TheBistroButcher666

my unpopular opinions are
 
That the vk scene still produces good, interesting new bands & music.

And it's annoying when people who say they love oldschool vk only know about the low budget, low talent goof kotekote bands and act like well produced major label pop VK just didn't exist in the 90's at all despite it being the kind of stuff that was actually relevant and popular at the time. Every kote stan can list 500 bands off by heart who existed for three minutes and released an awful demotape or two, but there's an entire portion of 90's VK that was actually legitimately good but has been completely swept under the carpet in favor of grainy tapedeck recording, EINZ ZWEI DREI VIER and tappa tappa black metal drumming.

Not saying that stuff is bad but geez, it's like saying you like a certain kind of food but only if it's made with as little culinary skill as possible, and of the cheapest nastiest ingredients possible.

insomniac soldier derp (old picture note: try to run around with 25kg of weight in 30 celsius degrees for like over 47 hours avec dangerous dose of caffeine pills and you will feel the same as I did here)
 
(I am the one with crooked -face)

"IT IS A TRAVESTY WHEN VKEI BANDS TONE DOWN THEIR VISUALS"
 
I had to use a fucking Gaia Online widget site to make that text, so you know I mean it. I honestly get really upset when I try out older, god-tier vkei bands and look at their old pictures and see how fetishy they looked at one point, and their most recent pictures are pretty much regular Japanese guys, maybe one with auburn colored hair and one having blond, in street clothing. One of my biggest appeals with visual-kei is the visuals: I live for frilly, neon hair, guys who can't paint, feathers, bloody bandages, useless face belts, hooker stockings, 8 inch Hot Topic boots, naziploitation, and unnatural eye colors. To an extent, I do feel that there is a lot of creativity that can go into stage costumes, and it is a damn shame that there isn't more effort put into visuals in an artistic sense, instead of "our frontman is blond and we have a trappy bassist so we are vkei ok." Obviously as the scene has become more streamlined, there are typical styles and ~*~visual shock~*~ approaches that are going to be repeated over and over, but that isn't to say that one day someone else will share my stance on it.
 
Take Malice Mizer, for example, They took visuals and theatrics to the extreme to accompany their music. Versailles, to a lesser extent, did as well. As did groups like Raphael, Lareine, Missa, and listenable Diru. However, groups like Penicillin, Pierrot, Luna Sea, Kuroyume, and Rentrer en Soi all mellowed out as time went on. I get that Hakuei no longer wearing having flowing red hair in a pvc g-string is going to appeal to a larger audience, but that doesn't mean I have to be fucking happy about it. Due Le'Quartz is the biggest offender here. Their outfits were stellar, and then they ended in 3 piece suits with cigars and sun glasses. MYV, put those bat wings back on and cut this shit out.
 
This all stems from my appreciation of androgyny. I do find being gender ??? to be artistic, not only in vkei but in other art forms as well, and find the elements of visual-kei costumes that shroud the band members' humanity to be fascinating. That's why I really don't care about finding pictures of Mana without makeup because I can already tell that home girl needs Adobe's help.

https://soundcloud.com/kamijo/louis
 
It's like Ascendead Master + Bel Air with teh most Lareine-ish vocals he's used in about 5 years.
 
Edit: oop, didn't see someone posted this first.

Feel free to explain why someone would be offended because I really don't see why these are offensive.
 
It's such a non-issue, is the complaint just to be lazy and circumvent having to have the minimum post count to customize your title? You used to not even be able to customize it in the past.

I think too many people are treating VK like it's too 'mainstream', to the point where successful groups are apparently making it worse for the industry. Like "ew The GazettE are popular now so I can't possibly like them. Oh noes, Dir En Grey is reaching out to a wider fan base and they can now play in my country".
Stop ruining it for everyone else; VK is about supporting the bands you actually like and enjoying the music. People tend to want their favourite band to stay indie forever so then that way they can sort of own them; they don't want other people to know about them because that probably gives them less to talk about to their hipster friends or whatever. I don't get it; why wouldn't you want your favourite band to succeed ?

