Delkmiroph

I wanted to keep things really straight forward this year - only 10 albums and keep my blurbs short. I know this is a bit on the late side, but I hope that some people can find some new music they enjoy out of it!
 
10) gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy - Fujouri Shugeki

 
Those of you who know me should already know that I am a sucker for nagoya kei. The formula for this band is a no brainer - vocalist from Merry Go Round, guitarist and bassist from the god and death stars, and the (original) drummer from L’Arc~en~Ciel all bring a long pedigree of talent. A brooding atmosphere that permeates through the album, leaving the album feeling bleak in the best way possible. Though different styles, gibkiy brings that same “unhinged” feeling that I enjoy so much in DEZERT’s work. The 14 minute closer is an avant garde piece constantly uncomfortable and on your toes, with long unusual pauses and strange guttural growls, wraps the album on a truly memorable note.
 
 
 
9) girugamesh - chimera

 
I’d be lying if I said that this being Girugamesh’s final album didn’t push this up a bit on my list. But I’ll be damned if Giru hasn’t been on of the most important band in my Jrock journey, and them hanging it up still feels like a huge deal to me. I’m just so happy that I can say that they exited on a high note, with chimera being a fasted paced and hard hitting album that does a great job of blending their electronic style from the and their energy from their earlier musical day into a more modern metalcore/djent package. It’s just sad that we don’t get any more out of this band as they were trending majorly upwards over their last few releases.
 
 
 
8 ) downy - dai roku sakuhinshū 『mudai』

 
I flat out did not like this album the first time around. Something about it just felt off and it took me a couple tries to completely make it through the album. Perhaps my brain just couldn’t comprehend the complexity of these tracks on the first time around. While there are still some parts that feel a bit off, and I find the nasally tone of the vocalist to be slightly off putting, I couldn’t help but fall in love with this albums odd blend of atmosphere and rhythms.
 
 
 
7) GoGo Penguin - Man Made Object

 
GoGo Penguin feels like it might be a sister band to Mouse on the Keys, with their exceedingly beautiful fusion of downbeat classical and jazz. The piano, bass, and drums seems to flutter across the album, landing gently and quickly at times just to quickly fly away again. It all just feels so light and airy...and just damn pretty.
 
 
 
6) Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked for Death

 
I find it hard to label the music on Marked for Death. It is like some amalgamation of post and gothic rock, with a hint of southern added for flavor. What I do know is that Emma has crafted a powerful album of mourning that managed to feel both sad and uplifting at the same time. Its been a long while since I felt like an album has served up a complete story that was worth telling, but Emma’s presentation of a doomed relationship feels relatable and heavy. Her voice brings nuances to the story, whether she is letting the words just lightly escaping from between her lips or soaring above. The wonderful production does the final piece in wrapping a bow around this solo album.
 
 
 
5) the god and death stars - after the addle apple

 
In 2011 the god and death stars put out their first release, addle apple, and with that fully solidified in my mind that aie was a master of his craft. Fast forward 5 years and we have the band's attempt to 'remake' that wonderful mini-album. While the song names are the same, sonically this transformation like that of when a caterpillar builds a cocoon and comes out of it a whole different creature. When you listen closely, you can pick out some of the riffs, textures, and lyrical homages to the original work, but other than those small bits this mini is something completely new. There is an air of complexity to the band's flavor of Nagoya Kei that gives me that same feeling of freshness that addle apple originally brought. It's a bold claim to say that this is the band's best release, as I feel that the god and death stars haven't ever put out any weak material, but I think that it might just edge out its way to the top of their discography.
 
 
4) Oathbreaker - Rheia

 
I don’t know that last time a song by a band I had never heard before has left such a striking impression on me. The way the chilling opening of the album falls away into a pit of rage left me stunned. This hardcore/black metal group balances that line of beautiful and brutal much in the same way as Deafheaven, though perhaps in a way that makes the lighter bits feel more haunting than gorgeous. The album is a ride and I often find myself feeling a little bit emotionally exhausted at its conclusion.
 
 
 
3) Russian Circles - Guidance

 
I am convinced that Russian Circles can do no wrong. Guidance is probably one of their worst albums, but here it is sitting near the top of my list. The band are masters of the instrumental metal genre, managing to evoke feelings in their tracks in ways that bands with vocals can only hope to do. Emotion is weaved through, spanning from mourning tinged in anger to reserved hope. I can’t help but feel like this feels just right to have been released in 2016.
 
 
 
2) Obscure Sphinx - Epitaphs

 
The middle ground between too disparate sounds and moods, that wonderful juxtaposition, brings some of the greatest joys music has to offer. The atmosphere of Epitaphs is downright crushing with how heavy it is, but yet the album is full of such beauty. The female fronted mashup of doom and post metal that is Obscure Sphinx seemingly came out of nowhere just to punch me in the gut.
 
