J-Rock? J-Metal perhaps? What the hell?

[Haruspex]

Okay, i've been thinking and thinking... and thinking. And in the end i came to the conclusion, that Japanese Metal bears pretty much the same meaning as the mass produced visual metal bands. I just wonder why is that? Where, oh where is the fanbase of real Japanese Heavy/True/Power/Whatever Metal? The mainstream metal problem is quite annoying in EU/US regions, but until now, i never thought something like whats going on in Japan was even possible to imagine. Its not like im a great fan of those bands, but how did people forget about bands like Anthem, Animetal, Loudness? Just when they started to play Yngwie Malmsteen style Swedish heavy metal...

Someone please mourn with me

 

[SushiShin]

Nope i choose J-music above all others.

 

[Haruspex]

Oi, mate, Anthem is Japanese, so is Loudness, Saber Tiger etc.
Possibly please, if you're gonna oppose my thoughts, don't do it by gut, and please spend your time to investigate who the hell are the above mentioned guys, because, you see, they are Japanese.

 

[Mycernius]

Moved to Japanese music chit-chat.

 

[Haruspex]

Hehe, into the frying pan i see, well gotta defend my arguments, come on en garde folks!

 

[CharismaticDeath]

Galneryus - power metal!
I see what you mean though, most Japanese bands don't have the "metal elements" of western bands. But then again Western metal is different by countries... for example, Finnish metal is a genre to itself at times!
I'm not sure it all relates to loudness though

 

[Haruspex]

No no no, what i mean is that just when Japanese metal started to adopt Swedish (by swedish i mean heavy metal, not swedish black/death or whatever) elements, it all suddenly stopped, and everything started to take on EU/US mainstream, new wave elements. I happened to see a Dir en something clip, and I was like: "what? Slipknot live in Japan?"

 

[Kinsao]

Well, I like Galneryus and another Japanese metal band called Crosshard ... also D have many elements of traditional English metal style (although maybe not as heavy as 'real' metal! ).

 

[Haruspex]

Thank You thank You, I will try them out, discovering the remains of "classic" Japanese metal is quite high on the priority list.
But there's one thing i noticed, for a european person, such as I am, the vocals are a tad bit too... hmm well... let me see which word to choose... "sentimentalishly sounding", or perhaps even cheesy. I mean, i listen to the music, its definitely metal... and than, out of the blue, suddenly the guy starts to sing... yes, thats when I skip the song
Its almost as if you fused metal and estrade music I'll check it out, Crosshard that is. By English metal style you mean something NWOBHM-ish? That would own, to discover Japanese Saxons, Iron Maidens, Judas Priests and such hehe.... guess im dreaming, a bit too much it seems.
Its just that i felt that i haven't given Japanese music enough chance, so i had some weird feeling of guilt, and a suspicion that im missing something interesting. So i'll do my best "studying" the already forgotten metal front of Japan.

 

[Kinsao]

Hey, it is good to find another Iron Maiden fan here. ;-)
I know what you mean about the vocals - they sound not always good to me.
Asagi, the vocalist of D, has a very good voice though - although somewhat 'operatic' in quality, still it doesn't go badly with the rock-metal style.
If you like Iron Maiden, try Onmyouza - but you might have to look around a bit to find some songs that suit your style. Onmyouza have both a male and female vocalist... sometimes one sings, sometimes the other, and sometimes both. In fact, they did a cover of the Iron Maiden song 'The Trooper'. and the woman was singing on that song. She has a pretty good voice, but inclined to too much vibrato for my liking. Still, maybe something for you, and their sound is definitely rather Maiden-ish in texture.

 

[Haruspex]

The other day i tried Blood Stain Child... but it freaked me out kinda.
Yeah I tried Onmyouza too, not too bad, I even heard that cover, wasn't that bad, I mean technically, there were no flaws, but you know... its just not working That strange kinda thingy was missing that Bruce Dickinson always does, the sound he makes as if he was out of breath. Although yeah, I like Onmyouza songs in general. Can't remember the title, but on of them was used as the opening of the anime Basilisk, that song owns Kouga Ninpouchou i think.

As for Iron Maiden fans... yeah, there are way too few on this forum. Perhaps they're hiding? Underground resistance? Freemasonry anyone?
Hmm considering that warriors played quite a major role in Japan's history its weird that there isn't much trace of anything True Metalish. Samurai Manowar perhaps?

