Japanese Rock & Metal

Cormac... wrote: »

Soooo, not just down to tiny hands and small servings of saki you say?

I wish i could afford to go -_-

No, not at all. Also, if you think the Japanese don't binge drink, you've never seen the salarymen staggering home, or being bunged into a taxi or being helped onto the train by mates. The corporate work culture is nuts over there, so when these guys go out, they go ****ing insane. Kinda strange if you don't expect to see these businessmen in nice tidy suits getting absolutely ****faced, but yeah... no bingedrinking culture my ass! :pac:

By the way Cormac, as an aside from the other thread, if you enjoy bands who mix some electronic elements into their music, then seriously check these out:



I saw Girugamesh live back in June and they were absolutely incredible, amazing live:

Boris obviously

Reiketsu wrote: »

I think Dir en grey are the best band in the world and everyone who thinks otherwise is wrong :pac:. All jokes aside though, Japan produces some amazing stuff. I'm off to see Sukekiyo next month and I have no doubt it'll be great . I also really like Nocturnal Bloodlust, Boris, D'espairsRay. I like MUCC's older stuff too.

Still gotta check out Sukekiyo myself, but enjoy yourself!

Gotta share the Nocturnal Bloodlust love!



But yeah, some of the best metal bands by far are coming from Japan these days! Love me some X-Japan, Versailles, Deluhi, Sadie, Nightmare, Lynch., exist†trace, Blood Stain Child, Gyze, Sigh, Jupiter, and so much more!

See, I think this thread has more than enough going for it and more than enough interest for it to be taken over by a single poster with a questionable obsession. The amount of different things being posted shows what an incredible music scene Japan has, there's stuff that's being posted I've never listened to that I'm going to take the time to later. This is a pretty god damn awesome thread, and put a huge smile on my face

Another band I love is Sadie, and I think this song gives a good idea as to why they're awesome, it's just so dark and atmospheric



And I haven't even gotten to Versailles or Deluhi yet

DazMarz wrote: »

Having seen some of the more modern Japanese metal bands and all the glam stuff they go in for, I can't help but think that EZO were the grand-daddies of them all, in some shape or form.

You know, you do hit onto something, the glam aesthetics were a big part of the formative Japanese metal scene in the early 80's and they took in a lot of influence from different styles like early thrash and glam, mixed it all together and came up with their own thing, Visual Kei. But the real grand-daddies of them all are none other than X-Japan.



Probably the most influencial band in the Japanese metal scene, and the term "Visual Kei" even originated from them. In terms of the particular look, X-Japan guitarist Hide (RIP) was and still is an icon.



Musically, the term Visual Kei is incredibly broad, bands under the VK banner can be incredibly diverse, and there's a lot of genre-hopping to begin with. Along come Malice Mizer and add distinctively goth rock styles into the mix, accompanying aesthetic and all:



But then evolving to encorporate more and more elaborate costumes, their stage shows were incredible.





And, if you've ever wondered where the whole Gothic Lolita fashion style in Japan came from? It was Malize Mizer guitarist Mana:





Then you can kinda see where that brings us to more modern bands, such as Versailles, the hair, the makeup, the faux-Rococo inspired costumes.



So there you go

DazMarz wrote: »

Didn't realise that X Japan came out before Loudness and EZO. That's me told...

Oh they didn't, while X Japan were formed around the same time, early 80's, the likes of EZO, Loudness and Anthem were releasing albums before X Japan. But in terms of how they influenced the Japanese rock and metal scene, X Japan absolutely eclipses the others. They practically started the whole Visual Kei scene, you can still hear their musical influence, not just the aesthetic style.

Galneryus are just so cheesy good!

Syu is a ****ing monster guitarist! :eek: