10. Oyuugi Waga Mamadan×【PaRADEiS】 - Col・tempo
I feel like people around here only ironically like PaRADEiS, but they're honestly pretty cool. Their writing, though maybe not very adult, is unexpected and risky—who else would release the supremely unconventional Onigokko as a single? If you've continuously passed them over due to their looks, it might be worth giving this album a quick try. I especially recommend: the unabashedly cute but undeniably infectious LoLli★LOLLIPOP; vaguely dark, carnival-after-closing Sora no Kajitsu -burn out-; abstract, space-song Onigokko; touchingly strained fairy tears; and the superb, sunshine-after-rain closing track, Toki no Sumika.
09. NEGA - GRAVE OF THE SACRIFICE
At this point in time, NEGA was certainly not good enough to be included in the list of monster bands that define visual kei. However, their first album was remarkably solid, and that alone is a stand-out feature in the visual kei world. The album displayed a fairly wide range of styles, almost always pulled off successfully. I have many favorites from this album: the unrefined mosh song the Grave; commercial but catchy Soul cry; super dark murder song muddy cult; unapologetic ACRO no Oka ripoff guilt trip; upbeat 17 Sai no Kodoku; nostalgic piano feature reminiscence (although I prefer the 10 minute extended single version); and sad piano outro In the shadow of the rain cloud. Again, this album doesn't necessarily redefine visual kei or open any new doors, but it is really successful in capturing the dark world that NEGA represents—it gives me hope that their second album just might be the kind that does redefine the genre.
08. Vinett - HAPPY!!
I'm not much of a fan of the oshare segment of visual kei, but when I'm in the mood, this is my go-to album. Vinett seems to be somewhat under-appreciated (or maybe just not that well known), but their compositions are truly spot on. The songs GLASS no Kutsu, HEART, and TINKLE・TINKLE are ridiculously catchy and well-performed; YES!!natural-high is a really energetic tune with punk hints and one of my favorite tropes, the everyone-in-a-pub-singing-together; and Ririe-RIRIE- is the sort of smiling-through-tears sad that really gets me. Furthermore, the interludes are almost as great as the actual songs: Are you HAPPY? is unforgettable and has become a permanent staple of my lexicon; †Short film† Maboroshi no ICECREAM is hilarious by means of its pointlessness; and Bye Bye... is, for some reason, a gut-wrenchingly sad piano outro. The album is successful on a superficial level because of its great oshare songs, but, at a deeper level, it communicates a feeling: being crushed by the world and knowing that you don't have the power to change it, but smiling anyway. To me at least, it's really poignant in that respect.
07. Kagrra, - San~san~
Despite trying desperately, I never liked much of Kagrra,'s work. In its same-ness, it seemed to wall itself off from outsiders—if you liked Kagrra, from the beginning, you would continue to “get it,” but if you didn't, you weren't allowed in their world. San~san~ was different in that, despite using the same ancient Japanesque lexicon, it was familiar enough to someone like me to be accessible. Its opening track, Murakumo, is what the essence of an opening track should be: emotional, but reserved, so that the listener is seduced into the album. Other great songs are Ibitsu, for its great guitar hook; Satsuki for its overwhelming sense of nostalgia; Boufura for its slow power; and Himetsu for its swingy, upbeat hooks.
06. BUCK-TICK - Six/Nine
It was a tossup between this and darker than darkness -style93-. I love both because they captured a time at which BUCK-TICK had already established its style and was ready to experiment with more abstract compositions—and yet the experimentation felt completely genuine, unlike, say, SEXY STREAM LINER. Ultimately, I chose Six/Nine because I feel that it's a stronger album overall; but give DTD a shot if you like this one!
Anyway, the reason that I love Six/Nine is because it really transports me somewhere unlike any other album can. I've spent many a night sitting the dark, listening to this album and working on some design; and for fleeting moments, I'm so absorbed in the soundscape that I become disoriented and forget where I am. That's the best space for creativity, and no other album helps me so effortlessly reach that space.
Favorite tracks: Loop (and Loop MARK Ⅱ) for their absorbing nether-realm soundscapes; love letter, for its unwavering cynicism; Kodou, for its lost-in-space cool vibes; Aikawarazu no 「ARE」 (...), for its abstract, almost R&B feeling; and Itoshii no ROCK・STAR, for its tongue-in-cheek funkiness.
05. lynch. - greedy dead souls
This album, for me, exemplifies what visual kei can accomplish. Most people here are probably too young in the scene to remember, but this album's release was a really atypical. The band just appeared and announced a full album—no pictures, no samples, nothing. It was really ballsy and got everyone's attention—and rightfully so, because the album is really great. The album has a dark and heavy sound, but doesn't err toward ridiculousness in the way that DEATHGAZE did. Tracks like vernie and 59 are unabashedly aggressive, while Mujun to Sora and LATINA MARIA show sincere emotion and wide range. The album is one of the most successful debuts from a visual kei act and shows what can be accomplished within the genre.
