1994

1996

1992-2001

There are many different sides to Malice Mizer – their elaborate outfits and stageshows, their dual guitar attack, their ‘eras’ (defined by who was singing), the band that gave birth to Gackt, crossdressing non-speaking leader Mana. Over their four albums (plus non-album singles) they showed a lot of variety and versatility; however underneath it all, they did rely on something of a formula to remain fairly consistent throughout their career. Listening to and watching them can be quite an experience, they are a band that invites obsession and devotion from its fanbase.

The lineup changed a few times over the years: Mana (guitar, synth, main songwriter), Közi (guitar, synth, occasional songwriter), Yu~ki (bass), Kami (drums, died 1999 and not replaced); the three vocalists Tetsu, Gackt and Klaha all had their own style and brought something to the band.

Memoire (1994)
Their first album is their most traditionally gothic release, with it flanged guitars (which wouldn’t be out of place with the likes of The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, The Cure) and generally dark themes. Tetsu is quite a distinctive singer, relying on a forceful emotive voice with lots of vibrato; it isn’t hard to see why fans of the ultra-smooth Gackt or faux-operatic Klaha don’t like him (but again, old-school gothic fans shouldn’t have a problem, as he sounds quite a bit like Robert Smith). For me, this is their most consistent album, but at 28 minutes definitely could have been longer. ‘Kioku to Sora’ probably sums up the album best: minor key, baroque allusions, an unpredictable structure and Tetsu wailing over the top (I enjoy his wailing however). ‘Seraph’, the only song written by Közi, is the best showcase for Tetsu’s vocals, with some lovely harmonies over a very saccharinely sweet synth backing (plus a wonderful key change). Also impressive is the bouncy ‘Miwaku no Rooma’, featuring a distinctive synth-violin part, and the beautiful ballad ‘Eege Gekai ni Sasagu’. The final track, ‘Baroque’, used to unquestionably be my favourite; now I can see all its flaws quite clearly (though this doesn’t stop me from loving it). It features some brilliant Bach-quoting on dual guitars, a great two part chorus (the stop-start bit and the falsetto bit) and a rousing finale (“Oh my sweet corpse!”), but for some reason, has a Für Elise guitar solo – 1. No one needs to hear Für Elise again. 2. The song is called ‘Baroque’, but includes a Für Elise quote? It’s from the Classical/Romantic period! Overall, I enjoy this album immensely, but a better summary of the early years would have to be the Tetsu’s Last Live bootleg, documenting Tetsu’s final show with the band (he left over artistic differences). They play nearly every song from the band’s early years (showing that there was surely enough material for another album, but alas, it was not to be) though the sound quality isn’t too great.

Voyage~Sans Retour~ (1996)
This one is completely different to Memoire; the only ‘links’ with the past seem to be ‘Shi no Butou’ and ‘Tsuioku no Kakera’, the former a very catchy dual guitar song and the latter more of the same (though it does sound like something of a prototype for ‘Bel Air’ on the next album). Part of the change is down to new vocalist Gackt – he sounds much more ‘professional’ and trained than Tetsu, he has a very smooth tone and an impressive range (though he is not always to my taste). Probably the biggest letdown with this album is not the lack of guitars, but what they decide to do within this new format. Synths are used throughout to imitate strings and orchestras on, for the most part, fairly unexciting ballads and pop songs that lack energy. When they do decide to up the excitement, on NPS NGS, it ends up in an almost embarrassing industrial dance track that really doesn’t suit the band. This probably does sound overly harsh, but their are some bright points: the aforementioned guitar songs, ‘Madrigal’ with its quite cute and fey sound. But really, they would do the baroque-classical-goth-pop-band thing much better on Merveilles.