What's your Album of the Year(s)?

just asking bc i’m bored, feel like reading things tomorrow, and who knows maybe i’ll find some good recs this way.
oh, i’m talking purely vkei personally, but i wouldn’t mind hearing about literally any other scene.

i could probably come up w/ some sorta answer for every year since '87, but for the sake of brevity, my most recent 10 would be…

'13- ギャロ, The Gallo
'14- The “420” Theatrical Roses, MEJIBRAY
'15- planetary secret, baroque
'16- 歌謡サスペンス劇場, ベル
'17- ADORATIO, Sukekiyo
'18- CHE DO A RA, DIMLIM
'19- Inferiority Complex & Narcissism - 蘭図
'20- MISC, DIMLIM
'21- 曼珠沙華, 己龍
'22- You don’t know yet how to taste seasonal change, Sugar in the Closet
'23- Nirvana, Ashmaze.

it’s interesting how some years felt like heavy competition, there were maybe five+ albums that all seemed outstanding to me but one outstood more
and some years i thought fifth place from other years would take first over that year’s releases…

lmk yours, tell me how my taste in albums is, and check them out if you haven’t heard them, bc at least one person (me) thinks they were better than EVERY other album that year

edit: ok fuck it here's my whole list

'87, Hurry Up Mode, Buck-Tick
'88, Seventh Heaven, Buck-Tick
'89, Blue Blood, X
'90, 悪の華, Buck-Tick
'91, 狂った太陽, Buck-Tick
'92, Image, Luna Sea
'93, Dune, l’Arc~en~Ciel
'94, Mother, Luna Sea
'95, 眩暈, Laputa
'96, Dahlia, X
'97- Hide and Seek, Plastic Tree
'98- Merveilles, Malice Mizer
'99- Gauze, Dir en grey
'00- Macabre, Dir en grey
'01- 痛絶, ムック
'02- 鬼葬, Dir en grey
'03- Ultimate Circus, ナイトメア
'04- リヴィド, ナイトメア
'05- Sphire Croid - Rentrer en Soi
'06- [anima], ナイトメア
'07- The World Ruler, ナイトメア
'08- Devils in Bedside, 9GOATS BLACK OUT
'09- Theater, Vistlip
'10- Birth / Love, DaizyStripper
'11- Revolution to New Age, Royz
'12- Inferiority Complex, lynch.
'13- ギャロ, The Gallo
'14- The “420” Theatrical Roses, MEJIBRAY
'15- planetary secret, baroque
'16- 歌謡サスペンス劇場, ベル
'17- ADORATIO, Sukekiyo
'18- CHE DO A RA, DIMLIM
'19- Inferiority Complex & Narcissism - 蘭図
'20- MISC, DIMLIM
'21- 曼珠沙華, 己龍
'22- You don’t know yet how to taste seasonal change, Sugar in the Closet
'23- Nirvana, Ashmaze.
'24- a connectiv sistem, tzkwym

8 Likes

I went for my favorite decade and it was insanely hard, even only looking at full length albums. Tried my best to only go by gut feeling and not overthink because it’s impossible to decide between bands like Sleep My Dear, Laputa, Penicillin, LUNA SEA…

BUCK-TICK - TABOO (1989)
JUSTY-NASTY - Justy Nasty (1990)
ZI:KILL - DESERT TOWN (1991)
LUNA SEA - IMAGE (1992)
黒夢 - 亡骸を・・・ (1993)
Kneuklid Romance - パズル (1994)
PENICILLIN - Missing Link メジャー流通盤 (1995)
Laputa - 蜉~かげろう~蝣 (1996)
WITH SEXY - Couleurs (1997)
NOi’X - CROiX (1998)
Raphael - mind soap (1999)

6 Likes

'95~97 - D≒SIRE (I have their best-of that contains songs in the respective years. Good shit. I couldn’t name you anything off the top of my head since I’m using my car’s CD player :laughing: )
'98 - Malice Mizer - merveilles
'99 - BAISER -
╭⋟────────────────────────╮
'00 - Janne Da Arc - D・N・A
'01 - Janne Da Arc - Z-HARD
'02 - Janne Da Arc - Gaia
'03 - Janne Da Arc - ANOTHER STORY
'04 - Janne Da Arc - ARCADIA
'05 - Janne Da Arc - JOKER
╰────────────────────────⋞╯
'06 - シド - play
'07 - kannivalism - Nu age.
'08 - SINCREA - ATLAS
'09 - vistlip - THEATER
'10 - v[NEU] - LIMIT
'11 - Royz - Revolution to New AGE
'12 - ダウナー - セットリスト
'13 - Ray℃ - 君にリアルは届きますか
'14 - the LEM - LEM
'15 - アンフィル - LUNAR PHASE
'16 - i.Rias - Re:sume
'17 - Purple Stone - 赤と青
'18 - ドレミ・ファ - 御伽曲第88番
'19 - LAPLUS - RE-CREATION
'20 - DIMLIM - MISC.
'21 - Neverland - LOST CHILD
'22 - 零[Hz] - ZODIAC
'23 - AQULOCEILA - 絶対無敵宣言

Why did I submit myself to this torture… '09~'13 was brutal.

