Kuroyume

Top-level stars of the golden age of visual kei, Kuroyume ("Black Dream") are comparable with X-Japan and Luna Sea in terms of influence on the J-rock scene of the '90s and 2000s. Teetering on the verge of black metal in their early days, the band later learned to combine pop appeal with a healthy doze of radicalism in both sound and image, serving as a source of inspiration for artists like Merry and Dir en Grey whose vocalist, Kyo, used to be Kuroyume's roadie, an influence mirrored in his fashion and makeup style, drawn on the looks of its frontman Kiyoharu. Kuroyume was f...