For Hardcore Jap Metal Fans

Being a lifelong Japanese metal fan, I have collected, literally, 100's of albums from bands from the land of the rising sun. All of these bands were pretty successful in Japan, but not many people Stateside have heard of them. Which have you heard/own and which is your favorite? You can vote for more than one. Hope this thread goes somewhere!

There are a few on there that I have heard of, but never actually heard.

Never heard of any of them but I would vote "Cocobat" just because of the name.

EDIT: OK, I did "due diligence" and gave Cocobat a try on Youtube. Not the worst thing I've ever heard but not my thing either; too thrashy for me. But I still dig the name.

You would not like Cocobat, Toho. Me? I think they are outstanding! Almost got a tat of one of their album covers at one time.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

You would not like Cocobat, Toho.  Me?  I think they are outstanding!  Almost got a tat of one of their album covers at one time.

HAHAHA!

You beat me to it!

I edited my post and you are right.

But at least I did a little "research".

Hell with it. Gonna take you young whipper-snappers to skool. Here is some introductory material for you all to feast upon:

WarPigs



Casbah



Tokyo Yankees



Dead End



Seikima-II



Fast Draw



Saber Tiger



.44 Magnum



Cocobat



Lawshed




ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

44 Magnum

Dead End and Sabre Tiger are the only ones I've heard.

I like John have a soft spot (or hard, well you get it, depending on which way you dress) for Japanese Metal and have heard of and own most of those bands in the poll, Saber Tiger being quite excellent and everyone's "favorite metal cowboy" Ron Keel even saddled up and collaborated with them at one point.

My all time favorite however isn't on the list and they may not be as "metal" as required to meet John's polling standards. Drum roll please...... B'z.

Check them out here, simply amazing duo proficient in any many instruments and the use of English and Japanese in the songs is awesome:





Earthshaker was another tasty Jap metal act:



A few others just for fun:

Show Ya- for fans of Jap and FFM...



Anthem-definately NWOBH:



Bow Wow:

Here is one of my favourite Japanese metal albums:

Terry - Being Seikima-II is top 3 for me, I Love B'z [and all things Tak!!!]!!!!

Gilbert - If you dig Sex Machineguns, you should check out Aion. Izumi may come in second only to Akira in talent.



some early Aion

I like those B'z tracks.  I'm just not sure I'd ever listen to an album in a foreign language.  I tried that with Rammstein and even though I like the music I never spin those albums. Which is weird because I'm not really a "lyrics person" and let's face it, half the time you can't understand the words when sung in English anyway.

I like a few Japanese bands but haven't really explored beyond the surface, I've got records by

Loudness, Earthshaker, Versailles, Jupiter, Hizaki, Syu, Church of Misery, Boris, Unlucky Morpheus, Akira Takasaki and Aldious

All of which I like and I honestly think that advanced level guitar is taught in kindergarden in Japan.

Saber Tiger and .44 Magnum are the only ones I haven't heard from that lot (that I can remember off the top of my head). I think I've owned albums by the rest...

I've heard of the majority of that list.Cocobat would be my favorite but Saber Tiger, 44 Magnum,and Lawshed are really good as well.

Love this thread btw...

Forgot a few and duh.

X-Japan:


Dir En Grey (certainly a bit more "modern" but have released a slew of excellent albums):


Concerto Moon (DUH!):


Galneryus (for those of the techy Dragonforce fueled metal):


I am certain more will pop into my head.

Oh and here is that Saber Tiger with Ron Keel on vox (not as good vocally as the other stuff, but???):