Zeus

I answered this question a while ago. It's neither, although it leans closer to being a scene. It may have started out as a genre at one point but it's long since surpassed those boundaries. It cannot be a genre because not every visual kei band plays the same type of music. For any genre you name, someone else can find a band that considers themselves visual kei that don't play that genre. Visual kei is simply music with a focus on visuals (hence visual style). Visual kei can't be pigeonholed into a scene or a genre without losing some of the picture.
And in case you missed my answer from before:
 

Now the history behind visual kei is something else altogether. I don't think there is one person on this forum with a vast knowledge of the history of visual kei because even by the 90s much of that was lost. If we come together as a forum we may be able to piece enough together.

I answered this question a while ago. It's neither, although it leans closer to being a scene. It may have started out as a genre at one point but it's long since surpassed those boundaries. It cannot be a genre because not every visual kei band plays the same type of music. For any genre you name, someone else can find a band that considers themselves visual kei that don't play that genre. Visual kei is simply music with a focus on visuals (hence visual style). Visual kei can't be pigeonholed into a scene or a genre without losing some of the picture.
And in case you missed my answer from before:
 

Now the history behind visual kei is something else altogether. I don't think there is one person on this forum with a vast knowledge of the history of visual kei because even by the 90s much of that was lost. If we come together as a forum we may be able to piece enough together.

I answered this question a while ago. It's neither, although it leans closer to being a scene. It may have started out as a genre at one point but it's long since surpassed those boundaries. It cannot be a genre because not every visual kei band plays the same type of music. For any genre you name, someone else can find a band that considers themselves visual kei that don't play that genre. Visual kei is simply music with a focus on visuals (hence visual style). Visual kei can't be pigeonholed into a scene or a genre without losing some of the picture.
And in case you missed my answer from before:
 

Now the history behind visual kei is something else altogether. I don't think there is one person on this forum with a vast knowledge of the history of visual kei because even by the 90s much of that was lost. If we come together as a forum we may be able to piece enough together.

Best of 2013: Rock/Metal (Part 4)


Last part! I seriously underestimated how many releases I had left to talk about a few days ago and I wanted to end on the first. The worst part is the releases I've been stalling for haven't even made it onto the list! That goes to show that you can never listen to everything in one year. Buckle up because this will take a while.
アナタソナタ by 惑星アブノーマル


Songs: 愛してやまない and 月夜海水浴
Soma by Windhand


Songs: Woodbind and Orchard
Das Tor by Paysage d'Hiver


Songs: Offenbarung and Ewig Leuchten Die Sterne Unhuman by Unhuman


Songs: Chaotic Equilibrium and Once Again
percept from... by ptf


Song: purple mist
since by chouchou merged syrups.


Songs: ヒエログリフと遊ぶ Old Mornings Dawn by Summoning


Songs: Old Mornings Dawn and Of Pale White Morns And Darkened Eves 第5作品集『無題』 by downy


Songs: 春と修羅 and 「時雨前」「黒」 The Underground Resistance by Darkthrone


Songs: Valkyrie and Leave No Cross Unturned Bilo 3.0 by David Maxim Micic


Songs: Smile and Nostalgia

Harsh vocals in visual kei are never going to happen. Bands need to stop forcing it to happen for the sake of being brutal, because those without the proper training are just fucking their throats up and it doesn't sound good. I'm reluctant to call them harsh vocals because a good majority of the time it's either screaming or grunting. Out of the few that can, the top of the list is easily Hiro from Nocturnal Bloodlust. He's the only vocalist in the scene that can do what he does. Akane from D.I.D. is second with the squeals, which bonsai and I have verified he can pull off live.
Why is that important? Any type of ranking of who does what better than whom has to take into account the live performance aspect of it. The mark of a vocalist that has truly mastered vocal fry or gutturals are being able to pull it off live and most visual kei vocalists can't hit the right singing notes live. None of them ever nail the gutturals. They always sound embarrassing and not at all like they're supposed to. Even the "best" harsh vocalists in visual kei are just barely passable from a technique standpoint, and that's when they record in the studio and can compensate for their vocalist's shortcomings.

