I wanted to share some information i discovered on the band i thought was interesting. In a way makes me miss Kuga more however i feel like its good to know for fans of this band.
On 2015-06-24, the members of LIPHLICH released a single called “SKAM LIFE”. This was also around the time LIPHLICH had a drummer named Maru-chan (Hideki Maruyama). In the word “SKAM LIFE” and the song, used the initials of the four members for the word “SKAM”. At that time each letter represented the LIPHLICH members as followed:
S = Shindo
K = Kuga
A = Arai
M = Maruyama
It was a phrase celebrating all four members of the band which was filled with hopes and dreams for the future. However, this ended when Maru, the drummer at the time, left the band and it eventually became the only LIPHLICH song sealed away, never played again. This was until their tour “SKAM’S LIFE IS DEAD”. I believe it was played one more time there? Not 100% sure on that. There was a time in 2017 it was played. In either case it was a more or less celebratory song i believe it was popular live as well before they removed it from their set lists:
After their drummers departure, Kuga started thinking about death and life. This led him to create the concept of the next album “Be a Snake, Devour Your Tail”. This concept is present in their album: Hebi de Are O wo Kurae (蛇であれ 尾を喰らえ). It begins with the undulation of “Ouroboros” where it died in “Reincarnation”, and then finally revived to the beginning with the song “The Show Must Go On”. If you know the track titles you can probably follow that sentence. How Kuga described the album was, the band LIPHLICH and life itself, is an eternal cycle of life and death. All those feelings are captured here on that album into words:
After this release all future albums would revolve around that same concept of life and death up to the release of CLUB FLEURET. For this album, Kuga mentions that the concept of JACK THE LIPPER’s death. JACK THE LIPPER which represents the bands past, died and became part of everything that is LIPHLICH. This is apart of the same concept of life and death as mentioned previously. This sort of makes sense why JACK THE LIPPER isn’t a track on the album, he is eternal. Kuga goes on to talk about the concepts of life and death ill quote it here the rough translation:
“Death and life are now eternal themes for me.
When creating something new, I create by embracing the past while killing it.
That’s why I can create new things, and why I can always accept the past that keeps piling up beyond that.
Continuing the band—though to put it extremely, humans inevitably die. If I were to die, LIPHLICH would end. In that sense, it will inevitably end someday.
Personal circumstances have made me feel this even more strongly lately.
Even if I wish it wouldn’t end, there is always an end.
My own self and my surroundings, various environments are changing.”
Reading this kinda made me sad in a way, almost a weird sense of foreshadowing of himself. Its almost like he knew but didn’t know at the same time. Anyways this song below is a love letter any fan of LIPHLICH. I hope this brings a sense of understanding to some LIPHLICH fans on some of their concepts/direction. Understanding the concepts of some releases makes me love the band even more. Thank you so much LIPHLICH for your music. 
“The Final Letter from JACK THE LIPPER”
