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Negru_Voda
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:37 pm
Posts: 301
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:34 am 
 

Just wondering, why is (or was) metal so popular in Japan? Many old heavy metal bands have recorded live albums in Japan, and special Japanese editions of albums continue to be released. I've even seen shows where metal musicians are treated as celebrities. What's the deal? How does metal figure in such a rigid society with so many social norms? Metal is totally different from Japanese pop music, which is usually really melodic, so how can there be such a big market for metal there, if there is one?

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Crick
Despised by 17 Corners of the Universe

Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:11 pm
Posts: 6818
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:40 am 
 

Notice that most metal that has japanese editions is the very flowery side of power metal or the heavy metal with a power metal/NWOBHM sound to it.

The japanese are also strangely infatuated with the oddest things. The whole place is full of a lot of consumers, meaning if you CAN afford to have a japanese release you're going to put more on it to satisfy the hungrier market.
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Scipio333
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:54 pm
Posts: 94
Location: Syria
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:21 am 
 

Negru_Voda wrote:
and special Japanese editions of albums continue to be released.

Regarding this, I remember once reading that CD prices in Japan is slightly more expensive that the average, and thus a CD is packed with more since the consumer is paying more, cant verify it though.

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Negru_Voda
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:37 pm
Posts: 301
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:32 am 
 

Crick wrote:
Notice that most metal that has japanese editions is the very flowery side of power metal or the heavy metal with a power metal/NWOBHM sound to it.


Can you name me some bands like these? I like this style of metal when I hear it, but I don't know what albums specifically to look at.

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netniwk
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:37 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:40 am 
 

I don't know whether they are popular in Japan itself, but old Sigh stuff is some of the best black metal ever made
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Bezerko
Vladimir Poopin

Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:50 am
Posts: 4370
Location: Venestraya
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:45 am 
 

Scipio333 wrote:
Negru_Voda wrote:
and special Japanese editions of albums continue to be released.

Regarding this, I remember once reading that CD prices in Japan is slightly more expensive that the average, and thus a CD is packed with more since the consumer is paying more, cant verify it though.


Pretty much. You have big import costs to Japan so most labels release Japan specific releases so they don't have to ship in stuff from the U.S and Europe. At least, that's how I think it works. :|

Japan really has no greater market for metal than the West does.

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Nyaricus
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:52 pm
Posts: 1214
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:53 am 
 

Have you watched Global Metal? It shows some basic insights into Japanese society and the origins of metal in it (X Japan being one of the main figures in this).

And correct, there are so many Japanese releases of metal albums because the cost of CDs there is, for some reason, much higher than elsewhere in the world (strange, as China - which is where most stuff is made - is right next door) and thus as a selling point artists add on extra tracks to get higher sales there that they otherwise wouldn't.

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Bezerko
Vladimir Poopin

Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:50 am
Posts: 4370
Location: Venestraya
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:04 am 
 

Well China doesn't really manufacture CDs, for reasons I am yet to fathom. They're still produced mostly where they're going to. Even Aus has its own "business", though most of our metal CDs (at least the ones not on Roadcummer and co.) are imported from the E.U. and the U.S.

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steady666
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:21 am
Posts: 368
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:13 am 
 

I've been to Japan recently for the second time. Both times I haven't seen anything remotely metal related at all. Sure I didn't really look but I was kinda hoping to see fellow metalheads around, or at least some metal stores. One thing I did notice is the use of heavy metal songs on the news/tv programs. But that was all. People usually laughed at me when I said I was into metal. :(
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kmiller
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:12 am
Posts: 45
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:29 am 
 

Isn't Marty Friedman regularly featured on a semi-popular TV show over there? I couldn't imagine that happening over here.

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steady666
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:21 am
Posts: 368
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:53 am 
 

kmiller wrote:
Isn't Marty Friedman regularly featured on a semi-popular TV show over there? I couldn't imagine that happening over here.


He's on a few I think. The only one I've seen him in is Rock Fujiyama which is a music gameshow kinda thing.
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Charly546
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:24 am
Posts: 56
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:31 am 
 

Here's an interesting story about Japan:

Rainbow's 1976 tour began in USA and they had problems selling enough tickets, they even opened to better known acts such as Jethro Tull. Now in Europe thing were better - they sold out nearly every show. But in Japan they gained superstar status - hoards of fans besieging hotels and they had to do extra shows just to keep up with the ticket demand.