I posted this once before. I'll post the relevant portion again in case you somehow missed it.
 
 
 
You want to know what the real issue is? Too many people care too much about what other people think about their opinions. This mix of neediness and constant validation that manifests on last.fm and other social media is sickening and it's a negative reinforcement feedback cycle. People don't feel like what they say holds salt unless someone backs them up, so they don't speak their mind. Since they parrot someone else's opinion, they never share their own because no one backs them up on it. I can't count how many times I personally have walked into a conversation, shared my opinion which was the opposite of the general consensus, and watched as it quickly became the popular consensus because so many other people felt the same way but everyone was too afraid to say something.
 
What does this have to do with liking/disliking a band based on its fans? EVERYTHING! So many times I hear people say that they don't like MEJIBRAY or the GazettE or Dir en grey because of how the fans act, but they've not listened to the band enough to form a coherent argument of their own beyond that. It's almost universally covering for some other reason that said person doesn't want to divulge, which is (usually) that they don't want to be judged for liking or disliking something so many other "stupid" people like.

Guess what? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Like what you like. Dislike what you dislike. Your preferences have no bearing on how valid your argument or opinion is. That speaks for itself.

It depends on the band's approach to recording. It's common now for bands with only 4-5 members to use 150 layers of guitars and effects on their records. Those bands tend to sound weak live because the songs aren't arranged to sound good live, and if you've listened to the record a lot you feel like you're missing out on a bunch of stuff.

On the other hand, a band that is 4 people and only record one part for each member (1 guitar, 1 bass, one drum kit and vocals), those bands tend to sound even better live because of the extra energy.

I think it's pretty rare these days to see really good new live bands, because musicians are getting so used to just keep adding stuff in the studio to make their songs sound powerful, so they never learn to sound powerful on their own.

CAT YOUR BOLD IS LEAKING!

Anyway, great list! I can alway see where our tastes line up and where they differ. I might have to try out a few of these artists on that mixtape that you haven't gotten back to me about

The Non-Japanese
 
 

 
Arbouretum - Coming Out of the Fog
 
What is it?
I have seen all sorts of genre labels put on this band. Folk rock, doom folk, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, indie rock, alternative country. Make your pick.
 
Why do I like it?
Having never heard of this band before, I just tried this album on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. It's a very laidback album full of melancholic atmosphere and expressive guitar riffs. Some songs are more on the doomier side, while "The Promise" in particular gives me an inexplicibly David-Bowie-feel, probably due the vocals. Absolutely worth mentioning is also the slow, folky and country-esque "Oceans Don't Sing", because it's simply beaitiful. Basically, if you like any or all of the genres mentioned above, you should give this a try.

 
 

 
Corde Oblique - Per le strade ripetute
 
What is it?
A (neo)folk project from Italy. "Ethereal" and "neoclassical" are also words used to describe them, and they call themselves "Progressive Ethereal Folk".
 
Why do I like it?
Because they simply make stunningly beautiful music. The main head behind the project is guitarist and composer Riccardo Prencipe, the vocals are female for the most part though and in usually in italian. The music is based on accoustic guitars, doleful violins and expressive vocals, sometimes accompanied by a piano. And some of their melodies are just heart-wrenchingly beautiful. I can specifically recommend "Averno", "Bambina d'oro" (for the amazing violins) and "Ali bianche" (nice "dramatic" drums).

 
 

 
Kauan - Pirut
 
What is it?
Started out as black metal band, then moved more into doom metal and finally became something of an ambient post-rock band. The new album something in between the latter two.
 
