Unusual VK bands/genres

[Guest]

First off, I did try to search but I did not find a thread like this. If there already is one, feel free to delete this one and bump the other one. Sorry if I messed up.

Second, the thread name. I have no idea if it makes sense. Someone with proper English, fele free to modify it to something understandable.

Now, to the point of this thread. So how many bands is there within the Visual Kei-stuff that does something different as far as genres goes, hence "unusual VK bands/genres". Like Hardcore, Thrash Metal, Jazz, Classical, Shoegaze, Folk Pop/Rock etc. So bands like Dir en grey, Gazette, Lynch., Deathgaze, Kagrra, Merry and bands like that does not count. It gotta be something different from what's usual for Visual Kei bands.

The ones that I can think of out of my head right now, and I'll start off with two that has never really been seen as a VK bands, but was just as visual as, let's say, X Japan.

Rosenfeld

Genre: Thrash Metal

Gargoyle

Genre: Progressive Thrash Metal

Anti Feminism

Genre: Hardcore Punk/Crossover Thrash

The Piass

Genre: Hardcore Punk, Hard Rock

That's the one I can think of now. Now you guys, bring it on!

[Zeus 7997]

Eh, the title's fine.

I can contribute one I guess (I was going to do AF, but you beat me to it):

陰陽座 - orthodox style heavy metal music mixed with Japanese folk themes and pop music elements. I also really like their outfits, even though I don't think too many people view them as "visual". It's probably because they don't look like sluts.

EDIT: @OldCheesey: The board's beings screwy right now. I'm completely aware of what's going on and the mods are working on it.

[Senedjem 510]

Medue'obscur where the only dark ambient / noise VK band I know of.

Vv_akNpYoGE

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I've seen the Piass be described as crust metal as well, along with a mixture of other genres. Then again, no band ever fits into a cookie-cutter genre frame, even if they label themselves as one.

Chaos System has a lot of weird genres to them. They only have around 10 songs (including weird demos that sound like 45 seconds of a whole song) but each one is pretty different from another. They are kind of a mixture of punk, hard-core, and I've seen them described as "psychedelic punk" as well. All of their songs definitely have a kote-kei influence thrown in as well.

Even if they weren't 100% ground-breaking, Pyuera did sound pretty different from everything else I've heard on Soleil. The melodies of their songs were pretty typical of stuff around 99~00, but they liked to be heavy on the electronic parts in their music (probably due to the lack of members).

On a similar note, Aliene Ma'riage has a lot of weird genre mashing going on as well, although this time it's more gothic and industrial influences (even a bit of groove-metal on their 2nd album) that make them have a "...not really sure what to call this..." sound to them. In comparison to bands of today they're definitely different, but even when they were around they sounded abnormal for 1999.

Because I had to. Whether you love them or hate them, they really stand out from what was going on at the time they were around (only speaking for the Gackt / Klaha eras though. I haven't listened to the Tetsu one, so I cannot speak for that time period). Although their music isn't from an unusual genre by today's standards, each of their releases was more or less a completely different genre from the single before it.

[Guest]

Zesshoku: I was thinking about posting Onmyo-za as well, but I didn't know if they would pass as a VK band. And yeah, they do have nice outfits and some good songs as well.

Senedjem: Are all of their releases Dark Ambient/Noise? Anyway, nice. Never heard of before!

Peace Heavy mk II: The Piass never had anything to do with Crust. The closest they came were more or less their regular Hardcore Punk releases.

[Guest]

Yet again, some bands I think was pretty visual and stuff but which was never a part of the VK scene.

Doom

Genre: Progressive Thrash Metal, Avant-Garde Rock

Rommel

Genre: Thrash/Speed Metal

Harkenkreuz

Genre: Thrash Metal

A lot of these 80's Thrash Metal bands from Japan that was kinda visual like X Japan used a lot of nazi-symbols, lyrics dealing with nazism and nazi-image for shock value. Rommel, Rosenfeld, Mein Kampf, Harkenkreuz and so on.

