For Runicen and Saxon: The Heart of Visual Kei thread

I've been meaning to do this thread for a while mostly for Uncle Saxon and Runicen. Here, I wanted to talk about the history of Visual Kei, a scene in Japan influenced by the aesthetics of glam, punk and goth. Since the term mostly applies to the appearances of the artists, it doesn't define the sound as a whole, except for the fact that, being a tight knit scene, there were some genres like Nagoya Kei that were born from and associated almost exclusively with the scene itself. So in other words, there are trends and styles closely affiliated with the VK movement but most of these bands do not conform to one sound. That is my take on the matter. I'm posting this in the HR/HM forum because the movement is closely related to those genres.

Anyways, here I am going to cover some of the most influential bands. I'm giving a summary, as well as recommended songs and albums to sample. I can't pull up examples of YouTube because my computer would practically die if I had to load all of them on one page. Still, this is not a complete list and is missing a few notable groups but I'll try to cover them in the next phase. The ones in the following list are bands that went on to become major artists in that scene. The more interesting and well-known underground/indie bands will be part of the next series of posts (within this thread, of course) once I get the time to write up a piece on it.

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Buck Tick
Summary: Another one of the heavyweight VK bands. They were very influenced by british new wave/goth rock like The Cure, Bauhaus, The Smiths, The Psychedelic Furs, and of course David Bowie. The influences are obvious, but unlike most bands in the scene who switched to commercial pop-rock, Buck Tick, starting as a very poppy new wave group, evolved more and more into a darker, alternative band.
Reccomended Albums: It's hard to say...try the BT Catalogue compilations.
Reccomended Songs: Just One More Kiss, Dress, Candy, Aku no Hana,

D'erlanger
Summary: One of the early pioneers of the goth/metal/punk hybrid of late 80s/early 90s VK music. Started off as a largely underground band but influenced many in the scene including the notorious Dir en grey, among others. They also have some fairly poppy tunes but mostly cater to the thrashy, punk side of early VK.
Reccomended Album: La Vie en Rose, or Pandora (a best-of)
Reccomended Songs: La Vie en Rose, I Can't Live Without You, Sadistic Emotion, Moon and the Memories

Die in Cries
Summary: A band with the singer of D'erlanger and the drummer who would later join L'arc-en-Ciel (yukihiro). Combines dark post punk vibes with poppy choruses, and some downbeat electronica.
Reccomended Album: Thanx -The Best of Die in Cries-
Reccomended Songs: Love Song, Nocturne, Melodies

Eins:Vier
Summary: A seemingly mundane visual rock group that most people would often shun for being too straight forward and conventional. However, something doesn't have to be terribly original to be good. In reality, they were innovative in a very nuanced way while being accessible at the same time. There are influences from brit rock like The Smiths and U2 with the ethereal and post-punk refrains of japanese groups like Luna Sea.
Reccomended Album: Walk, Untitled
Reccomended Songs: I Feel That She Will Come, The Prayer, Not Saved Yet, In a Dream

Fanatic Crisis
Summary: Another band that is pop-centric but still all over the place. Their first three indie albums are by far the heaviest and honestly among my favorite. Many people may perhaps be disappointed by the direction they took in the mainstream, as many bands do, by choosing to be more light and commercial. However, even despite this, there are definately certain songs from those records that are still worth hearing, such as Blue Rose or Rainy Merry Go Round.
Reccomended Album: for the early stuff, try Mask (1996) or Marble (1997), but for the more mainstream material, try One for All (1998) or The.Lost.Innocent (1999).
Reccomended Songs: Truth, Love Me, Sleeper, Hinotori, Rainy merry-go-round, Blue Rose, Karasu

Janne da Arc
Summary: Japanese pop-rock with influences from prog-rock, heavy metal, and game/anime music (they did soundtracks to a few of them). Delightfully upbeat and edgy at the same time, just like their mentors, Siam Shade, who I also reccomend. They can be soft as well as heavy, with songs ranging from peppy j-pop to crunchy metal songs.
Reccomended Album: probably Chaos Mode or D.N.A for starters.
Reccomended Songs: for the heavier stuff, try Junky Walker, Easy Funky Crazy, Mr. Trouble Maker, and Kyuseishu Messiah. To see their lighter stuff at its best, try Heaven's Place, Kaze ni Notte, and Sakura.

Kuroyume
Summary: One of the most influential underground bands that was really all over the place. First they started with what would be the very trend setting goth/metal/post-punk hybrid of Visual rock, but then moved to a post-punk/pop-rock crossover, then to experimental rock, and lastly, hard rock/punk. They have since reunited but the current sound is much more commercialized.
Reccomended Album: For the Early stuff, try Nakigara Wo, and for everything else, start with Complete Singles A-Sides/B-Sides
Reccomended Songs: Like @ Angel, Shounen, Maria, For Dear, Miss Moonlight...basically everything on the compilation I mentioned.

La'cryma Christi
Summary: A pop-rock VK with influences from smooth jazz, exotica, and the dreamy ethereal guitar riffs who hear in bands like Luna Sea.
Reccomended Album: Sculptures of Time or Magic Theatre
Reccomended Songs: Lhasa, Siam's Eye, Forest, Letters, White Period, mostly their early stuff spanning from Dwellers of a Sandcastle up to Magic Theatre.

