Sparrow

Not Japanese and my reasoning is a little weird but Blue October. I don't hate them or anything but, as someone with a mental illness, I was always able to relate to Justin's lyrics (and adored Ryan's violin skills). I was very emotionally invested in them. When Approaching Normal came out, it was a generally positive album that made me so happy that things were finally working out for Justin and he was getting better. I had also come out the other side with therapy and counseling. Then everything went wrong and he got divorced, lost custody of his daughter and the next album was bitter and angry. I can understand why but I just couldn't appreciate it. I wasn't in that headspace and I was sad that he lost that peace he had found. I still love the old stuff but the new stuff is too difficult for me to listen to.

As of today, I am officially a CORE member! While it is too late for me to get a ticket to the limited live, I did score a ticket to the premium album release event. I didn't see any info posted here so I did the best with my limited Japanese skill ＜Part 1＞ M-ology Album Release Event「CORE PREMIUM」Advance Listening Event Saturday, August 26 Shibuya WWW ・Be the first to hear the album ・Premium Talk Session with all 5 members ・Premium Acoustic Live Doors/Enter: 13:00 / 13:30 Standing ￥3,800 ※Free Gift ＜Part 2＞ M-ology Album Release Event「Forbidden」Advance Listening Event Saturday, August 26 Shibuya WWW ・Hear the album early ・Talk Session with all 5 members ・Acoustic Live Doors/Start: 18:00 / 18:30 Standing ￥3,800

I love Chiyoda-sen. ^^ It's got so much energy and I feel happy when I listen to it. Plus the furitsuke is a lot of fun!

I have bought so much over the past few months that I can't really recall all of them. But yesterday I went to a 0.1gの誤算　one man and bought the black t-shirt and the "Dasai Towel" And then I got a ticket for Merry's fall tour!

I tend to stick to slower songs so I can keep up with reading the lyrics. The one exception to that is Sayonara Rain by Merry. I always liked singing along to the piano version in the car so I know it better than a lot of other fast songs. The rest of my regular rotation: Cassis- Gazette Gackt- Todokanai Ai to Shitteita no ni Osaekirezu ni Aishitsuzuketa L'arc~en~ciel- Pieces (sometimes I try Honey or Driver's High) Dir en Grey- Ain't afraid to die Pierrot- Dramatic Neo Anniversary This thread is giving me a lot of ideas for other songs I should be able to try next time I go!

They have actually! There was a special version of the Koseiha Blend Classic-Oldies Tracks- album. It's a picture disc so I don't play my copy. I just put it in a vinyl cover frame. The reverse side has a photo image of a girl's waist and thighs wearing only nude panties, holding a knife with blood dripping down her front. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an image of that side EDIT: Should have read this page before responding lol

It kinda makes me sad that there was no dedicated artist thread for these guys yet, so I decided to make one myself. I managed to see them live once while I was living in Osaka and have 生贄 and 鬼灯くん. And I gotta say, I really love this band. They put on an amazing show and I can't wait to see them get bigger!

I went to their live on May 24th. They sounded great and put on a really amazing show! I'm so happy to have been able to be on the first row for them and hope they stay together for a long time! ^o^

Not a purchase exactly, but my most recent acquisition is ザアザア - 不幸な迷路 (whichever one has the DVD). My friend is a huge Xaa Xaa fan and wanted to go to a second instore event, despite having two copies of the CD already, so she decided to just buy this one again and give it to me! I was pretty surprised when she gave it to me, as you might imagine XDD My most recent purchase was 必殺！からくり七変化！ by 0.1gの誤算 that I got last week. Still on the lookout for 有害メンへラドール (but looking unlikely).

I do think, as a general rule, that I take bands more seriously than I do solo artists in rock. That isn't to say that I think solo artists are 'illegitimate' or anything and this is not a hard and fast rule either. Hyde is a good example of this. I love a lot of (if not most of) his solo work but I still don't take it as seriously as I do L'arc~en~ciel. This may be because it is a side project, rather than the main project like for Gackt or Miyavi, but it may also be because the overwhelming majority of rock and vkei acts are bands. On the other hand for Alice Cooper, one of my favorite musicians of all time, he is a solo artist first and foremost in my mind. Even though "Alice Cooper" began as the name of the band, it became clear that what drove the band was Alice (Vincent). He went solo because he wanted to stay true to their theatrical, Vaudevillian stage show that made them famous and the rest of the band wanted to stop with the theatrics. While he could have gotten together a new band, he didn't really need to. So I guess what I'm saying is, it depends. XD

I picked up the free CD yesterday at Like an Edison and I'm happy I did because I'm enjoying this band a lot!

Thanks for explaining that to me, their whole set and the atmosphere had me baffled! I wish I had been able to get past what Kyo was doing because, usually I had just ignore a singer I don't like and focus on something else like the instrumentals, but I really couldn't with them. That screech just worms its way into your brain and I couldn't focus on anything else. I had such high hopes too because I had watched the video for Anima before the show and really liked it!

*o* I still regret not going to see them at Jrock Revolution, that's so cool that you were there! I loved getting to see them so much. I really embraced the furitsuke so there were a lot of parts I couldn't see because head banging but the whole thing was indescribable. They played some songs I didn't know well, but they also played several classics (and Chiyoda-sen Democracy, which is my favorite of the recent singles!) and the acoustic version of Tick Tock! Seeing Nero play up close was incredible too, and all the wonderfully goofy faces he makes~

Thanks! Yeah, I did get started 12 years ago but I don't really think that's too impressive because I've been out of the loop for at least 5 years. I'm sure I will find some new bands I like too...I am basically obsessively checking the recommendations thread for suggestions lol *squee* It is always a treat to meet other Merry fans!