[CAT5 9075]

Good thread, OldCheesey. I know a lot of people become easily jaded by all the cookie-cutter bands in VK and tend to dismiss the scene entirely - So this could be a potentially helpful reference for those looking for something a little different from the norm.

As for Onmyouza - it's a bit of a gamble as to if they're even VK lol. I can't say that they aren't, but I know some people claim they're more closely related to angura-kei. Who knows lol.

As for me, I don't think I can contribute much. But does this band count?

紗羅??夊 -Syaranosui- (YAY OR NAY? I'm not sure ^^;

In addition to having a female vocalist, most of their tracks are electronically based, often trip-hoppish. There are even a few ambient moments. What do you all think? Do they belong here?

[Guest]

Thanks, Cat5! And from they way you describe them, yes! Sounds interesting as well. Will check 'em out!

And after looking through some japanese bands there seem to be A LOT of visual Thrash Metal bands from the 80's/90's. Thread Worm, Aion, VellaDonna and the 4-5 I've already mentioned.

And it can of course be debated weither they are Visual Kei or Glam or whatever, but I think they fit in with the early VK bands as far as image goes.

[Champ213 1858]

紗羅の夊 -Syaranosui- (YAY OR NAY? I'm not sure ^^;

In addition to having a female vocalist, most of their tracks are electronically based, often trip-hoppish. There are even a few ambient moments. What do you all think? Do they belong here?

Syaranosui were pretty great. Too bad they disappeared off the surface of the earth.

And well, they did have a profile at Visunavi, and I'm pretty sure Visunavi only adds bands at their request, so if they sumitted their info there they must at least partially have identified with vk.

[Biopanda 2675]

Be forewarned, I'm terrible when it comes to genres but I picked the closest that I could think of.

duraluMin

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Genre: Party Rock/Jazz/Funk

It seems that every VK band has that one "jazzy" song, but I've never seen a band so dedicated to the idea as duraluMin.

アエカリ(Aekari)

samples

Genre: I have no fucking clue.

At times it seems to be slow melody driven piano songs mixed with chiptunes. Other songs are more electronic with elements of uh... noise and bossa nova/lounge(???). I guess that's what happens when an artist joins the VK scene. I do think its pretty cool that he makes all of his cd cases by hand using fabric though :v

黒百??姉妹(Kuroyuri Shimai)

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Genre: Classical/gothic?

I dunno man, this shit it wack.

Bonus luls: while looking for videos on youtube, I stumbled upon this and literally shat myself. Especially when I found out the vocalist was female.

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[Asakusa 95]

Medue'obscur where the only dark ambient / noise VK band I know of.

Vv_akNpYoGE

never heard of them before... i love it!

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Would SEX MACHINEGUNS count? I personally don't consider them Visual Kei, more like just obnoxious hair metal buuuuuut they're in VK magazines and promoted and liked by (Western) VK fans soooooooooooooooooooo.....yeah. AION and Seikima II are two others that also comes to mind.

[Biopanda 2675]

Would SEX MACHINEGUNS count? I personally don't consider them Visual Kei, more like just obnoxious hair metal buuuuuut they're in VK magazines and promoted and liked by (Western) VK fans soooooooooooooooooooo.....yeah. AION and Seikima II are two others that also comes to mind.

I think SEX MACHINEGUNS would count. I know Seikima II wouldn't though. They even stated in a press interview(at A-KON in Dallas, it was shown on their latest DVD) that they were not a VK band.

[LIDL 692]

DESPAIR

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Dunno if they recognize themselves as VK,

but they were one decent industrial group.

And since people have noticed BAAL, BLOOD, GPKism,

and SiSeN as VK cos of their visual appereance.

Then i think i try to mention DESPAIR here.

but this band died with Anna.

Only Rieu just won't admit it.

[Guest]

Be forewarned, I'm terrible when it comes to genres but I picked the closest that I could think of.

duraluMin

KmrymQmZmxk

Genre: Party Rock/Jazz/Funk

It seems that every VK band has that one "jazzy" song, but I've never seen a band so dedicated to the idea as duraluMin.

