Ikna

This! We already have enough groups that look like Royz & Co. So I guess it's fine if there is another "we are edgy and dark" band. Also it's VK and in VK bands have copied each other since basically forever. I think it's interesting though how this band went from typical 2010s colourful VK to a darker style as it's normally the other way round (but then we don't have any preview of their new sound yet only a trailer. Maybe they still end up sounding completely different than AvelCain)

now that's a truly powerful feminist response to all that abundant son/dad gay fanfiction, yaaaaas @ this declaration of empowerment and gender equality

Zwei
堕胎者ト盲目ナ中絶児･･69日目ノ阻害
Dataisha to moumoku na chuuzetsuji.. 69 nichime no sogai
An abortionist and a blind aborted child.. termination on the 69th day

赫い赫い「悲命」産み出す　死骸嘔き出す堕罪者と僕
Akai akai 'himei' umidasu
Giving birth to a red red 'sad life'
Shigai hakidasu dazaisha to boku
Me and the sinner squeezing out it's remains
命殺がれた痛み　未遂の僕は許さない
Inochi sogareta itami
Pain slicing pieces off my life
Misui no boku wa yurusanai
The attempt I am won't allow this

残酷なる　痛み　殺し　静かに叫ぶ堕胎者と僕
Zankokunaru
It gets cruel
Itami
Pain
Koroshi
Murder
Shizuka ni sakebu dataisha to boku
Me and an aborted child crying silently
奇形の僕を吊るし　苦痛の喜びさらけ出す
Kikei no boku o tsurushi
They hang up the deformity I am
Kutsuu no yorokobi sarakedasu
Exposing how much they enjoy my agony

…Despair…abash…suicide…
･･in the subconscious･･
･･in the subconscious･･
「DEATH」「VICE」「MAD」「SUICIDE」

･･モウ･･ワラエナイヨ･･「思考」･･歪マサレ･･
..Mou.. waraenai yo.. 'shikou'.. yugamasare..
..I can't laugh.. anymore.. 'my thinking'.. is distorted..
･･痺レ始メタ神経　脳髄ニ異常ガ･･発病･･
..Shibire hajimeta shinkei
..Nerves turning numb
Nouzui ni ijou ga.. hatsubyou..
Disorder attacks.. in my brain..

･･胎児ノ僕ガ崩レル　盲目ニ溶ケ爛レル･･
..Taiji no boku ga kuzureru
..The embryo I am is crumbling
Moumoku ni toketadareru..
Melting,  festering into blindness..
･･切リ刻マレ･･流レ出ス･･肉片トアタマ･･抜ケ殻･･
..Setsuri kizamare.. nagaredasu.. nikuhen to atama.. nukegara..
..Chopped up... pouring out.. pieces of flesh and my head.. cast-off skin..

「interruption」
××××シタ中絶児
××××shita chuuzetsuji
××××ed aborted child

･･Erosion･･to･･sad･･
「zwei」「drei」
･･Erosion･･to･･sad･･
「zwei」「drei」

…腐食シタ体…再生…蘇生シタ脳髄…
...Fushokushita karada… saisei… soseishita nouzui…
...A corroded body... resuscitation... A reorganizing brain...
EINS＝「人差し指」
          'Hitosashiyubi'
          'Index finger'
ZWEI＝「中指」
          'Nakayubi'
          'Middle finger'
DREI＝「薬指」
          'Kusuriyubi'
          'Ring finger'
VIER＝「親指」
          'Oyayubi'
          'Thumb'

･･切断･･
..Setsudan..
..Amputation..
 

生命の終焉
Seimei no shuuen
The demise of existence

Lalala...

思い出の異空間
Omoide no ikuukan
I remember the unusual space
君を…　君を埋葬した
Kimi o...
Where you...
kimi o maisoushita
Where you were buried
この花園には
Kono hanazono ni wa
In this flower garden
幼い罪人達が
Osanai tsumibitotachi ga
Once more, there is one
また、一人
Mata, hitori
Of the childish sinners
薄紅の花が舞うこの夜に
Usubeni no hana ga mau kono yoru ni
Light crimson flowers are dancing through this night
呪われた魔鏡に映された僕達は
Norowareta makyou ni utsusareta bokutachi wa
Reflected in the devils cursed mirror*, we have
自らの手で
Mizukara no te de
Ruined
自らの命を
Mizukara no inochi wo
Our own life
滅びました
Horobimashita
With our own hands
やがて季節は…
Yagate kisetsu wa...
Eventually the season...
また、春になるけど
Mata haru ni naru kedo
Once more, spring is coming, but
この花園にはもう春のかな…
Kono hanazono ni wa mou haru no kana...
I wonder if it's already spring in this flower garden...
 
