MALICE MIZER

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 – their answer to the question "what is hu

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 – their answer to the question "what is human?". Malice Mizer were as famous for their one-of-a-kind music as for their spectacular live shows, featuring lavish historical costumes and stage sets, whimsical dance routines and band members flying in suspended from wires. During their rocky history, the band went through several different lineups and three drastic image changes but their work always maintained the highest professional standards. On December 11, 2001, it was announced that Malice Mizer would begin an indefinite hiatus, and the members went their separate ways - effectively disbanding the group.

Malice Mizer was formed in 1992 by Mana and Közi with Tetsu on vocals, both Mana and Közi on guitar/synthesizer, 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 that, together, become the actual guitar part of a song. Malice Mizer's sound during the Tetsu era was a mixture of 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 (Baroque) under the title memoire DX. Only days later, singer Tetsu left the band. While the exact reasons are unknown and subject to a great deal of fan speculation, it is likely that it was simply a matter of creative differences; Tetsu went on to take a different direction in his subsequent work, and demonstrated his own strong vision and leadership.