Malice Mizer

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Malice Mizer
Malice Mizer during the merveilles era. (From left to right: Yu~ki, Mana, Gackt, Közi and Kami.)
Malice Mizer during the merveilles era. (From left to right: Yu~ki, Mana, Gackt, Közi and Kami.)
Background information
Origin Japan
Genre(s) Visual Kei
J-Rock
Years active 1992-2001
Label(s) Nippon Colombia
Midi:Nette
Associated
acts		 Moi dix Mois
Website www.malice-mizer.co.jp
Former members
Mana
Klaha
Közi
Yu~ki
Gackt
Kami
Gaz
Tetsu

Malice Mizer was a Japanese band in the visual kei music scene, active from August 1992 to December 2001. Formed by Mana and Közi, the band's name stands for "malice and misery", extracted from their reply, "nothing but a being of malice and misery" — their answer to the question "what is human?". Their earlier music and themes were characterized by their strong French and classical influences, later moving away from deliberate French romanticism and incorporating Gothic-Victorian aspects after several tragedies befell the band. Despite the stated archetypes, Malice Mizer is best recognized as a thoroughly original entity.

Malice Mizer were as famous for their music as for their live shows, featuring lavish historical costumes and stage sets, short silent theatre pieces preluding various songs, whimsical dance routines, and even a particularly notable instance of the vocalist descending to Earth (the stage) as a fallen angel, only to ascend again at the end of the concert. Throughout their history, the band went through several different lineups and three drastic image changes.

On December 11, 2001, it was announced that Malice Mizer would begin an indefinite hiatus.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Tetsu era (1992 – 1994)

Malice Mizer during the Tetsu era. (From left to right: Közi, Yu~ki, Tetsu, Kami and Mana.)
Malice Mizer during the Tetsu era. (From left to right: Közi, Yu~ki, Tetsu, Kami and Mana.)

Malice Mizer was formed in 1992 by Mana and Közi with Tetsu on vocals, both Mana and Közi on guitars/synthesizers, Yu~ki on bass and Gaz on drums. From the outset, the band established their trademark "twin guitar"' sound, whereby two guitars play different melodies creating polyphony. Malice Mizer's sound during the Tetsu era was a mixture of rock, early 1980s goth, and strong classical influences. Their first official release was the song "Speed of Desperate" on the 1993 compilation Brain Trash. Before this, they had released a demo tape called Sans Logique which contained no vocals. Shortly after the release of Brain Trash, Gaz left the band to join Kneuklid Romance, while Kneuklid Romance's drummer Kami in turn joined Malice Mizer. In 1994, the band released their first album, memoire, on Mana's newly founded Indie music label, Midi:Nette, and shortly after re-released it with an additional bonus track ("バロック"; Baroque) under the title memoire DX. Only days later, singer Tetsu left the band. While the exact reasons are unknown, Tetsu went on to take a different direction in his work. The band's continued use of his lyrics in songs they continued to perform with later vocalists suggest an amicable split.

[edit] Gackt era (1995 – 1999)

Malice Mizer during the Gackt era. (From left to right: Mana, Gackt, Kami, Közi and Yu~ki.)
Malice Mizer during the Gackt era. (From left to right: Mana, Gackt, Kami, Közi and Yu~ki.)

In 1995, after a year of inactivity, Malice Mizer recruited Gackt as their new vocalist. With a new concept created by Mana, the band's music became more progressive and complex incorporating even stronger classical,electronical and using instruments like accordion remembering French popular music of the 19th century. Visually, the band abandoned their 1980s goth look for colourful historical costumes always with a gothic feel. In 1996, Malice Mizer released their second album, Voyage 〜sans retour〜. The band became increasingly popular and in 1997 signed with the major label Nippon Columbia, where they released a number of successful singles, a short film ("ヴェル・エール 〜空白の瞬間の中で〜 de l'image"; Bel Air-Verte Aile ~Kuuhaku no shunkan no naka de~ de l'image), and, in 1998, their first and only major label album, merveilles. The band even had their own radio show around this time. In January 1999, at the height of Malice Mizer's success, Gackt was requested to leave the band and after a year started a solo career. Malice Mizer left Nippon Columbia and returned to Mana's Indie music label, Midi:Nette.

A few months after Gackt's departure, drummer Kami died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage on June 21, 1999, leaving behind a handful of songs, which the band eventually released as part of the mini-album/video boxset 神話 (Shinwa ~Kami's Memorial Box~[神話 meaning legend or fairytale]). Kami was never replaced; from that point on, Malice Mizer would only use support drummers (namely Shue, who is not shown in the band's later and final music videos, nor credited) and Kami would be credited as "eternal blood relative" on all their future releases.

