I feel totally lame asking this of people. Mostly because if this were six months to a year ago, I wouldn't have to ask. Recently all I've been listening to is K-rock, and so I've been slowly drifting away from the J-rock scene.
Early this upcoming May I'm going to an anime/Japanese culture convention in Chicago, and I've been saving up my money so I can blow it all on J-rock CDs.

What I'm asking for is some album recommendations (suggesting just artists is fine, but I'd really like to know which albums of theirs are the ones to look for.)
Some general J-rock type things I like: I usually like visual kei, but not always. Generally upbeat-ish (simply meaning don't rec me a ballad compilation). Male vocals (I tend to strongly dislike female vocals... don't ask why. I can't help it.) Screaming is okay to some extent, but if it's in every song I get tired of it.

Just a few bands I like are:
An Cafe
Penicillin
Panic Channel
Pierrot (Unfortunately they disbanded recently... Y_Y Does anyone know how Kirito's solo project is? I haven't heard anything by him yet)
Nightmare
Moi dix Mois (their Dix Infernal album I'm currently addicted to)
GLAY
Luna Sea
etc. etc. etc...

(READ: Just because I listed those above doesn't mean you can't tell me about your favourite albums by them, ne? ^^)
I'm open for anything though. I'd be happy to start listening to anyone. I've heard songs by many bands... Gazette, 12012, Merry, Kagerou, Janne da Arc, Ayabie... and anyone else you can think of 'cos I'm leaving out a lot. o_o;
I've just been waiting for this convention to go out and actually buy albums (to help save on shipping costs. You all know how those go.)

Okay, before I ramble on more and this post REALLY starts going nowhere... Fin.

for Kirito http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/(red)/detailview....?KEY=AVCD-30929
and i recommend D'espairsRay new single xD http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=UMCE-8205

Acidman - ALL THEIR ALBUMS!
Syrup16g - Hell-See
Deadman
D
Bloodthirsty Butchers - Banging the Drum
Aliene Mar'iage - 21st Century
MUCC
The Yellow Monkey
Zi:Kill

gazette is a great band
gotta love their semi old stuff

If you like Penicillin, you'll probably like machine (Hakuei's other band). They're my favorite Jrock band.

machine - Captain Sonic Tune, e.rect
Sex Machineguns - Ignition, Barbe-Q Michael
LUCY - Rockarollica
d[di:] - Dahlia
J
Raphael

Ah let's see...I would definitely recommend these albums for you:

PIERROT-ID Attack (if you don't have it )
Luna Sea-Eden and Shine
Alice Nine-Kasou-Mosoushi
Gazette-NIL and Disorder
Miyavi-Miyavism and -gagaku-
Zilch (Hide's band)-3 2 1
X JAPAN-Blue Blood
Dir en Grey-Withering to Death (new album!), Six Ugly, and Gauze
Penicillin-Union Jap (if you don't have it lol)

and some more pop-ish albums for variety LOL
L'Arc~en~Ciel-AWAKE
Gackt-Diabolos Album, and the specific songs Lust for Blood, Kimi Ga Matteiru Kara, and Asrun Dream

wow that was a lot I hope you find something new you like!

Thanks to everyone whose posted so far.

@ cyberfruit, thanks, I'll deffinately be checking out machine. ^^

@ azn@h3art, actually a few of those you mentioned I had my eye on too, so it's a good thing that you mentioned them. Thanks. ^__^

no regret life
the band apart
art school
radwimps

Plastic Tree - you can try their singles collections
Pierrot - Private Enemy
L'Arc~en~Ciel - AWAKE

I love Kirito's solo stuff, you should try it. ^^

Miyavi-Miyavism and -gagaku-

You need some

Ayabie - Japanese Low-res caramel town, Kuroi Tsukaito shiki negai, Tstsu no Shima, Sokukan ongen shuu, M (some are albums, some are singles) Their music is poppish and fun.

Clips?
Tsuki Koi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZuszRBvqoE
JAPANESE LOW-RES CARAMEL TOWN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEI1BM7dLVM
Taikanshiki zenya http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP_5gSuJk5Q (I have this single)
Daikei http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8eKHtlmZnE
Kiss me now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJqWK1t9oRI
Misery in the dark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpoodvxJtFA
Kuroi tsukai to shikinegai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay2gVLOhMng
=====================================================================

Vidoll - bijinkei, romanesque gothic, mukashi natsukashi soushuuhen+omake tsuki, high style paradox 4~re-acceleration~ (which has 1 kick #ss song called Rope in it). Remind Story is a good song too if you can get it. Their music is dark yet romantice at the same time.

