyst of Decadence. Basically, Dir en Grey's early history is filled with covers and taken ideas. From Kyo's famous black tear eye makeup, which was most likely taken from Kon of La'Mule, since he popularised it's use among 90's bands, but started by Kiyoharu of Kuroyume, though Kiyoharu didn't use it as much, to even the band's name, which comes from a Lareine song, "Dir en Gray". This is why I don't get mad when a band's song sounds similar to a Dir en Grey one, because it's fair game. Though I would not advise completely copying another song, it's totally fine to base one song off of another, as long as you don't "copy-paste" (Hence why I don't get mad at Grieva, because only a few songs actually are full on copy-pastes, the rest either tribute ones, or are original. Also, hypocritical of me, but I do enjoy their work... it's a guilty pleasure of mine)

Even though I consider myself an X Japan fan, I agree with your points.. I wouldn't ever attend an X Japan concert on it's own anyway, because of the crappy theatrics. Also, it's not the same without Hide. (Though, I do think that Hide is horribly misunderstood by Vkei fans. He was more than a sad guy, he was unstable, and needed therapy). Heck, X Japan themselves aren't as important as they're hyped up to be. I mean, Saver Tiger formed first, and D'erlanger and Dead End got popular way before X. Also, ToshI got his famous look from Kyo of D'erlanger. Before that, X looked much different. Heck, X even copied a few riffs from their fellow indie bands (Blue Blood taking their intro from Crows in Black by Rosenfeld) and they weren't any more than another indie early Vkei band until Hide came along. Heck, apparently, the term "Crime of Visual Shock" came from another band, though someone will have to confirm that for me. And while Extasy bands did go on to major labels and all, not even the labels prevented Zi:Kill and Glay from breaking up, and I don't ever hear about Tokyo Yankees anymore. Gilles de Rais was a failure too. The only former/current Extasy bands that still preform that I can think of on the top of my head are Luna Sea, X, Tokyo Yankees and Glay. Ultimately, Dynamite Tommy's Free Will label was more successful in the end, because they're still a driving force. While X may have been one of the first Vkei bands to go major, that isn't nearly as important as the driving force in the indie scene, as Vkei is built from the ground up. The indie bands are the backbone. I'm going on a soapbox here, but I felt this needed to be said.

Why would a Chinese person wish to be born Japanese anyway? xD. I mean, yeah, facial features are slightly different, but still, it's like a Serbian guy wishing he was Polish, or a person from Mongolia wishing he was Manchu. You're desiring something that is already similar to yours, and even though you can't fully have it, you can at least become like it. It's much easier for an ethnic Chinese to become part of Japanese culture than it is for an Austrian to become part of Nigerian culture.

Yes!!! Also I didn't know Vampire Rose was still active. I know he was featured in an interview along with CrowXClass and SataN

Underrated: Riku from Phantasmagoria, even if he isn't the best. Kyouki from Grieva, because people say he tries to sound like Kyo (Even though he sounds nothing like him, and actually uses better technique, tbh..) and I've heard all the accusations of him being autotuned, just because of how his backup vocals sound and because the way the production sounds. However, he's pretty much the same live, records his own backups and gets the same processing treatment that Yo-ka from Diaura gets. And last time I checked, Yo-ka is revered for his vocals. In fact, since Grieva went original now, they deserve much more credit than they used to. Asagi from D. Kaya Chiaki from Dezert. I literally hear no praise for his screams or feminine vocals, which are quite impressive. Mei from Kuroyuri to Kage. I often hear the same thing about his screams, "His screams aren't powerful enough", but that doesn't show the point. The screams aren't meant to be powerful. They're Jonathan Davis type screams. Also, there are his signature whine vocals. While vocalists in the past have experimented with the whine-vocals, such as Ruki from The GazettE, or Tusk Itaya from Zi:Kill, they're a signature part of Mei's vocals. Mahiro from Kiryu. I keep hearing so much criticism on his vocals, especially from the snobbier people of Vkei (*Cough* TeppyBaka *Cough*), but, if you can combine traditional Japanese vocal techniques with western techniques, AND add your own twist to it, you're doing something right. Overrated: Ruki from The Gazette (Well, he actually used to be quite unique, when he sang more aggressively and rolled his Rs. Now he sounds like every other Vkei vocalist. Kamijo from Versailles. Tsuzuku from Mejibray And then there is one I have a weird position on: Kyo from Dir En Grey. I don't think he's necessarily overrated, but I think he is overpraised. Like, even after all the numerous surgeries, and learning correct techniques, he often still goes into incorrect techniques that could quite potentially harm him again in the future, or while not harming, make him sound worse than he really is. Singing, for the most part, he's got down. Regular screams, he's got down. However, the squeals a few of the growls concern me. However, the biggest complaint I have is his mic technique, as starting from Marrow of a Bone, he began cupping the mic, which any sound guy and microphone manufacturer will tell you is really bad mic technique and is the reason why his singing sounds so weird live. I mean, if you look at the 2007 Hide Memorial summit footage, you can hear the mic audio going from good to bad as he cups and uncups it. And don't go "look, little girlie, you don't know anything about death metal, it's just a death metal technique, you have to cup the mic.", because then you'll have to explain the death metal bands where the vocalists play guitar. They exist, and they sound way better than most death metal bands. I'll even go into the science of how a microphone works if I have to.

Seniors had awards day and us juniors were forced to attend. I was supposed to call my girlfriend during Art class, since that's literally the only time I can call her but awards ceremony lasted an hour longer than it should've. So now I'm disappointed... She's at a concert now and I wish I could be with her so much... Then at the end of the day, some clean cut preppy dudes thought it'd be really funny to go "Hurr durr, rawr kid!" at me all the way from a bus, just because I have asymmetrical hair. Like, yes, I know it's common among scene kids to have that hair style, but it's been a thing way before scene ever came to be. Also, take a look at my music playlist. Not one crunkcore band, or BVB song. What's next? You gonna accuse me of worshipping satan? Oh wait! People already do that. It doesn't help my mother bullies me about my hair at home, always telling me to get it cut shorter and stuff. She knows I'm trans, and claims to accept me, but still feels the need to force male roles on me

Hey, is it just me, or does this Zi:Kill song kind of sound like "Lovesong" from The Cure?

For any of my fellow LGBT+ lovelies who like Hardcore Punk, here is an LGBT Black Flag cover band, called "Black Fag". The profits they make at concerts go to LGBT charities. They also made a really catchy dance to go with it xD

I wish there was a recording of that...

No, I don't think because bootleg would be using official t-shirt designs. These are custom to the request of the user. If you wanted her to use an official t-shirt design, in theory she could, but IDK if she really would