What do you think about the actual Visual Kei ?

[moumokuu 42]

Hello there, I don't know if this topic discussion is created ? But if not then it's a relief for me.

 

Okay, so I want to ask you what do you think about the actual Visual Kei ? Do you think it's bad/good and why ? 

 

Because I'm very curious to know about your opinion. And I think it's interesting for each other to talk what are we thinking.

[shinobu. 252]

What do you mean by "actual visual kei"?

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

trv-kei

[moumokuu 42]

What do you mean by "actual visual kei"?

I mean about the Visual kei of 2015.

[JukaForever 758]

What?

[beni 2149]

I mean about the Visual kei of 2015.

 

You mean what we all think of our picks of the best and worst of this year? And why we like or dislike a release?

[Zeus 7997]

I mean about the Visual kei of 2015.

 

With the exception of X JAPAN finally getting over their fear of commitment and announcing a tentative date for their next album, no visual kei band has really done anything exceptional this year. This is coming from one of the ORZ members, who always have their eyes peeled for new releases. I think this extends to the entire Japanese scene as a whole; there are only two albums this year that I actually remember enjoying (but this topic is about VK so I'll leave it at that). As a whole I feel like the scene is picking itself back up from the slump it found itself in between 2012 and 2014, where I felt like there was little to nothing of value entering the scene but a lot of bands and members were either passing away or exiting. That was a tough time to be a visual fan, but with the exception of a fringe few bands it's still "more of the same". Just a few more new, fresh faces to add some life back into the scene.

[Des 289]

where I felt like there was little to nothing of value entering the scene but a lot of bands and members were either passing away or exiting.

 

I agree! They should stop dying and add something of value instead. Listen to your fans and stop passing away!  

[herpes 1597]

yes

[doombox 4421]

I'm also a little less than excited about most of the visual releases lately. My interest has slowly been dropping off in recent years, not sure if it's just me or the scene in general causing it. But I can name about 5 visual bands that have released something really interesting for me in 2015 so far. But we still got a way to go so there's time to change that. 

 

But since I'm also a little confused by the wording of your question, I'll go a little more general in my answer here. Do I think that visual kei is still "good" in 2015? It's had better years, sure, but that's the pitfalls for any music movement. Rock'n'roll is "dead". Metal is "dead". Punk is "dead". Every genre has a heyday and it passes, so I guess to the general music scene visual kei is not so great anymore. But most of the people are here because we still enjoy it. At least, to some extent. 

 

Is this remotely close to what you were asking? X"D

[emmny 4139]

the best bands RN imo are way underrated but honestly im not sure how 2010's visual kei will recover from losing moran and amber gris in the same year; they were the only bands that had no peers in terms of sound.

 

emmuree, avelcain, dish, DIMMDIVISION, lynch, lament, DEZERT, angrayse and stereo C.K. are all phenomenal bands that are still active so i haven't lost hope in visual kei since my old favs usually continue with amazing bands and a new face pops up here and there and the cycle continues.

[moumokuu 42]

You mean what we all think of our picks of the best and worst of this year? And why we like or dislike a release?

Yes I mean that. Sorry if I'm not clear about my question...

[moumokuu 42]

I'm also a little less than excited about most of the visual releases lately. My interest has slowly been dropping off in recent years, not sure if it's just me or the scene in general causing it. But I can name about 5 visual bands that have released something really interesting for me in 2015 so far. But we still got a way to go so there's time to change that. 

 

But since I'm also a little confused by the wording of your question, I'll go a little more general in my answer here. Do I think that visual kei is still "good" in 2015? It's had better years, sure, but that's the pitfalls for any music movement. Rock'n'roll is "dead". Metal is "dead". Punk is "dead". Every genre has a heyday and it passes, so I guess to the general music scene visual kei is not so great anymore. But most of the people are here because we still enjoy it. At least, to some extent. 

 

Is this remotely close to what you were asking? X"D

Yes is that. XDD sorry my question is confusing right ?

[Des 289]

??? ...but you just said...

and then you said...

but now...

confusion

???? ...

...

Visual kei does what visual kei does because visual kei... is visual kei?

[shinobu. 252]

Ya, I've mainly been excited about Xaa Xaa this year. And anything that ANSIA releases, of course lol...which is like a release a year >_< Paiotsu. and Sally. too have been bands I've really liked the releases so far in 2015.

[doombox 4421]

Ah good I wasn't too far off lol.

