Ikna

Actually I think this whenever I see you, especially when dressed as Hisui XD @Gaz: Yup, that's a recent. From yesterday actually XDD Also lol @ looking like Mana. Never really felt like I look like him (though I share the round face structure and big hair). And back in the time I was a huge Mana stan I was too stupid to dress nice (oh the memories of my "I am so kewl, different and edgy" phase...)

Hahaha... I actually don't think so. I guess everyone's curious how I look though (maybe?) Was already thinking about showing a pic or not... but since my face already circulates around the web and some people here know who I am... But behold: Super gawfic make-up and fail try at dark gloomy oldschool Visual kei. Also ruining your good and normal looking people rate. I am sure i will regret this *lol*

Good gawd, there are so many here looking so cute, perfect or stylish. :<

Lol... how insensitive do you have to be to google your name just to find out who writes something about you. And then get pissed when people criticise you. With his age and how long he is already in the scene as a musician he should act more mature and maybe not give a shit about what others think of him - or maybe he should think about why people say the things about him they say. Thankfully I never have been a great fan of his band especially not after reading so much of Dada's stupid drama queen behaviour. Bandmembers just have the fans they deserve and maybe Dada should learn from bands who treat their fans with respect, even when they face criticism from them. But then again: he and Kiwamu seem to be big friends. Considering how much Kiwamu overreacts too it doesn't make me wonder.

I like the growls, actually. There are really black metal influences in the singing and I dig this more than the way most vocalists growl in VK today. But I agree: the clean vocals are really off putting. I also wish the production would be better. I guess if they'd drop the crappy clean vocals and make them different it would be really nice and solid. So I'll just wait for new previews and see how it will be.

Hm... ich kann nicht wirklich beurteilen, ob die Gehälter höher sind, da ich keinen Vergleich zu den Einkommen in Deutschland habe. Es ist natürlich gut möglich, aber auch sehr stark abhängig ob man in Wien arbeitet (wo man das meiste Geld bekommen kann) oder wo anders (vor allem am Land verdient man üblicherweise deutlich wenig). Ich weiß nicht wie es in Deutschladn ist, aber hier in Österreich wurden die Gehälter seit Jahren nicht mehr an die Inflation angepasst. Wenn das so weiter geht wird es sicherlich immer unerfreulicher... ich habe schon gemerkt, wie in den letzten Jahren die Steuern und Preise in die Höhe gingen aber die Leute einfach nicht mehr Geld bekommen und man sich somit immer weniger leisten kann. besonders schlimm ist es für dei Pensionisten. Allerdings habe ich gehört, dass es Österreich es da noch relativ gut geht. Unsere Staatsschulden, Mieten und Steuern sind zumindest für die Größe des Landes unheimlich groß, aber unsere Wirtschaft ist trotzdem noch nicht ganz so kaputt wie es wohl bei euch der Fall sein soll. Außerdem ist man hierzulande als Soziahilfe-lempfänger nicht gleich der asoziale Arsch, wie es in D mit der Hartz IV Debatte ganz und gebe ist. (liegt sicher auch an der politischen Gesinnung... hier in Österreich wurde die Sozialhilfe immer als die großartigste Errungenschaft der Nachkriegspoltik angesehen. Außer man ist ein ja so ein böser Ausländer natürlich, der ja nur wie ein Parasit am System hängt, denn die Einhemischen machen das ja ganz bestimmt nie! >_>). Wir können natürlich auch allgemein sagen, dass es zurzeit nicht sehr rosig in der ganzen Weltwirtschaft aussieht und man wohl überall viel zahlen darf. Ui, sehr schön, man versteht mich also prächtig hier *_* Bin mir nie sicher, weil ich in Gespräch mit Deutschen oft erfahren muss, dass Wörter, die ich glaubte verbreitet zu wissen, plötzlich dem Gegenüber vollkommen unbekannt sind XD

Ugh, why didn't I see this, it's amazing. And: Metis Gretel reunion please, now!!

