In no particular order:
Dir en grey - Gauze
Luna Sea - Image
Hide - Psyence
Malice Mizer - Merveilles
Buck Tick - Kurutta Taiyou
Dimlim - Che do a ra
MUCC - Zekuu
Deadman - No alternative
The GazettE - DIM
L’Arc~en~ciel - True
4 Likes
I’m positively surprised to see so many people showing love for cali gari’s Dai 5. I mean, it’s definitely not your average vk album and leans more towards post punk and experimental music than most album mentioned here.
3 Likes
Not ordered but I’ve tried to group the picks in a nice way. I guess most of these take some aesthetic to the extreme. And are very fun to listen to
REALLY MAINSTREAM PICKS
-
Dir en grey — GAUZE
Pop with an extra twist but surely one of the most listenable VK albums ever. -
MALICE MIZER — merveilles
I think this one has been mentioned enough. Just watch the Bel Air PV.
THE BEST STYLE
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DIE-QUÄR — ゆりかご
This is such an evil sound! -
Deshabillz — 精神離脱者
Gorgeous, degenerate album really at the intersection of post-punk and VK. -
黒夢 — 亡骸を・・・
Darkest of darks -
Laputa — 蜉〜かげろう〜蝣
There is just something about this sound that is absolutely mesmerizing. -
Aliene Maφriage — Les Soirée夜の舞踏会／断罪の章～神罰篇
I think no VK list can be complete without this album. I don’t care if the Speed-Id guy wrote everything, this is as concentrated as kote kei has ever been. -
Matina 1997~2002
More or less definitely a sentimental pick - as a cross-section of Matina bands it’s kind of weird but it’s a perfect example of “the sound”. -
Da’vidノ使徒:aL — ☆ノ☐
One of the stranger constellations of VK but super fun to listen to.
ODD PICKS
- 9GOATS BLACK OUT — TANATOS
I followed 9GOATS from start to finish and it was awesome but this was clearly the high point. Many years later it sounds really colourful and fresh.
8 Likes
Oh crab, this is so hard to choose. Well…
I’d start with Morrigan - Xiss
Morrigan - Tranquilizer
Hyde - Anti
VAMPS - Bloodsuckers
Lar’c - Kiss
D - 7th rose
Xibalba - Re:Born
TBS - Ousia
The Gazette - Toxic
The Gazette - Ninth
Judge me not
1 Like
Minimizing my list was hard…No specific order:
Dir en grey - Dum Spiro Spero
Dir en grey - Withering to Death
lynch. - greedy dead souls
Luna Sea - Image
deadman - no alternative
Mucc - Houyoku
Velvet Eden - Street of Alice
Schwarz Stein - New Vogue Children
Deathgaze - Genocide and Mass Murder
Munimuni - 曲がる世界
Also I’m glad to see I’m not the only greedy dead souls enjoyer. I can never get enough of that album
4 Likes
Hear hear! That and Underneath the Skin are their most raw works. Not talked about enough these days.
2 Likes
malice mizer - merveilles
kuroyume - 迷える百合達～romance of scarlet～
vidoll - vid very important doll
kagrra, - gozen
dimlim - chedoara
rouage - bible
velvet eden - street of alice
lareine - フィエルテの海と共に消ゆ～the last of romance～
dir en grey - macabre
laputa - c・a・k・e・r・a
honorable shout out to versailles - holy grail
7 Likes
This is an incredibly difficult question… I have so many more than this
heidi. - Que Sera Sera
heidi. - Kasou
12012 - Play Dolls
Plastic Tree - Nega to Poji
Plastic Tree - ammonite
D’espairsRay - Coll:set
The Gazette - NIL
PIERROT - HEAVEN -The Customized Landscape-
PIERROT - FREEZE
deadman - In the direction of sunrise and nightlight
Sorry for the other bands who made incredible albums that I couldn’t include -_-
3 Likes
ヴィドール - 美人形
グリーヴァ - 鬼ト影
白黒キネマ - 白黒映畫
ムック - 朽木の灯
カリメロ - 箱庭
AvelCain - AvelCain
Dali - ダリコレ ディスク
FIXER - ERs
Sugar - Sweetest
SCAPEGOAT - 「デキソコナイ」 の 「林檎」
4 Likes
Dali - ダリコレ ディスク
Sugar - Sweetest
taste
1 Like
Dir en grey - Gauze
Dir en grey - Vulgar
Malice Mizer - Memoire DX
Kuroyume - 迷える百合達 -Romance of Scarlet-
Luna Sea - Luna Sea
Kagerou - 蜉蝣
Kagerou - 落首
D’erlanger - La Vie En Rose
the GazettE - Nil
the GazettE - Stacked Rubbish
4 Likes
As the years go on, I go backwards into the 80’s and the line between vkei and what came before it blurs so here’s a few selections from bands that surely informed what showed up in the 90s. There’s plenty of others I could mention but these albums are classics to me:
G-Schmitt - Garnet
Madame Edwarda - Illumine
Libido - Nevatsuku Mask
Dead End - Shambara
And from the true Vkei category:
X - Blue Blood
Luna Sea - Image
Kuroyume - 迷える百合達 -Romance of Scarlet-
ZiKill - Close Dance
L’Arc~en~Ciel - Dune
Dir en grey - kisou
That last choice is just a personal favorite. Gauze is arguably more visual kei but I remember picking up kisou a few weeks after it came out from Kinokuniya in New York and that album became this post 9-11 soundtrack which matched the weird funk the city was going through at the time.
6 Likes
My personal top 10 vk albums:
- Kisou: DIR EN GREY.
- Macabre: DIR EN GREY.
- Art of Life: X Japan.
- Gauze: DIR EN GREY.
- Jealousy. X Japan.
- Dum Spiro Spero: DIR EN GREY.
- Sphire Croid. Rentrer en Soi.
- Kouchiki no Tou. Mucc.
- Vulgar. DIR EN GREY.
- One Life, One Death. Buck-Tick.
1 Like
Damn. This is hard.
9GOATS BLACK OUT - devils in bedside
An Cafe - Magnya Carta
BORN - BLACK BORN MARKET/BLACK THEORY MANIA/BLACK DEAD MUZIC (To this day you can’t tell me it wasn’t a full album they did split in 3)
KAMIJO - Sang
Lin -the end of corruption world- - AWAKING FROM -INDEPEDENT MAZE-
LM.C - WONDERFUL WONDERHOLIC
Matenrou Opera - Kassai to Gekijo no Gloria
SuG - BLACK
sukekiyo - immortalis
Versailles - JUBILEE (Or is it NOBLE? Depends on the day)
Could also be there:
MUCC - Karma
the GazettE - DIM
amber gris - pomander
X JAPAN - Art of Life
The THIRTEEN - PANDEMIC
sleepyhead - DRIPPING
And probable many, many more (especially if I don’t apply the one album per artist rule)
2 Likes
In no particular order
Nightmare - Killer Show
Sadie - Master of Romance
Luna Sea - Mother
Kagerou - 落首
Nightmare - anima
The GazettE - DIM
Kagerou - 「蜉蝣」
Mucc - 6
Mucc - Gokusai
SID - hikari
1 Like
Janne Da Arc - Z-HARD
PIERROT - Pandora no Hako
DIR EN GREY - Withering to Death
the GazettE - DISORDER
Girugamesh - self titled
lynch - I Believe in me
MUCC - Homura Uta or Shin Homura Uta
Sadie - Cold Blood
heidi. - Senkou Mellow
DADAROMA - スタンチク
2 Likes