"I don't like the GazettE because of the fans."
Response of the Zess: You're stupid. Anyone that lets the actions of other people determine whether or not they can enjoy a band isn't focusing on the music. Bonding over liking a similar artist is an attractive draw to liking a certain band but it shouldn't be the only reason why you like a band. It's entirely possible to like the GazettE and not step foot in the shoutbox or a GazettE tumblr ever. I do. As of this writing, they are the fifth most played band on my last.fm. Separate the fans from the music.
This also goes out to the people that act like the GazettE never has made good music and is the symptom of decay in the visual kei scene. Shut up. I know you listen to them with the scrobbler off so don't front.
Oh and if for whatever reason you feel like somebody will judge you for liking the GazettE (or any band) get off last.fm and dismount from your high horse. That's a sign of neurosis. If you actually knew how few people looked at your last.fm or cared about what you listen to, you wouldn't care at all. If anyone ever DOES judge you for listening to a band you like, tell them to go play in traffic.

I feel like Mejibray is that band that all the Gazette haters love because they can finally listen to Gazette songs without losing their indie street cred.

Madeth gray'll
Shit son, I don't even need the band back. Just Yukina (and I guess Hisui) since they wrote most of the songs anyway. They can just come back as ghost writers and just write. Just something that can capture that atmosphere and style because Madeth was really one cool and unique band that really created a sound all their own.
 
Aliene Ma'riage
Oh come on Kyouka, you're still living in the past so just stop doing whatever you're doing to cause all your bands to fall apart and just reform Aliene. You know you want to do it LOL. Aliene like Madeth certainly built a style, sound and atmosphere all their own. However honestly, perhaps it was a good thing Aliene fell apart because I suspect that they were probably running out of steam towards the end. Could they really be able to keep up their chaotic and maniac style for long term? So perhaps come back but not as Aliene because I think returning as Aliene may end up being a let down. OMG I DONT THINK IM DOING THIS TOPIC SUBJECT RIGHT :C
 
Eliphas Levi and Deshabillz
Basically just tossing them together but they have excellent songs so basically I would be more interested in the main composers coming back and recreate that style and sound. Rest of the members are interchangeable. 
 
La'Mule
OH WAIT :U
 
Anyway, another question to ask is even if these bands came back. Could they really recreate the style and sound that we all loved about them? Will they end up like Lin, some funky and bad Phantasmagoria reboot that just left people disappointed (is egged by Lin fans).

I feel like Mejibray is that band that all the Gazette haters love because they can finally listen to Gazette songs without losing their indie street cred.

Some bands get their outfits for free or discounted by a clothing brand that wants to promote itself through the band.
 
One example I remember is Chemical Pictures received a set of free outfits from a clothing brand, the catch was they had to work a weekend or something in the store. Essentially promoting the clothing and something like that. Basically the band and the clothing store get something out of it. How many people here have bought something from SEX POT REVENGE, Algonquins or h.Naoto? Did you find out about those brands through VK? So it obviously works right and I think that's probably where some of these guys are getting their outfits from. 
 
I guessing the poor no name bands probably make their outfits and everything themselves but even the not so well known Indie bands seem to get kick backs from clothing brands.

Madeth gray'll
Shit son, I don't even need the band back. Just Yukina (and I guess Hisui) since they wrote most of the songs anyway. They can just come back as ghost writers and just write. Just something that can capture that atmosphere and style because Madeth was really one cool and unique band that really created a sound all their own.
 
Aliene Ma'riage
Oh come on Kyouka, you're still living in the past so just stop doing whatever you're doing to cause all your bands to fall apart and just reform Aliene. You know you want to do it LOL. Aliene like Madeth certainly built a style, sound and atmosphere all their own. However honestly, perhaps it was a good thing Aliene fell apart because I suspect that they were probably running out of steam towards the end. Could they really be able to keep up their chaotic and maniac style for long term? So perhaps come back but not as Aliene because I think returning as Aliene may end up being a let down. OMG I DONT THINK IM DOING THIS TOPIC SUBJECT RIGHT :C
 
Eliphas Levi and Deshabillz
Basically just tossing them together but they have excellent songs so basically I would be more interested in the main composers coming back and recreate that style and sound. Rest of the members are interchangeable. 
 
La'Mule
OH WAIT :U
 
Anyway, another question to ask is even if these bands came back. Could they really recreate the style and sound that we all loved about them? Will they end up like Lin, some funky and bad Phantasmagoria reboot that just left people disappointed (is egged by Lin fans).

I feel like Mejibray is that band that all the Gazette haters love because they can finally listen to Gazette songs without losing their indie street cred.

