Part 2: #20-#11
It was an important year for Visual-Kei - international Visual-Kei, reunions, disbandments, and an array of great albums. But, which ones were the best? Which albums will have effects on the Visual-Kei scene? Join James as he looks back on the past year, and picks the most important albums of 2012, in three installments.
Certain albums were excluded from running, such as miyavi, the GazettE, alice nine., and Kiyoharu’s latest – on the grounds that they are great albums and will undoubtedly have influence. I want to take a bigger, more in-depth look at Visual-Kei than the surface level. Some big-name albums are in here, but I will explain why.
20. Kameleo, “Shinjuku”
In one of
my comments in the video countdown, I remarked of Kameleo, “Because Visual-Kei
wasn’t alienating enough already.” on the song “Shinjuku”. This a bizarre
congealing of sounds, and what comes forth is one of the most promising bands
in the underground Visual-Kei scene.
The album
opens up with the title track, which calls into mind V-last.’s “対象年齢15歳未満”
in terms of the integration of unorthodox sounds and synths. “Shinjuku” has
some of the weirdest electronics and instrumentals in general that you will
hear this year. And it sounds good, which is remarkable. This type of sound
continues throughout, and is remarkable for its uniqueness, while also sounding
very good, something most gimmick-based bands do not manage.
Kameleo, as
their latest single “Hajimari no Uta” proved, is capable of mass-popularity due
to their unique sound, and while it may not be the most accessible, it is
incredibly interesting and dynamic. However, if they continue to perfect their
style as with the aforementioned single, they could easily amass sizeable
popularity.
19. 9GOATS BLACK OUT, “Calling”
9GOATS
BLACK OUT has always been an oddity, whether it is their preference for
mini-albums, or their insistence on never adding a drummer or second guitarist.
Since their inception, they have gone from a more Nagoya-Kei a la EAT YOU ALIVE
or present-day Kuroyume (with more growls and emphasis on metal), to a far more
refined, seemingly sophisticated style, more akin to amber gris. It is sad that
they chose to disband on this note, as it is hardly their best work, however,
when we are talking about a band that helped define independent, non-hardcore
Nagoya-Kei since the start of this millennium, that isn’t really a complaint.
The title
track exemplifies the change over time in the band perfectly, as it is airy and
dreary, versus the previous aggression and wandering nature of tracks like
“ROMEO” (off of “Black Rain”). The vocals are smooth, and the bass is soothing,
yet the guitar does not really let one be at peace – in a sense, there is a
provocative nature to the sound of their songs. The album gets under one’s skin
far more than prior releases, and calls to mind a darker, less stylistic, amber
gris (whom 9GOATS has toured with), and has the sort of subversive decadence to
it that the aforementioned band has. This album is best looked at through
comparisons like I am using, I believe, because it draws on so many influences.
Personally, I find it interesting how outside influence seems more evident in
later 9GOATS work than their earlier work.
The album
comes off as very airy, very spacey, and is not close to the harder sound of
previous albums like “Tanatos” or “Devil’s Bedside”. Those coming to this album
looking for the 9GOATS BLACK OUT that was around a few years ago will be
disappointed. This isn’t them anymore, and it isn’t their finest work – but
again, that isn’t saying a lot when we look at their catalog.
18. Kiryu, “Shuka Ensen”
Kiryu began
this year with the cryptic announcement, “Kiryu has decided that the Kiryu must
continue with all members”, or something similar in broken English – I cannot
remember. However, the general consensus was that Kiryu was disbanding. Given
the loss of Kagrra, last year, no one really wanted to lose the other band that
wore kimonos, but, much to everyone’s surprise, Kiryu announced the release of
a new album the night many thought they would disband.
If you have
not listened to Kiryu before, it can be best described as heavy Japanese
horror-rock. The band’s visuals are composed of elaborate kimonos and makeup,
with a sort of decadent performance style, and “Shuka Ensen” shows this better
than any previous release. The title track is haunting, yet a jam at the same
time, something very difficult to accomplish. The singles between their last
album and this one are all represented, and sound just as good here.
Due to
Kiryu’s unique style, all the songs have a common thread, and the album flows
brilliantly. Kiryu is certainly one of the most talented independent bands in
the Visual-Kei scene, and this album makes that an even easier case to make.
The album does not get repetitive, even with them having such a pronounced
style, which is amazing. The album acts like a singular unit, creating a
brilliant effect of a sort of neo-kwaidan (traditional Japanese ghost story).
Kagrra,’s kimonos and transplanting of
traditional culture into the modern age appears to have been picked up
by Kiryu, and while they deal more with horror and the grotesque than the more
refined, romantic Kagrra,, they are quickly becoming as relevant, and perhaps
as good.
17. D.I.D., “Providentia”
The most
difficult job I have had in writing this article is not deciding which bands
rank where or anything, rather, it is not comparing D.I.D. to Para:noir. Of
course when three out of five members of your band are ex-members of a band
that broke up mere months prior and you release a new album already, I feel the
comparisons are inevitable. Even compared to the phenomenal “nihilism.” that
Para:noir exited with, “Providentia” is still a phenomenal album, and one that
deserves to be on the list of best albums released this year.
