The J-ROCK thread!!!!! HELL YEAH!!!

NOTE: This thread is more for those who don't usually listen to J-rock than it is for those who do. If I can make at least one person like J-rock after reading this thread, my mission would be accomplished.

Anyway so yeah, this thread is for the discussion of all things J-rock. I figured it would be best to make a single thread for it rather than many threads of different rock bands, because I'm guessing there's not many fans of J-rock here (hence the notice above). However because I love J-rock I thought a thread of some kind must be made.

For those who don't listen to J-rock, you may be under the impression that it's all about scary looking guys in make-up screaming at the top of their lungs...and while you're not completely wrong, you're still wrong. I used to think that way, but now I've discovered that J-rock can have extremely beautiful melodies and sounds, with angelic sounding vocalists. To cut a long story short and to start discussion as quickly as possible, I'll list some of my favourite bands along with several songs that non-fans may enjoy (please note that I may have different tastes to all of you, so you might want to do more research to find more songs if you don't like these ones. MOST of these songs may require several listens before they can really be appreciated):

L'ARC EN CIEL: Possibly the most popular J-rock band outside of Japan (and my favourite band). Their songs rarely have any shouting in it, and are all about the music. I recommend the following songs: Flower, Winter fall, The fourth avenue cafe, Honey and their yet to be released song My heart draws a dream which can be downloaded HERE.

NIGHTMARE: For those who've seen the anime Death note, you will have already heard two of their songs (the WORLD and Alumina, both of which are great). I'd recommend: Akane, Tsuki no Hikari, Utsutsu no Yume and Jashin to bara.

KAGRRA: A very unique band in that they have a distinctly Japanese sound (you'll understand when you hear their songs). The vocalist has a bit of a girly voice, but beautiful nonetheless. I'd recommend: Utakata, Haru urara, Satsuki among many others.

DUEL JEWEL: Not much to say about them other than that they rock. I'd recommend: Azure, Aishyuu Melancholia and Es (basically their last 3 singles).

To stop this post being overly longer than it already is, I'll just write recommendations quickly:

GIRUGAMESH: Owari to mirai
MERRY: Sayonara ame
THE GAZETTE: Regret

If you guys want me to upload any songs or give more recommendations just ask. Feel free to post your own recommendations etc.

 

I'm amazed that you didn't mention Dir en grey. o_o Their earlier stuff at least! I'll =

 

ehehe when i'm depressed I'm listen sometimes to j-rock ._.

 

I'm not the biggest Dir en grey fan, and I've only heard about 2 of their albums. A lot of what I hear from them is really heavy and I don't think they would appeal to those who cherish their ears (and to a lesser extent their eyes)

When you're depressed? J-rock is good when you're angry lol. I just listen to rock in order to balance out all the girly J-pop, kind of like yin and yang.

 

^yes when i'm angry then too xD

 

The older stuff is less heavy. :3 Examples being I'll, Yurameki, Yokan, Berry... When Kyo actually sang rather than screaming all the time.

Also, Plastic Tree! Even moreso than Dir en grey, they're awesome. ♥♥♥

 

Plastic Tree? I'll have to check them out.

Are you a Gazette fan? I know it's a random question, but they're coming to London in October (I've already got my tickets) and thought you might be interested because you're also in the UK, and it's not often that J-rockers come to England (although Dir en grey were in London earlier this month). I'm not the biggest Gazette fan but I'm forcing myself to listen to all their stuff before the concert lol.

 

is Visual-kei j-rock ? I don't think dir en grey plays rock =|

 

This is in fact a very good question. Since afterall, the Visual kei is nothing but rock that evolved into having different lookstyles from them, changing the point of interest from the actual music they play/sing to how the guys look on their performance (strangely enough, Visual Kei's lesser interests are the actual music).

In fact, Visual kei is not a genre of music, since they have no different music from rock but different looks than j-rock bands. Visual kei is more like a genre of looks of the band, but I don't know how to call it anyway.

The fact is that I don't know enough about them to say if they consider themselves j-rock or something other. But the fact is that Visual Kei is and will always be rock, covered in a lot of makeup but still rock.

 

hmmm, I think you are right, it's more like a question of looks than the music itself. My faves jrocks bands are Boowy, kyosuke himuro(boowy vocalist), JAM PROJECT, Eizo sakamoto, Animetal, Fukuyama Yoshiki and a bit of luna sea and x-japan(I know they doenst play rock )

 

Please recommend me some of J-Rocks that don't wear the title of Visual Kei, cause i kind of...dislike them. In my opinion, they just got so much into their dressing style and not into their music, so listening to their music (many of V-Kei) is so boring. Sorry just my opinion though.
It is because i like rock music to its extreme and i haven't found it in J-Rock. But when i found Maximum The Hormone and Blood Stain Child, i love them right away. They both are Japan's band but i think they're influenced by Western Rock. Blood Stain Child is hugely influenced by Children of Bodom, one Melodic Death / Thrash Metal from Finland. Cool music. And Maximum The Hormone i think is a blend Japanese rock, American teenage rock and System Of A Down.
That's my style... :mrgreen:

 

in my earlier post I wrote some really good bands, but what I really recommend to you are some of my faves bands, Onmyouza, Galneryus, Balflare, Masterpiece, Mastermind, Hellhound, all of them are power metal bands if you like this genre, be sure to check them out

 

Back in my day, Dir en grey, Pierrot and Plastic Tree were three names that undoubtedly came up within the first few posts of Jrock discussion. XD All these new-fangled metal groups confuse me so.

 

I like Nightmare very much xD I think Yomi is looking so cute ._.' xDD

 

For me the way they dress doesn't really affect me much, as long as the music is good. It might help to listen to the music before actually seeing what they look like, I used to do that after being mentally scarred from watching Dir en grey's Saku PV

Since I don't really like 'rock to its extreme' (apart from Maximum the hormone) I can't really recommend anything. But yeah like what was said before, Visual Kei is just the way they dress, I like to think it has nothing to do with the music.

 

Sorry, i didn't mean to offend you or anything, well of course it's just a matter of taste
We can't force our taste to others...

Are they Japanese Rock bands or western ones? If you recommend them i sure will check them out!!! Thank you for the recommendation...

 

i also like jrock music such as glay,nightmare,antic cafe,the gazette,etc...
but i prefer antic cafe...seriously they is a good band too..
about the dress,i think visual kei is so stylish...i like they hair style...long hair in front,sideburns and back...
maybe sometimes looks more girlish...but i dont mind it...
maybe the music is not too powerful like the other metal or rock band,but it good enough for me...
for the conclusion,jrock is quite good for me...

and i have some question here,anybody here listen to the TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA????

 

I really like them.
I've only listened to their songs on YouTube and TV shows, so I wanna go to see their performance.
Their live must be cool.

BTW, does anyone listen to "THE BLUE HEARTS", "HIGH-LOWS" or "THE CRO-MAGNONS"?

 

all of them is jrock band????or jska band???