 

Some of the bands I enjoyed so far this year:

 

ザアザア

BugLug

DIV

nüe

SCAPEGOAT

DADAROMA

Develop One's Faculties

 

Okay that was more than I thought lol. Mucc's mini wasn't bad really, it just wasn't as good as I was expecting. Though I suppose they do deserve an honorable mention. XD

 

There's others that I mildly enjoyed but I'm not excited enough to watch them that closely. Here's hoping more good stuff is still coming up this year.

[anakuro 847]

A lot of bands are breaking up and we haven't had a proper influx of bands that are particularly interesting, in my opinion. It's generally a pretty boring year for me.

 

Unfortunately Develop One's Faculties and The Benjamin failed to hold my interest.

 

Bands I'm still in VK for:

• XAA-XAA is the main thing holding my interest right now. Their attention to detail is wonderful too. Glad to see they were mentioned before too. They are the only new band that's really kept me interested.
• Minus Jin-Say Orchestra is always phenomenal but the pitfall with them is their recording quality is pretty shit. I think most people that I know who got into them saw them first--it was the same with me. Their release this year has some great songs on it but... the recording quality ruins some of it.
• Ensoku is also great and consistent. But that's also the thing like you know exactly what to expect with Ensoku--and while it will be done well I don't think Ensoku would keep me interested if I didn't have the other two bands I listed above.

Bands that I'm interested in

• Reirei was surprisingly fun live
• Hiz was also a lot better live than recorded
• Shellmy is also a lot better live than recorded
• BLESSCODE ..also, a lot better live than recorded
• GAGA also has me mildly interested
• ViV oh my god RayJi is the best bassist he blows my mind

but you see a pattern? For me at least this is an era of bands that you need to see live rather than listen to recorded.

 

Bands that have gone down in quality heavily imo

• GIGAMOUS -- what happened? ??? ????
• Souiumono -- what happened???????? Everything is so generic and boring now and what's with the autotune. They've lost a lot of fans (including their jouren--the girls who went to EVERYTHING and were basically the ones paying their salary due to how much money they poured into the band). I've been waiting for a break up announcement since Christmas. 
• RUVISH -- from last year there was a marked drop in quality and live is so forced now too

 

A lot of Osaka (and Shikoku and Hiroshima) bands are bands you just need to see live, rather than listen to recorded, to be honest. XAA-XAA is one of the few that I enjoy listening to recorded as much as seeing live.. On the other hand Tokyo bands, in general, are really stale for me. 

 

Also kirakira bands (what you guys would label as "oshare kei" but that's another topic) are dying out. Personally, I need like at least one kirakira band in my life because the live experience is almost always just so fun (unless it's Sick2). 

 

Anyway, 2015 has been a lot of fun for me in seeing bands live, but as far as releases/new bands goes it's pretty meh (besides XAA-XAA).

[fitear1590 2414]

I'm just going off of my German knowledge, but I believe this user meant "current" with the term "actual" (aktuell). That should help to clear up the original post's questions.

[Tetora 625]

Lots of awesome bands I am enjoying. Out of the last three years I think I have gotten the same amount of releases, maybe slightly more each year? In the past three years the current big boys have really taken off and released some epic albums.

 

Examples from past years:

 

DIV - ZERO ONE

ALSDEAD - SEPERATOR

UNiTE - MEANiNG

CODOMO DRAGON - CHILDREN`S DOPE

 

Then lately, around 2015, I have been into a lot:

 

SuG - Awesome singles and one of my favorite albums in recent memory, BLACK.

UNiTE has been amazing lately, album and singles are nice.

DIV - Transitional phase, but still some good tunes.

ALSDEAD - Still great

CODOMO - Very nice defined sound, look forward to each release, I accidentally shipped my album to the wrong address though so I didn`t hear the new one yet.

Nue - Some good tunes, very variable band.

DOG - Killing it, as expected.

Blu Billion - Chillin` like Villains.

Royz - Beasting and Feasting.

BugLug - Too much variation in their last album for me, but still great songs.

Neverland - Cool newer band.

My Fairytale - See above.

DiaWolf - Cool style, some nice tunes like EVERLASTING FLAVOR, and really cool lyrics.

A9 - Making their comeback, looking forward to it.

Tequila Tokyo - Awesome stuff, great musicians, although upset that the single flopped harder than a soccer player during the World Cup.

MuCC - Still putting out cool and interesting stuff, always a surprise.

Baroque - Love it or hate it, I fall into the former.

girugamesh - Waiting with bated breath for some new stuff, their last two releases were Bad-@ss.

The LOTUS - Keep looking forward to what they do next.

Shounenki - On a killstreak and about to get a care package. Sick K/D ratio.

