Jigokue - Konsui no hari to kumo no ito

地獄絵

昏睡の針と蜘蛛の糸 (Digital remastering)

2013/05/23 (original release 1998)

1. 見世物箱

2. 安楽死

3. 鏡地獄

4. つむぎの糸

5. 十二匹の腐乱犬

6. 瓶詰めの記憶

7. うつろの針

8. 逆回転の針

There exists a strange liminal space between underground visual kei and traditionally dark gothic rock that gives birth to exciting cult music time and time again. Jigokue is one such project that manages to channel the insanity of both these worlds.

Sometimes I still beat myself over the fact that I sold my copy of the "Igyou no utage" omnibus CD. It featured exclusive recordings from some truly amazing angura players, and among them was an ominous-looking trio I had not heard of before called Jigokue. The two songs they provided for the compilation had that special spice that piqued my interest though, so I kept my eyes peeled for any further music from them. It was not an easy journey, but I managed to collect some treasures, including this record.

The bulk of this release was originally a demotape recorded in the summer of 1997 by the two-member core lineup of Jigokue, frontman Rare on vocals/guitars and Doll (later known as Chaos IX) on bass, accompanied by a drum machine. Rare was able to clean up and remaster all the songs wonderfully for the 2013 CD edition, and also added four bonus tracks from around the era of the demo's release in 1998, including my first love from them, the deliciously doom-ridden "Utsuro no hari".

Other than the one already mentioned, it's tough to pinpoint specific highlights as the record works best as a whole experience from start to finish. The scraping distorted guitars and humming bass mixed with the relentless monotony of the programmed drums evoke an atmosphere that is singularly Jigokue-esque. The somewhat repetitive, rudimentary punky riffs and the foreboding vocal melodies can easily put you in a trance-like state, and before you know it, you're swept up in this occult world of sound. If you're looking for something raw, dark and obscure, you must give Jigokue a try at least once.

Izē - [Ark]

Izē

[Ark]

1998/08/21

1.「絵」-Pictures of You-

2. LIFE

3. STILL

4. Parfum

5. CYCLE

6. ARK

7. Sky

8. STILL (Reprise)

Today I'm listening to the only mini album of soft visual princes Izē. Their existence may seem like a blip on the enormous radar of visual kei, but they left behind some quality work that deserves to be remembered.

I must confess, I heard of this band a couple years ago but it was only very recently that I checked them out a bit more. Izē started out on Kreis, the label headed by iconic D≒SIRE frontman Yukiya. Just by knowing that info, I could vaguely place them in a kind of bland soft VK style leaning towards upbeat pop-rock, and ultimately I wasn't far off the mark. In my early years I avoided artists of this label as I was generally interested in more extreme visuals and music, but there comes a time for everything!

Before diving into this mini album I had to realize that I kind of unintentionally already heard these guys: all the members were previously in a band called Kyo-Mai who participated in a nice little omnibus album titled "Jester's Brain" earlier in the '90s. Funnily enough I found their contribution the weakest on there (mainly because of the weird vocals), so I was more than pleasantly surprised to hear they had refined their abilities by the time they debuted as Izē.

The music on "[Ark]" isn't too different from what they played in their ex-band, just presented in a more polished and professional way. It might sound a little paradoxical for me to enjoy this as much as I do, as I tend to gravitate towards the rawer stuff in VK (I think I'm not the only one?), but here they managed to find a good clear production that fits these songs like a glove. The airy piano intro that almost veers into new-age territory sets up the mood quite well for the following six tracks (plus outro). No reinventing the wheel over here, just one solid melodic composition after the other, presented by capable musicians. I must commend the powerfully soaring vocals and also the tasty rhythmic arrangements (like in the closing "Sky"). Overall, a pleasant listen.

hurts - hurts (BEST ALBUM)

hurts

hurts (BEST ALBUM)

2008/03/05

01. 包帯天使-head ache-

02. 玩具芸事ロータリィ

03. クチオシヤ

04. sick baby

05. インキュバス-血盟-

06. 絶対領域のカノン

07. ア・カペラと前立腺

08. 不眠症サティリアシス

09.「I can fly」

10. smells like love

11. 唯一の唄

12. 人でなしの恋

13. 輪廻suicide

The mid-to-late 2000s were a good time to be a follower of KISAKI's UNDER CODE label, as it almost felt like new bunches of bands were popping up on the horizon every year. Among them, hurts was one of the groups that left a big impression on me with their straightforward punky tunes.