I have some issues with 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera)
I've expressed this before in reviews and stuff, but in my opinion, vocalist Sono and keyboardist Ayame are dragging down the band.  Starting with Sono... when the band first debuted, I was very excited for them.  He had a unique and capable voice and a "high pitched" one at that (something I tend to lean toward in male vocals).  There was the occasional hiccup (I didn't like his performance in songs like "悲哀とメランコリー" or "Last Game"), but overall his voice held out for me, that is UNTIL the release of the Murder Scope single.  Ever since then, I've noticed he has the tendency to affect his voice in a very nasal, obnoxious "squeaky" way and he also applies some of the most exaggerated VK-brato I've ever heard (see "ニューシネマパラダイス" among many others).  There's also other instance of just plain "WTF?!"-inducing filth (see the "Hoooooooooooo-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" session at the end of the song "Justice"). Not that I don't enjoy his vocals every once in a while, but before Murder Scope, it seemed like his singing was maybe 90% hit and 10% miss and now it's just the opposite.  I want to like Sono's voice, but with each and every release, it seems like he's going further down a path that just isn't for me.  Now for Ayame, I'm going to copy/paste something I wrote in a previous review. "This has been something I've felt for a while with this band. I find myself rarely complaining about the guitarist, the bassist or the drummer so much. It always comes back to Ayame. Tbh, I don't know how much he actually plays himself, and how much is just the studio arrangement, but man does this band overuse the "hah" choir thing. And cheap synthy strings. The fact that the album opens up with midi-sounding keyboards in Justice is already a bad sign. Maybe I'm just bitter since "風の鳥" by the first keyboardist is one of my favorite MO songs... I think Ayame's probably the weakest member of the band. His keyboards hardly bring anything special to their sound and they'd probably just be better off with a second guitarist (since they could add extra synths and stuff in the studio arrangement anyway, to maintain their "symphonic" quality)."  I still feel this way.  At best, he's adequate and at worst, he's a song-ruiner.

Liphlich and A (エース) are not the greatest/most creative "new" VK bands
I'm going to preface this by saying, I don't "dislike" either of these bands, AT ALL.  I'm thankful they are part of the new VK scene as they do bring something that is fairly new and refreshing.  The bands just haven't "clicked" for me personally.  I find Liphlich's sound a bit repetitive and the vocalist is a little too exaggerated for me.  Rookie Fiddler from "A (エース)" deserves a medal, cause that guy can play!  He really is the core of their sound.  Unfortunately, I feel like the guitarist falls short (at least from what I've heard; I still need to check out their most recent stuff).  His playing hasn't really wowed me ever.  And the vocalist is also just decent; I don't think he's "epic" enough to take the band to the next level that Rookie Fiddler is obviously ready to go to.  But like I said, I'm still very excited for these bands and I hope I'll eventually become a bigger fan of them.

Love this thread idea!  I'll try to think of some more...

Grieva are doing a good job so far ;D

Haha that is undoubtedly one thing you see a lot among owld skewl fans.   I like old bands but I have enough sense to know that they're terrible and was an indie no name loser band that broke up after releasing their demo tape for a good reason. Now I like it though and I'll love it till the day I die but I'm not going to lie to myself or trap myself in a bubble thinking that old school VK was the be all end all of VK music.   A theory of mine is that, basically Goths love to bitch and moan about how true and gothic they are. I think a lot of old school fans are basically your traditional goth and are drawn to old school VK since it deals more with heavy gothic aesthetics. So combining old school VK with self conscious image centric goths you find yourself with the old school fans parading around that 90s VK was the best and most legit VK ever.     
Oh jeez, especially among VK fans is the worse.
 
I don't care for Gazette but I have a friend who is incredibly sweet and an amazing person who fucking loves Gazette like no other. If I disliked her simply because she liked a band I'm not fond of, I would be a sad person and missing out on a wonderful friendship.
 
A good example is the Kamijo / Jupiter teams that are forming. Seriously people? It's okay if you don't like Jupiter but other people do or it's okay if people like Kamijo and you don't. Who cares, listen to what you want and TEAM JUPITER! FUCK YAAAL JUPITER 4 LYFE >:U
 

"To the Chaos Inside" is one of my favorite Versailles songs. I really like rose-core ok

Everyone has those opinions on music that either garner condescendent and judgemental sideeyes, or incites flame wars and shitstorms. I'm interested in learning what music opinions you all might have like that. Since popularity and unpopularity are relative and depends on the setting, please also provide a bit of context with your opinions!
 
Also, feel free to discuss the opions that others post!
 
 
 
As for my opinions:
 
"VK isn't all bad". "There's some good VK". Now to give you all a bit of context. These opinions are hardly controversial here on MH, but all of the music-heads I consult with outside of MH are adamant about their distaste for VK. Simply put, most of them hate it. So I usually refrain from mentioning anything VK-related in their presence, but IF I DO, I always find myself having to defend this opinion and go the extra mile to show them how credible VK can be.
 