Clips?
Shibun masukomi kankeisha no kata E PV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrTBmYX9Jfc (my fav. vidoll PV)
Ningyo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN3TZA8dOTc
Rope live (I love this dvd too. They are great live) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=650ns4SWcic
Remind story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiILbLNiVgo
Shut down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwQwJa2Yvqk
Itsuwari no Jouzai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-zTgDGo7oo
teddy live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXaMAoK4G9c (I love this DVD)
Chocoripeyes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acaYj3sPvGQ
Occult proposal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GBm5GyVEvM
Fstein toM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk3obgfKq28

=====================================================================

Duel Jewel (their new single Visions is quite good).

Clips?
Hana uta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MZDMHequnk
Chaste Sin live http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJQiBSE9CwQ

=====================================================================

Tokyo Jihen - Adult, Kyoiku

Shiina Ringo - Shoso strip, karuki zamen kuri no hana, ringo no uta single, mayonaka wa junketsu single, stem single, baishou ecstasy dvd (which comes with ichijiku no hana cd) goodies my friend. They are awesome.

Clips?
http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14449&st=0 (has all the info)

=====================================================================

Gazette used to be high on my list, but not anymore. Disorder, Madara, Reila, Zetsu, Miseinen, Zakurogata no Yuutsu, kichiku kyoushi (32 sai dokushin) no nousatu kouza, Gozen 0 ji no torauma are good.

=====================================================================

Nightmare - ultimate circus, ribido, anima are all good albums.

=====================================================================

Sid - Renai, and Hosoikoe are good cds to get.

=====================================================================

alice nine - kaso yume zoshi (contains most of the good singles) I don't really recommend their other stuff =P

Gazette - the best imo. I'd say my favourite songs are Cassis, Reila and Sumire
Alice Nine - Shunkashuutou and Kasou musoushi
Antique Cafe - Funky Fresh Days
L'Arc~en~Ciel - New World, Jiyuu eno shoutai, Lost Heaven
T.M Revolution - Though they're Jpop, Vestige is good
SID - Alibi, 紫陽花

Also Dir en grey if you like them. Not for me though.

OMG i can't read STOLE SOME OF MY RECOMMENDATIONS!

Acidman=everything is good so liek dl all their albums or you'll feel bad
and bloodthirsty butchers banging the drum ftw

and D and Deadman is prety awesome:o
SUPERCAR !
syrup 16g is awesome too

miyavi
gazette
janne da arc ^^

you need some siam shade in your mix. and some sads too

siam shade is old school but still one of my fav. j-rock bands. check it out!

Pierrot- FREEZE
its been in my head all week

Shulla - Chabengeki shono san
their recent best of album
Shulla disbanded lastyear around novemberish? but they were an awesome band
their music composition is similar to nightmare but their vocalists is twice as deep and has this awesome growl singing its weird you gotta take a listen

Wizard - Gemini
they're a fairly new v-kei band, with a great vocalist and music close to gauze sound from dir en grey
they should be a favorite to listen to

Luvie - The florid Red Elixir
these guys rock crazy, their vocalists voice will entrance you along with the great music

Malice Mizer is also good even though they aren't together anymore
Klaha solo work is pretty good. ^^

I recommend ALICE NINE!!!

THey are a very good band.

ALSo they all look very HOT!!!

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant

go to youtube and type in their name. list of videos to choose from.

I say go for some Gackt albums. His latest SINGLE is REDEMPTION, and it's in the game, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. :]

All of PIERROT are good. But they disbanded. >< 1995-2006~ :'<

the TRAX. I only hab three songs of theirs, but I reccommend Paradox the most. :]

Recently i've noticed a new band and they sing in Japanese! they are called M.O.V.E (or is it Move i forgot) and they have a rock kind of music. i've only heard a couple of their songs but i LUV them! i've heard Blast to Desire, Dogfight and Noisy Tribe. they are GREAT songs!

Of course the first band I would recommend is Dir en grey (:. The album I listen to the most often is Gauze but I like all the other ones as well.

In terms of music, Janne da Arc is amazing with each member and I'm a big fan of Due'le quartz. The only problem with DLQ is that Sakito's voice is so horrible you want to rip your ears off. But if you can try to ignore his voice, the music is fantastic.

For the newer bands, I think D is pretty good. Asagi has a nice voice and has improved a lot since his Je*Reviens days. I also love berry, lynch., deathgaze because Hazuki's voice is so awesome.