Back then I didn't know anything about the members' past in previous bands, so I just assumed that hurts was a random nobody newcomer that got their big break on UCP. Even so, they managed to instantly blow me away with the energetic live rendition of their song "Kuchioshiya" on the live DVD documenting the label's Nihon seiatsu 2006 tour. I was so used to the fantastic aesthetics and general frilliness of visual kei, that this more 'street-level' punk-rock approach sounded really fresh at that point in time. It sounded like the torch of Kiyoharu's latter band legacy (in Kuroyume and SADS) being passed down to the new generation.

If I remember correctly, hurts summarized their concept as 'gothic punk' and they stuck to that all the way through their sadly short-lived existence of two years. This best-of collection (sometimes called self-titled, sometimes simply "BEST ALBUM") is the perfect culmination of that style. Almost every song is characterized by fast but tight instrumentation, on top of which singer Hina lays down his signature sneering vocals. The catchy minimalism and devil-may-care attitude of punk is in full effect on these tracks. Sometimes they spice things up a bit like on "A Capella to zenritsusen" or "Incubus", both songs that sound vaguely like they could fit on a mid '90s Marilyn Manson record with their groovy tribal chugging and creepy atmosphere.

As short as they were active, hurts at least managed to pump out 20 quality tracks (covers and re-recordings excluded), of which a lucky 13 made it to this fantastic compilation, giving us a flawless picture of what the band was all about. It's a neat little package to remember a cult favorite by, worthy of putting on the shelf next to the more longstanding artists of UNDER CODE.

Gilles de Rais - BECAUSE

Gilles de Rais

BECAUSE

1993/01/21

1. BECAUSE

2. PICTURE OF FUTURE (Mechanical Version)

3. 殺意 (Solid Version)

4. SEXER SEXER (The Lunar Mix)

5. BAGHDAD

6. PLEASURE SONG (The Nuclear Mix)

7. SO BALLET (Demo Version)

8. BLUE (Extended Version)

9. COSMO

Gilles de Rais were one of the early pioneers of the forming visual kei scene, and even though they only released a handful of albums, their impact cannot be understated. Today I'm rocking to their second full-length "BECAUSE".

The first time I experienced the magic of these four gentlemen was on the "EXTASY SUMMIT 1992" live video where they played a scorching rendition of their iconic fast-paced aggressor "Satsui". Their cool all-black attire and passionate delivery, especially singer JOE's gothic vibe, immediately captured my attention and made me want to seek out their music. I soon got my hands on this CD, and it's been a delight to be able to blast this historical gem on the stereo till this day.

"BECAUSE" is a curious disc in the band's history as it's called an album but truthfully it's more like a patchwork of new tracks, unreleased old material and alternate recordings and mixes of previously released songs. It was the followup to their EXTASY RECORDS debut album "Satsui" so I assume either the label or the musicians themselves thought it would be a good idea to re-release and re-imagine some old tunes that they had originally published in a more limited indies setting. In any case, I'm really happy with the outcome as some of these tracks actually feel like the definitive versions of these songs to me.

Highlights of the album include the infectious title track with its iconic Engrish chorus ("You Just For Because Now..."), the previously unreleased outtake "BAGHDAD" and a new mix of "PLEASURE SONG", a track that previously only appeared on a live-limited promo CD and on VHS as a music video. Especially these latter two compositions show how much of an influence Gilles de Rais must have had in the coming years. While the former presents a menacing atmosphere with its whirlwind of constantly changing cadences, the latter embodies the prototypical post-punky VK banger every band had to have at least a few of (just to name one example, Penicillin totally ripped off the main riff a year later). A special mention also goes to the extended version of "BLUE" that they transformed into a more beautiful and fragile mood through a long acoustic intro complete with ambient effects and violin solos.