D.I.D.’s
album does not so much perfect Para:noir – it establishes something else. This
is fundamental to understanding the album, and appreciating it. The album is
similar to Para:noir, and the title-track is by far the most evident song of
this connection. However, despite having similar sounds to Para:noir, the band
has a more diverse sound than Para:noir did, mixing in not just a lot of
different synths, but also doing a variety of songs in terms of upbeat tempo,
versus slower songs.
All this
being said, if we are going to compare apples to apples, “nihilism.” is the
better album. However, I really do believe that D.I.D. is trying to do
something different than what Para:noir was, and this is a phenomenal start for
them, not to mention the relentless pace that they have been moving at all
year.
16. ViViD, “Infinity”
ViViD
rocketed through their indies stage, a stage that many bands take far longer to
get out of, however, they burned through it in about a year, got signed to Epic
Records and debuted with the phenomenal “Yume ~Mugen no Kanata~”. And after
that, it was pretty much downhill. And I say that as a hardcore ViViD fanboy
from their late indies. Which is why I am amazed this album is good.
When you
are a band looking at including six previously released tracks onto a new
album, many of which did not innovate upon previous releases (the main gripe I
had with them since they went major), sequencing an album is a task from hell.
Yet somehow, they pulled it off. They way in which “Infinity” is sequenced
makes the tracks not seem repetive, and actually leads one to believe ViViD has
a distinct style. I honestly think that this album may be the best example of a
non-thematically sequenced album we have so far for this decade so far.
The additional
songs are very strong, and I preferred some of them over the singles that ViViD
has released since going major. Some of the album tracks are a throwback to
indie ViViD, which is a good thing. However, this album does not make ViViD a
softer band, or a harder one. Ultimately, if you have a strong opinion on
ViViD, good or bad, this album will probably affirm it for you. But, if you
have a mixed opinion, this album will make you like ViViD.
15. cali≠gari,
“11”
When
(in)famous erotic grotesque nonsense band (they actively identify themselves as
such) came back and released “10”, they shocked pretty much everyone in that a)
their music was still relevant b) their style was still relevant and most
importantly, c) they were still one of the best Visual-Kei bands to have ever
walked the earth. While “11” is a great album, it is more structured than “10”,
which honestly is not saying much at all, but, it is a different take on their
style. It also is not the better of the two, but again, that is not saying much
at all.
Whether it
is the cold, sterile room that houses a granite teddy bear with a superimposed
“11” for the cover, or the haunting vocals, the album is relentless in the
band’s erotic grotesque nonsense theme, and it is just as consistently amazing.
The bass of any cali≠gari album is guaranteed to be
rivaling on Kuroyume’s Hitoki in terms of unyielding drive and power, and this
album does not disappoint. The guitar similarly plays dissonant riffs and toys
with inconsistency as cali≠gari often does, and it works great. The drums are
on par with NoGoD’s K, or basically, the album is technically flawless with
some of the best playing and singing Visual-Kei has ever squeezed out of a
single band.
The
album is, in typical cali≠gari fashion, fun, scary, thought provoking, rocking,
and funny at the same time. There is not as much diversity amongst tracks as on
“10”, but this album is phenomenal. “11”, and the band’s mocking response to
being dropped from Victor Records after its release, prove cali≠gari is here to
stay, or more accurately, here for a few minutes before they go and chart more
unknown musical territory.
14. Golden Bomber, “Golden Album”
“Golden
Album” is one of the most important albums on this list, yet, as this is
ultimately a list of important and simultaneously great sounding, innovative
albums, I can only justify putting it so high. The album is a congealing of
pop, rock, Visual-Kei, and comedy all at once, and is not entirely cohesive.
But, it is a good, fun album to listen to, and its implications make it even
more important.
Golden
Bomber is utterly fascinating to me, as they exist as a subversive group to a
subversive group, while also subverting other cultural elements through their
subversion of a group. In short, they are manipulating so many different pieces
of Japanese, heck, global culture, that it is staggering. Golden Bomber does
not just mock Visual-Kei, but they make it better. By calling out all of the
facets of Visual-Kei and putting them out in the open, they are actually the
first group to prominently critique Visual-Kei in a meaningful manner. And
what’s more, they are doing it inside of Visual-Kei.
Golden
Bomber is not just a regular person’s band for enjoyment, they are one of the
most important Visual-Kei bands in existence, and we have them to thank for the
current popularity of Visual-Kei, its diversification, and a whole host of
other positive things. Contrary to knee-jerk reaction from most people to their
poppy, comedic music, they are making Visual-Kei far more persistent in domestic
Japanese culture, which ultimately leads to the continuation of Visual-Kei.
Whether you like them or not, Golden Bomber helped to revive the popularity of
a genre, and created an opening for bands since the 90s boom to achieve massive
mainstream popularity, without compromising their style after going major.
