TheBistroButcher666

I haven't received the album yet, so only have their singles to go from, but: from my experience, GAUZES is def inspired by those bands, but not blatantly ripping off melodies like Grieva (but on the flip side, not as polished as Grieva either).

@ Hyura
 
Well... we both like the old stuff and La'Mule. Guess we could be soulmates XD
 
I just thought I write a bit more not only to back up my claims and opinions, but also because this topic is very interesting. Once I'm into writing stuff about such a thing I can't stop with "storytelling"... Also that's why we have this discussion forum. We discuss thigs and that means people will just have different opinions and see things differently. I don't like the thought of not reacting what others have said and just smashing youtube video links in every post. It's more fun when there is an actual conversation.
 
Btw, thanks for the info about Visual Trap. Now I know why I like all these PVs, since most of them have been made by Visual Trap. i like the way they do the videos.

I also enjoy watching Kuroyume's early PVs. I feel 親愛なるDEATH MASK is quite similiar to 十字架との戯れ in the way it is cut and shot, it may even be the origin of all those fast, chaotic and totally crazy visual kei PVs.
 
Let's not forget this wonderful 90s gem, aka were Kyo got his inspiration from Not the most excellent video of the band, but it's iconic:
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIoyE-E2V-E
 
And there's also Sick from 1994. I was watching that today and thought about Kiyoharu's children... what do they think when they see this PV with their father dancing in a dress with fake boobs? "Daddy, you have been a walking piece of fanservice"? lol, sorry, I am thinking too much about such things.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKNKZQhTP5Q
 
I like Pierrot's PVs very much too. My fav is Mad Sky. It's a wonderful combination of visual kei craziness and surrealism and I love the setting so much. It's very well done (but so are really most of the band's videos)
 

Here you go   Gauzes - 闇の調べ... Gauzes - 蛍、送り火 Gauzes - モノクロ Gauzes - ナイフ Gauzes - 追憶 Gauzes - kiss Gauzes - 崩壊 Gauzes - 名も無き謳 Gauzes - WING Gauzes - 揺篭の結末... Gauzes - 枯れた花を照らす月

Well... I think Kagrra, were the first band to start mixing traditional elements with visual kei. They already did this lightly when they started out as an oldschool band called CROW. Miyavi was still in Dué le quartz back then, if I remember correctly.
I don't think either that traditional elements are overused, at least not in visual kei. I guess you can get the impression that it is because some japanese bands like to put a bit of their local melodies and instruments into songs, but that doesn't really qualify as folk or traditional japanese music. It would just have the same effect as american rock bands using some country elements in their songs or German groups having a bit folk/Volksmusik qualities...
 
Let's not forget that visual kei comes from Japan, so having a bit of influence from the music and fashion of your home country isn't so unlikely for them.
In my opinion the non-japanese music trends, most who started to become a fad in the US and european countries, are much more annoying. I am not saying that all western music sucks and is a bad influence (it sure is not! We have some great artists and musicians), but Metalcore, Nu-Metal, Techno-Pop and other related things that are trendy now are much more overdone in Vk by now. This type of bands outnumber all the traditional and folky visual kei bands easily.
 
I guess we have different opinions on D's work also. But at the moment their music videos really stand out. I am not a fan of action honestly. In visual kei PVs it would maybe even be out of place. That now depends on your definition of action, Umi_Niwa. I also think Ds PVs are really more about the fiction and portrayal of their current song or band concept than the band and Asagi. He is just the main protagonist. That's not so different from Malice Mizer's PVs and that's why I like them.
Your video can have good effects, nice visuals and put the band into the spotlight, but it is all about balancing. As I have said: overdoing in one category, especially the special effects, can ruin everything.
 
It's right that this is not a visual kei-only issue. I think music video's have lost a lot of creativity not only because of new technologies. But the big era of music videos is over, I guess. MVs aren't that important to a musician or group as they have been back in the day when music channels liek MTV prospered and still played mainly music. We live in very different times. The internet made things cheaper, more accessible and faster. Music videos just don't appeal so much this day, where I can just download the songs I like to have, store it on two or three devices, where I have another 10 thousand music files. Music videos are nice to look at, from time to time. But the impact isn't the same. I  the past people went crazy for the Michael jackson videos you mentioned, My mum even owned a VHS with the full Thriller MV plus Making off and the casette wasn't cheap. How many people would pay over 20€ to get a VHS with one single music video today?
Today PVs are simply what it says on the tin: promotional videos. Nice to look at and they should make people eager to buy the single or album or the special edition which comes with the vid. But most PVs can't really stand alone for themselves anymore.
 
