Top 5 Japanese Metal / Visual Kei Ballads

Japanese Visual Kei has been know for its over the top looks and great rock diversity.  Some bands are in you face heavy metal, while others are more pop rock/metal driven.  One thing I have come to like about these bands that a lot of them have written very good ballads.  Musically, they sound very powerful and deliver some of the best melodies I have heard in a ballad.  Lyrically, they are very effective, if they are singing in Japanese, they are constructed well and sound great.  Even some of these actually do good English singing when they decide to go in that direction.  Here are the top 5 Japanese Metal/Visual Kei Ballads.

5.  Guren by The Gazette

Guren has sorrowful feel to it with lyrics that are about missing someone who passed away.  Ruki does a great job delivering a vocal melody that conveys the songs message well and sounds amazing.  The rest of the band delivers great music that shows the great musicianship this band has while at the same time sounding simple enough for a casual listener to enjoy.  Uruha's guitar solo is a nice melodic solo that really adds on to the sorrow feel of the song.  

4.  Chimera by Vistlip

Vistlip is known for delivering great ballads and many consider Chimera as one of their best. While Guren was more of a sorrowful song, this song is more of a romantic ballad.  Lyrically, it is about being with someone when they are hurting and the structure communicates it very well  The simple piano works very well to give the romantic feel this song goes for.  Tomo has a voice works very well with softer music and this song demonstrates that perfectly.  Yuh does some cool guitar tricks through out the song that really demonstrate his guitar skills without it becoming a distraction and in my opinion enhances the song musically.

3.  Libra by Nocturnal Bloodlust

 

Libra is a song that fuses hard core metal and the soft melodic feel of a ballad. The song starts off with Daichi playing that soft melodic guitar opening that leads to a heavy hard intro.  This is one of the few times I have heard Daichi do any lead sections in a song and he honestly is pretty good.  He is not as tricky as Cazqui, but he can clearly solo and I wish he would do it more.  Hiro does great melodic vocal work in the verse and chorus of this song before busting out his growling vocals in the bridge.  The music follows suit and goes into a more heavy mode when the bridge comes.  Even though it might seem sudden, it doesn't feel or sound out of place and works with the rest of the song.  Part of the reason is that lyrically, this song is about with someone in the toughest situations.  With a message like that, the heavy sections can really enhance that message and bring it out more. 

2.  P.S. I Love You by Gackt

 

P.S. I Love You is very powerful song, lyrically.  Basically, the entire song is someone reading a goodbye letter from a spouse that past away.  This makes the song more personal and you really feel the sorrow it represents.  Gackt is a good singer and conveys that message really well.  Even if you can't understand the language, the tone and the melody really makes you feel sad  and know that this is a sorrowful song.  The music is pretty good as well.  The piano sounds good and the rest of the band does a great job capturing the tone.  The guitar solo is a little short, but still well done.  Overall, a very powerful song.

1.  Linaria by Nocturnal Bloodlust

This song is another great example of how Nocturnal Bloddlust is good at writing ballads.  However, unlike how Libra was more of a combination of hard core and melodic metal, this song stays more on the softer melodic side.  There is some hard core vocals at the end, but it isn't there most of the song and it almost sounds like it is supposed to be in the background.  This song is one of Hiro's best performances vocally in my opinion.  He sounds smooth and brings out his melodic side very well in this song.  He also does a good job with this song lyrically.  This song has more of a sorrowful feel about missing the one you love.  Basically, the entire song is about longing to be with that person again.  Musically, Daichi did a fantastic job composing this song.  The soft melodic music sounds really good, the piano and softer guitar captures the mood perfectly.  Cazqui also does a great job in his guitar solo.  He puts away the tricky and speedy solo's for a soft melodic solo that sounds good.  This is one of the big things I like about Cazqui as a guitar player, he is very diverse.  He can be real heavy and fast while at the same time soft and melodic and that is really cool to see.