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| (Photo: lynch.) |
It is that time of the year again! Join James as he looks back at this year in visual-kei, and picks what he thinks are the thirty best albums to come out of the visual-kei scene this year.
It
hasn’t been the year I was hoping for with regards to Visual-Kei (actually, my
personal life outside of writing for VKH went pretty well for once, but I
digress). The last few Nagoya-Kei bands I can really say I had my eye on, Awoi,
DEATHGAZE, EAT YOU ALIVE, and 12012, either disbanded or went on hiatus. What’s
more, a slew of indie bands that I was hopeful for were hit with a wave of
departures and disbandments, and to make matters worse, perhaps the ultimate
diamond in the rough, SUICIDE ALI, went out with a whimper, which was pretty
tragic. Of course SUICIDE ALI wasn’t the only band to end, as lots of others
did, and continue to, with the Kiddie recently announcing their unexpected
disbandment.
Some
good came from major bands: Dir en Grey, Luna Sea, and Kuroyume all released
stunning LPs. Yet, strangely absent was the GazettE. And even for some of the
major bands, there was a bit of shakeup – to be frank, you either like what
Alice Nine, girugamesh, and MIYAVI are doing, or you don’t, it seems.
On the flip side, some good news was surfacing. Kisaki returned with a new incarnation of Lin,
SuG came back with renewed artistic force, and as always, a group of promising
new indie bands started up or releases records for the first time. But
ultimately, I think this year can only be said to be truly bad if you let the
departures, disbandments, and disappointments get you down – as always, there
were some great gems, but this year they seemed more hidden than most. In fact,
as I wrote this list, it hit me how many great releases they were, but how the
majority were indie, newcomers, or went near completely unnoticed by fans of
visual-kei.
Anyways,
let’s get going and look back on what I see as the thirty albums of the year
for Visual-Kei. Note, as always, I to tend to exclude blockbuster releases like
Dir en Grey, Kuroyume, and the like unless I feel they were a surprise or there
has been a particularly important impact from them on the scene that year. I do
this in fairness to the indie bands, who get passed up in year end lists due to
obligatory posting of how good bands’ with more money, time, and exposure were.
30. 終焉 (Shuen)/グリーヴァ
(Grieva)
This album is as good as it is
frustrating. Grieva burst onto the scene with a nostalgic style; outfits and
sound like 1990s to early 2000s Nagoya-kei. The band has shown promise, with
numerous songs that are quite impressive. This sixteen-track album contains
more good tracks from the young band, however, it also leaves a bit to desire,
causing a bit of frustration, as the album repeatedly has amazing moments.
The album contains the dark
atmosphere the band has come to be known for, complete with guitars sounding
like they are straight out of Dir en Grey’s first album. The album builds an
atmosphere early on, and contains tracks towards Grieva’s heavier side, and
also tracks more like their previous song “Wish” on the other end. The album
never becomes too heavy or too light, but, not all of the compositions stand
out, and some seem to almost be relying on the stylistic force of the band to
power through.
One of the worst things that
can happen with an album is feeling like it dragged on too long, and by the end
of this, that is somewhat the case. However, it remains on this list because it
demonstrates the continuing stylistic evolution of Grieva, and speaks to the
band’s promise.
KEY TRACKS: “灰降ル丘…”,
“Lost tears”, “alkaloid”, “雨上がりの憂鬱”
Official Site: http://www.grieva.com/top.html
29. Providence/HOLYCLOCK
HOLYCLOCK’s first EP dropped
earlier this year, and went largely unnoticed, although to be somewhat expected
for the first release from an indie band. However, the release really doesn’t
deserve to be unnoticed – it is quite unique, and announces the arrival of a
new band on the scene with one of the more unique sounds.
It is hard to describe the
band’s sound, as some may envision a 9GOATs/amber gris/the studs –esque sound
with an airy mood. However, HOLYCLOCK’s compositions are more spaced than airy,
divided into segments with sounds of their own. The band is far more typical
rock/visual-kei sounding than a band like 9GOATS, however, the way that vocals
and instrumentation vary throughout single tracks and programming is used,
HOLYCLOCK stands out from the flock.
The album is, overall,
well-balanced between slower and faster numbers, although in general it is more
tilted towards being a rock album. The tracks here are not necessarily single-worthy
per se – the band has proven this with their new single released recently – but
the album stands out as a whole. It is something that I have found myself
coming back and listening to in its entirety several times this year, and
encourage everyone else to do the same.