 
 
---
This doesn't have lyrics printed in the booklet, so I translated it by ear. Bear in mind there can be mistakes~
Thanks to @Uglymouth for helping out!
 
 
makyou - 魔境 actually means "haunts of wicked men" but the second kanji was replaced with 鏡 - "mirror" here (as well as in the title of the album and this 'act'), making it a 'devils mirror'.  As we know by now hisui loves things reflected in mirrors

Just wait for their new look and cd covers.
expecting this :

Frilly, out of tune, cross dresser shit recorded on a $15 budget by bandmen whom barely know how to play their instruments. The more chinchillas, feathers, && leathers, the better. Faux-french and / or clavichords are an added bonus.

Getting caught for tax evasion, selling faked "rare" demo tapes of your first bands to sell online for money, and fabricating stories about your hospitalization complete with pictures ripped off of Google are not what I would call "small things". Those are what I would call big things, and I could remember those three things off the top of my head. Kisaki has a knack for drawing lots of attention to himself, mostly negative. I'm pretty sure he's an attention succubus and thrives on it to keep himself going.

Also another thread where we can discuss this whole "old VK is better/worse" thing (Gaz posted a link to another thread)
 
The title of this thread is definitely misleading a bit. Also everyone else has said, what's to say and mentioned the shift in interests, copyright and so on. I want to add a bit of my perspective, mainly from my subjective experience with the Austrian and German fanbase, which is mostly based on real life experiences (with my rather tiny and small local VK fanbase) and what i have witnessed on several national and German Forums, Boards and Websites.
 
I came in contact with VK in 2003 and 2004. I have heard of it even earlier in Anime Magazines, but didn't pay any attention to it. Back at this time it was difficult to get information on VK bands. Only if you have been to Japan yourself you would have come into contact with more obscure indies bands. The groups that were known over here were all the big groups, the ones signed to major labels or which were pretty popular and well established: Dir en grey, Malice Mizer, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Pierrot, L'arc~en~Ciel, Moi dix Mois and Gackt (technically not VK, but he was in Malice and so appealed to the european fans). My first real experience with VK was, when the distributor Gan-Shin was founded and started to release some VK CDs here. Mind you, they were still hard to get, at least in Austria. Only one store carried Dir en grey and Moi dix Mois' albums and so I bought them. The only reason why I knew about these bands was because of Manga magazines.
 
I am sure there were several people in the early 00s who came to VK not through the Anime "Scene" but I'll say for the majority of the fanbase at this time this was the entrance. Let's say 90% of the German fanbase at least was compromised of Manga reading Weaboos, who threw around japanese words in their German sentences, because it was so cool and so on. VK appealed to them, because they already lived in a fantasy world and bubble, where everything is "kawaii" and where Japan was the garden Eden of the Earth, filled with hot crossdressing men. The Anime fandom was very big at the time, as we were still in the midst of the Anime and Manga boom, which started somewhere in the mid to late 90s. Everything japanese was considered "fresh", "new" and "exotic".
 
Now more then 10 years have passed and surely the world isn't the same. Nowadays everything is much more accessible. You don't need to spend shitton of money and habe patience to be able to get your hands on a new CD of your favourite VK band. You can buy their CD now easily in Online Stores or just download them. The Anime and Manga boom is over too. Being a Weaboo was always frowned upon, but today it seems to have become an even heavier stigma. In the 00s young teens still could go away trying to appear unique and cool by dressing up as self proclaimed "Visus" (yeah, they really saw Visual kei as some kind of subculture…) and shout "people who criticize me just don't understand it!". But if you do this today, then you are considered highly immature, dumb and annoying.
 
Of course most of those "Visus" grew out of it (and very fast). Almost no one of these people I knew (and have even seen in real life) sticked to it. Most of them moved on and became "normal". Others entered other subcultures in the course of the 00s (such as Scene and recently Hipster). A big majority of them don't even want to remember their old self, when they cosplayed as Kyo or Ruki daily (even to school) and probaböy washed their hair only once every 8 days (I am not joking. Many Visus' outfits and body hygiene were bad). I have to say that the current and modern fanbase isn't nearly as crazy as the old one. The cosplays and outfits have gotten better and I feel the amount of delusional fans has started to decrease.
 
So simply put: because it was new and because the Anime/Manga community offered a quick and well guided portal to it, VK was very popular here between 2004 and 2008. It was still fresh and the many japanese oriented fansites and boards were often the only information sources – hence there was also a bit more of a sense of community. Many places were similiar in activity and interest as MH is now. People regulary chatted about what band X is doing, even if the topics were often arbitrary. When I look into the same forums today, there is almost no activity left. That surely gives you the impression as if the VK fan scene would be dead. But MH actually disproves it. I'd say that since VK has become "normalized" and doesn't seem so new and exotic anymore (and since many people have stopped paying attention to it), the scene has become a lot smaller.
 
It's true however (but that's more for the new vs old VK thread) that many people left the scene, because the music has changed and they don't pay any attention to newer releases. I am sure some of them still enjoy the old music they have come to like, but they don't care about any new releases or bands. I myself had stopped listening to VK between 2006 and 2007 (which was a rather short pause anyway). VK lost some fans, as it started to become different, but as you can see it also gained new ones. I guess we could discuss this as some kind of generational conflict (as many of the new fans are in the age we old ones were when we first discovered VK, but yet grew up with other music and have different tastes) in the other thread.
 
