Get ready for the sickness

I consider myself to be a J Rock and Visual Kei connoisseur. I have a never-ending need to find and hear new music and styles. I can say that starting this blog was a way to bring great bands to forefront. Yes, I know that there are so many J Rock blogs all over the web right now, and that I am just a little fish floating in a sea of other fans of a great scene and genre. The thing is,I feel that J Rock has got to be one of the most overlooked genres in music today. I went to Billboard.com and Rollingstone.com and I saw not one single article about Japanese Rock. Don't get me wrong; I really didn't expect to find anything about J Rock or Visual Kei anywhere in American magazines. I figured the most I would get is if I traveled to Anime Conventions and the like.

 I figured that it’s way past time to let the world know (especially in the United States of America) about these bands who kick ass and take names, social security numbers, and DNA samples whenever they turn on an amp and pick up a microphone. The bands that catch your attention not only with stunning beauty and cultural reverence, but with sickening bass riffs, and great melodic form.  The bands that have great bassists and drummers and mesmerizing guitarists. Bands that have vocalists who pound your eardrums, cerebral cortex, and soul with every syllable that bursts out of them with resounding roars, bellows, grunts, soothing harmonics and outright screams. The look is just the icing on the cake. 

I plan on showcasing bands who stand out to me and who have forged a niche in their own right. The intention is to cover all the nuances of J Rock/Visual Kei bands, from the looks, to the sounds,  and even bands who have disbanded but still brought their A game each and every time. Yes, I caught the J Rock virus a long time ago, and I plan on infecting others. Call me the “Typhoid Mary” of J Rock.

This is more than a communicable disease.

This is a plague.

There is no known cure.

You have been J Rock Infected.

Band To Watch: Biosphia

Vo.鳴(naru) (ex-Lovin'-->Lycee-->VULGAR-->VELGREED)
Gt.暦(reki) (ex-Marrow Haze-->Neah)
Gt.芽唯(may) (ex-Viola-->BERLIN-->GRIEVER)
Ba.夕紀(yuuki) (ex-Bloody Mary-->Ego Immortalize(support)-->Lovin'(support)-->Marvelous Maiden(support)-->Zodia-->HARNES-->Neah)
Dr.紫苑(shion) (ex-VELGREED)

http://biosphia.com

Biosphia is a band to watch. They have a full on death metal/grindcore edge to them that I find stimulating. I can't and will not put them into a certain box.I feel that they are just them. Biosphia.


Bassist Yuki, who you may remember from "Bloody Mary", and "Zodia" (if you don't know about those groups that disbanded, rest assured, I shall bring you up to speed) sets the tempo with driving chords and handles the change ups with ease in each song. Guitarists Reki (from Marrow Haze) and May (from Griever) blend together seamlessly with dizzying solos and accompaniments that will have you ready to go destroy whatever is in front of you. Drummer Shion (From Velgreed) continues his percussion with the same stamina and finesse that brought Velgreed to my attention back in the day.

Vocalist Naru blew my mind when I first discovered the band "Lovin'," and trust me, the name had even me, Miss Hattie Hardass, crossed up. I totally thought that it was going to be SUCH an oshare kei band and I made up my mind. "Pretty pop sound, bubbly lyrics, oh boy," I muttered to myself. Okay, I was wrong. As the song "Siren" from the single album "Descent the Savage" began and I heard Naru belt out the lyrics..I sat stunned into stillness. The music gripped me and I was borne away on the alternating smoothness and roughness of his voice. There came a point where he sang acappella and and I was totally dumbfounded. Simply put, the man can blow. I found the unpolished sound of the band gripping and I had to learn more. Give a listen after the jump.