You Must Hear 7

visual kei

Last updated: Sun Nov 02 2025 15:50:50 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Description

Visual kei is a Japanese rock movement originating in the 1980s that emphasizes dramatic visual presentation alongside diverse musical styles ranging from punk to metal to pop. Bands are known for elaborate costumes, striking makeup, and androgynous aesthetics that challenge gender norms. The genre prioritizes theatrical performance and visual artistry as equally important to the music itself.

100 chronological releases

Place	Cover	Date	Artist	Album	Tags	Other places
44		1982	Diamanda Galás	The Litanies of Satan	emo j-pop japanese comedy poptron visual kei	poptron # 90
12		1986-06-30	Diamanda Galás	The Divine Punishment	j-pop japanese poptron visual kei art pop emo gothic metal	poptron # 88
4		1988	GG Allin	Freaks, Faggots, Drunks & Junkies		humour # 81 poptron # 87
58		1988	Diamanda Galás	You Must Be Certain of the Devil	visual kei j-pop japanese emo pop poptron	idol # 39 poptron # 80
56		1990-02-01	BUCK-TICK	悪の華	japanese rock alternative rock visual kei
33		1991-04-21	Luna Sea	LUNA SEA	j-rock visual kei
15		1992-04-07	Diamanda Galás	The Singer	j-pop japanese visual kei emo	poptron # 68
62		1992-05-21	Luna Sea	IMAGE	post-punk visual kei
63		1993-04-21	Luna Sea	EDEN	alternative rock dream pop post-punk visual kei
67		1994-07-24	Malice Mizer	memoire DX	visual kei j-rock
50		1995	GG Allin	Hated in the Nation	art pop emo j-pop japanese poptron visual kei comedy humour gothic metal gothic rock pop power metal symphonic metal	humour # 88 poptron # 92
45		1997	GG Allin	freaks, faggots, drunks and junkies		humour # 90 poptron # 91
43		1997-07-25	DIR EN GREY	Missa	j-rock	j-rock # 60
30		1997-12-10	BUCK-TICK	SEXY STREAM LINER	cyberpunk industrial rock j-rock japanese visual kei	cyberpunk # 88
26		1998-02	Dark Sanctuary	Funeral Cry	brutal death metal chillout comedy dance dark ambient doujin doujin ongaku easy listening emo ethereal female vocalists humour j-pop j-rock japanese lgbt new age parody pop rechtsrock true metal visual kei	lgbt # 81 humour # 89 parody # 90 true metal # 93 doujin # 97 rechtsrock # 98 doujin ongaku # 100
90		1998-03-18	Malice Mizer	merveilles	visual kei j-rock
28		1998-04-05	Diamanda Galás	Malediction And Prayer	j-pop japanese visual kei emo art pop k-pop korean poptron	idol # 13 poptron # 73
72		1998-05-13	BUCK-TICK	月世界	j-rock japanese visual kei
84		1999-07-28	DIR EN GREY	Gauze	j-rock visual kei	j-metal # 25 j-rock # 83
34		1999-10-20	BUCK-TICK	ミウ	j-rock japanese visual kei
29		2000-08-23	Malice Mizer	Bara No Seidou	neoclassical visual kei
16		2000-09-06	BUCK-TICK	GLAMOROUS	j-rock japanese visual kei
70		2000-09-20	DIR EN GREY	Macabre	j-rock japanese visual kei	j-rock # 62
14		2001-04-18	DIR EN GREY	ain't afraid to die	rock visual kei
41		2001-06-21	Malice Mizer	Beast of Blood	gothic rock japanese visual kei	gothic rock # 12
48		2002-06-05	DéspairsRay	Sexual Beast	j-rock visual kei
6		2002-09-06	ムック	Homura uta	visual kei
21		2002-09-06	ムック	葬ラ謳	j-rock japanese rock visual kei
36		2003	Femme Fatale	FREYA	j-metal j-rock japanese symphonic metal visual kei	j-metal # 88
20		2003-01-08	BUCK-TICK	残骸	j-rock japanese visual kei
59		2003-09-10	DIR EN GREY	Vulgar	j-rock	j-metal # 54 j-rock # 89
1		2003-12-03	BUCK-TICK	幻想の花	j-rock japanese visual kei
46		2004-10-20	ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION	Sol-fa	metal rock japanese