Why do I like it?
This was probably my most expected album of 2013, and boy, it did not disappoint. Although it almost didn't came to pass, because while main composer Anton Belov was working on the album in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, an asteroid exploded over the city, causing damage and delaying the production of the album, while also influencing parts of it (notice the cover art and the sound effect in the sample at 0:34). The whole album is written as one song (although divided on the CD for more convinient listening, but the seperate "songs" are just numbered I - VIII). Within this song of 39 Minutes the band explores some of their roots with harsh vocals and a strong doom metal feel, but also include their later, more ambient sound with accoustic guitars and beautiful violins and piano. So while it's technically one song, it never gets boring or repetetive. And yeah, they sing in finnish, although the band is actually from Russia and Ukraine.

 
 

 
The bianca Story - Digger
 
What is it?
Indie-rock band from Switzerland that incorporates fragments of post-rock mixed with portions of new-wave.
 
Why do I like it?
Another random discovery I made this year that turned out to be quite enjoyable. "Digger" is a catchy, playful album that incorporates a good amount of variety, from the slower post-rock-ish "Crescendo" to danceable songs like "Glück macht einsam", and everything inbetween. In particular I like the use of two vocalists, male and female. The deep, earthy vopcals of Elia Rediger mix very well with the sweet soft voice of Anna Gosteli. If this sounds like something you can enjoy, you can download their album  for free on their homepage. The production was financed via crowdfunding with the explicit intent to make the album availible for free.

 
 

 
Týr - Valkyrja
 
What is it?
Folk metal, broadly speaking. Týr use clean vocals only and they do not employ any "traditional" folk instruments like flutes or bagpipes. Depending on song and release the music can tend towards progressive, power or heavy metal, the folk influence mostly coming from incooperating traditional melodies.
 
Why do I like it?
Týr has yet to disappoint me. Granted, my favourite release is still their Ragnarok album from 2006, but this is probably favourite release since then - and the albums inbetween were definetely not bad at all! On "Valkyrja" they once again demonstrate their strongest feature: incredibly catchy melodies. Even months after the release I still find myself with bits and pieces of "Another Fallen Brother" or "Lady of the Slain" stuck in my head. Their songs can be extremely straightforward, like the opener "Blood of Heroes", or progressively playful like "Hel hath no fury" (which gets bonus points just for that title). They aren't exactly re-inventing themselves with this album, but they delivered what I expected from them: great, addicting metal. And I still giggle when Heri sings about his "flute" in "Mare of my Night".

 
 
Other things I liked (alphabetical):
Ancient VVisdom - Deathlike
Amon Amarth - Deceiver Of The Gods
Ereb Altor - Fire meets Ice
Layla Zoe - The Lily
 Lilly Dahab - Huellas
Månegarm - Legions of the North
Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy
The Monolith Deathcult - Tetragrammaton
Turisas - Turisas2013
Vali - Skogslandskap
Wardruna - Yggdrasil
Woodkid - The Golden Age

The Japanese

 

 

 

 



 

Church of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum

 

What is it?

The soft spot between doom metal, sludge and stoner metal. Although apparently they don't like to be called stoner metal.

 

Why do I like it?

It's immersive, brooding, dark and groovy at the same time. The songs are complex and yet "accessible" enough for a casual listener of this specific genre (like myself) to enjoy. There aren't really any songs that stand out in particular, but the album, that is all themed around famous serial killers, is best enjoyed as a whole. And as such it does a really good job. But if I had to pick a favourite song, it would probably be the faster-paced, blues-y "Lambs to the slaughter". But it's best just to spin the album as a whole and enjoy the powerful bass and psychedlic rythms.



 

 

 



 

Gauzes - 揺篭

 

 

What is it?

Visual kei, the old-school flavour. Highly influenced by bands like La'Mule.

 

Why do I like it?

When trimming down my list to 5 japanese picks, I had my top 4 figured out pretty quickly. The battle for 5th was hard, but eventually GAUZES won against Jupiter, amber gris and other stuff. Because you just don't hear stuff like this often anymore, and hearing it done well is even rarer. Obviously if you want originality, this isn't really the place to look. But like Grieva they manage to combine a nostalgic sound with modern influences, although I consider GAUZES more "conservative" in the way the emulate their idol's sound. I must also admit that their album only "clicked" at the second listen for me, but now I really love it.