Similar stories can be found for other bands too.

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awm
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:13 am
Posts: 1209
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:21 am 
 

netniwk wrote:
I don't know whether they are popular in Japan itself, but old Sigh stuff is some of the best black metal ever made

Thank you. Because of this I started listening to Infidel Art

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Atheist_Hero
Contributing Important Stuff

Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:34 pm
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:31 am 
 

In Flames is huge in Japan, there is clearly no accounting for taste...

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Wet Pussy
Waterlogged

Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:13 pm
Posts: 4200
Location: Pakistan
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:40 am 
 

Japan fails for allowing Marty Friedman to live there and re-record a certain classic Megadeth song.
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hellhippie
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:20 pm
Posts: 948
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:14 pm 
 

steady666 wrote:
People usually laughed at me when I said I was into metal. :(


Fuck Them
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steady666
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:21 am
Posts: 368
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:02 pm 
 

hellhippie wrote:
steady666 wrote:
People usually laughed at me when I said I was into metal. :(


Fuck Them


Of course. But japanese babes... haha. Yeah. Metal for life. Next time I go i'll seek out some metal places and check them out. My dream is to have a band that plays at the Budokan... if only I could find a decent drummer... Has anyone else had any experiences in Japan where they have found some metal friends/places/etc???
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~Guest 135210
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:02 pm
Posts: 595
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:11 pm 
 

Japanese go grazy for many things. Every man that is popular in Europe or in America, in Japan will have a greater fame. Even football players such as Baggio, Del Piero or Totti are famous in Japan. They're strange people, really.

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AltoVariago
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:57 am
Posts: 148
Location: Italy
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:34 pm 
 

while its a poppy mix of glam, pop-punk and cyber/anime appereance the "visual-kei" brand of japanese rock is also capable of give birth to songs like this (that retain a great degree of success and airplay)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfiGK1nWUig
(by dir en grey, one of the most metal - and creative - of the field)

on the more alternative side of music they are also the nation of super-doomers Boris anc Corrupted and of legend of "noise-core" like Zeni Geva, that influenced people like EyehateGod and Neurosis
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VanPyro
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:55 pm
Posts: 48
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:09 pm 
 

Stratovarius is strangely popular there....

Some of their home grown metal is pretty good and very melodic in a totally offbeat sorta way...and I MEAN offbeat (2nd clip lol)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9HZgHnGovY
Lost Eden - Time Damages Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oi-8xl7 ... re=related
Blood Stain Child - Pitch Black Room (incorrectly labeled as Freedom)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gVvKI3p ... re=related
Blood Stain Child - Truth (incorrectly labeled as Thruth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S1J451_ ... re=related
Shadow - Wings of Flame (very arch enemy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkQMwUCpQxk
Sorrow of Tranquility - Fly Away

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NARAKU666
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:43 pm
Posts: 1097
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:48 pm 
 

steady666 wrote:
kmiller wrote:
Isn't Marty Friedman regularly featured on a semi-popular TV show over there? I couldn't imagine that happening over here.


He's on a few I think. The only one I've seen him in is Rock Fujiyama which is a music gameshow kinda thing.


in one episode Marty asked Kerry King to play Hotel California, of course Kerry refused to do it
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somefella
Veteran

Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:57 pm
Posts: 3134
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:59 pm 
 

The episode with King was pretty funny. His attitude sorta pissed me off though, he doesn't even compare to Friedman in terms of playing ability, all he can do is riffs.

There's another one with DragonForce on it, pretty lame, Rolly and Li just competed over who could make weirder sounds on a git. The last bit of the episode with Friedman, Rolly, Totman and Li playing the Valley Of The Damned outro saved the day though.

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Lyrici17
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:20 am
Posts: 1445
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:57 am 
 

Wet Pussy wrote:
Japan fails for allowing Marty Friedman to live there and re-record a certain classic Megadeth song.



I will forgive him - as long as it isn't "Tornado of Souls"....
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steady666
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:21 am
Posts: 368
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:44 am 
 

Lyrici17 wrote:
Wet Pussy wrote:
Japan fails for allowing Marty Friedman to live there and re-record a certain classic Megadeth song.