98		2005-03-09	DIR EN GREY	Withering to death	visual kei japanese j-rock	japanese # 25 j-rock # 65 j-metal # 86
19		2005-09-28	D	The name of the ROSE	j-rock visual kei
81		2005-12-07	ガゼット	Cassis	j-rock visual kei	j-rock # 68
47		2006	AYABIE	Virgin Snow Color	japan visual kei	japan # 57
80		2006-03-18	LAREINE	Winter Romantic	visual kei
88		2006-12-06	abingdon boys school	INNOCENT SORROW	asian pop boy band j-pop j-rock japanese male vocalists visual kei	male vocalists # 29 j-rock # 58 asian pop # 60 boy band # 88
51		2007	alice nine.	Alpha	j-rock visual kei
52		2007-03-14	D'espairsRay	Squall	japanese visual kei
40		2007-03-28	Moi dix Mois	DIXANADU	visual kei
91		2007-04-11	D'espairsRay	MIRROR	visual kei
3		2007-04-25	lynch.	THE AVOIDED SUN	j-rock japanese metal visual kei
13		2007-07-04	the GazettE	STACKED RUBBISH
8		2008-02-06	meth.	by all means - BELIVER	j-metal j-rock japanese japanese metal japanese rock melodic hardcore melodic metalcore metal metalcore visual kei	melodic metalcore # 12 japanese rock # 83 j-metal # 84 japanese metal # 99
9		2008-02-27	Screw	RAGING BLOOD	j-rock japanese rock visual kei	japanese rock # 84
32		2008-03-19	雅-MIYAVI-	THIS IZ THE JAPANESE KABUKI ROCK	rock visual kei
11		2008-05-21	Nightmare	Killer Show	j-rock visual kei
60		2009-01-01	Cinema Bizarre	Toyz	visual kei
89		2009-03-25	the GazettE	DISTRESS AND COMA	visual kei
27		2009-04-29	シド	嘘	asian asian pop asian rock boy band j-pop j-rock japanese male vocalists visual kei	boy band # 59 asian rock # 81
97		2009-07-15	the GazettE	DIM	visual kei japanese	japanese # 29
69		2009-07-24	the GazettE	UNDYING	j-rock japan male vocalists screamo visual kei	japan # 71
68		2009-07-24	the GazettE	DOGMA	j-rock visual kei
35		2009-08-11	GACKT	The Next Decade	asian pop j-pop j-rock japanese male vocalists visual kei
77		2009-12-02	DIR EN GREY	激しさと、この胸の中で絡み付いた灼熱の闇	death metal experimental metal j-rock japanese progressive death metal progressive metal visual kei	j-rock # 16 progressive death metal # 69 experimental metal # 98
61		2010-03-24	DELUHI	REVOLVER BLAST	j-rock japanese japanese rock metal visual kei	japanese rock # 91
18		2010-03-24	D	7th Rose	j-rock japanese visual kei
23		2010-08-18	BORN	BLACK BORN MARKET	j-rock japanese metal visual kei
2		2010-09-01	BUCK-TICK	殺シノ調べ	power pop noise visual kei
39		2010-11-11	Erutan	Raindancer	art pop pop gothic metal poptron power metal symphonic metal gothic rock comedy emo j-pop japanese poetry visual kei ethereal gothic pop humour dark pop celtic dream folk new age	dark pop # 63 humour # 82 gothic pop # 87 dream folk # 91 poetry # 92 poptron # 93
87		2010-12-28	Chelsea Wolfe	The Grime and the Glow	pop female vocalists j-pop japanese brutal death metal comedy emo gothic rock humour power metal symphonic metal visual kei	japanese # 10 j-pop # 16 gothic rock # 36 comedy # 65 brutal death metal # 78 humour # 97
99		2011	Katy Perry	Witness	pop emo visual kei dance emocore	emo # 2 japanese # 12 emocore # 84
42		2011-01-26	DIR EN GREY	PHALARIS	alternative metal avant-garde metal progressive metal visual kei	avant-garde metal # 50
5		2011-02-23	AYABIE	Euro Best	visual kei
17		2011-04-06	the GazettE	TRACES BEST OF 2005-2009	j-rock visual kei
10		2011-06-01	lynch.	I BELIEVE IN ME	alternative metal metal visual kei
92		2011-12-07	MEJIBRAY	Slivers.exe	visual kei
7		2012-06-22	Luca Turilli's Rhapsody	Ascending To Infinity	emo j-pop japanese symphonic metal dance female vocalists pop symphonic power metal visual kei	symphonic power metal # 75
65		2012-12-12	Plastic Tree	インク	j-rock japanese post-rock shoegaze visual kei