 

 



 

グリーヴァ (Grieva) - 鬼ト影

 

What is it?

Visual kei, the old-school flavour. Highly influenced by bands like old Dir en grey.

 

Why do I like it?

I already wrote an extensive review on this in the joined staff list, so I'll keep it short. It seems the common consensus now is that you either hate this band for being a Dir en grey copycat, or that you love them for bringing back a long-lost sound. Yes, I could just go back and listen to some old DeG records, but I really like what these guys to with their influences, while still sounding fresh enough to be enjoyable.



 

 



 

実験台モルモット (Jikkendai Marmot) - 見開キ こころ❤断面図

 

What is it?

Jazzy pop-rock basically, with a unique vocalist.

 

Why do I like it?

Jikkendai Marmot always manage to deliver delightful, sweeping jazz-pop - and lovely vocal acrobatics. Which, I guess, are a matter of taste, but you can certainly hear that vocalist Tani Takuma is passionate about the music, especially in songs like 正しい心の殺し方.  He is accompanied by a violin, sometime cheery, sometimes melancholic and a playful piano. Most of the songs on this album are of an upbeat nature, while still maintaining their characteristic melancholic undertone. There are also some full ballads like 小さな虫 though.  If you liked their previous releases, you will also like this. If you don't like jazzy stuff and/or crazy high-pitched vocals, you probably should pass up on this.



 

 



 

なかの綾 (Nakano Aya) - へたなうそ

 

What is it?

Jazzy retro-pop with latin influences and a smooth, beautiful voice.

 

Why do I like it?

I absolutely loved her debut album "Zurui hito" from 2010, although it was basically just an album full of covers of old songs, mostly from the 60s and 70s. But it was just thorougly enjoyable and very coherent, despite containing all these songs from other people. Compared to that the new album "Hetana uso" falls a bit short - literally, as it's only 7 songs, one being a re-recording from the first album. But it still has all the things that made the debut shine: beautiful nostalgic songs, that make you think of old movies, rendered in Nakano's soft, yet powerful voice. I didn't actually check if "Hetana uso" has any original songs or ist just all covers again (it probably is), but it doesn't really minimize the enjoyment you get from this album.



 

 

Other things I liked (alphabetical):

amber gris - Around Children

青葉市子 - 0

Dear L'Novel - 愛と死

Jupiter - CLASSICAL ELEMENT

LUNA SEA - A will

メメント・モリ - 百花繚乱-好色狂女

Yeti - 賛成の反対

Yep their last patch did.
Also Augie and Peace - trade with me! I have a Vulpix to give to one of you and a Growlithe to get from another.

I am a very, very picky person haha.

I love you and I love the list to the point where I shouted "YEEESSSS!" upon seeing the topic yesterday--loud enough to make both my brother and mother snapped back at me in annoyance because they were still sleeping; which I believe doesn't come off as a surprise. So many feels... There's also Dirty Androids! <3 I already have like half of the albums you mentioned on your non-Japanese list (all thanks to the hours spent on extensive stalking and whatever) and I shall also give Play Dead Season, Raizen & Lycoriscoris a try. Haven't gotten around to listening to the new Kamomekamome as their previous release wasn't particularly memorable... but I agree with Heaven in Her Arms / COHOL split especially; HIHA's a hit-and-miss and yet the release was filled with awesome badassery.
 
I am letting you know I am ready to feel you. ♫

Best of 2013: Rock/Metal (Part 4)


Last part! I seriously underestimated how many releases I had left to talk about a few days ago and I wanted to end on the first. The worst part is the releases I've been stalling for haven't even made it onto the list! That goes to show that you can never listen to everything in one year. Buckle up because this will take a while.
アナタソナタ by 惑星アブノーマル


Songs: 愛してやまない and 月夜海水浴
Soma by Windhand


Songs: Woodbind and Orchard
Das Tor by Paysage d'Hiver


Songs: Offenbarung and Ewig Leuchten Die Sterne Unhuman by Unhuman


Songs: Chaotic Equilibrium and Once Again
percept from... by ptf


Song: purple mist
since by chouchou merged syrups.