KEY TRACKS: “Frontier”, “Niji”, “Akasha”
Twitter: @holyclock
28. Pureness/劇情テノール (Gekijou Tenor)
An
early release that many may have forgotten about or not noticed, Gekijou Tenor’s
Pureness is a solid album that calls to mind both Oshare-kei and more of a
jealkb-style sound. In this album, the band’s unique style shines through on
every track.
Pureness
is an easy album to slip right into, as it is populated with upbeat tracks, and
consistently surprises the listener with incredibly intricate basslines, unexpected
riffs, and a varied group of compositions. The album manages a flow throughout,
and the tracks certainly never blend together due to lack of originality. rather,
each track is punctuated by showing a new side of the band off.
The
album is balanced between Oshare-kei style upbeat numbers like the opener,
“DokiDoki”, to heavier tracks such as “number 00X” and “Beast”, and becomes
softer and more of a funk-influenced vibe on “小さな家族” and “逢いたい”. The album will occasionally
mix the various styles, such as on the heavy, yet very distinctly groovy,
“Innocent?”
Seeing
as the band has announced disbandment coming up early next year, it is
disappointing that we likely won’t get a chance to hear another release from
them, as this album showcases the growth they have undergone, and contains a
number of stand-out tracks.
KEY
TRACKS: “DokiDoki”, “number 00X”, “小さな家族”,
“逢いたい”
27. THE PENDULUM/ViViD
Those who have tuned into the
Visual Kei Heaven Video Countdown know that ViViD holds a special place in my
heart, as in their indies they were one of my favorite bands in the scene. And
still, the raw promise in their major debut single, Yume ~Mugen no Kanata is
unreal. However, time, and being managed by PSC in all likelihood coupled with
the stylistic pressures of going major, led to one of my favorite bands
practically falling off my radar. As the singles leading up to this album came
out, I was largely unimpressed, and worried that rather than be surprised the
album was on my year end list as was the case with their first one, I wouldn’t
be phased that it wasn’t on the list at all. Luckily, that isn’t the case.
The album feels a lot closer
to when the band first went major than singles such as Answer and Hikari suggested this album would. The album, while not ever reaching the aggressive
opening of Yume ~Mugen no Kanata or perhaps even Across the Border, it is a
solid album. Additionally, while not all the sides are equally great, it does
feel like a more multifaceted portrait of a band than Infinity gave us. Yet, it
feels at multiple points like there is too much programming or synthesized
noises in the background, and after hearing “Answer”, the track “Letter” is
largely unnecessary.
Ultimately, ViViD is capable of more. If SuG’s departure
from PSC and their label suggests anything, it is that stylistic change, and
return to a confident and great style is possible for a major band. However, I
worry that ViViD’s style is stagnating, even if this is a better album than
Infinity. I hope that somehow they can find their footing and make their next
album live up to their potential. It bears worth noting this album is not bad,
far from it; it just stings that ViViD still hasn’t recaptured the feel of
their earlier days.
KEY TRACKS: “Winding Road”,
“Hikari”, “Theater”, “Good Morning World”
Official Site: http://www.indie-psc.com/vivid/
Twitter: @ViViD__STAFF
26. VIOLATIONS/Sel’m
Sel’m had a string of
impressive singles, and then a decent, but not living up to their potential
mini-album, iconoclasm, followed. However, this year’s VIOLATIONS captures the
soaring guitars and intensity the band is known for.
The band is made-up of
musicians quite adept at their instruments, and this shows in VIOLATIONS. Ever
track is incredibly tight, featuring spectacular instrumentation, and Ryuga’s
vocals are great. Even though the mini-album is a short, a nice diversity of
tracks are on it, demonstrating that the band is capable of a wider breadth of
sound than their recent releases would have let on.
While this album doesn’t
necessarily contain songs on the level “brave” or “Dears” strung together, it
is a decent outing by Sel’m, and leaves hope that their next release will be a
full-length, and one truly representative of their talent.