Shame they're not more popular.

Stella Maria

Genre: pop visual kei.

Can't find any youtube videos of them (kisaki has been trolling again), but they had a ton of electronic pop songs. コスモスis almost reggae/2tone.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

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I think Da'vidノ使徒:aL is kinda unique.

That's the only one I can think of from the top of my head atleast. OTO-ONI perhaps as well?

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Would SEX MACHINEGUNS count? I personally don't consider them Visual Kei, more like just obnoxious hair metal buuuuuut they're in VK magazines and promoted and liked by (Western) VK fans soooooooooooooooooooo.....yeah. AION and Seikima II are two others that also comes to mind.

I think SEX MACHINEGUNS would count. I know Seikima II wouldn't though. They even stated in a press interview(at A-KON in Dallas, it was shown on their latest DVD) that they were not a VK band.

I personally don't consider Seikima II or AION visual kei either, I don't think I've ever seen the two bands in a Visual magazine.

Also Munimuni and emmuree play some weird as hell gawffy sounding music, not the usual gawffy nonsense you hear from most Visual bands. There's also that band SaTaN but I think they're awful but people seem to like them.

[Guest]

Many of the bands I've mentioned doesn't consider them self a visual kei band either, nor have they been a part of the scene. But when I look at pictures of Aion, Rosenfeld, Gargoyle and other they kinda give me a strong vk-feeling. So I guess they're not really VK-bands, but if I had seen pictures of them without knowing anything about the bands I would think they were a part of the vk-scene.

But after a search I see that a lot of people consider these bands to be old school visual kei.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Apparently my post didn't show up :S

Anyway, I consider Da'vidノ使徒:aL and OTO-ONI to be kind of unique.

EDIT: What about ??ゅ～??る???～??ゅ?

[Guest]

I probably didn't make it clear in the first post, so I'll try to make it a little more clear now. This wasn't made for unique vk bands. But for vk bands that play a genre that is unusual. You'll find a crapload of Nu-metal, Alternative Metal/Rock, Pop-Rock, Rock bands and so on. Doesn't matter if they sound unique, if they are a unique Rock band ala Kagrra they don't go in this thread, because Rock is a rather normal genre for vk bands. But I rarely see Hardcore, Punk, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Grindcore, Classical, Trip-Hop, Doom Metal, Folk Rock, Singer/songwriter, Drone, Screamo, Crust, Country, Blues, Jazz, Grunge, Shoegaze, Avant-Garde, Indiecore and so on.

It's not about bands that sound unique, it's about bands that play a genre that is NOT usual or considered normal for vk bands to play. I hope that made it a little clearer!

And I've got no one in my mind when I'm writing this, I just felt that it was a little unclear in the first post. That's all.

[Guest]

This wasn't made for unique vk bands. But for vk bands that play a genre that is unusual.

Gargoyle. Genre: Gargoyle

oh.

[Guest]

Lulz! FIx'd!

[CAT5 9075]

But after a search I see that a lot of people consider these bands to be old school visual kei.

I'm certainly no expert on VK, but I'm inclined to agree. I mean... doesn't VK have a few roots in the whole glam thing?

[Shizumi 1]

How about Aikaryu or

? I guess AUSHVITZ (nowadays known as SPINALCORD) could be mentioned as well, even though they're not really VK in my opinion.

Oh yeah, then there's forbidden days rhapsody, the solo project of ex-RES drummer Mika.

[Number Girl 48]

If you think about it - visual kei bands being glam punk, speed metal, and thrash was really the "norm" up until the late 90's.

I personally don't consider Seikima II or AION visual kei either, I don't think I've ever seen the two bands in a Visual magazine.

Aion and Rosenfeld maybe. Gargoyle, definitely (although their current projects are definitely NOT). Seikima II - a big no. I see them represented as just another eccentric heavy metal band like KISS, et al. Same with bands like Galneryus, Loudness, and Animetal in case anyone was going to mention them. X Japan technically could have been in that category up until these past two decades.