Help me find baroque-rock music!

January 23, 2008 6:04 PM

I enjoy the old Japanese goth band Malice Mizer, mostly the stuff from later in their career. I can take or leave their fancy outfits, but I like the musical style - this is a prime example: ( youtube video ) What other bands play music that is similarly 'cathedral rock'?
posted by thedaniel to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

On the Japanese front, you have Mana's other band - Moi dix Mois.

On the English (speaking) front, you have Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Cradle of Filth (sometimes)...
posted by benzo8 at 6:29 PM on January 23, 2008

My J-Rock listening sphere only intersects MM with X Japan. . .

Art of Life 1/4
Art of Life 2/4
Art of Life 3/4
Art of Life 4/4
posted by panamax at 8:07 PM on January 23, 2008

Response by poster: benzo8 - thanks - i have the first MDM album, and like it. I've listened to all the other bands you listed, except for Within Temptation, and they fall too far on the 'metal/rock' end, where what i'm looking for is something that doesn't subvert that organs and harpsichord sound so much.

panamax - thanks for the links - I picked up that dvd the week it came out in japan :)
posted by thedaniel at 8:34 PM on January 23, 2008

Devin Townsend - Infinity, an album, has a spooky, Addams Family type feel going on for most of its length, especially "Bad Devil".. so get Devin Townsend - Bad Devil, if you only want to test a track. Just found a playable version of the song on YouTube.

A few other bands I've heard with songs in this style are Opeth, Fear Factory, and even HIM although not all (or even much) of their material is in this style.
posted by wackybrit at 1:32 AM on January 24, 2008

My Dying Bride is quite theatrical in a similar way, though a bit more metal.

A Kiss to Remember.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 4:10 AM on January 24, 2008

The genre you're looking for is called "vijuaru-kei" (visual-kei) here. I was surprised to find that the English Wikipedia page has a pretty exhaustive list of Japanese bands that fall under this category.
posted by misozaki at 4:38 AM on January 24, 2008

Visual-kei is really too broad a category since it encompasses Malice Mizer and bands like Antic Cafe - very different groups and musical sounds.

I guess Gackt's work immediately after leaving / getting kicked out of MM might work for you.

Mana just released an all instrumental version of his new Moi Dix Mois album Dixanadu that is fantastic (I am a little biased since I think he is amazing)

Versailles are pretty symphonic (but I think they are inferior to MM and M10M)

on the English front perhaps Evanescence?? I'm kinda rusty there.
posted by Julnyes at 8:46 AM on January 24, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for contributing to the thread, everyone. I've listened to a lot of visual rock since (almost since) the days of X, and like some of it, but bands like Cradle of Filth, etc, are not at all what I'm looking for - much like that Devin Townshend link, it's just straight-ahead rock or metal with some token organs thrown in.

If you follow the link in the original question, I think you'll find it's a lot subtler with its rock instrumentation and has a lot of emphasis on the interwoven melodic lines. That is what I am looking for, not (symphonic) METALLL but SYMPHONIC (metal).
posted by thedaniel at 11:57 AM on January 24, 2008

Yngwie Malmsteen?
posted by jpdoane at 10:10 PM on January 24, 2008

Bear in mind you were asking more for 'cathedral rock' rather than metal-tinged symphonic music. That might change the recommendations, as I know there are certainly quite a few symphonic metal bands that emphasize the symphony rather than the metal, but couldn't be considered to sound anything like 'cathedral rock'.
posted by wackybrit at 8:54 AM on January 25, 2008