Zeus

I wish I could find this picture right now, but when Chanty popped up on the scene they did it with blackface. That's what turned me off the band entirely. But did they mean anything with it? Probably not, because they live in a pretty homogeneous country and they don't have the cultural conditioning to understand why it is wrong. I would say they lack that conditioning so much, it wraps around the continuum and becomes something so foreign to them that it's not even shocking. Does that make any sense?
 
 

I agree with some of the points you made, but not with the conclusion. People do edgy shit all the time for attention. That doesn't mean they actually believe what they're doing. Visual kei bands appropriated nazi imagery years ago, but that doesn't mean they are automatically all neo nazis. Most bands have never appropriated this imagery, so by your logic most bands aren't neo nazis! We're going to need Akane-level outbursts on twitter saying they hate gays, jews, and blacks, or lyrics or interviews that say as much, before I would be willing to point to a band member and say "yep, that's a neo nazi right there".

If you wish to educate us some more, exactly who is it that you are thinking of and what proof do you have? Proof is the coin of the realm here on MH.

*looks at own post count*
 
*laughs*

*looks at own post count*
 
*laughs*

Almost everyone in these two topics:
 
 
 

| When the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole

Indie death metal/black metal outfit QEDDESHET crawled out of the most decrepit orifice imaginable sporting what would become their trademark sound in 2018, and instantly caught my attention for the vocalist's lackluster lip syncing and emotionless expressions in their "COLLAPSE" music video. Visual kei dabbles in many genres, but black metal and death metal are two of the most uncommon ones, and tend to be mixed with other, more easily accessible genres. QEDDESHET is having none of that, and refuse to adopt the quintessential visual kei sound despite nailing the visual aspect. In that regard, I'd classify this band along with the likes of Deviloof as a new tier of band pushing the extreme metal sound into a more brutal arena than ever before.
 
I thought that I would love COCYTUS, or at least find it tolerable given my description, but I don't. It's a draining experience for a mini album that barely scratches a half hour. COCYTUS only ever moves at the speed of a blast beat, and the vocalist only has deep growls and deeper growls, so each song retains the same exact oppressive atmosphere. No matter how technically impressive playing all the goddamn notes in the universe at the speed of light is, it gets old when that's all there is. "CALL MY NAME", the second and oldest track on the mini album, is a perfect example of how QEDDESHET gets it right and wrong at the same time. It's much more textured than previewing the other four tracks would prime you to expect, but the transition to the poppy chorus takes all the wind out of its sails. The vocalist's reluctance to raise his voice any higher than a throaty mid range roar is at odds most when the chorus hits, and the result is awkward. The band is not on the same page during these rare moments. A lot of pain points can be easily solved if the vocalist adds mumbling, screeching, singing, and/or mid range guttural rapping to his toolkit. Literally anything to spice up the endless variations of garbage disposal gutturals would go a long way.

My review reads like I have a gigantic hate boner for this quartet, but COCYTUS is not a trash release. I try to reserve descriptions of "trash" for things that truly are bottom of the barrel, like idiot or I.T.G. QEDDESHET is bringing more metal sensibilities to the scene, and ultimately more influences is what keeps visual kei fresh. Not many other bands sport this sound, so there's an opportunity for them to carve out a niche. The vocalist is absolutely insane with some of the noises that he can do and is easily one of the best harsh vocalists the scene has ever seen. The rest of the musicians, especially the guitarists, can string some really mean riffs and beats together, although again I feel like there's a bit too much emphasis on speed and technicality over creating memorable melodies. I'm also digging the amorphous, avant garde structure of a lot of these songs, because passages and refrains rarely repeat.  I would like to see what they are capable of with a slower pace and heavier riffs. 
 
COCYTUS is an acquired taste and it's not for everyone, and that is okay. It's not for me. It's a legit recommendation for those into the most extremes of metal, but that's about it.
 
 

tfw u r looking for a safe space to drag MH for being toxic and ultimately decide towards reddit as overall appropriate
 

I answered this question a while ago. It's neither, although it leans closer to being a scene. It may have started out as a genre at one point but it's long since surpassed those boundaries. It cannot be a genre because not every visual kei band plays the same type of music. For any genre you name, someone else can find a band that considers themselves visual kei that don't play that genre. Visual kei is simply music with a focus on visuals (hence visual style). Visual kei can't be pigeonholed into a scene or a genre without losing some of the picture.
And in case you missed my answer from before:
 

Now the history behind visual kei is something else altogether. I don't think there is one person on this forum with a vast knowledge of the history of visual kei because even by the 90s much of that was lost. If we come together as a forum we may be able to piece enough together.

By who? Kisaki, the police, or someone else? She said she can't contact him, so as much as it sounds like it was him, it's possible it might not be. The timeline here is hazy. Did Kisaki pay the settlement money before he changed his number? Is there two payments of settlement money here and the withdrawal request is part of the second one, or is this the same settlement and did she take the money and decide to sue anyway? And if this is really about the child (because the child was the impetus for her to bring this to law enforcement), what amount of money is "good enough" to satisfy the trauma done to your mentally unstable child? And if it's not Kisaki making this request, then this gets even more complicated.

