Despa was also the first band I thought of when Zeus started this topic. Back then Diru, Gaze and Despa were the “Big 3” to me.
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Jiluka needs more metalcore/metal fans tbh, it’s a bit sad and annoying when Ricko asks for a wall of death and some people are trying to split while others are staying put and not moving at all. This is only specific to overseas and not in Japan btw.
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just curious, how do you feel the 2000s bands you’ve heard so far sound?
i got into vkei in the 2010s, so 2000s bands were established when i get to know them, and bands like Royz or Meji were the rookie startups at the time.
when i looked back at bands from the 90s, even tho i’ve come to love them now, they always sounded super thin and trebly to me, like weaker in sound and kinda easy to ignore.
ofc by now i know that decade’s full of legendary albums i love, but it makes me wonder if the decades since sound a certain strange way to someone who’s new to them!
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84 year old me and my walker will be there (edited because I can’t math)
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2000-2009 bands i know, for reference: SID, deadman, lynch., baroque, MERRY, The GazettE, AN CAFE, DEATHGAZE, D, NoGoD, SuG, 9GOATS BLACK OUT, R-shitei, kein, ViViD, and Versailles
Thats all based on a chart i have saved they may be wrong. I feel like the 2000s was the biggest era of diversity with the sound of vkei artists.
In the 1990s and before, they did sound a bit weak, but I attribute that to the poorer recording quality of the time, as well as the natural progression of heaviness in music (compare 1960s rock to the metal of today)
And then, as vkei progressed, ive noticed the incorporation of western metalcore influences into artists’ sound (gulu gulu takes inspo from Korn, btw? I cant remember which member but someone in the band is a big fan of them), which has made them sound more similar to each other, and also newer bands will obviously take inspo from older bands and will sound similar. Ive always noticed that some of DADAROMA’s music has sounded A LOT like mejibray, anyone else? No shame to either band btw, because theyre two of my faves
However in the 2000s, there wasnt much of a western appeal and therefore less western influence, but also the genre was quickly evolving, sprouting new subgenres and developing old ones. Like two of my favorite 2000s bands, R-Shitei and SuG could not be any further from each other in sound, yet they existed in the same era
Idk what im trying to say, ig that the 2000s were mkre unique that other eras? Whatever
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My unpopular take:
Yes, the AI trend is kind of crap. But it seems to be where more VK artists are turning to save some cash, so it’s just going to be one of those things like military uniforms and the occasional oofy tweet that people who follow VK as a whole just kind of have to…learn to compartmentalize. Or else you’re gonna have a bad time.
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Most of the time they do not really safe money, tho. Most videos are still the typical ones were we mostly see the band in their costumes playing their instruments with some AI scenes added or AI effects. Making that same video without these snippets and effects would look better and cost less because they would not need the licence or (if they have) the dude who is working with the AI tool.
Let me give some examples:
Arlequin’s newest mv looks cheaper with the bad AI effects. Would have been a solid video with just the montain of chairs.
Deviloof made such a fantastic mv that even looks like high production value. The AI parts look so so bad compared to the real parts. Why ruin a video that you already put a good amount of money in with the cheap looking bits?
Did you notice how most AI use is always short bits? Because it’s relativly complicated to make longer consistent videos with AI. That would need human labour, which is expensive again.
Also the problem with vk bands is, they sell their image to the fans so the band has to be in most of the videos. So they have to buy costumes, put on make up and shoot these scenes anyway. That’s what costs most and they can’t really safe here.
I geniuly believe that they think they are saving money by adding “cool effects” for little money. But I don’t think their target audience ask for this or would buy less music if they didn’t use AI 
they are sold a product that they don’t need. At least not for this purpose. I guess nobody would bat an eye if they used it to create lyric videos.
DEG/Sukekiyo is a special case because they did spend more on it so it is a much bigger part off their video and they probably can use the positiv and negativ attention. But that attention comes from “us of AI” as a controversial topic not because the videos themselves looked particular good and I doubt they were that cheap.
In the end adding some AI scenes doesn’t really makes an unspired mv better. And if you really have some creative ideas you probably won’t need AI.
Either Ai will become much better and we won’t see the real bands anymore in the MVs or the trend will fade out when they have played around enough and get bored themselves.
Let me close with an example of an mv that I think is conveing the song pretty well and manages to create a certain atmosphere and probably did not cost that much, without using any AI.
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I was thinking more along the lines of album art, tour poster art, merch designs, etc. The more that a band or label that is not artistically inclined can do to DIY designs that they would normally have to hire visual artists for, the more they’ll save in the long run even if the end result looks tacky.
And given that almost the only people who voice any displeasure with this trend are international fans, I doubt that the bands will change anything about what they’re doing.
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late reply but ty for responding! i wouldn’t have personally guessed the 2000s would be known by bands’ diversity - but it’s cool to hear you say that, and come to think of it i’d definitely agree
there’s a few on that list i’ve still got to check out myself…
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Absolutely! Theyre all good bands in their own ways and id recommend listening! I know i have a lot of catching up to do on bands i need to hear..
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I’m gonna be real here, I’m really tired of the AI talk.
Yeah I hate it and if some bandman on the street hands me a flyer with AI designs on it, I’m not gonna check his twitter out or whatever.
If a band I like uses AI for their merch, I just won’t buy the merch.
If a band I like uses AI backdrops during their lives, I’ll just stop going if it bothers me. (Yes it already happened once)
If a band I don’t care for uses AI backdrops, I won’t see them again.
If a band uses AI for their music videos…
Honestly, I think I’ve only watched 1 MV of my own accord within the past year, and that was because it was in a DVD that came with an EP.
The rest were PVs on the backdrops behind the stage at lives.
I listen to new releases on streaming and I barely ever look at whatever new PVs the bands are releasing. It’s been a really long time since I last saw a PV and it stuck in my head, so
I guess my hot take is that MVs are unnecessary now.
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Tangentially related that’s been stuck in my head lately - we really should give Morrie/Dead End their flowers 
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We need a band that mixes visual kei styles the same way Sleep Token mixes genres.
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