Nagoya kei


Nagoya kei is an early subgenre of visual kei, developed in the early-1990s music scene of Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya kei was a term that developed before the term visual kei, and gradually died out as the latter gained more popularity. This can be attributed to the fact that Nagoya kei, seems limited to Nagoya, when there were bands that played similar styles in other areas as well. Often considered darker and gloomier than visual kei, nagoya kei takes its musical influences more so from western punk rock bands. The focus of the bands tends to be much less on costume and makeup in favor of more complex musical compositions and concentration on the music itself. Notable nagoya kei bands include Silver~Rose, Laputa, Fanatic Crisis, Kuroyume and Merry Go Round. Bands such as Kein, Lamiel, Phobia, Deadman, Blast, Gullet, The Studs, Deathgaze and Lynch. appeared in the Nagoya area later on, but since the term Visual kei had already become mainstream by then, these bands are generally not considered part of Nagoya kei. Sometimes bands from Nagoya are considered to be Nagoya kei, but this is rather uncommon.