KEY TRACKS: “Spider”,
“Suddenly”, “Memories”
Official Site: http://www.selm.jp/
YouTube: SelmOfficialTV
Twitter: @Selm_official
25. THE “420” THEATRICAL
ROSES/Mejibray
A fear that I named in one of
my comments during a Weekly Video Countdown ages ago was that Mejibray was a
band suited to singles and EPs, and not LPs. After Mejibray failed to capture
the brilliance of their singles like "Die Kusse" on Messiah.Bat, even if just
by a little bit, this album is doubly the case. It shows at numerous points why
Mejibray was catapulted to success within the visual-kei scene at such a
monstrous pace, but, it is not as if the entire album is at the same level.
This being said, it is rather nice to have a new full-length from the band, and
it is a worthy follow up to 2012’s Emotional 【KARMA】.
If at times their last LP
blended together too much, but not in a flowing way, this album corrects that.
A gripe I have with some albums this year is that the tracks don’t so much flow
but occasionally seem too similar. THEATRICAL ROSES changes this, and is indeed
a collection of good songs, but, at the expense of any sense of flow. In many
ways, it feels like you could resequence the album a number of ways and it
would have no impact on the flow. However, the saving grace is Mejibray’s
trademark style, led by MiA’s amazing guitar abilities, and Koichi’s unique
bass playing. As for the vocals, you either like them or you don’t, but his
range is challenged here as usual, and he makes it interesting.
A number of the tracks see
Mejibray going into territory they haven’t in a while, which is quite
refreshing. The fact that there are tracks without screaming are nice, as it
gives a reminder of the range this band has. Of course, there is enough
screaming and growling to make the album what one would expect from Mejibray,
but whether due to the band having more space on an LP or simply experimenting
more than on their mini-albums, this release is more ambitious.
Let me make this clear: this
is Mejibray’s best release to date. However, this band seems to be growing still,
but at a slower pace than they were initially. This album has more depth to it
than any of their previous releases, whether due to length or just the band
maturing, but they still need to figure out a way to capture the brilliance of
their singles but for an extended album.
KEY TRACKS: “Theatrical Blue
Black”, “Hungry Psychopath”, “Raven”, “Contagion”, “SUICIDAL WORD GAME”
YouTube: MEJIBRAY YT Channel
Twitter: @MEJIBRAY
24. PSYCHO MONSTERS/SCREW
A year after I gave SCREW top
honors for their self-titled tour de force, I never would have imagined that
they would be this low on my year-end list. To be frank, I didn’t think they
would release an album this year, as generally it is advisable to take a year
off or more between albums. But, they didn’t and we now have PSYCHO MONSTERS.
PSYCHO MONSTERS continues in
some ways what SCREW started. It evolves with Rui’s basslines playing an even
more prominent role, and the guitars being layered in a more meaningful way on
some tracks, such as “mellow”. However, this is a trade off for more
electronics, keyboards, and programming than last year. And while Byou’s voice
sounds beautiful on this album, if you like hearing him scream and growl, you
are out of like here.
The biggest issue I have with
PSYCHO MONSTERS is that doesn’t maintain a consistent level throughout. Songs
like “SPIRAL OF MISTRUST” and “Burst Forth” that blow you away, but other
tracks don’t even sound the level of some of SCREW’s B-sides, which is beyond
disappointing. For instance, “Burst Forth” is a track that changes sound within
itself, existing as a complex and multifaceted song, yet other tracks are
saturated with too much programming and autotune to truly sound on the level of
last year’s release or this album’s best tracks. What’s worse, the album
doesn’t flow nearly as well as last year’s SCREW, and is top heavy, hitting you
with the majority of the best tracks early on.
This album is hardly a failure
– it has quite a few stand-out moments. However, it falls flat on its face far
more than we have come to expect from SCREW, especially after last year’s
phenomenal album. It makes me sad that Rui is departing the band after this
album, as he plays the best out of any band member on this album, and I would
have rather remembered him with last year’s album.
KEY TRACKS: “SPIRAL OF
MISTRUST”, “Burst Forth”, “mellow”, “Helter Skelter”, “The Eternal Flame”
Official Site: http://www.pscompany.co.jp/screw/
Twitter: @SCREW_staff
23. Human/heidi.
If you have been around VKH long enough to watch the Video Countdown, you know that one of my
favorite bands is heidi. However, I was sorely disappointed by their last
album, which seemed to rely largely on rehashing the band’s signature style
onto otherwise bland songs to make an album. Human is a different story, with
the band trying out new sounds for the first time in a while, and it works
quite well.