No question about it, "BECAUSE" is a must-listen for old-school fans, but it can also provide an entertaining experience for newcomers interested in the scene's beginnings. It doesn't really get any better than this.

FANATIC◇CRISIS - MASK

FANATIC◇CRISIS

MASK

1996/01/07

01. クライム バレエ

02. めぐり逢えたら

03. Memories in White -Album Version-

04. 月と蠍

05. RHAPSODY

06. Pleasure Garden

07. Truth -Album Version-

08. MASK

09. 哀しい色した窓硝子

10. 君がいる闇の中で

11. Love Me

FANATIC◇CRISIS is hailed in Japan as being one of the 'big four' of the '90s visual kei scene, yet I feel like they tend to slip under the radar a bit for most overseas fans, myself included. It's never too late for some education in pop music history though!

I've always been sort of distantly aware of FANATIC◇CRISIS, but never really had a desire to check them out. No one from my VK friend circle repped them (as far as I remember), and the few songs I did try here or there didn't exactly convince me that I was missing anything groundbreaking, just another competently produced pop-rock outfit. I knew they were supposed to be a huge deal in Japan, but it was only in recent years that I actually learnt about them being in the 'big four' (alongside SHAZNA, La'cryma Christi and MALICE MIZER), so that began to spark my curiosity. Surely they must have that special something that made them rise above the rest! Them being featured in a 'top 50 best visual kei albums of the 1990s' list compiled by the readers and staff of that one Japanese VK webzine last year was the final push for me, so I began my dive into FANATIC◇CRISIS.

In my experience it's never a bad idea to start with the early records of these giant '90s bands because usually that's where the more interesting stuff can be found (to my preference anyway). Last year I already became acquainted with their debut mini album which was a fine listen, but it didn't leave much of a mark on me. I figured I might as well try their first album "MASK" (their only indies full-length), and it was kind of what I expected from the rising stars of Nagoya...

You might have noticed how much of an intro and buildup I've written so far for this and you're probably thinking "okay my dude, get to the music already!", but the truth of the matter is... there's not much to say, haha. This album is very melodic, sometimes even quite catchy, decently composed and arranged, but totally inoffensive and incapable of getting my heart rate up. I guess after listening to their EP I expected something more memorable, but it might just be a case of me discovering a classic so late that all its elements sound a bit played-out by this point. They remind me of their then-labelmates ROUAGE, in that some of these tunes sound like typical old-school Nagoya lite inching towards a major contract with subtle LUNA SEA worship, while also juggling with moderately experimental sounds that don't always work (there's an interesting attempt at electro-rock in the middle). When they come with the catchy guitar leads and standard uptempo VK fare, it's quite nice though, and frontman Tsutomu's vocals are undoubtedly powerful too.

Ultimately this album is pretty light on the ears and not a bad listen at all, I just don't find it too compelling. I do recommend it if you're craving some of that old-school soft VK sound with trademark airy melodies and a polished, competent execution. If you're new to the scene you might be better off with another more recent band (that's not so vanilla), but if you're up to the challenge you can give this one a go too, as it's an authentic representation of the sound of the times.

E'm～grief～ - grief

E'm～grief～

grief

2010/12/22

01. Infinity Daze

02. Heretical Glare

03. Seduce

04. Eternal melody

05. Kyrie

06. 独白の空

07. In paradism ～淡い色彩～

08. Pains of aspiration

09. Le soleil de l'oasis

10. Amentia

11. D.L.S ～Dirty Limbic System～

12. Seelenheil

13. Atonality

Remember UNDER CODE? Back in the day they were easily the top indies-VK label to me with a relatively sizeable roster that boasted quite a variety of bands. Among those, E'm~grief~ was probably one of the more memorable ones, despite their short run.

