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Visual Kei’s Rising SuccessDate: 12/31/07Writer: 1-5 After 2006’s many disbandments and disappointments, Visual Kei fans certainly needed this year to be something special; and it certainly was! New bands were formed, old bands reformed and there were tours, tours, tours! The year kicked off with VK metal band Hizaki Grace Project’s first album, "Dignity of Crest", in January. The album earned them praise from most of their fans and it showed both Hizaki’s musical talent and a different side to Juka’s vocals than had previously been heard from him in Moi dix Mois. However, the band’s second album of the year, "Ruined Kingdom", was not met so well by fans as it only contained 3 new songs and 7 live recordings of previously released tracks.
Another solo artist also being praised for his improvement was Kaya (ex-Schwarz Stein). He not only improved vocally on his three releases of the year, displaying real power and emotion in his voice, but also because he tried different styles of music ranging from electronic to ballads to swing-like tunes. His stage shows were also very interesting, often including dancers, elaborate costumes and, once, even an orchestra for his "Queen’s Show" live. Smaller indie VK band UnraW also began to grow in popularity slowly, and pleased their fans by signing to a European record label. The band then began releasing their CDs in Europe, starting with the album "Spiral Circle -Complete-". Another VK indies band, horror-themed The Candy Spooky Theater, also signed to a European label, Trisol, and released their debut album, "Living Dead Spooky Dolls Family in the Rock’n Child’s Spook Show Baby!!" in March. The album gave overseas fans the opportunity to buy an album full of songs that had previously only been released in Japan. The ever-popular Nightmare also released an album, "The World" and recorded the theme, "Raison d’etre", to the anime series "CLAYMORE" in June, which is currently popular in Japan. Another VK band, 12012, also recorded the theme to an anime show in June, this time, "Cyclone" for "Romeo & Juliet". 12012 also had success later on in the year with the release of their first major album, "Diamond", in December. Another band that caused excitement amongst fans were veteran VKers X-Japan, who announced that they would be reforming and record the end theme of the upcoming movie "Saw IV" (it won’t, however, be included on the OST). Whilst some fans were thrilled, others were less accepting of the decision, feeling that the band would not be the same without their guitarist Hide who died in 1998. Older VK band Luna Sea also reformed, but this time only for one live, which they performed at Tokyo Dome on December 24th.
Ayabie also toured outside Japan in May, but this time it was a seven-date European tour with stops in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Finland. The GazettE too made their first tour of Europe Europe (UK, Finland, France and Germany), all of which sold out within days of the tickets going on sale. Similar sales occurred when Moi dix Mois returned to Europe, with dates in Finland, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Spain and France. And there was yet more fun in store for German fans of Kagrra, Kra, alice nine., SuG and SCREW, with J-rock Invasion on December 29th in Cologne. Rentrer en Soi also made their European debut, with two one-man lives in France and Germany. Back in the US, the band also played at the popular anime convention Onicon in September. J-rock Revolution brought another US event, with an impressive line-up. Miyavi, D’espairsRay, Duel Jewel, Merry, Vidoll, Alice Nine, MUCC, Kagrra and Girugamesh all performed, much to the delight of US fans. Of course, as always, there were some disappointments amongst all the fun in 2007. In addition to Juka announcing his retirement, the very popular Phantasmagoria disbanded, and although there was no definite reason given as to why, more than one band member had expressed their concerns over becoming a major band. Sugar too had disappointing news, announcing guitarist Koto would leave after their December 29th live as he had concerns over the band’s future direction.
All in all 2007 has been a great year for Visual Kei with new bands emerging and existing bands getting stronger. There also has been an increase in the individuality of VK bands this year, and this is a much needed quality that has been somewhat lacking the past few years. 2008 will certainly be an interesting year! JMIgnited.com is not affiliated with the artists presented on this website or their representatives. All images are the property of their respective copyright owners. Images are displayed for educational and decorative purposes only under the "fair use" clause. |
Juka also released his debut solo single and mini-album ("Aravesque" and "Luxurious", respectively) in March and June and his voice was considerably better than it had been on previous recordings. This improvement could also be heard in his last release of the year, the single "Saint Croix". Much to the disappointment of his fans, Juka announced that he would no longer be performing or making music due to having developed throat polyps some time ago, in December.
Not only did bands reform, but new bands were born in 2007. Most notably, Mix Speaker’s Inc., which consists of the members of ISABELLE, with additional singer Yuki. They released their first single, "Mix Speaker’s, BOX", in March, and played their first one man live at Shibuya Boxx in April. The band pleased fans of Psycho le Cemu, a band which both Aya and Seek of Mix Speaker’s Inc./ISABELLE were members of, as they returned to a much more visual and theatrical themes (the most prominent being horror), even acting out short stories between each song. The music, a combination of melodies, guitars and spooky sounds, was also a hit with fans, and this was also the case with their first mini-album "Friday Night "Monstime" ", which was released in June.
Other popular releases this year included Versailles’ first album, "Lyrical Sympathy", Node of Scherzo’s highly anticipated self-titled debut single, The Candy Spooky Theater’s tribute to Bela Lugosi, "Prince of Darkness", "Stacked Rubbish" by The GazettE, which receieved mixed reviews, Rentrer en Soi’s redeeming third full album "The Bottom of Chaos", Girugamesh’s self titled album, Sugar’s third single and first PV, "Yokusou", and their fourth single, "Sweet Circus", which was sold during their one man tour in Japan. Sugar also announced that they will release their first full album, "Blossom", in March 2008, which will be proceded by a single of the same name in January.
Not only did international fans get to hear some great releases, but several bands also toured outside Japan as well. Hagakure + ANTI FEMINISM started the ball rolling in January with their European (Belgium, the Netherlans, Poland, Sweden and Finland) coupling tour. The bands were both well-received and went on to do their first coupling tour of the US (Brooklyn, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco). Although the turn-out for these events were not very good, fans of both bands enjoyed themselves, though some audience members did not appreciate having broken glass thrown at them by ANTI FEMINISM’s frontman KENZI.
After making the transition from typical VK sound to a more industrial-influenced one, BLOOD also returned to the US for a mini-tour in March. Following this, The Candy Spooky Theater made their US live debut with their East Coast US Showcase tour in May, which was highly successful and thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. The band also returned to the US for the second time to perform at the Pacific Media Expo in California in November.