04. MALICE MIZER - Bara no Seidou
This is, without question, my favorite MALICE MIZER release. Although I understand why their earlier Gackt era is the more famous one, this album just draws me in like no other. The introduction and first song set the mood for what is an unbeatable experience; the drama thrown out by this album is absolutely deadly. Harpsichord, organ, and choral chanting abounds, and it's absolutely marvelous. Favorites: drama-laden organ and violin -fest Seinaru (...); semi-industrial piano, harpischord, angelic chorus slammer Kyomu (...); pitch-black catacomb opera Chikasuimyaku (...); and beautiful, rose-petals-falling closer Shiroihada (...). Early 90s visual kei with a budget; absolutely incredible (sorry Gackt!).
03. DIR EN GREY - GAUZE
This one is ubiquitous, so I won't spend to much time on it. This is, indisputably, one of the most influential visual kei albums of all time. From pretty songs like Yurameki, the insanity-personified Zan-ZAN-, to the super long and abstract mazohyst of decadence, this album is almost entirely great. Although its immaturity is now evident, it does down in history for setting the bar.
02. D - The name of the ROSE
I very often call this my ultimate visual kei album; it's indie visual kei, but elevated. It captures the young energy and lovable immaturity of visual kei without actually succumbing to those things—just the right amount of polish and adult sensibility, while still maintaining a sense of exploration and experimentation. Since going major, D sometimes errs on the side of “costumed rock” (think Seikima Ⅱ), but, back in these days, they were still planted firmly and undeniably in visual kei. Almost all tracks are favorites: Day Dream is the perfect opening track, mono-emotional but beautiful, and sets up the album without giving it all away; Yami Yori (...) is the ultimate D class, with overwhelming drama and hard-hitting metal; Art de la piste is slow, sometimes sad, sometimes mysterious, always sinister, the phantom of the opera slinking through his home at midnight; Hourglass is full of subdued emotion and nostalgia; and the closing track Sleeper has the perfect amount of commerciality without betraying the band's roots. The second press of the album is especially great because it contains three rerecordings of older D classics: Shiroi Yoru, Tsukiyo no Koiuta, and Mayutsuki no Kan, all great songs in their own right.
01. Madeth gray'll - Lucifer (...)
This is my ultimate visual kei album. Not because I think it is the best-written album of all time—it isn't—but because it captures 100% of what I think visual kei should be, more so than any other. It's young and flawed, but ruthlessly and unwaveringly executed. Vocalist Hisui is not a good singer—you must accept that fact immediately and continue listening anyway—but he is a damn good vocalist, and his ticks and oddities just make him that much more emotional and fun to sing along with. (He joins a pantheon of bad-singer-great-vocalists: Sakito of Dué le quartz, Kyouka of Aliene Maφriage, JIN of NEGA, Ren of brodiaea [well, if he had continued down the path he was going, instead of abandoning it for the high-pitched shit-eating-grin vocals that he's since chosen—but I digress].)
As for the songs, each one is amazing for different reasons. The opening track, Seimei no Shuuen, is one of my favorites, even though it's just an instrumental; a baby crying, mysterious footsteps, an old record player with a tune you recognize; it's super mysterious and intriguing, which suddenly becomes omnibus and foreboding. It's the perfect lead in to first song 「Zwei」 (...), which pummels you with fast guitar, chugging bass, filtered screams, insane vocals, and a visual kei staple, the countdown from 10 to -1. Kokushichou (...) is similarly impressive; marching drums, super strong bass riffs, soaring guitar, and guitar duel of sorts that brings everything together niceless. Kioku is a semi-instrumental that's beautiful in its own right, evoking images of Heaven (maybe the kind we see in BAYONETTA?) with bells, piano, and vague, otherwordly chanting—which leads right into the song Lucifer (appropriate), which relies on a super catchy organ loop while guitar and drums fight over top. We then descend to hell with 「M」 (...) and, once we're there, Akuratsunaru (...) takes us through the torture of some poor soul who was sent there! The last song, Kuuchu Toshi ~in the zaiemu~, is the “pretty song” of the bunch, with the sound of wind, an angelic chorus, and a decidedly 90s guitar riff; really beautiful stuff. Finally, we end with instrumental track Evil en Lucifer, which seems to be about... killing a baby!
Overall, the album is incredibly effective at painting the world of Madeth gray'll. At times we're in Heaven, at times in Hell, sometimes we're stuck in between in a mysterious ethereal plane, and most times we're left with the sense that this is all in some asylum patient's head. For me, that's what visual kei is really about; young men putting on a play, not because they want to go major or because they want girls, but because they think it's just really fucking cool. And in fact, I think many people would agree with me—this was by far the most successful release Matina ever had (and UNDER CODE too, I think). It sold over 20,000 copies in its first two pressings, and had a third that apparently had no specific limit; and yet it's still fairly expensive today. Madeth gray'll started out emulating their peers (early KUROYUME and so on), but they became their own entity, and this is their greatest work as such. It's no accident that 90% of modern “old school” kote kei bands look like Madeth.