If I remember correctly I wasn't even that impressed by the first samples the label put out, but after checking out their early singles I quickly recognized the charm of E'm~grief~. Take some standard goth rock, mix it with metallic riffs and a ton of cheesy synths and harpsichords, finally dip it in that visual kei sauce and voilá! They delivered their musical goods in short bursts, only singles and one mini album (which was more like a padded-out maxi-single anyway) before kind of quietly fizzling out and going on the dreaded Indefinite Hiatus.

Thankfully, we have the collection album "grief" to remember them by. This baby contains all the material that the band recorded in the studio over their fleeting career (except for a Phantasmagoria cover track that no one really misses), so you really get the complete picture on what these guys were all about. You have your typical synth-heavy dramatic VK tunes with the goth-o-meter turned all the way up, but they manage to sprinkle in some unexpected sounds and effects that bring on a sense of otherworldliness. Adding to this, some of the tracks go into campy electro-dance territory with industrial clangs and ambient interludes that can easily put you into a fever dream-like state. At other times the light and airy nature of certain songs evoke the best moments of MALICE MIZER (their Voyage days especially). On the heavy end of the spectrum the group even employs some symphonic black metal tropes, even if those are copy-pasted from Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth almost note-for-note (it's quite hilarious!).

A very strange but potent mixture, this E'm~grief~... Even after all these years, I find myself being surprised and amused by their musical choices, but somehow they made this clusterfuck work. If you enjoy being bombarded into sensory overload by a whirlwind of aural decadence (you like VK so why wouldn't you?), then look no further!

Dué le quartz - Jisatsu ganbou

Dué le quartz

自殺願望

2000/05/29

1. ウタカタノ…夢？

2. Monochrome

3. 卍搦め

4. 4月1日花畑にて…

5. 自殺願望

I feel like this band is one of those rare cases where all the stars were aligned and, even if only for a brief period of time, something magical happened that can never be replicated ever again. This short but sweet mini album is a testament to that.

Rewind to a lazy late summer afternoon in 2004 when a young Jigsaw first stumbled upon some music videos marked 'J-rock' and 'visual kei' on a now sadly defunct website. Among those was a quirky song called "Rodeo" with an instantly hitting guitar hook and a group of guys with colorful hairdos posing down the streets of Tokyo. A powerful introduction. I made a note of the mysterious band name and gradually found out more about them ("Disbanded... great."), including that half-loveable half-annoying dude Miyavi who could make the guitar sing like nobody's business, but man, did he release some polarizing solo records! But I digress.

Back in Dué le quartz, Miyavi was iconic as a guitarist and songwriter to me, always crafting juicy little melodies, killer riffs and backing rhythms that seemed to twirl and morph into each other fluidly. Even though some of his motifs can be traced back to certain points in VK history, the total package that he and the whole band presented was uniquely them. The impressive guitar antics propped up by the agility of the bass and the playfulness of the drums makes every track memorable, especially on this early mini album.

After a moody music box intro the opener kicks things into gear with its fast tempo, even hitting us with a one-two punch of drum-and-bass solo highlights. The next song has a bit of everything: starting with an upbeat swingy rhythm followed by a Latin beat which then transforms into a proto-VK heavy metal gallop by the end. The rest of the mini album is standard aggressive visual kei fare with call-and-response screams and menacing atmosphere, until we arrive at the crown jewel, the title track. Written by bassist Kikasa for a change, it's the perfect sendoff with guitar leads to die for and clever rhythmic arrangements framing singer Sakito's anthemic vocals (and if you happen to own the 2nd press of the mini, there's a not too shabby live version as bonus track).

It really doesn't matter which release you choose because almost all of Dué le quartz's short discography is pure gold, but I think this is a good starting point that shows all the members' skills. One cannot help but wonder what could have happened if they had stuck around longer... but such is the ephemeral nature of visual kei.

ChronoSphere - [Infinity]

ChronoSphere

[Infinity]

2003/03/01 (?)

01. Messiah

02. HYSTERIC HEART

03. 願い

04. EILEEN

05. あなた

06. No true

07. In Heaven

08. [Pure]

09. Dawn of Winter

10. To find a way

Okay, this one's a true hidden gem and a personal favorite of mine. The only full-length album of the short-lived ChronoSphere is an absolute delight full of great hooks and somewhat cheesy melodies, a lesser-known entry in the soft VK canon.