@Hyura
 
I wanted to put Vidoll's Chocoripeyes too, but forgot XD
It's actually funny how Kisaki's label made a transgression from super low-budget, cheap and crappy handcam videos during matina times to Undercode's decent and funny PVs in the early days... and then followed the trend of other labels with their generic "band poses around with lots of closeups and nice effects" videos.
Okay, Phantasmagoria's vids weren't masterpieces either... especially Kami Uta, which is a good example for CGI-overload. Vidoll's first PVs were rather meh, typical late matina style. But during Undercode they had such nice PVs... I also like Fstein to M. Doesn't really have a story at all, but the style is so reminiscent of early 2ks visual kei videos when they were heavily inspired by Dir en grey's freaky videos like Zan. You had those fast cuts, gory scenes and the topic of insanity or mental breakdowns. Kinda miss that.
 
Well... Kagerou's early PVs remind me of that, but their later ones are good too. Not typically Visual kei as they started to grow out of it at the end.
 
This one has the typical Zan-inspired freakiness plus fast cuts and singer Daisuke being weird.
 


 
In that Pv I like the setting.
 


 
The band also had a few landscape PVs too that I like. Can't find a decent quality of Zetsubou ni sayonara, but that video features an urban setting and I just like the way it is made.

I agree with Arithmetica. Sure, there have been tons of bad PVs back in the day as well... I'd say the difference in awfullness lies in the technology. In the 80s and 90s the crappiness was thanks to low-budget, lack of talent and the movie being shot with a cheap cam. Today the equipment may be better- but an overdose of CGI and computer effects can ruin it and make the video look cheap too.
 
I like D's PVs for being a good example what good PVs are made of: great scenery, lovely details and great costumes. Most of their PVs tell stories as well so it's not just the band posing around. I could compare D to Kiryu too considering that most of their PVs or outfits are colourful (maybe not as vivid and flashy as Kiryu's). I really like the way they work with different concepts with both music, video and the visuals (clothes). In my opinion that's what visual kei originally was all about and when a band fails at that their PVs might not be so interesting (at least to me).
 


 
I totally agree with anyone who says Dir en grey's PVs are fantastic. Though I can't really get myself into the music videos they have been producing a while... I don't know why, but their recent PVs didn't fascinate me as much as their older ones did.

If you think just the user titles are offensive then you're going to have a bad time on MH.

If you think just the user titles are offensive then you're going to have a bad time on MH.

Everyone who has him added on Facebook needs to suggest to him that his next project should be a spoken word album in Engrish.

Scumbag VK fan.
Kentz suffering from terminal cancer but may recover/live longer.
BLAME KISAKI ANYWAY.
Sorry to meme it up and not be a very good meme at that but come the fuck on, seriously shut up.

Rule number one: Do not sing in Japanese.
 
Rule number two: Do not try and be ~Visual Kei~
 
I think the biggest thing that leads to failure with all these bands is trying to be ~Visual Kei~ instead of just being a band.
 
There's nothing wrong with taking inspiration from VK bands but trying to be one just doesn't work. Also jesus learn how to dress too! Know you're body type and know what will work with that body type. If you're a chubby dark skinned man then the VK style isn't going to work for you, it's for skinny little Asian boys. You're better off putting together an outfit that compliments your body type, you can take inspiration from VK bands. There's plenty of cool ideas that you can put together but wearing little booty shorts with your thunder thighs is going to make people puke. 
 
Also make ROMANTICA Japanese and kote kei VKKK stans would love them.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Me too!
 
My friend code!  
 