BORN - Live album was awesome, singles are headbangers.

D.I.D. - D.I.D.n`t hear their latest live limited, but excited they are coming back.

Lilith - Love this band.

WING WORKS - Interesting stuff, full of upbeat attitude. Shades of TMR.

 

 

 

 

 

I could keep going on, but you already got the point twenty artists ago, right? I`m having fun. Enjoy lots of stuff, can`t get enough, etc... etc... I can find lots of stuff from any year, though the past three have been some of my favorite.

[hiroki 5521]

Lilith - Love this band.

 

ooo, which Lilith? the chinese band or XI/Kei's band? (there are at least 2 other Liliths but they have disbanded so i assume you aren't talking about them)

 

these 2 years have seen a lot of my favorite bands disbanding (Xepher, LUCHe., EVE, Diz, etc.), as well as a couple of bands that have gone in a direction that isn't really my thing (Belmosaic -> Xaa-Xaa, METEOROID -> MeteoroiD, Ray℃ -> zigzag) fortunately the sheer number of bands in the scene means that songs are being released at a rate 10 times faster than Trombe can do news updates - so rather than moping over the loss of my favorites, i always try to find new bands to get into. one of the most mind-boggling claims that people love circulating, usually without the tiniest shred of supporting evidence, is that 'vk today all sounds the same', which is just plainly untrue. there's enough out there to please almost everyone, do some work and you'll be rewarded.

[anakuro 847]

Lol, I have to say from IN THE SUNLIGHT and on I've been super not into Shounenki 

I can't stand how cheesy it is now. What is it? ザ・リーク? That sounds like the opening to some 80s sitcom man...

I'd put them in the "what happened to them??" category except they're doing pretty well from what I can tell? So it seems to be just me. But I definitely jumped ship with them--sold everything except my CDs and one Eiki cheki. 

 

If I'm talking about the past three years then hell yeah it's been awesome in general. Fall 2014~2015 just hasn't been particularly impressive for me with anything new. But the live experience hasn't failed to disappoint me yet... 

Also, I've had a few bands go on hiatus/break up as well which is probably part of the reason why I'm a bit bored rn

 

edit: btw Hiroki did you try Doshaburi? I mean besides 君の心臓を食べてしまいたい it's way less heavy than コワイクライ is and some songs are a lot more Belmosaic-esque...

[hiroki 5521]

edit: btw Hiroki did you try Doshaburi? I mean besides 君の心臓を食べてしまいたい it's way less heavy than コワイクライ is and some songs are a lot more Belmosaic-esque...

 

ahh i'm waiting for my copy (little hearts is unbelievably slow..). yes i've heard the preview and it's certainly closer to Belmosaic than the last mini album! still not really a fan of the aesthetics i've gotta say ._. i'll wait till i hear the whole thing before i can say what i think XD

 

anyway here's the thing about Xaa-Xaa: i might not be able to get into the stuff they're doing right now but i'm elated to see the attention they're getting. one thing i can't really understand is how often you hear people say of a band they used to like 'oh shit the band just went in a direction i hate - i hope they disband soon' - as if the raison detre of a band is to create music for that one individual. if you like them, great; if not, move on to something else. there's too much music out there to be listened to and too little time to waste on useless complaining.

[Tetora 625]

ooo, which Lilith? the chinese band or XI/Kei's band? (there are at least 2 other Liliths but they have disbanded so i assume you aren't talking about them)

 

these 2 years have seen a lot of my favorite bands disbanding (Xepher, LUCHe., EVE, Diz, etc.), as well as a couple of bands that have gone in a direction that isn't really my thing (Belmosaic -> Xaa-Xaa, METEOROID -> MeteoroiD, Ray℃ -> zigzag) fortunately the sheer number of bands in the scene means that songs are being released at a rate 10 times faster than Trombe can do news updates - so rather than moping over the loss of my favorites, i always try to find new bands to get into. one of the most mind-boggling claims that people love circulating, usually without the tiniest shred of supporting evidence, is that 'vk today all sounds the same', which is just plainly untrue. there's enough out there to please almost everyone, do some work and you'll be rewarded.

I was referring to the Chinese one, which is my favorite. Also just realized that Lilith / Lillith seems to be an even more popular name for some areas of music than Adam or Eve... I guess it's more 'controversial' and unique if you ignore the other bands with that name, hehe. But IRL I don't know that many people who even really know who she is.