I'm so glad I got to pick up the all-around excellent omnibus (i.e. various artists) album "Yougenkyou -mirrors of new generation-" because if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have discovered this band, or just much much later. Richly arranged with acoustic guitar flourishes and classical strings, the otherwise typical uptempo VK track quickly found its way into my heart, urging me to find out more about this mysterious group I'd never heard of before. Over the years, I've managed to collect most of their small discography, of which the crowning achievement is definitely this album. Even holding it in my hands, it remains a bit of an enigma since I'm not even sure when it was exactly released! Liner notes say early 2004 but Japanese online sources unanimously state 2003, which might be closer to the truth as that is when ChronoSphere disbanded (and the members immediately formed a new group but that's another story).

The style of music presented here sometimes sounds so similar to some of L'Arc~en~Ciel's early-to-mid period, it might be a bit funny to some, but personally I could take hours more of that sort of vibe, so it's just perfect for me. Based on that comparison alone and what I wrote about their omnibus track you can probably tell that this isn't exactly brutal stuff, haha. In short, it's just well-crafted light sounding melodic VK with hints of mid-'90s nostalgia. The vocals are smooth and powerful, the guitars pack a punch when they want to, but mostly resort to a tasteful and not too showy rhythmic interplay of distorted and clean (sometimes acoustic) sounds, occasionally bursting into a soulful solo or two. The rhythm section doesn't do much to get themselves noticed but they get the job done. Their solid rock band sound is ornamented with some keyboards and strings here and there, which can slip into cheesy territory (hello, synth horns!) but most of the time they manage to not go overboard.

I guess this album won't be everyone's cup of tea (I know I would have avoided it in my younger years), but if you're looking for a good time to just relax to some finely-crafted quality soft VK tunes without overloading your senses, then you've found your best candidate. Fits well with this post-Christmas start of the year mood.

BUCK-TICK - SEVENTH HEAVEN

BUCK-TICK

SEVENTH HEAVEN

1988/06/21

01. FRAGILE ARTICLE

02. ...IN HEAVEN...

03. CAPSULE TEARS -PLASTIC SYNDROME III-

04. CASTLE IN THE AIR

05. ORIENTAL LOVE STORY

06. PHYSICAL NEUROSE

07. DESPERATE GIRL

08. VICTIMS OF LOVE

09. MEMORIES...

10. SEVENTH HEAVEN

Those of you who know me somewhat are probably aware of the fact that BUCK-TICK is one of my all-time favorite Japanese bands, so it's a bit hard for me to choose one out of all their fantastic albums, but right now this is the one that hits the spot.

I've known about B-T almost from the very beginning of my deep dive into visual kei, but I think I only got really hooked after about a year or so. Back then it was harder to find albums online, so for a while I only had an assortment of random songs from all over the place and a couple of music videos. I was amused to find out that the spiky-haired youngsters in snazzy suits from so long ago were the same as the moody monochromatic gentlemen in a more recent video, haha. Just goes to show you, they've always been about constant evolution!

In fact, by the time this album was released the band had been developing their style in rapid pace as they raced through two full-lengths and an EP all in the short span of a year. What started out as a rough punk-rock outfit was beginning to grow into an unexpectedly mature-sounding unit. There is something very airy, light and elegant about the mood of this album (I think I called it 'fluffy' on The Visual Kei Podcast), but that doesn't mean that it lacks substance.

Guitarist Imai crafted some excellent guitar-pop tunes full of hooks that won't leave your head easily after you get a taste of them. The sound is very much influenced by the new wave and post-punk of the time, but with B-T's own majestic (and at times quirky) spin. It's hard not to bob your head along to the catchy driving rhythms of "...IN HEAVEN..." or get lost in the mysterious vibes of "CASTLE IN THE AIR" or "VICTIMS OF LOVE". This album also marks the first songwriting credit of guitarist Hoshino in the form of "DESPERATE GIRL", a fast-paced melodic standout track. All in all, never a dull moment, and they had only begun to refine their music at this point.