 

[CharismaticDeath]

I had no idea Onmyouza covered Maiden... I will have to look out for that!
Yes I am another Maiden fan... seeing them next summer!

I think tbh if Japanese musicians want to play power metal they would target their audience in the western market and thus not really be considered when thinking about Japanese bands. Which is odd in a way because the majority of major metal bands play Japan at some point... it's almost like a right of passage!!

 

[Kinsao]

Yeah - their cover was not bad, but... well, honestly there is no girl can match Bruce Dickinson's voice, of course!

 

[CharismaticDeath]

I've just heard it.
Instrumentals are very good. I can't fault them there. Not too sure on the vocals though. She's not bad... but after hearing Bruce Dickenson it's just not right! ... especially when the person who put it on youtube did so to footage of Maiden... slightly creepy!

 

[Haruspex]

Hehe, they should try doing Warlock or perhaps something like detroit rock. She could handle Doro's or Suzi Quatro's voice in my opinion. What do you think?

 

[SaKeVi]

Hell yeah, that's why I really prefer 80's japanese HM scene, with bands as Anthem, Seikimatsu, Aion, Mein Kampf, Flying Vision, Sabbrabells, Mephistopheles, Vathokija, Mell Rose, Breeze Least, Crowley, Sabbat, Mazeran, EZO, Sniper...

I hope this small list can help you out to find what you're looking for.

 

[Haruspex]

Thank You thank You. This shall be enough for a while, gotta heat emule up for now. HEAVY METAL OR NO METAL AT ALL
That felt good hehe.

 

[The 10th Plague]

I also miss real "metal elements" in Japanese music. Many visual bands are a kind of mixture between Nu-metal, poprock and some other elements, but real metal-elements are rare. Ok, I can imagine the lack of Black Metal - or, at least the BM philosophy, as that is anti-christian and christianity isn't a large religion in Japan so logically there are few problems with christianity in Japan - but what about all of the other genre's: Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Gothic Metal, Death Metal?? It's like Japan forgot about these genre's, and that's weird as the first visual band - X Japan - was a heavy metalband. Maybe it is because Japan culture is too "cute" .

@ CharismaticDeath

Yes, cultural difference play a role. But "Finnish Metal" surely isn't a genre. Maybe "Humppa Metal" is a subgenre of Folk Metal, but you can't speak of all Finnish Metal as one genre: that's just like speaking of symphonic metal as 1 genre. This isn't a genre, as it's only a description. Finnish Metal and symphonic metal both can posses many genre's. For instance: both Dimmu Borgir and Nightwish are symphonic, but they clearly are very different genre's. Another Example: Sonata Arctica and Amorphis both are Finnish, but they clearly play different genre's (Sonata = Power... Amorphis = Melodic Death).

 

[CharismaticDeath]

I did say "at times"... I didn't say that *all* Finish metal is a genre. I know there are a lot of diverse bands coming from Finland. I was, I think, refering to a style that seems specific to Finland would cover bands such as Charon, For My Pain, Tarot, Reflexions (to a degree although they're more rock), HIM (pre LoveMetal), some of Norther, etc. Obviously bands like Children of Bodom and Nightwish don't fit that pattern at all.

I'm not good with genre classifications... I think they can get a bit stupid to be honest.

X-Japan had trouble getting signed in Japan, the record labels thought them "too heavy"... definately wouldn't have been said if they were western.
The strangest thing I find, is that western metal bands seem popular in Japan yet there are very few Japanese bands you'd put in the same genre. There is obviously a market for it there... I think it's more that Visual Kei is the big thing right now... big as in big with the mainstream aswell as the underground scene. Thus the music has to appeal to a wide range of people, thus they stay away from really heavy elements in their music.

 

[Haruspex]

Ok, resurrecting this old thread, just to promote a great Japanese band: Serpent.
Honestly, these guys play damn nice music, they're Death Metal, or rather Melodic Death.
Thing is, I never heard screams this awesome. I believe they're made with the standard diaphragmic high-pitched growl technique, however, they're like, gawd, soprano high?

Just look at it, if only they were well-known here in Europe hehe, hopefully with time.

 

[mishimon]

you want JMetal check out Girugamesh or Saber Tiger or SEikima-ii. F**K yeah SEikima-II.