Favourite Visual Kei Band, (Besides X, of course! XDDD)

[REM ~Piscean Dreams~]

Thought I could use this as a tool to get to know all my fellow X Freaks, out there. Enjoy!


X!!!!!From Canada,
REM! (^  ^)b

[nb]

D'espairsRay

[pt_93]

Luna Sea

[Kasumi]

I love the over the top outfits Versailles wear. Aaaaand I am really glad you included Malice Mizer! Gonna vote for them today, even though they're all great.

[Yohalo]

Also D'espairsRay and Mucc

[matsumoto]

It's quite difficult to pick just one! 

X is by far my favourite band, and on my top 3 favourite bands ever, regardless of genre. To me X is the only Japanese rock band that transcends the "J-rock"  label thing. I really, really like many of the others but in order to enjoy them I kind of need to get into the "J-rock mindset", if that makes sense. Not that they're any less than Western bands, it's just that I can't throw them in the same bag as, say, Black Sabbath or Aerosmith. I need context (and a little help with the themes and lyrics) to fully enjoy them. This doesn't happen with X: I never needed to translate their lyrics or to really look into what certain references mean to folks in the Far East in order to feel a total connection. I guess the glue that ties their stuff together is of the pretty universal kind.

I don't know much about Dir en Grey, but the more I listen to them, the more conviced I am that they're similar to X in that sense. Which could also explain why they're so palatable for Western audiences, unlike good old Luna Sea or Buck-Tick, who remain pretty niche.

TL;DR: Anyone can cry to X, if you want to cry to Luna Sea, you need to know what the heck is happening in their songs.

[Matthias]

Of the bands shown in the poll I'd chose Luna Sea.

[nb]

I love the over the top outfits Versailles wear. Aaaaand I am really glad you included Malice Mizer! Gonna vote for them today, even though they're all great.

the show is awesome!



What's about Fanatic Crisis, Shazna and La'cryma Christi
?



Are these pictures v-kei too? This band is not listed and is looking very different today - just like X Japan ^^

[REM ~Piscean Dreams~]

I love the over the top outfits Versailles wear. Aaaaand I am really glad you included Malice Mizer! Gonna vote for them today, even though they're all great.

Thank you for your Contribution! (^  ^)b It'd be a bloody crime on my part to not Include Malice Mizer, being arguably Japan's biggest VK band during the 90's! Not to mention, they were the first Visual Kei Band I discovered! They're very high, on my list! (^  ^d

[REM ~Piscean Dreams~]

I love the over the top outfits Versailles wear. Aaaaand I am really glad you included Malice Mizer! Gonna vote for them today, even though they're all great.

the show is awesome!

DARN! I was actually contemplating including L'Arc~en~Ciel, But I was unsure of whether or whether not they would count as a Visual Kei band!
XO

What's about Fanatic Crisis, Shazna and La'cryma Christi
?



Are these pictures v-kei too? This band is not listed and is looking very different today - just like X Japan ^^

[Kasumi]

@nb: well yes they looked very v-kei back in the days. Even though just for a short period of time, but when someone talks about v-kei now Laruku really isn't the first thing that comes to my mind. If they would still classify as visual kei they would easily be my favourite in that genre.

[KurenaiRoseOfPain]

Dir en grey, because they were my first and my favorite, but I like them all and don't really have one favorite band^^
More like 5:  X, Diru, Despa, Lareine, Schwarz Stein

[WeekEnder]

If you talk about V-kei rock band except X, then for me its Luna sea. Dir en grey is a bit too heavy for me, I liked their older stuff tbh.
But I also like a very obscure Vkei Dance-electronic pop group named MORE DEEP(1989-1992). They did some interesting stuff and were predominantly underground EDM style, even though they had potential the whole act was a massive commercial failure. Their pics and music videos are rare to find and most of the links about articles related to them are broken or dont have any archived pages.

[Joker]

I don't like the "visual kei" label as it doesn't  define the musical style of the band, which is what really matters.

Anyway, talking about japanese rock bands in general, I like Luna Sea a lot. Another band that I like (albeit not listening to nothing they released in the last ten years) is Plastic Tree. I like their style. Simple and sound nice.

The first Dir en grey albums were good. Then they suddenly became a noisy-screaming-skincutting pile of shit that doesn't remotely sound like what they were.

[nb]

The first Dir en grey albums were good. Then they suddenly became a noisy-screaming-skincutting pile of shit that doesn't remotely sound like what they were.

lol'd
It's really accurate 

[KurenaiRoseOfPain]

Luna Sea and Plastic Tree are great!
even though for a long time I only liked one song by Luna Sea (tonight) and I enjoy them more live.

The first Dir en grey albums were good. Then they suddenly became a noisy-screaming-skincutting pile of shit that doesn't remotely sound like what they were.

lol'd
It's really accurate 

yep that's why I stopped listening to them but the last two albums are better and I enjoyed their concert last year. Still, I like their earlier stuff the most.