Man, the world is just so fucking weird. About 6-7 years ago I used to take the night bus home drunk and kept meeting the same guy, a "thrasher" who had similar taste to me, and we always talked about music, girls and whatever. And we usually joked about starting a thrash metal band together, inspired by Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust etc. But just as a joke of course. Over the past 3 months or, me and a very good friend, have had some of my good friend's friends play stuff for us as neither of us play any instruments (I've written the songs, but I can't play any instruments so we need session musicians). I know the drummer and bassist from before, but the guitarist, who is a friend of my friend, is someone I did not know who was. I do know his band and all, but not who he was. I did however meet the guitarist for the first time yesterday as we were filming some promo stuff and god damn it, it was the guy from 6+ years ago. And now he's playing with my band, playing thrash metal inspired by Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust etc. It's so fucking random and weird. How the hell? Hahaha! But fun of course. Always seemed like a really nice and cool guy, so that's a huge plus.

Truly unbelievable. Makes you wonder about the things we don't know that are going on daily.

Truly unbelievable. Makes you wonder about the things we don't know that are going on daily.

Truly unbelievable. Makes you wonder about the things we don't know that are going on daily.

Truly unbelievable. Makes you wonder about the things we don't know that are going on daily.

The end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 has seen a lot of arrests of visual kei members. While band members skirting the law - and sometimes even breaking it - is nothing new, it is rather unusual to see so many high-profile cases in such a short time span. So today, let's indulge in some visual kei drama both past and present and look at some other famous cases and arrests. Grab some tea, because this topic is going to get delicious.
 
Disclaimer: While the title says "Bad Boys" of visual kei, some of the stuff covered here is particularly heinous. It's one thing to be a "bad boy" and it's another thing to be a rapist. Please don't read into the title too much.
 

Sakura (The Madcap Laughs, ex-L'arc~en~ciel)
 

Dai (Himitsu Kessha Kodomo A (秘密結社コドモA))
 

 
Kisaki (Lin, Phantasmagoria)
 

SHINTARO (ex-アイヲロスト)
 

Miyawaki Wataru (ex-12012)
 

Tomioka Hiroshi / Dynamite Tommy (Free Will president)
 

Manew (ex-The♡Valentine)
 

Akinori (ex. lynch.)
 

TAKAHIRO (ex-FAZ)
 

RIO (ex--LONDBOY)
 

shia (chanty)
 

Daishi (ex-Psycho le Cemu)
 

thank you!
 
I was actually talking about non-visual j-indie, the blessed genre where shit bands don't exist by definition.... needing no reliance on the crossdress gimmick to sell the sound of their soul strings etc etc - they all sell shit compared to VK but I wonder how much impact covid had on something with close to zero commercial profit.

Ikebukuro Cyber is their only choice and AREA is a staple of talented bands and shit bands can play so that shit bands can kill your eardrums before who you came to see is playing.  Or just find out when your band is playing and skip out on bands you don't wanna see, but there's always a risk to that cause some other band that you might like can be playing a secret live.

Just started playing the album. First impression is that it's pitch black and very dense, totally committed to being loud, dark and asphyxiating in the way it's produced and composed. Songs are loaded with shit despite being a bit of a toning down from early DIMLIM, and I like it. My first impression is that it's like this mix of early DIMLIM and a little bit some late 00's nu metal like Unsraw and shit like that. The vocals are awesome with enough personality to be able to be picked out from a line, while still being technically totally acceptable even when they retain this roughness that's characteristic of visual kei. Loads of early DIMLIM and heavier nokubura material callbacks in the songs, which is nice although it doesn't really reach the peaks they sometimes did. I haven't even finished the album yet tho so we'll see. 
 
For me personally this album won't have as long of a shelf-life as it will to other people who are fans of this style, and for them it should definitely suffice. 
 
Edit: Am I getting a little bored? yyeeaah probably
 
Edit 2: This is why you don't write about anything before you've even listened to it.  Idk if I'll spin this again but I'll relisten to some tracks in a bit. Definitely gets more early DIMLIM-esque in the second half although I suppose my earlier comments still hold some water. The best moments I reckon are the first two tracks by a country mile, or that one just gets exhausted of this kind of music when it's not top shelf in what it's doing. Anything further I'll suppose I will write in my 2019 ratings list. 

Sure. Most of them are credited as 'Music: Issei' but there's a couple of exceptions. 受難 (junan) is credited to Uta, Believing to Yoh, another DAY to Mio, and 色失 (shokushitsu? iro-ushinai?) and SAD[ist.] were apparently composed by Tsubasa (ex-DIMLIM, I guess). Lyrics are all credited to Mio, and it seems Issei produced the instrumental tracks solo.

They didn’t fuck up Fukai because it was played straight for the most part. All they did was use the alternate lyrics from like 2004. 
 
Kiri to Mayu 2012 is my favorite remake because all the parts are there, just rearranged in a way that’s more interesting than usual. 

As for Clever Sleazoid, I find Kyo to be the only real problem this time around. A lot of his parts sound rushed/crammed in with no real regard for the change in phrasing in the switch to Japanese. The “witherwither” part sounds less goofy, but why is it where it is?

Noticed I had a mistake in Kyo's school dates in my timeline. Also, some more updates and three more years added to the front of the timeline. Yay~
 

💔 i wish i could live in the past timeline before last.fm went to shit 💔

Nothing! That's why I don't understand why the band changed a perfectly good thing.

Nothing! That's why I don't understand why the band changed a perfectly good thing.

I'm not really feeling either track. Five listens in on Ochita and I can barely remember it. Definitely do not like what they did to my boi CLEVER SLEAZOID. I wanted a rerecording not a remake.

Maybe the tracks will grow on me with time.

I'm not really feeling either track. Five listens in on Ochita and I can barely remember it. Definitely do not like what they did to my boi CLEVER SLEAZOID. I wanted a rerecording not a remake.

Maybe the tracks will grow on me with time.