I was under the impression that nagoya kei as used in Japan was primarily a legacy term used for nagoya bands in the early 90s while the scene was still developing (Kuroyume, Silver Rose, Rouage, etc.) and not really in use these days? Or was that just how the term originated perhaps?
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That’s how I understood it as well and that seems how most japanese people use it too, at least on twitter and so on… zeus already linked the blog of a former bangya (who apparently lived in Japan for a while) and apart from the magazine translation she also made this post about VK subgenres.
What she says about Nagoya kei is very interesting. She particularly highlights the influence of Brit Rock, Post-Punk and Gothic Rock/Deathrock/Positive Punk on the Nagoya scene, which I feel was the main thing that set it apart from the other early VK sounds of that era which were on one hand the more Thrash Metal influenced bands like Vasalla, AION or Rosenfeld and on the other hand the Beat Rock, punk Rock and (upbeat) New Wave acts of Free Will and Extasy Records. Imo it isn’t just “being edgy”, “making dark music” and “being sad/melancholic” that defines Nagoya kei… but really this marriage of 80s Visual kei with British (dark) alternative music. Which would obviously exclude all of the post-millenial Nagoya based bands that play some form of crossover or Nu Metal.
Kuroyume’s early releases are a great example. It’s a very weird mixture of 80s japanese rock á la DEAD END and Gastunk, but with Goth, Deathrock and even Black Metal mixed in. Truly innovative and very much ahead of its time that sound eventually started to spread in the larger VK scene and by that point the original Nagoya kei acts already moved on. So Nagoya kei was like Soft Visual more of a movement or a phase - it had its specific time where it was a thing and became a major influence on VK as we know it today and helped to shape it to get its current form, but then eventually died out as time progressed (and the VK boom subsided). That’s why I personally don’t see bands like Deathgaze or Lynch. as “Nagoya kei” and I think neither do the members of these bands.
Their first demo and debut album were pretty gloomy though (for 90s standards, I know plenty of people don’t find that sound dark anymore). The songs on there were straight up Gothic Rock and thus they were compared heavily to early Kuroyume and Laputa. They did however leave that style behind like most of their Nagoya kei peers and joined the Softvi trend pretty quickly.
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