MALICE MIZER

[Saku]

What new can I say about one of the most important and influential bands of our beloved scene?

MALICE MIZER was active from 1992 to 2001. You can separate their music in 3 different eras by their vocalist:

1992-1994 Tetsu’s era
1995-1999 Gackt’s era
2000-2001 Klaha’s era

Let’s talk about how you met them, how they have been present in your life, if you love them or hate them, what’s your favourite era/album/musician.

I start first: They have been in my life since I started to listen Visual Kei, Közi by far is my favourite member because of his looks, that clown look on “Gardenia” is pure perfection. An importan situation that I lived with one of his songs (Au Revoir) was my first break up, I still remember that day because I was listening on my iPod that song so yeah great timing for a girl dumping me.

My favourite era is tetsu’s one because is more gothic and raw on intensity, IMO more post-punk in their guitar work compared to their later releases.

Looking forward to read your responses.

[araxzijk]

for me, it’s Klaha=Gackt>Tetsu. I didn’t get into Tetsu’s voice at first like “most fans”, but later when I started to appreciate Zigzo and Nil and even The JuneJulyAugust, I could accept him and even thought his voice is born for punk rock lol. my fav release of this era is actually, Speed Of Desperate… As for Klaha, what a pity he stopped his rising carrier, I could listen to his three solo album for days even I’m almost 90% against pop music, sarcastically. (btw, the same goes Inzargi’s solo album, the vocalist from Megamasso; and Jui’s solo album, the vocalist of Gotcharocka.) my fav release of Klaha era is MM’s swansong “Garnet”, it’s very underrated, shadowed by “Beast Of Blood” in my opinion. aaand, nothing I could say about Gackt, he’s too good to have his own ttttttude like, Sonic the Hedgehog? lol I mean, he has his own style, very recognizable unlike copycats of the era. I also feel bad as he has concentrated less on music nowadays… my fav release of Gackt’s era is Illuminati. the b/w N.P.S N.G.S is also veeeery industrial which strongly reminds me a bit of Nine Inch Nails or even, Eve Of Destiny.

but hmm, while ppl talking about Malice Mizer, my head is always playing the song “エーゲ～過ぎ去りし風と共に～” as a BGM xDDD

[Total_Saikou]

The only reason I’m as into VK as I am now is thanks to Malice Mizer. They’re still my favourite band after all these years. When I was first getting into VK after falling down the (pretty small at the time) Spotify rabbit hole, I decided to listen to artists not on the platform, so I checked out what artists people were talking about online. I lurked some threads on J-metal and MH and I specifically saw people rave about Malice Mizer, and something about the name struck me… So I looked them up on Youtube, listened to Beast of Blood as my first song and I fell in love… I listened to their discography as much as physically possible for the next few months and the rest is history

It’s always a struggle to pick a favourite era but I’d say that my favourite era of awesome musical output goes to the Gackt era. Bel Air, 月下の夜想曲, Au Revoir… All of their singles from that era are especially interesting, plus I love the romanticism present throughout Voyage and the singles like ma chérie～愛しい君へ～.

My favourite vocalist, though… I’m gonna go with Klaha, he was actually trained in classical opera and you can tell, the man’s got pipes for days. He fit the later, more Gothic sound of MM perfectly. My favourite member is Mana-sama, he is a great musician and role model.

[innominatu]

@Saku

An importan situation that I lived with one of his songs (Au Revoir) was my first break up, I still remember that day because I was listening on my iPod that song so yeah great timing for a girl dumping me.

Oh dear, I’m sorry.

@Saku

My favourite era is tetsu’s one because is more gothic and raw on intensity, IMO more post-punk in their guitar work compared to their later releases.

Their demos are great, memoire is an excellent album and the looks are pure perfection.

[innominatu]

@Total_Saikou

The only reason I’m as into VK as I am now is thanks to Malice Mizer.