I will forgive him - as long as it isn't "Tornado of Souls"....


Wait what? Hassan was talking about his latest album... where he does re-record Tornado of Souls... is this some kind of trick?
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Khomaniac wrote:
I guess since you're not a Mastodon, you automatically have the best taste in music.

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OlioTheSmall
Handsome (marsupial) Beast

Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:08 pm
Posts: 2731
Location: Squatter's Crog, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:23 am 
 

You are all forgetting Death Panda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPhIGzGH8E
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Lyrici17
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:20 am
Posts: 1445
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:40 am 
 

steady666 wrote:
Lyrici17 wrote:
Wet Pussy wrote:
Japan fails for allowing Marty Friedman to live there and re-record a certain classic Megadeth song.



I will forgive him - as long as it isn't "Tornado of Souls"....


Wait what? Hassan was talking about his latest album... where he does re-record Tornado of Souls... is this some kind of trick?


Nope, no trick... I didn't know which song it was; I was just stating which song I hoped it wasn't [the most] - which sucks, because it looks like that was indeed the song he re-recorded, dumb.
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Wra1th1s
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:04 am
Posts: 327
Location: Indonesia
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:57 am 
 

OlioTheSmall wrote:
You are all forgetting Death Panda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPhIGzGH8E


:headbang::headbang::headbang: I heart Global Metal for showing me this :D

The X Japan clip was also awesome, but a wee bit :gay:
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bladerunnerblues
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:56 pm
Posts: 106
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:29 pm 
 

OlioTheSmall wrote:
You are all forgetting Death Panda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPhIGzGH8E

Has Gene Simmons filed a lawsuit yet?..

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bladerunnerblues
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:56 pm
Posts: 106
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:34 pm 
 

Check this out

Poetic Assassin-Invertri Darkness




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSjP4oS0DwA

Awesome Japanese metal..........:wink:

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Mieresch
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:46 pm
Posts: 680
Location: Romania
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:50 pm 
 

Some japanese bands are really horrible, because they make metal as melodic as possible.

One example of this is Je Reviens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulU1_Cnsvus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlur34HU ... re=related

Plus visual kei = interesting, but pretty gay for a metal band

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Veddartha
Apocalyptic Destroyer of Angels

Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:12 pm
Posts: 492
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:06 pm 
 

Atheist_Hero wrote:
In Flames is huge in Japan, there is clearly no accounting for taste...


In Flames is huge anywhere. Don't blame the japanense. Besides, they compensate that by having Boris and Intestinal Baalism.
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~Guest 98976
Metal Pounder

Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:08 pm
Posts: 8000
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:17 pm 
 

Three words: Heavy Metal Thunder!

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MortalScum
Metalhead

Joined: Fri May 09, 2008 8:13 pm
Posts: 1563
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:14 pm 
 

How can a Japan thread have gone on so long without a mention of Sabbat? One of Japan's best metal bands imo.
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~Guest 98976
Metal Pounder

Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:08 pm
Posts: 8000
PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:41 pm 
 

MortalScum wrote:
How can a Japan thread have gone on so long without a mention of Sabbat? One of Japan's best metal bands imo.


Because somebody didn't read the OP. Good job, bro.

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Wra1th1s
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:04 am
Posts: 327
Location: Indonesia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:20 am 
 

FasterDisaster wrote:
Three words: Heavy Metal Thunder!


I <3 Sex Machineguns too :)
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american_pagan1
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:55 pm
Posts: 77
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:19 am 
 

I can't name any Japanese metal bands off the top of my head, but from what i remember some of the vocals are just fucking fierce! Though I don't speak Japanese and I wouldn't know what the songs are about.
Great sounding music, but if you're into know what the songs or lyrics are about, avoid.
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hornyjohnny
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:40 am
Posts: 171
Location: India
PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:17 am 
 

Do check out Fastkill , King's-Evil ....intense agressive Japanese Thrash

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Waffles
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:02 am
Posts: 66
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:54 am 
 

Veddartha wrote:
Atheist_Hero wrote:
In Flames is huge in Japan, there is clearly no accounting for taste...


In Flames is huge anywhere. Don't blame the japanense. Besides, they compensate that by having Boris and Intestinal Baalism.
Don't forget Corrupted. ;)

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