Phantasmagoria

[Itami no bara]

Thought I'd share one of my favorite Visual Kei bands with everyone.
I have mentioned them a few times before, but the thread about Versailles
had me going back and listening once again.

The band is:

Riku - vocals
Kisaki (yes THAT Kisaki) - bass
Jun - guitar
Iori - guitar
Matoi - drums

I heard about them shortly after they played their first (and only :cry: )
live show in the US. From vocals to bass, to guitars, to drums
Phantasmagoria has a good amount of skill all around.
They officially ended activity a few months ago, however.
But their music is well worth a listen.

IMO one of their best songs is

[Cepheus]

I actually stumbled upon a few tracks from this band a few weeks back and was quite pleasently suprised. My favourites I've heard so far are probably Lost in Thought and Rain on Light

[Matthias]

So I just got to know more about Phantasmagoria (I knew their name but no songs) and I like what I heard, of course haven't heard that many, but the few songs I listened to are fine, like their performance at the hide memorial summit:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS4Hguboqcc&feature=related[/youtube]

and one of their guitarist (Jun) seems to be influencled slightly by another well known japanese guitarist  :wink:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIwmOw4HP8&feature=related[/youtube]

[MillieQOF]

Matthias: Holy hell, that's almost like a ripoff xDDD

[Matthias]

No no, there are only some small similarities between the both  :wink:  Well he seems to be a fan of hide and I really dig that song.

[Sander]

The first video has been taken down

Didn't X have a guitarist named Jun? This guy looks too young tho...

[Matthias]

Edited my post, the first video is now watchable, too *g*

Yes, X also had an guitarist named Jun at the beginning (1986?), but it's not the same guy, cause that would mean he was only 3 years old when playing with X (perhaps that's the reason why he was replaced  :wink: )

[Artseeker]

Phantasmagoria rule...that's all

[Edside]

Interesting band  :twisted:

[Matthias]

The more songs I hear, the more I'm pissed of that they split *g*

[Artseeker]

Actually they reunited because Kisaki decided to come back to the stage(he ALWAYS changes his mind)
The performance at the hide summit was their first one as a reunited band,but there will be a second one on the 30th of August in Tokyo :wink:

Also,it appears that they're gonna release a new single included in an album containing remastered stuff or somehing like that.

[Matthias]

Thanks for the info, but it seems to be only a "some-gigs and a best-of-album" kind of reunion, there are no informations yet if there are any plans beyond that?

[Artseeker]

Thanks for the info, but it seems to be only a "some-gigs and a best-of-album" kind of reunion, there are no informations yet if there are any plans beyond that?

Yeah,I checked more into it and you're right :wink:
I really hope this is not the end for Kisaki and he'll manage to find another way to compose new songs,that guy is one of my favorite composers in Japan...

[Matthias]

Wasn't Kisaki the one who had trouble with the japanse IRS, or did I get that wrong?

[Artseeker]

Wasn't Kisaki the one who had trouble with the japanse IRS, or did I get that wrong?

Yeah,that's right.That is probably why he had to keep a low profile for a while.
Btw,I suggest trying also "Kisaki Project featuring Jui"(singer from Vidoll),his solo project which ended some months ago with the release of an awesome farewell mini-album.It's a completely different sound if compared to that of Phantasmagoria,but a very interesting one in my opinion

Here's a PV from Kisaki Project

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOYivJAUQao&feature=related[/youtube]

[Matthias]

So two new PVs from Jun

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cUMXchB1sM&feature=related[/youtube]

name is 'Kujira'

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyqf1b9zpxY&feature=related[/youtube]

Brave

[Wick]

I'm really into this band lately . I had to get used to their melodic sound but now I'm hooked hehe.

Their music is quite interesting and I like how some songs are put together. They also just look funny and in particular the drummer Matoi who's too manly to be taken serious in his visual kei outfit.
The lead guitarist Jun and rythem Iori play good live. Iori and Jun have a different sound (what I think is important having a lead and rythem guitarist) and their timing is good. Jun also makes good use of a delay pedal which I really like. It's only a shame that the vocalist Riku sounds off key sometimes.
The reason why I like them now is because I recently downloaded a couple of DVD's where they play very good.
I can recommend those if you're interested in Phantasmagoria. One is the first disc of "forbidden -INSANITY of the UNDERWORLD- [2008.11.20]" and the other is the second disc of eclipse of myth that I requested on Jpopsuki "2007.10.31 - Tokyo Requiem".
So that's the band at its best I think, but they do sometimes make mistakes and mess up. To get a more complete picture of the band you can watch Nil Frontier from the Reincarnation DVD. It's really bad lol. When Jun plays the solo he makes a mistake in the beginning and probably gets confused. The last part of the solo he plays totally different then normal which sounds odd and then he tries to look like everything is normal . I don't need to judge the vocals..

Jun is heavely influenced by hide which I think isn't a bad thing. He started a solo project called "attic" were Matthias posted some vids of and joined Toshi with T-earth after that. Now he has a band calles "spiv states" in which Iori also took part in but Iori left the band because of back problems. It's a pitty Iori left because they played well together. There is an acoustic performance by them of the song Ore No Shio that you guys should check out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PgHrXoyCC0[/youtube]

Iori released one single called Surely were he also did the vocals.

[LoveMeLemoned]

I think that's what I love about Matoi xD He's my favorite and he's so funny in his vk outfit. And shorter than everybody else. Haha, I loved this band so much.