The album opens with “Bright”,
a song that begins with a distinctly heidi. guitar. The song calls to mind
previous favorites of the band, alternating between superb bass and guitar in
the verses. This is indicative of what is to come with the album, as much like
some of their indie tracks that got them the success they now enjoy, the songs
play to the strengths of the different members, and show off their talents in
time. The album is also more dynamic in sound than Alpha was, with the band
having songs that recall the groovier, jazz-influenced tracks on their indie
albums. And again, it can’t be overstated how nice it is to hear on numerous
occasions, the band trying new sounds.
Human isn’t the perfect album
from heidi., but it is one of their best. It is enjoyable from start to finish,
and simply sounds more original than Alpha did.
KEY TRACKS: “ブライト(Bright)”,
“ “, “幻想囃子”,
“Freedom”, “流星ダイヴ
(Ryuusei Dive)”
22. INFINITY/GANGLION
GANGLION
is a band that I have been keeping on my radar since I first heard them. A few
years have past now since the all-girls outfit captured a lot of interest with
their song “Twilight”, and subsequent releases from them have all been solid
efforts, but nothing on the level of INFINITY. INFINITY shows the band’s raw
talent finally being channeled into an EP that stands out from their previous
releases.
INFINITY
is demonstrative of a band that has been growing, and while certainly like any
band, they still are, this album showcases a consistent, and impressive, style
and sound throughout, something past GANGLION releases were lacking. The
production on this album is also of a far higher quality than past releases,
with instrumentation and vocals sounding crisper, and to be blunt, like the
band had a better recording studio and engineer.
The
compositions on INFINITY are some of the most interesting that this band has
put together yet, and in addition, the instrumentation and vocals stand out
from past releases. None of the songs feel like stretches for the band’s talent
or sound, even the ballad “Dearness”, which takes the band into some new
territory. However, the song works largely because GANGLION has seemingly come
into a style of their own, which is evident throughout the entire album.
Additionally, the band seems to have finally found the ratio of keyboards and
electronics that work for them, with such additions to songs no longer feeling
forced, but actually sounding like they add something.
The
album overall feels summed up by the closing track, “ONE FEEL”, which when it
first came on, I thought my computer was on a different album. It sounds
polished beyond what GANGLION put out even last year, and additionally, has an
air of confidence of a band that has come into themselves. It is a joy of mine
every year to review a release like this, where we see an indie VK band last
long enough to not break up, and to develop a new and original style of their
own. If you have been intrigued at all by GANGLION in the past, check this out.
If you haven’t, start here – this is one band to keep your eye, and in my
opinion, the best all-girls VK band on the scene right now.
KEY TRACKS:
“DISTANCE”, “幸福のセオリー”, “ONE FEEL”
21. GALLOWS/lynch.
After the disappointment that
was their EXODUS EP, I went into GALLOWS with low expectations, expecting a
Sadie-esque funk had captured lynch. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, and GALLOWS
is an excellent album, which is especially nice given the loss of many
Nagoya-kei bands this year.
GALLOWS is an interesting
specimen, as it feels less like a half-hearted attempt to connect the darker
side of lynch. (think tracks like “I’m sick, b’coz luv you.” and “ENEMY”) and
their lighter, more alternative side a la Merry or such (think tracks like “A
Flare” and “Ballad”). However, instead of walking down the middle like EXODUS,
GALLOWS simply jumps straight into the heavy deep end, and slams you with some
of lynch’s most archetypal headbanging numbers to date, but in a good way. Not
until the fourth track rolls around does the album’s intensity let up, and
really, the only heavier album on this list is DEATHGAZE’s, which is saying
something.
While the album is indeed heavy,
it is a rather even-handed portrait of lynch, as numerous songs such as “ENVY”
put a temporary stop to the sonic assault, and others like “DEVIL” and
“MERCILESS” are varied enough songs that the album never comes off as all
sounding the same, rather the fact that the album lets up in parts demarcates
the songs, letting them actually stick with you.
This is one of lynch’s best
albums to date, and while not covering all the ground this band is capable of,
it is a stellar and aggressive album.
KEY TRACKS: “GALLOWS”,
“DEVIL”, “ENVY”, “MERCILESS”
Official Site: http://lynch.jp/
YouTube: Lynch YT Channel
I gave comment on the last Mejibray review. I believe this persons review hits it on the spot in many ways, the comments are insightful but in my humble opinion it is not their best work unless you like anything that a band throws at you.
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