**Tried updating to the best of my ability. Honestly, most everything that I like pre-'00 is all over the place on demotapes with bands I don’t keep track of. Everything pre-JDA is all tentative.

3 Likes

i wonder if enough time’s passed that we can talk about this album as the classic it deserves to be known as
i mean this makes no sense but i’ve never heard another album that’s so dark and bright at the same time; it’s somehow more of both those sounds than the whole rest of their discog

i should probably go thru the rest of your favs i don’t recognize bc on 09, 11, and 13 our tastes seem very aligned

1 Like

maybe this will be the post that finally convinces me to ignore the title and listen to “”“Mind Soap”“”

2 Likes

Decided to copy vessmeir on this one and go with my favourite decade up until 2000. I looked for albums that have been insanely important to me in general and this is the list I have come up with. This list was pretty hard but it contains the best stuff from each year in my opinion along with some things that I personally love.

[1990] ZI:KILL - CLOSE DANCE
[1991] LUNA SEA - LUNA SEA
[1992] 黒夢 - 生きていた中絶児・・・・
[1993] DIE-QUÄR​ - ゆりかご
[1994] SHAZNA - Sophia
[1995] DETH LA BEAU DE MODE - Black list
[1996] SADIE PINK GALAXY - Specimen From “Psychic Planet”
[1997] D†L - 破片~Kakera~
[1998] hide and seek - Love or Hate
[1999] Aliene Ma’riage - Les Soirée 夜の舞踏会 / 断罪の章~神罰篇
[2000] Madeth gray’ll - Lucifer ~魔鏡に映る呪われた罪人達と生命の終焉~

4 Likes

@rsm_rain Haha, I get that! But it’d be a shame if the title alone deterred you from checking it out! I have fond memories of riding my bike around town as a teen during a super hot summer almost 20 years ago and listening to this album on repeat on my MP3-player. So “mind soap” just gives me this beautiful, bittersweet summer vacation nostalgia :sunrise_over_mountains:

@Yukina “CLOSE DANCE” was my close contender for 1990 but I enjoy 1991’s “DESERT TOWN” a little more, so I had to give the spot to my justy boys! Also props for including SHAZNA and DIE-QUÄR​. Nice selection overall :raised_hands:

2 Likes

DESERT TOWN is SOOO GOOD!! I decided to go with the CLOSE DANCE album because it is just perfect like, it reminds me of my childhood alot with the bands I was listening to then so I had to pick this one. :sunglasses:

1 Like

'23 - Erosio - Sukekiyo
'22 - Phalaris - Dir en grey
'21 - Kataki - Kizu
'20 - Aku - Mucc
'19 - From Hell with Love - Beast in Black
'18 - The Insulated World - Dir en grey
'17 - Adoratio - Sukekiyo
'16 - Anima - Sukekiyo
'15 - Vitium - Sukekiyo
'14 - Immortalis - Sukekiyo
'13 - The Unraveling - Dir en grey
'12 - Manala - Korpiklaani
'11 - Dum Spiro Spero - Dir en grey
'10 - Jubilee - Versailles
'09 - Karkelo - Korpiklaani
'08 - Uroboros - Dir en grey
'07 - The Marrow of a Bone - Dir en grey
'06 - GlaubeLiebeTod - Oomph!
'05 - Withering to Death - Dir en grey
'04 - Wahrheit oder Pflicht - Oomph!
'03 - Vulgar - Dir en grey
'02 - Six Ugly - Dir en grey
'01 - Mutter - Rammstein
'00 - Macabre - Dir en grey
1999 - Gauze - Dir en grey
1998 - Corkscrew - Kuroyume
1997 - Sehnsucht - Rammstein
1996 - Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes - 16 Horsepower
1995 - 16 Horsepower EP - 16 Horsepower
1994 - Mayoeru Yuritachi -Romance of Scarlet- - Kuroyume

4 Likes

Well for me… this will probably change with the time but is has been like this for some time

earlier than 1990 is probably Seventh Heaven by Buck-Tick and Dead End albums.

90: 人間椅子 – 人間失格
91: BUCK-TICK - Kurutta Taiyou
92: Gilles de Rais - Satsui
93: Kuroyume - Nakigara wo・・・
94: Sleep My Dear - Mirage
95: PENICILLIN - Missing Link*
96: Malice Mizer - Voyage
97: Sigh - Hail Horror Hail
98: MALICE MIZER - merveilles
99: Laputa - CAKERA
'00: Coaltar Of The Deepers - Come Over To The Deepend
'01: Coaltar Of The Deepers – No Thank You
'02: cali≠gari - 第7実験室
'03: MERRY - 現代ストイック
'04: MERRY - モダンギャルド
'05: RENTRER EN SOI - Sphire-Croid

'08: D’erlanger - the price of being a rose in loneliness
'09: D’ERLANGER - D’ERLANGER
'10: emmurée - 灯陰

'12: Sigh - In Somniphobia

'15: emmurée - 窓の外は、カァニバル。
'16: BUCK-TICK - Atom Miraiha No.9
'17: cali≠gari - 13

not sure about 2006-07 and most of 2010s

2 Likes