75		2013-08-12	Katy Perry	boN aPpéTIt	pop
93		2013-09-03	Chelsea Wolfe	Pain Is Beauty	gothic rock pop emo j-pop japanese visual kei emocore comedy poptron symphonic metal	symphonic metal # 24 japanese # 38 j-pop # 45 emocore # 75 comedy # 79 gothic rock # 87 poptron # 98
49		2014-04-09	lynch.	GALLOWS	metalcore visual kei
31		2014-05-06	King Dude	Fear	pop visual kei emo emocore j-pop japanese
24		2014-07-03	ムック	Houmurauta	visual kei
100		2014-08-04	Nicki Minaj	Anaconda	emo emocore j-pop japanese visual kei	emo # 87 japanese # 91 j-pop # 93 emocore # 99
64		2014-09-24	Tove Lo	Queen of the Clouds	pop electropop	emocore # 21 electropop # 72
85		2014-12-01	Marissa Nadler	Before July: Demos & Unreleased Songs	brutal death metal chillout comedy dance easy listening emo female vocalists humour j-pop j-rock new age parody pop rechtsrock true metal visual kei	new age # 30 j-rock # 43 comedy # 58 easy listening # 64 brutal death metal # 74 humour # 95 true metal # 98 parody # 99 rechtsrock # 100
96		2015-01-28	Sevdaliza	The Suspended Kid	electronic pop emo emocore j-pop japanese power metal rnb symphonic metal visual kei	power metal # 44 japanese # 46 symphonic metal # 52 j-pop # 56 emocore # 82
38		2015-06-30	King Dude	Songs of Flesh & Blood - In The Key of Light	emo visual kei j-pop japanese poptron trap	poptron # 84
95		2015-08-07	Chelsea Wolfe	Apokalypsis	pop emo female vocalists gothic rock j-pop japanese comedy emocore visual kei humour	japanese # 48 j-pop # 57 gothic rock # 65 emocore # 81 comedy # 82 humour # 100
82		2015-11-24	Sevdaliza	Children of Silk	emo j-pop japanese power metal symphonic metal visual kei
78		2016-10-28	King Dude	Sex	pop emo emocore visual kei j-pop japanese	emocore # 51
79		2017-04-25	X Japan	BLUE BLOOD	speed metal power metal j-rock visual kei heavy metal japanese	j-rock # 25 japanese metal # 64 j-metal # 85 speed metal # 90
94		2017-04-26	Sevdaliza	ISON	rnb emo emocore visual kei pop	emocore # 80
25		2017-05-24	Rhapsody of Fire	Legendary Years (Re-Recorded)	emo visual kei
71		2017-06-02	Dua Lipa	Dua Lipa	pop	emocore # 1
55		2017-11-15	Deviloof	Devil's Proof	alternative metal brutal deathcore death metal deathcore industrial metal technical death metal visual kei	brutal deathcore # 77
76		2019-07-04	DADAROMA	Stanczyk	visual kei
66		2019-11-05	gulu gulu	首輪教育のすすめ (Kubiwa Kyouiku no Susume) [Radio Edit Ver.]	visual kei
83		2020-03-12	Kehlani	Do U Dirty	black metal brazilian brazilian pop breakcore brutal death metal crunk crunkcore death metal dubstep emo idol j-pop j-rock japanese k-pop korean miami bass russian russian metal russian pop schlager trap usbm visual kei	brazilian # 6 j-rock # 41 breakcore # 60 brutal death metal # 70 russian # 80 crunk # 87 brazilian pop # 92 miami bass # 94 crunkcore # 95 schlager # 96 usbm # 96 russian metal # 97 russian pop # 98 idol # 99
53		2021-05-26	the GazettE	UGLY	visual kei
22		2021-09-15	JILUKA	IDOLA	visual kei
57		2022-05-25	gulu gulu	宙吊り少女 (Chuuzuri Shoujo) [【つがい盤 (Tsugai Ban)】]	j-metal metal visual kei	j-metal # 90
86		2022-05-25	gulu gulu	宙吊り少女 (Chuuzuri Shoujo) [【たがい盤 (Tagai Ban)】]	j-metal metal visual kei	j-metal # 99
37		2022-11-16	Nightmare	the WORLD	j-rock visual kei
54			ガゼット The GazettE	NIL	j-rock japanese visual kei
73			kaneto-juusei	kobayashiakihitonoisshouha	visual kei
74			kaneto-juusei	[kobayashiakihitonoissshou jo]	visual kei

Related genres

• j-rock
• japanese
• rock
• j-pop
• metal
• emo
• japanese rock
• alternative
• pop
• male vocalists