"Dir en grey is still VK": Ok, technically they may not be considered VK and the band may not consider themselves VK anymore. Sure, they've changed their image and have shunned a few traditional VK aesthetics. Sure, they've added harsh, guttural vocals, changed the tuning on their guitars, and have taken on more organic song structures. However, their overall sound is still so battered and deep fried in VK, that it's nearly impossible for me to mentally segregate them from VK as a whole.
 
The fact that VK still has so many Kyo worshipping vocalists doesn't help either. Their influence on VK has been undeniable, so for me to regard them as something completely different now is pretty difficult.
 
 
I will return later when I think of some more. But for now, that's enough to kick this thread off. What are yours!!??

Haha that is undoubtedly one thing you see a lot among owld skewl fans.   I like old bands but I have enough sense to know that they're terrible and was an indie no name loser band that broke up after releasing their demo tape for a good reason. Now I like it though and I'll love it till the day I die but I'm not going to lie to myself or trap myself in a bubble thinking that old school VK was the be all end all of VK music.   A theory of mine is that, basically Goths love to bitch and moan about how true and gothic they are. I think a lot of old school fans are basically your traditional goth and are drawn to old school VK since it deals more with heavy gothic aesthetics. So combining old school VK with self conscious image centric goths you find yourself with the old school fans parading around that 90s VK was the best and most legit VK ever.     
Oh jeez, especially among VK fans is the worse.
 
I don't care for Gazette but I have a friend who is incredibly sweet and an amazing person who fucking loves Gazette like no other. If I disliked her simply because she liked a band I'm not fond of, I would be a sad person and missing out on a wonderful friendship.
 
A good example is the Kamijo / Jupiter teams that are forming. Seriously people? It's okay if you don't like Jupiter but other people do or it's okay if people like Kamijo and you don't. Who cares, listen to what you want and TEAM JUPITER! FUCK YAAAL JUPITER 4 LYFE >:U
 

Just look at Dir en grey's similar artists on Last.fm, all VK bands harharhar.
 
I mean come on, Sadie is a VK band correct? Rentrer en Soi was also a VK band right? Yet they all had vocal training from Kyo or give credit to Kyo personally working with their vocalist to hone their vocal technique. To say that Dir en grey has no connection to VK is hogwash. Just search bandmen blogs and you'll find a post here and there with Toshiya or Kaoru hanging out back stage at some tiny little VK dive gig.
 
Like I dunno, Kaoru and KISAKI chillin.
 

 
So basically I agree that Dir en grey is still VK-ish. They certainly don't dress up anymore and are very casual but their connection to VK is still there, though more or less indirect.
 
__
 
My controversial opinion is that VK fans don't care about the music.
 
Okay, that statement is more of a joke but there's still some truth behind it. Just face it, most of us were drawn to VK because of how flashy and colorful it is. A lot of us were originally anime fans and VK is basically anime IRL almost. The guys are so colorful, so outrageous looking and are essentially a fantasy character. So it's easy to get into VK when anime was your gateway. That's why I think cosplaying bands, RPing as bandmen and writing fanfiction is so common because that's something that is done in the anime fandom. So seeing it among VK fans really doesn't surprise me and why I don't think it's a bad or weird thing either.
 
So basically when someone claims they don't care about the image at all, yet have entire Last.fm profile full of nothing but VK I call bullshit. There is absolutely no way you don't care about the looks. It's why almost all of us are here in the first.
 
And you know what? Who the fuck cares if that's what drew you in and is your main reason for sticking around. Trying to get on your high horse and claim you are better than everyone else because you don't masturbate to Kamijo every night is more obnoxious and worse than the girls that admit they get off every night to fanart picture of Kamijo molesting HIZAKI. 
 
Anyway, I'm in a hurry and on my phone. I don't think I really explained myself that clearly. I don't mean to say we all want to fuck bandmen but we're all still vane and pretentious so get over yourself and accept that you are just as superficial as the rest of the VK fandom. Deal with it.

Just look at Dir en grey's similar artists on Last.fm, all VK bands harharhar.
 
I mean come on, Sadie is a VK band correct? Rentrer en Soi was also a VK band right? Yet they all had vocal training from Kyo or give credit to Kyo personally working with their vocalist to hone their vocal technique. To say that Dir en grey has no connection to VK is hogwash. Just search bandmen blogs and you'll find a post here and there with Toshiya or Kaoru hanging out back stage at some tiny little VK dive gig.
 