13. SuG, “Lollipop Kingdom”
Many bands
have concepts in Visual-Kei, yet few maintain them once going major. SuG, on
the other hand, appeared to only get more and more involved with “Heavy Positive
Rock” after signing to Pony Canyon. With songs like “Crazy Bunny Coaster”,
“Koakuma Sparkling”, and “Gimme Gimme”, it appeared that Oshare-Kei darlings
SuG had only become more positive. And then they released “Lollipop Kingdom”.
And then they released “Sweetoxic” which had the b-side, “fat inside horror”.
And then they announced an indefinite hiatus after ditching their management
company, PSC.
“Lollipop
Kingdom” is a near perfect marker for the beginning of the end of SuG, had they
decided to disband instead of go on hiatus. They even declared part of their
hiatus due to stylistic reasons (which is evident in “fat inside horror”).
Takeru (Vocals) is no slouch, and he knows what he is doing; he has a degree,
and he lectured at a college earlier this year. He knows how, from an aesthetic
and commercial standpoint, make music. And with something as subversive and
message driven as Visual-Kei, knowing how to engineer things comes in handy.
And SuG has crafted what is the most thematically driven piece of the year.
The album
is united mainly by its bizarre, sugary critique of a modern Western warist
culture, an unforeseen paradigm shift from previous work by SuG. The album is
not so much politically concrete as it is dealing with the issues in the
context of an abstract fantasy world. It is an odyssey through the mind of
Takeru, and his lyrics make some great points.
Of course,
no one listens to SuG for warist culture commentary, but they listen to SuG for
the bubbly, heavy rock they advertise, and it is here in full force. Takeru,
perhaps due to his more high-tier knowledge of crafting music, has always been
able to make best use of his voice, even with his limited range, and one would
not even be able to guess he is masking a limited range on this album, as he
does it so masterfully. All the other members similarly play brilliant on this
album.
“Lolipop
Kingdom” is the SuG everyone has grown to know and love, but better than ever,
with more of a unified, epic work than ever. With the 180 degree change that
was their latest single, there is an interesting question: which one was
engineered by their company? Time will tell when they return from hiatus.
12. Acid Black Cherry, “2012”
Yasu is one
of very few successful solo-projects in Visual-Kei (look at how Spiv States
worked out for Jun, now of GOTCHAROCKA, or can many people say they listened to
Sujk’s, ex-DELUHI, instrumental album?), and for good reason. But that reason
is in the past. Because “2012” is a better reason for why he is successful.
Yasu has a
beautiful voice, as one would expect of someone who is going it alone with just
support members to be, and it drives the album. You know that a vocalist is
great when you listen to an instrumental track of a song and it sounds
unrecognizably different, and that is true of this album. Yasu commands your
attention, and does it with an array of different sounding songs, and uses his
voice to make up for the lack of a consistent style that a band would normally
strive for.
The songs
range from the jam that is “Fallin’ Angel” to the beautiful, epic “Yes”. Yasu
is privelged to have some of the best support musicians in Visual-Kei, and he
gets his money’s worth out of them. The bass, guitar, and drums are utterly
flawless, and while they do take a backseat to Yasu’s vocals, that is rather
natural given the commanding power of his voice. “2012” is a great album, one
that tops anything that Yasu has previously done, and anything he ever did
before his solo work.
11. Versailles, “Versailles”
One of the
staples of Visual-Kei, and basically the floor that supports modern
Kote-Kote-Kei is gone. Versailles, while respected domestically and worldwide
for their contribution to Visual-Kei, leaves us a very small catalog, when
measured up to other prolific Visual-Kei band’s catalogs, at least ones that
have as much popularity as Versailles.
The album
contains their most recent singles, and a number of other tracks, all of which
are sequenced well, and sound great. Versailles’ trademark
whatever-European-time-period-they-are-gunning-for epic sound mixed with modern
a more traditional Visual-Kei sound than many modern bands have is in full
swing on “Versailles”, and it sounds better than ever.
Technically,
there isn’t a hitch with the album, however, here lies the problem. They never
try anything new on this album. This album should be in the top ten, but it
isn’t, because while any pre-exit album Versailles could have done would be on
this list due to its implications for the entire genre, this one is weak for
them. It discards the type of exploration and concept-driven rock that
Versailles has come to stand for, and this album quite frankly should have been
a mini-album and they could have cut out the filler.
This album
does show exactly what Versailles said as a reason for their ceasing
activities: a lack of direction. Versailles has such a unique sound that
anything they do will sound like Versailles, even phoned-in filler. And while
some of the album is half-done songs, the album does shine in moments. The
album gets by on being linked together by Versailles’ signature style, and that
lifts this album up a ton. Versailles is going to be missed, arguably even more
so due to their leaving on an album that reminds everyone not how good they
are, but how good they were.
Tomorrow, be sure to check the site for albums #10-#6! Friday will bring the final five.
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