As for bands I wouldn't buy CDs of, I would not spend money on bis or Gazette or any of those pretty bands with no musical talent. I don't think their cds are worth buying.

Bands I would recommend buying their CDs: Dir en grey, D, Due'le quartz, Janne da Arc, Girugamesh, Duel Jewel, DespairsRay, Kagrra, , L'arc~en~Ciel, Luna Sea, SADS, Malice Mizer, Plastic Tree, Psycho le Cemu, Shulla, X Japan, hide, merry, alice nine.

some jrock bands and artists that i would recommend are dir en grey, alice nine, l'arc~en~ciel, sid, gazette, miyavi, gackt, and hyde

I definitely recommend L'arc~en~ciel, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Remioromen, Luna Sea, Dir En Grey, there are so many others but I can't think of it right now.

can someone tell me who sings this song and song name please?

http://www.xanga.com/Eden823

i really like that song... but i dunno who sings it...

ALICE NINEEE ;D

Dir en grey, any album is beyond awesome, but GAUZE is highly recommended.

Alice Nine. <3333
No Regret Life. <333

Janne da arc - - only because i'm listening to them these days - esp. Arcadia and Joker albums.

edit - lol now it occured to me that you've probably already gone.

ah yeah and Alice Nine. Duh.

And Rentrer en Soi <3

I didn't bother reading what others recommened... so sorry if this is repeated...

If you're not into "hard" type rock, check out... Psycho le Cemu!!! As for thier visual kei style, they dress up like anime characters but it in a comedic type of way. Their music videos are funny and their music is way catchy! They aren't much into the hard type music but have an occasional few. Sadly, they disbanded and formed seperate groups... the lead singer is going solo after getting busted with meth (Daishi), the lead guitarist and drummer formed Dacco, and the other guitarist and bassist formed ISABELLE (which consists of a member from SCISSOR and 2 memebers from Kamikaze Boys).

Songs that I recommend by Psycho le Cemu are:
Sei Excalibur Ken
Genesis
Michi No Sora
LOVE IS DEAD

I didn't want to list all my favorite songs by them cause that would be an extremely long list... but go check them out!

You should definately try getting into MUCC, because they are one of my favourite jrock bands. They aren't strong viskei (the bands you listed mostly are I guess), but they're definately good o_o

Also I guess Girugamesh/Gilgamesh... they're good, like Dir en grey and what not. But I dont really know what their albums are.

deadman, blood, baroque, guniw tools, buck-tick, fatima, miyavi, doremidan, l'arc~en~ciel, and luvie are probably worth trying to get into as well, though I'm just throwing around some popular names. the back horn, thee michelle gun elephant, number girl, and supercar are good bands too but not very visual kei style so eh.

I've heard a couple of Kirito songs, but deleted them. I never really liked his voice =XX It sounded I guess like Pierrot though??

I get in line with all the others who recommended L´Arc~en~Ciel. They just recently became my heroes and champions of my Winamp player Anyways, from day to day, the more I listen to them the more I adore them...
Definitely check out Hyde´s solo stuff, his latest album Faith rocks my socks.

Just yesterday I bumped over a band called fra-foa. Contemporary rock band with female vocalist who has an incredibly beautiful, very feminine yet strong voice, when you listen to her you get the feeling that she´s kinda haunted by something...painful memories maybe?

The Flare, a project by Sugizo (ex Luna Sea member) and vocalist Yuna...great rock music with influences which reach back til the 70s with an anti war theme...unfortunately, after some singles and a full album they disbanded.

Takui! Rock, rock, rock! \m/ Viva Rock, Power to the Music...album titles which stay true to their promises, this guy - influenced a lot by western music but verrry far away from copying it - can surely rock...enough said. Just check him out!

J - also ex Luna Sea member. He rocks, too ^^

Mr Children - hmm, I don´t know much about them...I´m watching this J Drama "Antique" and the title song Youthful Days is stuck in my head since Sunday...so I´m downloading their whole discography, in three hours I´m going to know more

Other J music I enjoy/ed: Luna Sea (my very first step into J music...), THE man...namely Gackt, Fake?, Sugizo´s solos, Love Psychedelico, Do As Infinity (though kind of too pop-ish for my taste)...

*Blech, stops the rambling*

I recommend any song by PLASTIC TREE. Yuki Hotaru and Harusaki Sentimental are <33

QUOTE(miwako @ May 26 2006, 12:20 AM) [snapback]2617323[/snapback]

I recommend any song by PLASTIC TREE. Yuki Hotaru and Harusaki Sentimental are <33

Harusaki Sentimental is beautiful