ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) started to form in Japan in the 1980’s, creating a genre where the visual performance of the artist is just as important as the music they make. The name itself is derived from the slogan “Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock”, which was seen on the cover of X Japan’s second studio album “Blue Blood”, released in 1989.
By combining the often flamboyant and androgynous looks with their music, these artists tell the story of their works in a more theatrical way than other genres worldwide often do. The visual presentation also allows these artists to express themselves individually in their own creative style.
While ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) is the “top” of the genre, there are a lot of artists who can’t be categorized in any of it’s many subgenres but still have the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) style in their works. That’s why we’ve collected them here, as well as bands from other countries that have been inspired by this unique genre.
Zeke Deux are still a relatively young group, but despite the young age of the project, the experience the members bring to the group is quite overwhelming on it’s own. Existing out of Kakeru (ex-Scarlet Valse) on vocals, Haruka (ex-the Reveude) on guitar and Maya (ex-LuLu) on bass as members, and “project
Especially for Aki no Matsuri, a yearly convention based in Winterthur, Zeke Deux came all the way from Tokyo to play a live show on the second (and main) day of the event.
We traveled all the way to Switzerland to catch their performance, and of course we took some photos while we were there.
You can find
Alpha999 is the solo project from vocalist TAKA, and in the last few years we’ve already done an introduction-style interview, as well as an interview regarding the project “Lounge Room”, which TAKA and Syu started during the pandemic to keep fans -both local and worldwide- not only entertained, but
Especially for Aki no Matsuri, a yearly convention based in Winterthur, Alpha999 (existing out of solo vocalist TAKA and the 999’z member band) came all the way from Tokyo to play a live show on the first evening of the event.
We traveled all the way to Switzerland to catch their performance, and
Fleur Tentation Petit are about to release their new mini-album, titled “Amethyst”, on October 30, 2022!
Fleur Tentation exists out of vocalist Hana, who is also the illustrator for all of the artwork and video material, and MIRAI, who you might recognize as the vocalist of Angels’
Ash Berry is about to release their new (and first) digital single, titled “Tears Knife”, which will be available through download and streaming services starting November 8, 2022!
Next to a digital release there will also be a physical release of the single, but this version will only
Nellfin have partnered with Arlequin Magazine for their release of their first EP “Untouched” on October 7, 2022! This means they’re currently open to interview requests from other international media and content creators, and have asked Arlequin Magazine to help them with
Nellfin are about to release their first EP, titled “Untouched”, which will be available through download and streaming services starting October 7, 2022!
The EP will contain 6 tracks, including a new version of the song “REVE”, which was previously released as a free demo
DEVILOOF have announced a collaboration with Village Vanguard (a Japanese online store for all kinds of goods) for some exclusive merchandise items!
The collection includes a T-shirt and a longsleeve shirt, but also a pillow, backpack, baseball cap, keychains, mug, measuring container, flipflops,
In the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) world the name “ASAGI” probably immediately makes you think of the vocalist from the popular band “D”, and even now you wouldn’t be wrong. But today we’re not going to talk about D, but about some of ASAGI’s other activities.
Shion has announced that she will be leaving her position as the keyboard player of Angels’ Temptation after the performance at 埼玉会館公 (Saitama Hall) on August 11, 2022.
Angels’ Temptation have made a special page on their website with comments from both Shion, the other members of the
Before we get to the actual contents of this post, we have to do a little bit of an introduction first. Since we’ll be doing something a little different than usual… The following interview was not conducted by us here at Arlequin Magazine, but by オザキケイト (Ozaki Keito) in late August of 2021.