I’ll say MM introduced me to Visual Kei and goth (although I only really found out about goth as a scene after seeing a couple of LUCI’FER LUSCIOUS Violenoue’s CDs on a website back in 2004~2005). MM played an important role in shaping my musical taste when I was a teenager. If I remember correctly their first song I listened to was Beast of Blood, but the first era I really listened to was the Gackt era solely because, since they were major at that point, and it was easier to find and download their merveilles album back in the early 2000s. I managed to download bara no seidou after that (talk about falling in love with gothic cathedrals), and the last era I listened to was actually their first - and just like @araxzijk I hated Tetsu’s voice at first, but later I warmed up to it.

Some of my favorite songs include Speed of Desperate, バロック (baroque), 月下の夜想曲 (gekka no yasoukyoku), Syunikiss～二度目の哀悼～, and 白い肌に狂う愛と哀しみの輪舞 (shiroi hada nu kuruu ai to kanashimi no rondo.)

[innominatu]

@Total_Saikou

My favourite member is Mana-sama, he is a great musician and role model.

I used to idolize him when I was 15 But I have to admit that he is a great musician. My husband’s a musician, when I first showed MM to him he was amazed with the twin guitar work.

[Saku]

@araxzijk

my fav release of this era is actually, Speed Of Desperate… As for Klaha, what a pity he stopped his rising carrier, I could listen to his three solo album for days even I’m almost 90% against pop music, sarcastically.

Speed of Desperate is such an awesome song! it’s a unique song even for a “genre” like visual kei

@Total_Saikou

I’m gonna go with Klaha, he was actually trained in classical opera and you can tell, the man’s got pipes for days.

Would you believe me I didn’t know about that? interesting to know things about klaha after so long. It’s so unfortunate that he disappeared from the musical world.

[Saku]

@innominatu

and just like @araxzijk I hated Tetsu’s voice at first, but later I warmed up to it.

@araxzijk

didn’t get into Tetsu’s voice at first like “most fans”, but later when I started to appreciate Zigzo and Nil and even The JuneJulyAugust, I could accept him and even thought his voice is born for punk rock lol.

Yeah, I also think it happened to me with tetsu at first I didn’t like his voice, then over time I started to enjoy his work.

@araxzijk

but hmm, while ppl talking about Malice Mizer, my head is always playing the song “エーゲ～過ぎ去りし風と共に～” as a BGM xDDD

I would love for that to happen in my head.

[araxzijk]

also, too bad Takano Tetsu’s solo project stopped years ago and I actually enjoy that The Ball & Wall album lol
forgot to say, my 2nd fav track of Tetsu era is, “Sadness~I Know The Reason For Her Sadness~”, so so so underrated I’ve never seen any of the M’M fans ever talked about it.
especially the ending part with Tetsu’s “la lala lala~la” part gave me a real feeling of sadness back in the days when I looped this track over and over again…

speaking of Speed Of Desperate, how I wish the preview demo version included in Sans Logique could be finished… it’s rather a different experience comparing with released version. and those instrumental tracks would be much much better with Tetsu’s voice I’d say. oh, even with Kaie’s (Matenrou’s vocal you know) voice would be awesome xD

[Saku]

@araxzijk

orgot to say, my 2nd fav track of Tetsu era is, “Sadness~I Know The Reason For Her Sadness~”, so so so underrated I’ve never seen any of the M’M fans ever talked about it.

I have a “flac” version of that casette but sounds awful. Maybe that’s why fans don’t talk about it.

@araxzijk

speaking of Speed Of Desperate, how I wish the preview demo version included in Sans Logique could be finished… it’s rather a different experience comparing with released version. and those instrumental tracks would be much much better with Tetsu’s voice I’d say. oh, even with Kaie’s (Matenrou’s vocal you know) voice would be awesome xD

Amen to that.

[araxzijk]

and, I’d say Shaura and Seiji really did great jobs in MdM. I’ve heard someone said Shaura’s like Gackt 1.5, kinda agree with it, their voices are similar. and Seiji is definitely not like Klaha at all haha. speaking of which, they also did well in Hizaki Grace Project, Seiji’s track “Mizerable” is also underrated shadowed by Shaura’s version. Hizaki - Dance with Grace - Reviews - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives also there are some viewpoints which are exactly what I’m considering too.

back to M’M, what if Seiji did vocal covers on Klaha era tracks that’d be awkward to think of. ovO