 
 
1) Alcest - Kodama

 
The ethereal sound that Alcest has honed is down right breathtaking. I’ve always been a fan of the band, but I have never been as blown away by their work as I was with Kodama. Their black metal and shoegaze style manages to take some of the best elements of both and create a sound that just feels heavenly. Somehow the songs manage to feel both sad and hopeful at the same time - perhaps it's this duality that aids to the otherworldly feel of the album. All I can say is that Kodama is downright gorgeous.
 
 
 
 
 
Runner Ups
This is the stuff that just missed the cut
 
TAMTAM - NEWPOESY
The band feels like it has landed on the perfect combination of its jpop and dub stylings.
 
DEZERT - Saikou no Shokutaku
A throwback to the numetal phase of visual kei which feels equal parts fresh as it does historic.
 
Silence - psycho:lens.
This album would have made it if gibkiy hadn’t edged it out on the emotional Nagoya Kei front.
 
Saor - Guardians
Beautiful Celtic infused black metal. The only downfall is that it feels a little “same-y” over its hour long run time.
 
kokomo - Monochrome Noise
Emotional instrumental post metal - great stuff but it’s damn hard when you are going up against the masters of this genre in Russian Circles
 
M-Koda - Workings
If it weren’t for a few outlying tracks that feel a bit out of place, this ambient electronic album would have likely made its way on to the list. Easily my favorite album of the year to chill out to.
 
Boris - Pink
Since half of this album is a re-release, it felt like cheating to give it a full spot. That said, this is still one of Boris’ finest releases, and the new material doesn’t feel lacking at all
 
XAA-XAA - chuudoku shoujou
This band is carrying the mantle for modern visual kei. The album feels like a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s easy to see the promise they hold.
 
Siraph - siraph
This band picks up where School Food Punishment left off. The vocalist is the only factor holding them back.
 
JYOCHO - inori de wa todokanai kyori
Jpop fused with math rock and it’s glorious. I was sad to see Uchuu Konbini go, but now I am not so sure that was a bad thing.

Welcome to our heaven 
 
Enjoy everything here

First of all, I want to say that I'm very happy to find out about this forum. Finally, a place where I can actually see any posts (at all) related to my fav band. 
I've been following the j-entertainment scene (music, drama, movies, tokusatsu, anime, etc) since 2006, so it has been about 10 years now. The first time I came to know about the term "visual-kei" was back in 2007, thanks to Death Note. (LOL that's right, I love some of Nightmare's songs!)
 
I've been part of many fandoms. From idols to tokusatsu, actors, actresses, etc. The only fandom that I've never been in (and wouldn't ever touch) is KPOP. While I'm very open to any kind of entertainment, songs by KPOP artists aren't my cup of tea at all (mostly)D: I don't dislike people easily though, especially musicians who I personally don't know. It's a matter of whether the music is my cup of tea or not. I don't know whether a song is "good" or "bad" If the songs give me eargasm, then they're good for me Oh and I don't play any instruments. I enjoy listening to music yet I'm not really interested in learning it. 
 
That being said, I have been following Golden Bomber for quite some time now (started in 2015). Late, I know. I saw them for the first time when I watched either Arashi ni Shiyagare or Domoto Kyoudai. Kinda hate myself for not getting into them at that time. Been buying & collecting their stuff (CDs, DVDs, tour goods, etc) since 2015 and I'm just. so. into. them. that I don't know what to do with myself sometimes -.-"
 
Contrary to popular belief, they actually do play their instruments during lives (sometimes). They just say that they don't when they appear on TV/in public because it's part of their joke: we're musicians who suck at what we're doing, so much that you either hate or love us this way! They love to appear as big losers in general public's eyes. Though lately they've started to reveal some truth (LOL the fact that the guitarist does know how to play guitar & does play his guitar live sometimes). I found myself crying at the 'revelation' because fans knew it already LOL . They did perform as "Golden Boys" and shit during lives XD The guitarist plays for real when he doesn't do his 'thing' like getting drown in a bathtub and such XD Those who bother to look beyond 'Memeshikute' knew that they don't suck as much as their 'images' suggest  
 
By the way, I've noticed that they don't have many international fans? Either we're really quiet people on the internet or there really are not many of us. This is amusing because they're totally mainstream in Japan. I think that the language barrier is one of the reasons why non-japanese people find it hard to stan them. They have tons of skits and such, and you won't find their skits to be funny (or sweet, even O.O ) if you don't understand japanese.  I'm just a bit lucky because I can understand basic japanese.
 
