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Malice Mizer are truly masters of contrast. When comparing soft melodic tunes like Le Ciel to jackhammering ones like Beast of Blood, it is hard to understand how they can excel in both extremes and everything in between. How often do you hear accordions, electric guitars, violins and drums at the same time? With Malice Mizer, that is just your everyday lineup.
 The
main composer, Mana, is the principal cause of Malice Mizer's unmatched
miscellany. It doesn't matter if it is heavy guitar or soft violin
arrangements; Mana is neutral in every sense of the word. Indeed, cross
dressing has rarely looked that good and the queen of Japanese music has
inspired many with not only music but style and charm, as well. As much as
I try to consider visuals as a simple bonus, they really go to great lengths
to fusion both aspects in one single art. Their shows include theatrical
performances and each album and single comes with a brand new wardrobe,
more outrageous and beautiful than the next.
Malice Mizer used three vocalists during their ten years together. Tetsu, Gackt and Klaha were each special in their own way. The latter two edge the eldest member because of their impressive range and, talent wise, I consider them to be neck to neck. On one side you have this incredibly smooth and silky voice that is Gackt’s versus Klaha’s strong and compelling one. Seeing opportunity in crisis, I think having had problems finding a stable singer has given the band a few more points in diversity... as if they needed it.
Merveilles sadly marks the apogee of this fated group. Gackt decides to leave the band to concentrate on a solo career, taking his important share of fans with him and leaving Malice Mizer without a singer, once again. The real tragedy occurs soon after, when Kami is found dead from cerebral embolism (a blockage of an artery in the brain). The remaining members felt they owed it to Kami to hang on and decided to promote their backup vocalist, Klaha, who surprised everyone but overzealous Gackt fans with his powerful voice.
One album (Bara no Seidou) and several singles later (or December 2001, to be precise), every member agreed the time had come to part. They each had solo projects in mind and Kami’s bereavement certainly affected the group in the long run. I am glad the band dissociated in good terms proving they never let adversity gain the upper hand. Mana's new project, Moi Dix Mois, released its first single, Dialogue Symphonie, on November 19 and started touring Japan immediately after.
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Merveilles
Many of my favourite Malice Mizer songs only exist as singles. I ruled out Memoires because of Tetsu's singing becoming slightly repetitive after a while and I was not extremely fond of Voyage sans Retour. It was then a toss-up between Merveilles and Bara no Seidou, the former winning by a nose. |
If you have never heard anything from Malice Mizer before, this song will probably take you by surprise. Syunikiss perfectly blends Gackt's powerful voice with original symphonic composition. It even has its own interlude with blowing wind sounds and birds chirping.
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Official Site: http://www.malice-mizer.co.jp Klaha's Official Site: http://www.klahainfo.com Közi's Official Site: http://www.kozi.info Eve of Destiny (featuring Közi)'s Official Site: http://www.eveofdestiny.co.uk Mana's Official Site: http://www.midi-nette.com/mana/index2.html Moi Dix Mois (featuring Mana)'s Official Site: http://www.midi-nette.com (Tip: use AltaVista's Babel Fish translator)
English Fan Sites: The Secret World of Malice Mizer: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3507/malice.html
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One
of the many things I like about Malice Mizer is the way they can
fool everyone into falsely preconceiving their music style. Looking scary
by many people's standards, they prove through and through that
appearances can be either deceiving or transparent and that the only way
to find out is to listen... one song at a time. 
