saiko

Since many users of MH are living under quarintine control since at least a month ago, I thought many of you would have the time to write down here your thoughts in a more elaborated way. So, I wanted to ask anyone here interested: why do you like visual kei? The most common way of aboarding an answer to it should be 'because I like metal/punk/goth/post-punk music, etc.', 'because I like make-up', 'because I like X member'. Say, answering by remarking the presence there of the feature you like. Although this isn't a wrong answer at all, I would like you to elaborate on why you, for example, when looking for metal music that satisfies your ears, would choose this kind of metal music that is VK (among many other features). Say, what means those VK metal or make-up for you, what's its value in contrast with other metal of make-up artists? I know this questions could look odd, considering the majority here moved from that high-school phase of "Oh, you like VK??? Me 2!!1, i thought i was the only weirdo in the freaking world!!!" at least ten years ago. But I was interested into asking it directly because, considering that when we talk here we do it leaving implicit what we like and what not, sometimes I wonder which are some users' interests after reading the post they make periodically. Perhaps there are some folks here who would like to take the chance to speak more words over their love for VK! I'll be reading you!

Now you mention it, some users and I discussed this hypothesis a months ago, and the agreement was over the fact that it may be true. It is almost impossible to explain other way how a group of little to no known indie musicians (yeah, I know Lime was in Lezard, but anyway... who the fuck are them?) launched from night to morning a project with such level of excellence both in music (compositions, recording), looks, videoclips and overall advertising campaign (remember the whole thing of the telephone number where bangya could talk to Lime to make catharsis of their suicidal thoughts? Crazy!). They definitely had a ton of money behind them to do such, and if someone risked that amount of money for funding a band of nobodies in an currently almost dead genre/scene, I think it's obvious that those investors still now take every chance and tool they have acces to to make Kizu deliver profit in the most effective and eficient way. I'm still amazed about the fact that someone decided to take said risk; if I had the money I'm not sure if I would do it considering the situation, tbh. And I'm not against it at all, because it was Kizu the band that (along Dimlim) retained the dignity of VK all this time within a scene full of ultra cringe-worthy newcomers and slowly-dying big fishes...

Perhaps you want to refer to what some people here call the "guitar-wanking"? That sort of excessively chopped guitar lines and/or fast high-pitch melodies. That work is featured in both djent and math genres as well, although their differences.

I'm actually surprised at my liking of the whole advertising output: don't know why, but make up, hair and clothing seem to me kinda refreshing in the context of the actual trends in the matters of the last years. Those color water-light tubes work as an amazing background. The Akira-esque graphic seems cool, too. Music-wise, the sample listens like something we heard a lot of times (like 99% of the VK stuff today), tbh. Btw, vocalist's voice seems actually very nice. Perhaps I'll be trying the whole thing when it cames out.

How much did they do?

Amazing of Asagi and D!

What disaster are you talking about? Besides, was the Raid associated with BP? I'm getting noticed right now.

~~jamming with the 90s SADboYs~~ I don't know what's actually happening into Karma's head, but this madness is definitely new in the whole history scene and I couldn't expect it by any means. So my interest got forced to get into it! I can't blame on him at all! So much charming than anything else put out recently!

Song is good; but everything in it screams "fake" so loud... How can I take seriously that approach on djenty breakdowns and screaming if they were doing a full k-pop routine on stage like... what, two years ago? Don't know, this band is so messed up, which is really sad considering all of them are talented musicians...

I think the song is really good for the niche it aims. I mean, it's very well crafted, which isn't sadly something established within indie bands of the scene. But of course that doesn't mean it's necessarily interesting, at least for someone who binges into metal and/or a more mature avantgarde sound. PV is also really well done; we are not accustomed to see this quality of display and shooting within the indie releases of the scene. I think we should cheer that effort!

The levels of crazyness reached by this trainwereck of a situation shouldn't be never forgotten in the heart of the scene. If there ever exists a VK History museum, they should be elegantly put in the show-window of cringe next to Satsuki's antics.

Hazuki's looks like the visual kei god he is with those all-black hot pants and trench coat. It suits his singing and overall performance so good I can't avoid thinking about it.

Moaaaarrr

There couldn't be any VK without it, sorry.

For some reason, there is always something exciting about listening to lynch. At least to their promo songs... for me, it is something as simple as that combination of Hazuki's faux-baritone voice (with the backing vocals somewhat 'incrustated') doing his trademark anthem-like melodies over that speedy hardcore groove with the drummer hitting the crash on the last quaver of the measure... It's just so 'visual-kei' I can't resist the pleasure. This is fucking why in the last 10 years every act in the scene, even the 'leaders', are doing anything but selling formulaic fan-fulfilling garbage and don't seem to plan to someday stop and put their minds into something with a little plus of 'artistic' value...

Wow. Never seen something like this before... What's the point of this?

Same happened to me with this song.

Wtf is going on with those Dir and Maximum covers???

My god.

They are totally ripping off themselves in every track. Now I'm lazy to look up the songs I'm saying they are copying, but any careful fan should know them well. Btw, the chorus for 'Ikari' is totally sweet and dramatic, so it's nice, but surely not something I would put on repeat.

Imo the quickest solution to this problem of whether X band copied Dir en grey or not is to think that, although Dir was, proofly, one the few projects that had the power to mark the aesthetics of a whole scene for almost a decade, that doesn't mean that the other bands in it copied them. At least, not in the case of Nega and Sadie (I won't speak so much for 12012 and ReS because I haven't listened enough to them to judge); they don't have any song like sounds identical to a Dir song (that actually screams plagiarism, like Grieva's, for example); in the other hand, part of their setlist incorporates aesthetics Dir doesn't (for example, the draggy outfits of Nega, or the hard J-pop-driven sound of Sadie's chorus-centered songs). That said, that this bands listened at least a bit of Dir back in the time is an obvious fact provided by their level of historic relevance for VK, but I won't assume by it things like Nega or Sadie decided to go nu-metal/metalcore because of Dir, or even they actually loved Dir and looked up at them... Aside from obvious things that scream admiration like Mao's vocal inflections, I'll think that they perhaps made some aesthetic decisions after listening to Dir's output at the time, otherwise we'll have to interview the members to get their words on this to fully confirm that hardcore inspiration.

Seems like naming your band "as.milk" was the begining of a cringe-worthy career.

@Disposable I really appreciate your way of figuring out things and putting them into words. I love reading you!

This is soulless as it comes. Btw, I feel you are all going surprised right now, while Kiryu has been for years now on a career of releasing this kind of horrible formulaic music (and yet manages to pack Budokan whenever they want to).