[Band Battle] La:Sadie's and Dir en Grey vs. La'Mule

[Himeaimichu 1535]

*Note: Anything Dir en Grey after Kisou will not be used, just to keep things fair. 

 

So here, we're gonna have two of the most influential Vkei bands from the 90's duke it out. Dir en Grey (fka La:Sadie's) and La'Mule. 

Both are influential in similar ways. Kon from La'Mule popularised the black tear eye makeup. Though originally from Kiyoharu of Kuroyume, Kon did multiple tear strokes. Kyo would also later use the style. Dir en Grey would later go on to be major, while La'Mule stayed with Soleil until they failed, and for a short while, signed to Matina. However, they both share quite a similar influence. Whereas Dir en Grey would often be the first influence cited, many can see La'Mule influences throughout modern Vkei in bands like Kiryu, AvelCain, and Grieva (The Tokage PV mostly derrives from La'Mule's "Inspire" and Kuroyume's "Autism", even though the song uses the chorus from Cage from Dir en Grey) 

Both have similar influences, from D'erlanger, Kuroyume, Zi:Kill, Luna Sea, and X Japan. Though, La:Sadie's and Diru were more Metal based, whereas Gothic Rock and Alternative Rock were La'Mule's main sound. Though, La'Mule did often play many gothic influenced Metal pieces, such as Mirror Mirror, and Dir en Grey is famous for their alternative rock songs, like Yurameki. Diru never had much gothic pieces, but some songs, like 304 Goushitsu, Hakushi no Sakura, definitely show a gothic rock influence. 

And finally, both progressed toward newer sounds, while keeping a 90's feel. Gauze for Dir en Grey was an important album. Other than being the first, it showed the full potential of the famous 90's Vkei sounds. Songs like 304 Goushitsu, Hakushi no Sakura, Tsumi to Batsu, Yurameki, and Zan take the sound we associate with most 90's visualkei, and gives it more complex compositions. Kind of a "progressive-KoteKei", if you could say. La'Mule also did this, starting after their first album, Inspire. Curse is when they started to show the progressing sound. The songs that came from Curse, and the following releases, sounded like they would have came from a major label band, not an indie band. Like Gauze, the songs were complex compared to most 90's Vkei, but still retained the sound. 

After Gauze though, Diru progressed the sound further, with Macabre, which included elements from Industrial music, and Kisou, which had sort of a 2000's feel, but had a lot of 90's composition and a slight 90's feel. Elements from 90's Vkei would continue up into their Nu Metal era, including chorused guitars and changing of keys in the chorus. 

 

Now for the actual duking it out, I'll leave that for you guys to do. I want to see your thoughts