I am a transethnic japanese girl from da heart, even though my genes aren't azn, and I was blessed with sexy visual kei guy headmates too!!!! … (okay I stop with the bad tumblr related jokes ) No, I never wished to be japanese. I can't even understand anyone who says they want to be born as a diffeent ethnicity... I can understand it when people wish to be born in different places though, because living and spending your life in a country is something you can choose. Ethnicity and genes are not something you can select as if you'd play a Sims game... And sorry, I always feel it comes off as a bit fetishizing and weird when someone are so totally obsessive about looking like someone else. I sometimes have this happen to me as I am not fully Austrian... I am half arabic and people always aproach me with the weird "Oh I like you, you are so oriental and exotic and such a lucky mix of two cultures! Can I have your almond shaped eyes please?" But maybe it's just me, because I generally don't like people to come near me. Anyway... I am certainly not happy with my body and my appearance, but I just accept that I can't really change those issues. I'd also like to have hair that isn't just a mess of thick frizz and have clean skin and whatnot, but I think those issues aren't really related to ethnicity - japanese people as well can have a hairstructure that doesn't allow styling, they can be ugly and have the same problemes as anyone else. We might just not notice it as much as foreigners because what we always see from Japan and Asia are the musicians, stars and middle class teenager who have the money and "tools" to make them look perfect. Without make up, surgery, photoshop and beauty products they look as shitty as everyone else. So I believe that people who obsess about being, and even more extreme, becoming asian or japanese have a really twisted sense of reality. All the have in their head when thinking about japanese people are anime characters and japanese rock or visual kei guys. Of course the same creepy shit happens in japan as well when teens there pay shit loads of money to be transformed into european looking abominations...

Don't care about Juka or Kisaki, I'd rather like to see Metis Gretel reforming for this (since they have been signed to this label). Oh well... maybe next Halloween (I won't lose my hope, oh no I won't)

Yeah, make up does wonder. And photoshop (and practically all vk guys have been photoshopped... since maybe ever). Also there are several men in their 40s and even 50s who are still dressing visual kei: Mana, Közi, Kisaki, Ryo (9Goats), Kon (La'Mule), etc... Also totally obvious that Visual kei has nothing to do with Goth (except maybe borrowing some musical elements here and there) and therefore the bandmen dressing a certain way is neither a lifestyle nor a life commitment. And the trend of Vk groups becoming soft, light poppy bands has always been an "issue"... Groups like Fanatic Crisis, L'arc~en~Ciel and Co. all started out as your typical serious underground vk bands but became pop rock full of regular dressed guys once they got more popular. I still think though that this (Vk bands turning softer or alternative rock) is somewhat different from once heavy dark bands turning into Host kei. I just can't understand (okay, I can in some way) why groups like VIDOLL, Nightmare or D'espairsRay went from bands singing about slicing someone's throat into cheesy pop or electro rock. I bet it would weird anyone out if Dir en grey would have taken this route and instead of becoming a Metal band doing some J-Pop shit á la Gackt. The guy in the magazine is from Gill'e Cadith, hehe... somehow funny how most of the oldschool guys still ended up being salesmen or businessmen. I don't think we could expect them to have any interest into spending much money for their beauty or make up, since they probably are prouder to own other things now. Edit: I think you have too many high hopes on that. The era of old school visual kei is long over. I don't even think Kote kei bands are automatically more indie and less about commercialism, even though most of them have even less fans than regular indie VK bands. And even if they are... as long as Kote kei purely consists of bands repeating what we have already heard 100 times it won't really go anywhere. As much as I love the old style, the Kote kei scene s a joke and doesn't really offer that much innovation or "artistry". It's fun though listening to a La'veil song and thinking "That's so oldschool and very Madeth gray'll-ish, I like it".

I didn't say anything about dir en grey. Or did you see them mentioned? I was referring to your argument that people who conform to a lifestyle limit themselves automatically and are boring, which is bullshit. Also I am the least person to be "butthurt" over Dir en grey trying to become accepted within the Metal scene by stripping away all traces of their past. It's their thing (I somehow find it ridiculous how Kyo reacts to questions about their past, especially when it comes to their bandname... but it's Kyo...). It's really annoying how everyone reacts so sensitive when it comes to this band. Where did I say we need to be friends though? No reason to make things up...