Like I dunno, Kaoru and KISAKI chillin.
 

 
So basically I agree that Dir en grey is still VK-ish. They certainly don't dress up anymore and are very casual but their connection to VK is still there, though more or less indirect.
 
__
 
My controversial opinion is that VK fans don't care about the music.
 
Okay, that statement is more of a joke but there's still some truth behind it. Just face it, most of us were drawn to VK because of how flashy and colorful it is. A lot of us were originally anime fans and VK is basically anime IRL almost. The guys are so colorful, so outrageous looking and are essentially a fantasy character. So it's easy to get into VK when anime was your gateway. That's why I think cosplaying bands, RPing as bandmen and writing fanfiction is so common because that's something that is done in the anime fandom. So seeing it among VK fans really doesn't surprise me and why I don't think it's a bad or weird thing either.
 
So basically when someone claims they don't care about the image at all, yet have entire Last.fm profile full of nothing but VK I call bullshit. There is absolutely no way you don't care about the looks. It's why almost all of us are here in the first.
 
And you know what? Who the fuck cares if that's what drew you in and is your main reason for sticking around. Trying to get on your high horse and claim you are better than everyone else because you don't masturbate to Kamijo every night is more obnoxious and worse than the girls that admit they get off every night to fanart picture of Kamijo molesting HIZAKI. 
 
Anyway, I'm in a hurry and on my phone. I don't think I really explained myself that clearly. I don't mean to say we all want to fuck bandmen but we're all still vane and pretentious so get over yourself and accept that you are just as superficial as the rest of the VK fandom. Deal with it.

I prefer to avoid listening to music if I am studying or reading, anything that requires actual mental work to retain information I try to avoid music. There are times like say I'm on the metro or there's a lot of noise around me, I'll plug in headphones but that's to tune out those distractions so I can read. If I do put on music, it'll be instrumental work or something that isn't the usual Matina garbage or kvlty metal shit I like since that will distract me.
 
Though there are exception like the atmospheric kvlty metals that are 20 minute long songs of forest noise and some screeching here and there. That stuff is fine.

Pretty much this.
 
Just Google articles on the cost of living in Japan and you'll see that it's not just CDs, it's just about everything.
 
Basically take a country with low natural resources and a population of around 127 million (just 20 million under Russia!) and cram it all in a landmass roughly the size of the state of California. More people, limited space and resources and high demand will make prices go up. It's like  the US state of Hawaii, everything cost more because everything has to be imported. I know Japan makes various products domestically but a lot of the raw materials has to be imported from outside the country so I imagine that causes prices to inflate.
 
There's a lot of factors but just take the reasons above and it gives you an idea of why the prices can be so wack to some of us.
 
I know people whine, why don't they lower the costs of CDs especially indie bands. Look, their focus is their Japanese market not their foreign fans. Adjusting prices to appease foreign fans just doesn't make sense if they're not going to sell the CDs in that foreign market. Why would a US producer reduce the cost of CDs in the US market just because CDs are cheaper say over in Bangladesh or some other country. It's just not going to happen and just hope your local currency becomes stronger than the yen because it's just economics man.

ugh is he referring to the surgery scenes in ASH video? I honestly thought they just used some stock video footage. Ewww.
 
I assume color were arrested by fashion police, if anything.

For sure, I prefer topics with more substance and depth than just a bunch of links and lists of things posted over and over. That's why I'm not fond of listing topics or anything like that.
 
Anyway, I had no idea that VISUAL TRAP did all those PVs. I always had thought that La'Mule and early Dir en grey PVs were very similar to each other and thought they may have contracted to the same company. So that's rad, I guess they really did!
 
I was going to start naming off PVs that looked like they were filmed and directed by VISUAL TRAP but here's an Italian wikipedia page that lists a bunch of them.
 
So yep, there's those La'Mule and Dir en grey PVs and also another I had suspected like SHIVER's PV HYPNOSIS but surprised to not see THE PIASS or anything from KEY PARTY like NeiL's DEEP ETERNAL and NOi'x FLOWERS. I guess with THE PIASS you can kinda tell that the production quality is slightly lower. I wonder if the list isn't accurate, probably not.
 
Either way, that's kinda cool. Also seeing bands on there I had no idea had PVs like HYSTERIC BLAME and Vasalla had a PV for D.N.A?? Wuuuuuut!