Okay, enough about Golden Bomber.
So GB is the only band that I'm following now, but I do listen to other bands/groups at the same time. My music taste ranges from tokusatsu to idols to bands like back number, GReeeeN, UVERworld, T.M Revolution, abingdon boys school, Maximum the Hormone and the like, and if it's visual style bands, they're Nightmare, Gazetto (Filth in the Beauty and Silly God Disco are my style), Alice Nine (Q, Tsubasa, Shunkashuuto, Ruri no Ame) and I think GUILD has some catchy songs
 
I can't say that I'm a huge fan of visual-kei in general, because I'm obviously not familiar with tons of vk bands out there (just a casual listener mostly, except for GB), but still, let's get along well ne  
 
Thanks for reading!!!
 

 
 
 
 
 

Dressing fancy for work~.
 

o hi bb

Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you here.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask either an mod or an admin.

Hi everyone. I say "thanks for existing" because it's really neat for me to see so many people together who share my interests. It's totally out of my comfort zone to go about and do this as I am a "suffer in silence" type, but I thought it was about time I try to reach out and get more involved in this music scene, maybe make a friend or two with similar interests. But if not it's okay, I just like reading what you all have to say anyway. I am from a tiny town in the South of the US, so I haven't gotten the chance to see  many bands live or meet people who even like this kind of music. I've been listening for about 10 years, though I stopped a few years ago after Vidoll disbanded (my favorite band back in 2011, though now I see it was just because my teen self was infatuated with Jui, lol.  still am tho)  and I have been listening again since last April when I saw The GazettE live. I've never tried to socialize online with other VK fans until now, I don't really know why. But here I am! I like everything from oldies like Luna Sea, Buck-Tick, Malice Mizer, Aliene Ma'riage, Baiser, to bands like DaizyStripper, Matnerou Opera, etc!  ! Ive recently gotten back into the scene and I'm discovering the potential of newer bands like Arlequin, xaa-xaa, Jiluka, HOLLOWGRAM, and beyond. If you have any recommendations I'd love them as well. Well thanks for reading and I'll try to make my voice heard here! Nice to meet you all. 

cheers and goodbye.

While this is true for German - that language is phonetically repulsive - I think it's a little unfair to use that as the example. French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Icelandic are all Languages spoken within the eu and while none of them have a similar structure to a Japanese syllable (I'm wording this terribly but I hope it comes across), they all are soft like Japanese and flow well. The Icelandic Novembers are probably just as easy to listen to. 

hope you're prepared for the usual stale arguments of
i don't understand the language which means its better because western lyrics are usually bad!! glorious nihonjin make ongaku better than white devils something about not being mainstream  
 
also cheers

I ended up cutting my hair short because.... well... why not I guess
 

I was at a Gatsby's 1920's party yesterday ^^
 
I'm starting to get bored of my hair, might be cutting it shorter at some point.

*stares into the distance*
My friend just wanted to take a selfie with me xDD

Não deixam de ser ruins, mas quando você volta para a época do peso de Zekuu ou Kuchiki no Tou, a coisa muda. E acabei gostando bastante dos últimos dois álbuns, então deixei Karma um pouco de lado

nao gostei muito dos anteriores. Mas os singles sao otimos

Tá fantástico, Delk. Sou suspeito para falar deles (até Karma curti em uma época), mas os três últimos álbuns são perfeitos.

Eu ainda tenho q ouvir. Amo eles 

Ryutaro´s first solo tour 「デも/demo」 came to an end, it has been announced that a live documentary DVD will be released this Spring: It will contain behind the scenes footage of all 3 shows (Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo), plus the final live held at Shinagawa Stellar Ball on January 23rd. Setlist of the Shinagawa Stellar Ball show:
 
● Part 1 (acoustic versions)
 
01.浮融 (Fuyuu)
02.猫夢 (Nekoyume)
03.鍵時計 (Kagidokei)
04.また、堕月さま (Mata, otsukisama)
05.魔似事 (Manegoto)
06.恋ト幻 (Rentogen)
 
● Part 2 w/ the support band DEMONSTRATIONs
 
01.幻形テープ (Genkeitêpu)
02.魔似事 (Manegoto)
03.猫夢 (Nekoyume)
04.鍵時計 (Kagidokei)
05.また、堕月さま (Mata, otsukisama)
06.うフふ (Ufufu)
07.恋ト幻 (Rentogen)
08.浮融 (Fuyuu)
 
EN1  
01.鍵時計 (Kagidokei)
02.恋ト幻 (Rentogen)
 
 EN2
01.浮融 (Fuyuu) acoustic
02.魔似事 (Manegoto) acoustic
 
 
Thanks to info Romantique Kurage - ロマンチック海月 -