J-Pop Will Eat Itself
Malice Mizer (Follow-Up)
By: Francis Henville
2004-10-14

Posted 10/15/2004 - 03:01:15 PM by secondnarrows:
	the new punk is goth! for real look @ all those mothers AFI... those other guys..... you know
Posted 10/17/2004 - 01:17:15 AM by Neo_Vincent:
	I remember when my goth(y) friend first introduced me to Malice Mizer...besides thinking that there's no way in hell that Mana could be a guy, I thought that most of their songs were typical J-Pop fare, until seeing some bootleg concerts (one with Gackt, one post Gackt) and hearing a couple of their songs on their greatest hits CD (or something similiar). Of course, by the name I was just getting into the band and its mythology, they'd broken up... But yeah, of all the Visual-Kei, only this one and it's many incarnations (and possibly Dir en Grey) are worth checking out.
Posted 10/18/2004 - 12:16:16 AM by hikarishicho:
	I'm really excited that even after Malice is broken up it's still getting recognition. Especially not just from Japan. It was an awesome band and deserves to get more followers. I got into them right before they disbanded and I'm trying to convert more people to the "dark side". Just to comment on what Neo_Vincent said though. Obviously he doesn't listen to enough Visual-Kei. Malice is like the pinnacle of it, but there are many other awesome bands as well. Granted the mainstream ones currently are not that good, i.e. Kana, but bands like Psycho le Cemu and various indies bands like Jinkaku Radio expand the genre. If people like Malice they should also check out Moi Dix Mois, Mana's new creation. At the very least they should be checked out to explore the wonderful genre of visual-kei. The clothes alone are worth the look. Can you tell I'm a huge visual-kei fan? ^_^
Posted 11/28/2004 - 01:52:23 AM by tiarakiyoshi:
	It's also worth remarking that Mana's primary musical influence was classical. His parents were classical music teachers, so he grew up with it. He later found a fondness for rock and wanted to incorporate the two, with an especial fondness for dueling guitars/harpsichords in mind. I think the greater thing about Malice Mizer is the emphasis of quality over quantity. Other bands have produced ten albums in the time it took them to produce three. With their unearthly looks and sounds, they have really made me ponder their main theme, what is human?