I'm curious how many other people on the board are fans of Alice Cooper? I did a search but didn't turn up any dedicated posts so... Alice Cooper was my first rock love back in 2000. My favorite karate instructor played Hey Stoopid on the car ride to a tournament and the rest is history. I had heard some classic rock bands, as well as random alt-rock songs on the radio before then but that album was the first to start me on my path away from pop music. I love all eras of his/their music--the original band, early solo, even the oddball early 80s stuff he can't remember making--but I'm partial to his more recent stuff (which I classify as from Hey Stoopid (91) until now with 2016's Welcome 2 My Nightmare. Some of my favorite albums were released in this period. I've managed to see him live twice, once coheadling with Marilyn Manson and a one man live. That second time I paid very handsomely to go backstage after the show and meet him. It was money very well spent! Any other fans?

Mine was last month when I saw Merry (as well as Sukekiyo and Inugami Circus Dan, who were guests) at Misono Universe in Osaka. We didn't have too much difficulty finding it (we figured it out by the line forming outside) but we didn't realize that the tickets were numbered! At standing room shows in America, you go in in the order you got in line, so we had tickets 115 and 116 but didn't go in until they were doing last call for 1-300. Fortunately, one of the fans next to us asked me what our numbers were and told us very urgently to go inside! XD

I have to agree on this. Sukekiyo was the opening act at a show I went to last month and their entire set was just unpleasant and uncomfortable. No one in the audience clapped or anything, it was totally still and silent. As for the music, I've always liked Kyo's voice when he sings but think he relies way too much on unnecessary growls and screaming...this held true for Sukekiyo, only it was more unpleasant than usual because he seems to have added a screech into his repertoire of sounds that make me unhappy. The actual instrumentals were solid though...yep.

My last V-kei purchases were a ticket to see Matenrou Opera next month, a bunch of muffler towels (Merry, Matenrou Opera and one other that I just really liked the design of), and two Merry t-shirts. My most recent music purchase in general was the 2016 TAKARAZUKA plays Disney CD+DVD

I heard this song playing at Like an Edison last month and I liked it enough that I asked the shopgirl about it! I'll definitely be getting the single when it comes out. I thought the video was pretty silly at first but it's grown on me, even if it is silly.

Mine was Merry and they are still my favorite. I was an exchange student in Shizuoka City in 2005/early 2006 and spent a lot of time in CD stores in the downtown area. One of them had a little thing set up in the J-rock/V-kei section that let you listen to 5 new singles/albums and the first time I tried it out, the nu Chemical Rhetoric album was one of the 5 and I fell in love before the instrumental/intro track finished. By the time I returned to America, I had in my possession the standard edition of that album, Modern Garde, the limited edition of the SCI-FI nu Chemical Rhetoric DVD and several Fool's Mate/Arena 37'C magazines with them featured. From reading the artist thread on here, it seems like this album isn't well regarded but I still absolutely love it. The DVD is my favorite (with the original White Sheep live in close second) and I love their visual style, costumes and makeup from this time period. <3 It all just holds a very special place in my heart During that time I also got into Gackt, L'arc~en~ciel (but I really don't consider those two V-kei, even if Closet Child does sell their stuff), Pierrot, Gazette, and Malice Mizer.

I hope you all can help me discover some new bands. As I've stated elsewhere, I stopped keeping up with V-kei a few years ago and now that I'm back in Japan, I'm realizing that many of my old favorites are disbanded and I am woefully ignorant of most current bands that were created in recent years. To give you an idea of my taste, my absolute favorite band is Merry. Other older bands that I like include Matenrou Opera, SID, Alice Nine, Dolly, Doremidan, Dollis Marry, Nega, Sadie, Jack Rose, Exist Trace, Mucc, Nightmare, Pierrot, Mask, Despairs Ray, and D. I have started listening to two newer bands recently: 0.1g no Gosan and Xaa Xaa Generally, I like music with complex and intricate instrumentals that isn't too growl-y or overly scream-y (though I actually love screams, just not when they are used too much because I find that annoying). If there is something distinctive about the music, all the better! For example, Merry's blues influence or Dolly's carnivalesque early stuff. I am not really fond of a lot of Dir en Grey and Gazette stuff, with some exceptions. I love when Kyo sings primarily (because I think his singing voice is wonderful), so I really like songs like Ain't Afraid to Die, Garden and The Final. For Gazette, I'm a little picky and prefer their early stuff, especially songs like Tokyo Shinjuu, Miseinen and Cassis. If a band has some really beautiful, sad ballads, I really want to hear about them too! Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone! I found this forum looking for information about some new bands. I was really surprised because it seemed like Visual Kei was not popular anymore, so I felt like I should join! I first became interested in V-kei in 2005 when I did my first study abroad, though I stopped looking for new bands a few years ago. My favorite band is Merry. I got to see them live for the first time last month in Nipponbashi and have tickets to see them in Tokyo again during Golden Week! I look forward to getting to know everyone and learning about some newer bands. So far I've started listening to 0.1g no gosan and Xaa Xaa, as well as learned that many of my old favorites are now disbanded. Sho ga nai.