After listening to Visual Kei for over a decade, suddenly halting it all has felt - empty. As corny as it sounds, VK has been a big part of my life for so long and I never could’ve imagined dropping it. But life happened, and between the pandemic and other stress factors I haven’t been able to follow it closely (or really at all) for a bit over a year.
I was wondering if anyone else has gone through this and what they did to “catch up” and get themselves back into it all? Maybe also some of the best bands that came out of 2020 (maybe even late 2019)? Any noteworthy news?
What bands were you into prior to your hiatus? That could be important in terms of recommendations. Anyway, if you’re down for anything, I recommend Doku.
I’m mostly into Symphonic / Neo Classical type VK - “Versailles type” bands - as well as 90s bands and those that emulate that 90s vibe today. But I liked Cielgrave and Mamireta a lot too. Those where the last bands I actively listened to before dropping off.
Mamireta and cielgrave disbanded sadly but there are other offerings. I would recommend for 2020 to now is these. This is some of what you missed but there are more :
Ah dang, I’m more of the Mamireta/Doku/DAMY type of fan, so I can’t really recommend any symphonic VK. I still recommend people check out Doku though. They’ve only been around a year, but have been solid since the start.
Old thread is old but I feel ya man. Started listening to VK in 2008, stopped around 2012, although I still kept following Dir en Grey and Gazette. Eventually I came back in late 2020, and I’m currently digging Nocturnal Bloodlust, defspilal, Jupiter and NoGod
What i mainly listen now?
Beside smaller and newer groups like Gauzes, Exdeath etc, i do like Xaa-Xaa, ZigZag, the Gallo
I did also take some liking towards some non-VK groups like anti hero superstar, reptile, joppin:cal etc.
the main thing you might have missed out are livestream concerts, but a lot of groups got halted in their activites or was only half-assed able to perform thanks to the pandemic
but thats probably just a take of me
I only ever listened to one vk band and just stuck with it, only playing it rarely when the weather is good or the mood is right.
Other then that every other vk band I’ve listened I’ve deleted them, bands who grew out of vk or just plain jrock, I still listen to them, I guess somethings don’t always start with “one”
As for other genres in Japan as of 1970s to late 80s was a copy paste of bossa nova, lounge, jazz, neo soul cause hip hop is old they don’t want no rock and roll, it’s just a phase of French music, loss of identity.