I agree with AltermaliceNero. There is nothing immature about dressing a certain way. People will change in their heart due to experiences regardless of what they wear or how they look on the outside. Also there is a fucking difference between being a teenager who has a "I want to be so individual, therefore I dress up as goth/punk/indie kid/emo, etc"-phase and actually being part of a subculture (which is much more than wearing piercings and weird hair). There are goddamn people in their 50s and 60s who are still Rocker, Punks or Goths and have been into it since the day it started. They still wear a mohawk, make-up, studded vests or their winklepicker boots and yet they are people who pay bills, have a job, maybe children or even grandchildren. What I find boring are the people who yelled "!ndividuality!!!" when they were oh so radical kids but as soon as they became 20 or got a job they started to become the same boring mainstream people they have despised just a few years ago. I am sure most of them don't do this because they want to feel mature and adult - they do this because they are too afraid to fight for their right of expressing themselves while being able to do the things other adults have to do. And their lame excuse is "I just got out of my phase". Also in my experience those people are the most fucking boring because they are way too afraid to face their past. So they ensure they stay the same all the time to prevent a kind of "relapse". I can still remember how one of my mallgoth schoolmates became a punk with their full heart and nowadays she dresses "normal" (I hate thsi word, but can't find a better one to describe it), listens to Techno music and when you ask her about anything that couls remotely touch in the topic of punk she get's extremely defensive. Also: if interestes should change so drastically then this forum is useless. Because it means in just a few years we all may or have to find new and better interests than visual kei. Also considering how many people regard visual kei as a boring, childish and stupid interest anyway, so let's find a music scene that makes us more interesting and is cooler, hm? And if I am honest: I feel the visual kei scene has become way more "childish" since they started to drop off the ellaborate costumes and heavy make-up. Groups like Madeth gray'll sure were embarassing in some way of their own but still more "hardcore" and serious stuff than the weird oh-so-cute host kei look combined with cheesy electro Metalcore vk bands pull of today. Or maybe I am just too old and boring to understand what's so radical about those babyfaced kids (def kids since most bandmen are even younger than I am) And you know: I don't give a fuck if I might come off as a boring old shitty goth to you or to anyone when I am 40 or 50. I like the music I like and I will hopefully forever share my love for New Wave and Post-Punk and not suddendly wake up one morning and decide: "today I will stop with the goth shit. It's time to grow up!! So let's go to forever 21 and buy a cute formal dress" Also I am not interested into the things I am to impress you and I am sure nobody here in this forum is, miyuu. We like the things we like and talk about it but nobody wants to get a cookie for having the best music taste or the coolest looks. This so much... I already talked about it in a news thread: it's just douchey behaviour. Thousand of other bands live on the very edge and are poor and they still have enough decency as musicians to earn their money honestly. I don't understand people who are kay with bands doing this and excuse it with "they don't have enough money". Imagine all bands who have tight money doing this. And let's be honest: a visual kei band that doesn't get enough money is destinied to disband sooner or later. They probably don't have enough audience and by pulling off this shitty tactig they will surely gain not more. Instead their most loayal fans will just buy more tickets to ensure the band won't disband. It's not a really clever strategy anayway to make your band popular- if your extra lucky you might just piss off your fans and I am sure they will find a new similiar sounding and looking vk band to fangasm about fast.

So basically a game about what visual kei is in its essence: a scene full of pretty (host) boys who make the gurls wettest dreams come true.

Wow... that's sick. What kind of mother would do this. Yeah, children can be brats and annoying, but that's no excuse to put such a young kid under a plastic bag (which is totally dumb and for sure will kill anyone after enough time). I think 4 years are not only a joke, this woman also needs psychological help. It's not normal behaviour to do such a thing, even under the influence of sleeping pills and alcohol (which is always a bad mix). Really disturbing and sad.