Anyway back on topic. I agree with what you said. So many different kinds of music. A lot of people select music based on their current mood, and the vast majority of the time I can pull up the right band or song for my mood without straying outside of Visual Kei. I enjoy other music but not as much. Current VK resonates very well with me, and I never tire of it. I guess that answers OP further.

Also Anokuro, seems like you stopped being into shounenki when I started getting into them, life is strange, haha.

[anakuro 847]

ahh i'm waiting for my copy (little hearts is unbelievably slow..). yes i've heard the preview and it's certainly closer to Belmosaic than the last mini album! still not really a fan of the aesthetics i've gotta say ._. i'll wait till i hear the whole thing before i can say what i think XD

 

anyway here's the thing about Xaa-Xaa: i might not be able to get into the stuff they're doing right now but i'm elated to see the attention they're getting. one thing i can't really understand is how often you hear people say of a band they used to like 'oh shit the band just went in a direction i hate - i hope they disband soon' - as if the raison detre of a band is to create music for that one individual. if you like them, great; if not, move on to something else. there's too much music out there to be listened to and too little time to waste on useless complaining.

I wasn't sure if you'd bother getting it this time since kowai kurai wasn't your thing and I wouldn't blame you for not pouring money into them (even though they're super cheap) when it's just not your thing... I keep hoping they'll grow on you but their image isn't going to change any time soon, I think so I don't have high hopes. So, I didn't ask about grabbing you the CD, sorry man. They're actually one of the most popular kansai bands in their size range (you know, the do-minor sphere)! Lately a lot of bands can't even sell out a VARON-sized live house and they managed it for their second oneman It's weird seeing how big they've gotten so quickly, but I'm really happy for them too of course lol

 

But that's exactly how I feel about Shounenki. It's really not my thing anymore but they are doing well and I wish them the best. There's just nothing left in them for me, personally. I wonder if you'd enjoy them more if you saw them live? It's not ~crazy~ live like we don't even have proper gyakudive (I guess I wouldn't really expect it from ex-Belmosaic gya anyway) so it doesn't quite reflect the dark image but it's really fun in my opinion. But then again I don't know what kind of a live experience you like, haha. And your boy Kazuki always ends up wandering around the crowd at some point.

 

Also Anokuro, seems like you stopped being into shounenki when I started getting into them, life is strange, haha.

lol yeah I fell out of them right when they started getting an influx of fans it seems and I'm happy they're doing well but it's just not for me anymore. I think it's only me that's really not into the style change they've had that I'd say started around GAZELLEBABEL...? It's is a shame because that's only when I was able to start going to see them lolol But they play with bands I like so I still see them occasionally.

[Lestat 2167]

What I think of Visual Kei in its current state? 

 

Fairly little, as most people are aware of how my cognizant thoughts form on these ongoing circumstances.

 

Of course I am acquainted with the realization of how music scenes go through transformations and adjustments, but this never necessarily means that someone has to approve of it. It is true, I am fond of a number of newer acts, but I have made peace with how none of those will ever grow on me, and how slim their periods of existence are, and how quickly I forget they were ever functioning groups after their disappearances. There are but few risen bands in the past five years that last longer than half a decade, and with this they simply do not give their audience the chance to grow attached to them. This scene is unstable and a borderline helter-skelter of irresoluteness and indecisiveness. Musicians come together just because they are available and currently not in any project, therefore most members have no relationship with each other, other than being co-workers. Oftentimes there is no chemistry that pulls these musicians together, they are opposite poles and there is no magnetism that would really form a bond of musicianship, thus resulting in quick moves of disbandments and break-ups (hence the reason 'musical differences', for most splits).

 

I am no longer awaiting a revolution in this scene. Bands become younger, and legends grow older which causes them to be overlooked, or no longer listened to. It is disheartening to not see big names like Kamijo, Kaya (thus Femme Fatale), Kisaki (thus 凛 -the end of corruption world-), D, 摩天楼オペラ, cali≠gari, DIR EN GREY, Moi Dix Mois, Creature Creature and DEAD END, D'ERLANGER, KA.F.KA, Sugizo and LUNA SEA, Yoshiki and X JAPAN, BUCK-TICK or even GACKT in this thread. People only mention new names and forget about the foundations of this scene, foundations who are still very much active and alive, deep-rooted and fundamental sources who have given birth to this baby in the first place. 

 

With this rise of this newly founded interest in metalcore that —in my very honest and personal opinion— has no place in Visual Kei, I can assume for myself that in a year or two, I am done with Visual Kei. My favourites who still remain active to this day will have vanished as they are simply pushed out of existence because their form and sound are no longer welcomed and essential, and I'll merely be left with memories.