Malice Mizer (stylized as MALICE MIZER) was a Japanese visual kei rock band active from August 1992 to December 2001. Formed by guitarists Mana and Közi, their earlier music and themes were characterized by their strong French and classical influences, later moving away from deliberate French romanticism and incorporating Gothic aspects after several difficulties befell the band. Their official fan club is named "Ma chérie".
Malice Mizer was as famous for their live shows as they were for their music, featuring lavish historical costumes and stage sets, short silent theater pieces preluding various songs, and even a particularly notable instance of the vocalist descending to Earth (the stage) as a fallen angel, only to ascend again at the end of the concert. Throughout their history, the band has gone through several different lineups and three drastic image changes. At their peak, they were considered one of "the big four of visual kei" alongside La'cryma Christi, Fanatic Crisis and Shazna. On December 11, 2001, it was announced that Malice Mizer would go on an indefinite hiatus. Mana, Közi and bassist Yu~ki have performed together several times since 2010.
History
1992–1994: Tetsu era
After leaving Matenrou, guitarists Mana and Közi formed Malice Mizer in August 1992 with Tetsu on vocals, Yu~ki on bass and Gaz on drums. The band's name is a coined word for "Malice and Misery ", extracted from "Nothing but a being of malice and tragedy." — their reply to the question "What is a human being?" From the outset, the band established their trademark "twin guitar"' sound, whereby two guitars play different melodies creating polyphony. Malice Mizer's sound during the Tetsu era was a mixture of early 1980s gothic rock, progressive rock 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" (a nod to French pop singer Mylène Farmer's hit song "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, after a couple more demos, the band released their debut album Memoire on Mana's newly founded independent record label Midi:Nette. It was re-released at the end of the year with an additional bonus track, "Baroque", under the title Memoire DX. Only days later, singer and lyricist Tetsu left the band after his last gig on December 27, 1994. While the exact reasons are unknown, Tetsu went on to take a different direction in his work. The band's continued use of his lyrics in songs they continued to perform with later vocalists suggest an amicable split.
1995–1999: Gackt era
After almost a year of inactivity, Malice Mizer recruited Gackt as their new vocalist and released the single "Uruwashiki Kamen no Shoutaijou" on December 10, 1995. It was with this single that Malice Mizer started to actively differentiate themselves from other bands; when the song was performed live, Mana and Közi put down their guitars and instead performed a dance routine. With a new concept, the band's music became more art rock and synthpop, incorporating even stronger classical and electronic elements. Visually, the band abandoned their 1980s goth look for colorful historical costumes with a gothic feel.