4098-3113-2403

VK is more about the image than the music anyway. It's not surprising chekis became a standard way to make some extra cash at lives since fans are mostly superficial people primarily there for the image.
I don't think it's a bad thing, some have said why don't bands make enough from CD or merch sales. I'm under the impression it's the same situation that western bands run into. Most of the profit from initial CD sales is gobbled up by the middle man before it even reaches the band. So the band is stuck with making most of the money back from touring and selling merch and CDs at their lives. This is the case with metal bands and why I wait and buy CDs when the band is in town. If metal bands could make money by selling chekis I'm sure they would do it but instead it's guitar picks, patches and stickers.
If I could go to VK lives, I would probably buy their CDs and merch there in person and also pick up a cheki or two as a memento from the event. However I wouldn't buy entire boxes of them though because that's just crazy. It's no different than me grabbing a patch or sticker at a metal show. That's like me buying out all the stickers and patches the band has for sale.
Also posting from my phone so ignore typos and grammar :C

VK is more about the image than the music anyway. It's not surprising chekis became a standard way to make some extra cash at lives since fans are mostly superficial people primarily there for the image.
I don't think it's a bad thing, some have said why don't bands make enough from CD or merch sales. I'm under the impression it's the same situation that western bands run into. Most of the profit from initial CD sales is gobbled up by the middle man before it even reaches the band. So the band is stuck with making most of the money back from touring and selling merch and CDs at their lives. This is the case with metal bands and why I wait and buy CDs when the band is in town. If metal bands could make money by selling chekis I'm sure they would do it but instead it's guitar picks, patches and stickers.
If I could go to VK lives, I would probably buy their CDs and merch there in person and also pick up a cheki or two as a memento from the event. However I wouldn't buy entire boxes of them though because that's just crazy. It's no different than me grabbing a patch or sticker at a metal show. That's like me buying out all the stickers and patches the band has for sale.
Also posting from my phone so ignore typos and grammar :C

Tatsuya plz start making music that isn't awful to an unholy degree again


plz

I can't be the only person not hearing anything wrong can I? Are you really confusing poor audio quality for poor singing?
You might not have noticed this because you were too busy masturbating furiously to your own opinions and your confirmation bias that it's going to be bad, but the sound has pretty much been halved.
He even sounds more legit power metal than kamijew


[hyperventilates into a brown paper bag]

@Zess Sigh isn't VK
 
 
 
Sendai Kamotsu is OBVIOUSLY inspired by nightmare, which is a totally different band. Look here
 

 
watch the solo
 

Hoping it isn't an ignore North America tour.

Beat his stylish, yet illegal, pet monkey

I think you guys are not understanding what happened on the Jupiter thread.
No one is complaining about what kind of music he is doing, but Kamijo DONT HAVE vocal abilities for heavy metal, he tries, he tries hard, and fail hard too, sounding weird... he just don't have a strong voice for that. 

Kamijo have done some good heavy metal-ish songs even in Lareine, kaze no yuwaku has a great heavy metal composition but it end up sounding better because Kamijo wasnt trying to be a new Fabio Lione, or Bruce Dickinson.  

 

I did not know you could skin foobar lololololol.
 
I have the default haha.
 
~ edit ~
 
Okay okay, I know you have the same keyboard as I do. I can't get the display to show foobar though, it works with iTunes and Winamp but not foobar. Any idea how to get it to work? I googled it and it says that it's a setting within foobar but the instructions were kinda vague.

Everything about VK makes me angry


But mostly the entitled white girls mincing around in horribly tacky lolita fashion thinking their shit don't stink because they listen to music made by a bunch of yellow perils in drag.

We have a fansite with comprehensive information and translations (the entire discography is translated except for one song) which we regularly update here: www.kuroi-ondori.com
 
We also run a Tumblr where we post website updates, fun facts about the band, and naturally, tons of photos.
http://fuckyeahgallo.tumblr.com/
 
Longpost is long!

Yesssss!
 
Whenever that may be, if you'd like to meet up we could! I love meeting other fans and geeking out. And the lives are just more fun with friends / acquaintances / people you can interact with, haha.

Totally understandable. They're not with an office so they do a lot of shit on their own -- I think Kaede, the drummer, does most of the mixing. Their quality HAS gone up on their nationwide releases lately -- Kokkeiron is a pretty killer mini-album and I immediately noticed the difference in sound quality when I got it.
 
Crap quality gets on my nerves initially, but I kind of really like the kinds of bands that end up having to produce at that level (ie., poor due to not being a young hostboy fluff screamo band) so I deal.

i cannot wait.
im so excited haha, and its gonna take me all afternoon to get into my costume.
did you know jojo changed his hair color?? nina and i think he might have legit gone black, he said he went from chick to rooster, and black roosters.... i cant freaking wait for this show. stamp rally, free dvd, new song... hnng.