Sophia
Summary: A very poppy j-rock band that was made for the mainstream even when their first demo EP was released. That being said, most of their stuff is more mainstream but there are some pretty diverse and commendable tracks.
Reccomended Album: Since I still have yet to hear the good majority of their catalog, I can only reccomend two: The Long Hand and the Short Hand, both being compilations. One is all the singles they released and the other is B-sides and album tracks selected by the bands. That one is largely preferable to the monotony of the singles collection and shows what they can actually do musically.
Reccomended Songs: Kissing Blue Memories, Eternal Flame, Believe, Kuroi Boots ~my friend~

X-Japan
Summary: One of the quintessential bands of Visual J-Rock. Even if they aren't eclectic enough for you, knowing who they are and their signature songs is important to any VK or even J-Rock/Metal enthusiast.
Reccomended Album: either Blue Blood or the first Singles compilation from 1993
Reccomended Songs: Kurenai, X, Weekend, Endless Rain, Say Anything, Silent Jealousy

As for notable bands to be featured in the next series of posts:
-Dead End
-Dir en grey
-Glay
-Justy Nasty
-Luna Sea
-Penicillin
-Pierrot
-Seikima II
-Shazna
-Siam Shade
-Strawberry Fields
-Valentine DC

Buck Tick and X-Japan are the only bands in this list I know of and, even then, it's only by reputation because I had some friends who were deeply entrenched in all cultural aspects of the region.

I notice you tagged X-Japan "visual j-rock." How important is the visual element in what they do? Or is that more of a genre tag that shouldn't be read literally?

Runicen wrote:

Buck Tick and X-Japan are the only bands in this list I know of and, even then, it's only by reputation because I had some friends who were deeply entrenched in all cultural aspects of the region.

I notice you tagged X-Japan "visual j-rock."  How important is the visual element in what they do?  Or is that more of a genre tag that shouldn't be read literally?

The latter.

Some people argue that Seikima II were actually the first visual group, but they were just the first to go mainstream. X was playing as an independant, underground band long before Seikima hit it big. Buck Tick was still underground around the same time. But X coined the term, Visual Kei. That propelled it into mainstream consciousness. And although X influenced a lot of bands in the movement, they didn't exactly follow them in terms of sound. After all, who could? That's a lot to live up to. X was more influenced by traditional metal. Stuff like D'erlanger's La Vie en Rose and Kuroyume's Nakigara Wo were more definitive of the trends that were set and followed. Dead End was a big influence too, but like X most bands in the 90s didn't really sound like them. Speaking of which, L'Arc-en-Ciel (another major band that I am startled that I forgot) sounded like Dead End's Zero-era material when they were still indie (check out L'Arc's first album Dune, then listen to songs like "I'm in a Coma" and "I Want Your Love" by Dead End to see the influence.) Buck Tick was all over the place and most bands didn't sound like them either, but they too were pretty influential regardless. Dead End, Kuroyume and Buck Tick were notable enough to have tribute albums released in the last few years.

The only Visual Kei band I've ever really listened to is Mejibray. They make me smile because they are beyond bizarre.

Excellent thread! Let me throw out a few more names and tell me what ya think, Muck: URGH Police, Shady Dolls, Marchosias Vamp, George, Genda Benda, and, of course, G.D. Flickers.

Although Seikimatsu is one of my all-time fav bands of any genre, X will always be the ultimate VK band, imo.

Also - is AION VK? I think Izumi is the greatest Japanese guitarist ever - VK or not.

Yes, AION is considered VK. They're on the Grass Thread database (which is the definitive source for VK on the net, in Japanese of course. See here: www22.big.or.jp/~yunisan/ )

I'll also suggest The Dead Pop Stars though they weren't as big as some of the other ones I mentioned, still interesting.

I keep forgetting to mention some of the more important bands, but if you want to hear some good japanese 80s post-punk/goth-rock then try Auto-Mod and Der Zibet. They were also influential and have done collaborations with other popular visual groups. Auto-Mod had a tribute album which had Buck Tick and Kuroyume on it.

Again, I'll try and write up a more extensive summary and recommendations for these bands when I can get around to it in my future posts.

Ok, if someone wanted to break into Visual Kei, where would you start them if you had to choose one album by one band?

The only caveat I'll add is that, while I love female Japanese singers, I've always found the singing voice favored by male Japanese singers difficult to take - that nasal kind of whining quality is hard to listen to for too terribly long. Who is the most minor offender in that area?

I don't know who you'd cite as an example of that kind of voice you're referring to, but my first album of choice is Blue Blood by X Japan, as it's the most balanced of their work. Unless you're referring to Toshi, their singer. I don't know if you implied that you have already sampled BT or X when you mentioned them in an earlier post. However, I'd say Atsushi Sakurai from Buck Tick has a much more natural style of singing. I'm not sure if you'd consider this nasally and whiney:


Despite VK bands being androgynous, the only female fronted band that I know of who is worth mentioning (outside of Exist Trace) in VK is Fiction. The singer, Lucifer Luscious Violenue, collaborated with some of the artists I've mentioned. She is a good example of a female visual kei artist, and does good old fashioned goth rock music In Japanese. Here's a sample of her song "The Doll by the Name of Lucifer":

And just for the record, I mentioned in the compilation swap thread about how I created a visual kei compilation for many of these bands that has at least 3-4 songs from each. It spans about 65 tracks total, but it went ignored, as only Saxon and Runicen seem to be interested in this. Ask me to send it to you guys if you're interested.