I just leave this here (to revive the thread): Found this through the facebook of some guy who also has various other Luna Sea/ old school visual kei-inspired music projects...

Oh I really love this! considering how much I like rarez stuff and also older visual kei, this shop is perfect for my needs. <3

God, most of you had or have great parents. Mine didn't really have a music taste at all, except maybe my father, but I don't really have to do with him that much since he doesn't live with us anymore. He liked a bit psychedelic rock like the doors and blues. My mother listens mainly to 80s pop, but she likes anything that comes in the radio. (okay, maybe not everything. She doesn't like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Co.) Until my 12th birthday I mostly listened to mainstream pop too. I used to take our radio and listened to whatever played. My parents however have absolutely no influence on my current music taste. That rather originated from my horrible mallgoth phase, when listening to Green Day, Nightwish, Evanescence and Good Charlotte bacame trendy and kewl. I grew out from that mostly and started to dig up "real" goth groups - on the same time however my love for crappy indies vk bands grew also. My mother obviously doesn't like none of the music I like, save for maybe a few the Cure, Depeche Mode and old 80s pop and synth-pop songs I listen to. The recent years she has found a throbbing love for ABBA though (and I started to like them too *lol*). She also doesn't know much about music and especially genres that lie a bit beyond the commercial music scene (Metal, Alternative rock, Punk, etc.)

Yeah, Vampire Rose are cheesy... but so what? The whole concept and purpose of the band is to take the vampire myth and base their music on it. I really can't understand anyone complaining about a band revolving around this concept to make songs about it. Also the Vk scene is full of cheesy and "bland" bands, see D, Jupiter or Versailles (they even had the same "vampire aristocrat" concept) and most people don't give a shit about it. I personally like Vampire Rose. Now Rose isn't surely the best singer or most innovative musician, but I like the combo of not too heavy but driving Metal/Hardrock combined with cheesy synths and a few early 2ks Visual kei sound influences. The stuff reminds me also of EREMIA, which is obviosuly because of the same vocalist, and I liked that group a lot. I am looking out for the single and hope it will either get uploaded or available at a second hand shop, such as Closet Child.

They finally release something... but it's live limited :/

Their best of was already an indication that this will happen. It's kinda sad, but I agree: it's better they do this now then continuing becoming worse.

Don't care if they drop the whole egypt stuff as long as they sound somewhat familiar and finally release that goddamn album

are those biiig balls between the horse-horse's legs? Scary. I only know I am libra. Don't really believe this whole astrology and esoteric stuff. But astronomy is very interesting to me (ans the history of star signs is another proof for me that stars are just stars and no magical entities; my star sign for example was just seen as a part of the sign scorpio before romans turned it into it's own).

^(okay, edit, because I am so really lame typing posts and Peace has already mentioned it. So it really is a word play with real lies and realice) I love the song names where bands just randomly put signs, letters or words together. for example: Lanus Dune: Inferno tR=Lick Ash: ―A→ (how yo you spell that? Arrow-A?) Chateau La Tour: I truth lie (I not speak engrish) Cynthia: Glass night for sever Devise en Despair: Mind Control Killer Loop (okay, this one can somehow make sense and it sounds badass) Versailles: Dry Ice Scream (yeah, I get it and it's on purpose for phonetic reasons... still funny and odd because I didn't expect this band to make a title like that) HISKAREA: Cat a like F-risky media-youth: No Ripcord Butter-Fly Well, there are many in vk... And I am still figuring out how to spell the bandname Chillkey Labemds...

Surpised Depeche Mode haven't been mentioned. Yeah, i know they are pretty well known, but they have been the innovators for electronic New wave music and Synthpop, so I guess they should be mentioned here. And most of their disco is flawless 8except maybe the last album) Well... Clan of Xymox are a darkwave band and more in the whole electronic dark alternative music section (or electro goth, but I don't know if that's actually a real genre...) However, their 80s stuff is really wonderful atmospheric and ethereal synth wave.

Music is indeed very meh and bleh, but I find their name very hilarious (Final Fantasy VII reference? lol). Newest name trend in VK: name your band after a video game character!