[edit] Klaha era (2000 – 2001)

Malice Mizer during the Klaha era. (From left to right: Yu~ki, Mana, Klaha and Közi.)
Malice Mizer during the Klaha era. (From left to right: Yu~ki, Mana, Klaha and Közi.)

In the second half of 1999 and the beginning of 2000, Malice Mizer — still without an official vocalist — released a number of singles and began to work on a new album. Eventually, they recruited Klaha (real name Masaki Haruna), vocalist of visual kei/darkwave band Pride of Mind. By then the band had abandoned the lighter pop music sound of the Gackt era for a dramatic mixture of classical music, gothic/goth and heavy metal music, and adopted an elaborate funeral Goth look. In the summer of 2000, they released what would be their last album, 薔薇の聖堂 (Bara no seidou), followed by a very spectacular and theatrical live show, featuring pyrotechnics, a choir of veiled nuns and a scaled-down cathedral as stage prop. In 2001, Malice Mizer starred in a feature length vampire movie, 薔薇の婚礼 ～真夜中に交わした約束～ (Bara no konrei ~Mayonaka ni kawashita yakusoku~), and released three more singles: Gardenia, Beast of Blood, and Garnet ～禁断の園へ～ (Garnet ~Kindan no sono e~), Gardenia and Garnet being of a considerably lighter tone than their previous album, signifying the start of a new era for the band. Unfortunately, those few singles were all the world would see of the yet again reborn Malice Mizer, as the band members decided to go their own separate ways in 2001, leaving disband messages on their official website, Miroir, which can still be viewed today. The split was spoken of as a "hiatus", however, so as not to exclude the possibility of a future reformation.

[edit] Post projects

After his departure in the beginning of 1999, Gackt started a solo career almost after a year which has been enormously successful; he is now one of Japan's top entertainers and TV personalities. Klaha started a solo career as well in December 2002; as of 2005 the status of his project is uncertain. Mana has formed his own solo project, Moi dix Mois, which has gone on to be a huge phenomena in the underground music scene worldwide, performing live concerts all across Europe. A U.S. tour for 2007 is in the works, according to Mana's personal blog. In addition to the successful solo project, Mana simultaneously pursues a career as fashion designer for his fashion label, Moi-même-Moitié, which focuses on the wildly popular visual kei styles Elegant Gothic Aristocrat (EGA) and Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL). Mana's nickname, "The Queen of Visual" is due to the influence exerted over the fashion world with this brand, in addition to Malice Mizer's theatrical history. He continues to also run his Indie record label, Midi:Nette, and is looking for bands to sign and produce. Közi has joined Haruhiko Ash's Industrial band Eve of Destiny and also has a solo project. After his departure in 1994, Tetsu has subsequently taken part in a series of bands such as Zigzo and Mega 8 Ball and has released one solo album; his most recent being the independently released band nil. The whereabouts of Yu~ki were unknown until he briefly resurfaced in 2004 as lyricist for Közi's single "MEMENTO." He is quoted as being eager to return to the music scene in an informal conversation with Klaha.

[edit] Discography

In several cases, the Japanese titles are given first, followed by the rōmaji titles in square brackets.

[edit] Demo tapes

[edit] Singles

This release is generally romanized as "Bel Air", but sometimes as "Vert Aile". Consensus has not been reached on which interpretation is correct.

[edit] Albums

[edit] VHS

  • Sans retour Voyage "derniere" ～encoure une fois～ (30 June 1997)
  • ヴェル・エール ～空白の瞬間の中で～ de l'image [Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no shunkan (toki) no naka de~ de l'image] (13 July 1997)
  • ヴェル・エール ～空白の瞬間の中で～ de l'image [Bel Air-Verte Aile ~Kuuhaku no shunkan (toki) no naka de~ de l'image] (3 September 1997) - a short film
  • merveilles ～終焉と帰趨～ l'espace [merveilles ~Shuuen to kisuu~ l'espace] (28 October 1998)
  • merveilles -cinq parallele- (24 February 1999)
  • 再会の血と薔薇 ～de l'image～ [Saikai no chi to bara ~de l'image~] (21 December 1999)
  • 虚無の中での遊戲 ～de l'image～ [Kyomu no naka de no yuugi ~de l'image~] (31 May 2000)
  • 薔薇に彩られた悪意と悲劇の幕開け [Bara ni irodorareta akui to higeki no makuake] (22 November 2000)
  • 薔薇の軌跡 [Bara no kiseki] (25 April 2001)
  • Beast of Blood ～de l'image～ (11 July 2001)
  • 薔薇の婚礼 ～真夜中に交わした約束～ [Bara no konrei ~Mayonaka ni kawashita yakusoku~] (22 March 2002)

[edit] DVD

[edit] External links

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