Even if SEVENTH HEAVEN doesn't quite reach the full potential that the band showed in the following albums of the late '80s and early '90s (all stone-cold classics and game-changers of the scene if you ask me), its undeniable charm and youthful energy carries it without a doubt. It's a colorful snapshot of a group in transition, just before turning to darker themes.

Aliene Ma'riage - Les Soirée Yoru no butoukai

Aliene Ma'riage

Les Soirée 夜の舞踏会/断罪の章～神罰篇

1999/07/23

1. 神罰篇～神々の審判

2. 夜の舞踏会～ル・ソワレ

3. 罪と罰（棄てられた記憶）

4. 禁・ジラレタ思考回路

5. 精神隔離症の『 』と霧遊症の『 』

6. 僕『しもべ』

7. 『虐』～呪ワレタオルゴールノ中デ～

8. 古の愛物語～エンドレス

9. SUICIDE～洗礼の章

Few records are as quintessentially underground visual kei as Aliene Ma'riage's first full-length, at least to me. It perfectly captures the adventurous sound of the turn of the century indie scene in raw form and cranks the atmosphere up to eleven.

The first glimpse I got of this band was on some godawful-quality rip of a VHS released by their label KEY PARTY. It wasn't even a full song, just a blink-and-you-miss-it clip from their only music video but the vocalist looked so bananas in his feathery getup playing with a long dagger against his lips while random gothic imagery (candles, mirrors, fishnet gloves no doubt) floated superimposed onto a video editor's nightmare that, naturally, I had to seek out what this was all about.

Turns out the music was as delightfully edgy as I hoped! Even though Aliene was just a three-piece band, they sure knew how to make some mean noise (that's a compliment). The album is characterized by a very raw but well-produced band sound, to which they applied a heavy dose of cheesy 'spooky' effects, noises and ambience. These elements injected into their usually fast-paced compositions made for some captivating material. Speaking of captivating, we must not forget the secret weapon Kyouka on vocals. Whatever imperfections his voice might have, he fully embraces and utilizes them to strengthen the atmosphere of sickness and lingering insanity, be it strained cracking melodies or just downright batshit screeching (trust me, you rarely hear anything like this).

It's hard to pick standout tracks on such a unified album that best works as a whole, but the powerful and catchy "Shimobe" (for which they made their sole promo video) and the relentless despair-ridden aggression of the epic closer "SUICIDE" are worth mentioning even among the greats of visual kei history. For anyone curious about the sound of the late '90s underground at its most potent, this release is a must-listen (the 1st press version has a different shorter tracklist so make sure to hunt down the 2nd press with 9 tracks!).

9GOATS BLACK OUT - devils in bedside

9GOATS BLACK OUT

devils in bedside

2008/01/25

1. sink

2. 690min

3. 夜想 -nocturne -

4. Den lille Havfrue

5. raw

6. float

I think the first thing that I noticed about this band back in the day when they announced themselves was how weird their name was, haha. Little did I know that the music itself would be out of the ordinary too, in a positive way of course.

The vocalist Ryo was already familiar from his previous band GULLET so I was expecting something along those lines (dark and heavy), but it almost turned out to be exactly the opposite. Needless to say, when I heard the first previews and saw their first music vid I was blown away. The opening track is the perfect mood setter, laid-back and hauntingly melancholic. I distinctly remember everyone in my VK friend circle being immediately impressed by just this one tune, from the melodies to the layered and clear sound production. It was such a level-up compared to the music of the time, and it still holds its own.

Everything on here just sounds so effortlessly cool and sleek. After the lulling opener we are treated to a stimulating variety of sounds and textures, even from the heavier end of the spectrum. Some careful touches of piano and clever guitar arrangements ensure that no song here comes even close to being boring.

Clocking in at a reasonable 20 minutes, this mini album is the perfect gateway drug to get the listener hooked on 9GBO's world. After this release they went on to make further great works (and later the guitarist fittingly ended up in sukekiyo, another band with a unique vibe), but to me nothing will ever top the rush of excitement I got from checking this mini album out for the first time.