Songs: ヒエログリフと遊ぶ Old Mornings Dawn by Summoning


Songs: Old Mornings Dawn and Of Pale White Morns And Darkened Eves 第5作品集『無題』 by downy


Songs: 春と修羅 and 「時雨前」「黒」 The Underground Resistance by Darkthrone


Songs: Valkyrie and Leave No Cross Unturned Bilo 3.0 by David Maxim Micic


Songs: Smile and Nostalgia

NON-JAPANESE PICKS:

Best of 2013: Rock/Metal (Part 3)

Hubardo by Kayo Dot


Songs: And He Built Him A Boat and Thief The Migration by Scale the Summit


Songs: Atlas Novus and Odyssey Empyrean by Mechina


Songs: Aporia/Asterion and Imperialus Deceiver of the Gods by Amon Amarth


Songs: Deceiver of the Gods and Hel

That preview sounds like a garage band warm-up. I'll wait for real studio quality before I make a decision because there's no way so many musicians I idolize came together and released something that shitty.

That preview sounds like a garage band warm-up. I'll wait for real studio quality before I make a decision because there's no way so many musicians I idolize came together and released something that shitty.

That preview sounds like a garage band warm-up. I'll wait for real studio quality before I make a decision because there's no way so many musicians I idolize came together and released something that shitty.

Or you can just count how many tickets you sell for your concerts and take the average. That would take you a few minutes and you'd have a more statistically relevant figure to work with. Enticing people to show up to one live with the threat of "disbandment" only gives you the maximum amount of fans that you have willing and able to show up on a particular date, which may or may not be the maximum amount of fans you have, and which you may or may not be able to guesstimate by counting how many CDs you've sold. Point is, there's no relevant information any band could get by making this kind of announcement. And if they're at the point where they're pulling this stunt, then they have a rough estimate for fan attendance and for whatever reason it isn't enough. This isn't a matter of wanting a band to disband or not. It's that TRUST made an ultimatum and then didn't follow through with it because they weren't ready to suffer the consequences. Clearly, less than 400 people in Japan came to see this band. TRUST said they would disband if not enough people came. Not enough people came and now they won't? Then clearly, the situation wasn't that serious in the first place!
 
So then TRUST, wtf are you doing?

Best of 2013: Rock

フルコースは逆さから by LIPHLICH


Songs: Ms. Luminous and MANIC PIXIE All Of Them Witches by Hedvig Mollestad Trio


Songs: Indian Driving and The Rex (live) 人間 by 385


Songs: 恋がわからない and 物欲ソサイエティー
0088 by 八十八ヶ所巡礼


Songs: PALAMA・JIPANG and 霊界ヌ〜ボ〜♨
Fetch by Melt-Banana


Songs: candy gun and zero Kveikur by Sigur Rós


Songs: Brennisteinn and Stormur

I prefer the one that's best. Usually it's the studio recoding, but I can mention a handful og songs that's way better live.

Best of 2013: Rock

フルコースは逆さから by LIPHLICH


Songs: Ms. Luminous and MANIC PIXIE All Of Them Witches by Hedvig Mollestad Trio


Songs: Indian Driving and The Rex (live) 人間 by 385


Songs: 恋がわからない and 物欲ソサイエティー
0088 by 八十八ヶ所巡礼


Songs: PALAMA・JIPANG and 霊界ヌ〜ボ〜♨
Fetch by Melt-Banana


Songs: candy gun and zero Kveikur by Sigur Rós


Songs: Brennisteinn and Stormur

Best of 2013: Rap


Run the Jewels by Run the Jewels


Songs: 36'' Chain and Sea Legs Doris by Earl Sweatshirt


Songs: Whoa and Hive BetterOffDEAD by Flatbush ZOMBiES


Songs: Death and Bliss