Also finally: are music videos really that important anymore? I have the feeling that it's not only limited to VK, but the overall music scene. Music videos don't seem to have the same value as they did maybe 10 or 20 years ago, when MVs were broadcasted on MTV (when it was still mainly a music TV channel) and MVs were often produced with high budget. My mom used to own Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on VHS and it was the extended long edition with Making of. The VHS was probably around 2 or 3 hours. It was expensive, but she loved it and watched it many times. How often do we modern consumers watch a MV? Would we buy a MV with making of for 20-30€? I don't think so. Many people have stated they watch PVs and MVs one time on youtube and never again. We live in a world, where everything has started to become fast lived and is consumed like Junk Food. This is logical, because the WWW offers so much and in masses at a few clicks. Our consuming behaviour isn't the same, so I guess the aproach to MVs and PVs has changed drastically. I know a band which personally would like to make MVs for their music, but they don't do it, because they know people would watch them one time and it would be more expensive and profitable. And before they are forced to do a 0815 cheap low budget one they rather produce none.

Also another thread where we can discuss this whole "old VK is better/worse" thing (Gaz posted a link to another thread)
 
The title of this thread is definitely misleading a bit. Also everyone else has said, what's to say and mentioned the shift in interests, copyright and so on. I want to add a bit of my perspective, mainly from my subjective experience with the Austrian and German fanbase, which is mostly based on real life experiences (with my rather tiny and small local VK fanbase) and what i have witnessed on several national and German Forums, Boards and Websites.
 
I came in contact with VK in 2003 and 2004. I have heard of it even earlier in Anime Magazines, but didn't pay any attention to it. Back at this time it was difficult to get information on VK bands. Only if you have been to Japan yourself you would have come into contact with more obscure indies bands. The groups that were known over here were all the big groups, the ones signed to major labels or which were pretty popular and well established: Dir en grey, Malice Mizer, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Pierrot, L'arc~en~Ciel, Moi dix Mois and Gackt (technically not VK, but he was in Malice and so appealed to the european fans). My first real experience with VK was, when the distributor Gan-Shin was founded and started to release some VK CDs here. Mind you, they were still hard to get, at least in Austria. Only one store carried Dir en grey and Moi dix Mois' albums and so I bought them. The only reason why I knew about these bands was because of Manga magazines.
 
I am sure there were several people in the early 00s who came to VK not through the Anime "Scene" but I'll say for the majority of the fanbase at this time this was the entrance. Let's say 90% of the German fanbase at least was compromised of Manga reading Weaboos, who threw around japanese words in their German sentences, because it was so cool and so on. VK appealed to them, because they already lived in a fantasy world and bubble, where everything is "kawaii" and where Japan was the garden Eden of the Earth, filled with hot crossdressing men. The Anime fandom was very big at the time, as we were still in the midst of the Anime and Manga boom, which started somewhere in the mid to late 90s. Everything japanese was considered "fresh", "new" and "exotic".
 
Now more then 10 years have passed and surely the world isn't the same. Nowadays everything is much more accessible. You don't need to spend shitton of money and habe patience to be able to get your hands on a new CD of your favourite VK band. You can buy their CD now easily in Online Stores or just download them. The Anime and Manga boom is over too. Being a Weaboo was always frowned upon, but today it seems to have become an even heavier stigma. In the 00s young teens still could go away trying to appear unique and cool by dressing up as self proclaimed "Visus" (yeah, they really saw Visual kei as some kind of subculture…) and shout "people who criticize me just don't understand it!". But if you do this today, then you are considered highly immature, dumb and annoying.
 
Of course most of those "Visus" grew out of it (and very fast). Almost no one of these people I knew (and have even seen in real life) sticked to it. Most of them moved on and became "normal". Others entered other subcultures in the course of the 00s (such as Scene and recently Hipster). A big majority of them don't even want to remember their old self, when they cosplayed as Kyo or Ruki daily (even to school) and probaböy washed their hair only once every 8 days (I am not joking. Many Visus' outfits and body hygiene were bad). I have to say that the current and modern fanbase isn't nearly as crazy as the old one. The cosplays and outfits have gotten better and I feel the amount of delusional fans has started to decrease.
 
So simply put: because it was new and because the Anime/Manga community offered a quick and well guided portal to it, VK was very popular here between 2004 and 2008. It was still fresh and the many japanese oriented fansites and boards were often the only information sources – hence there was also a bit more of a sense of community. Many places were similiar in activity and interest as MH is now. People regulary chatted about what band X is doing, even if the topics were often arbitrary. When I look into the same forums today, there is almost no activity left. That surely gives you the impression as if the VK fan scene would be dead. But MH actually disproves it. I'd say that since VK has become "normalized" and doesn't seem so new and exotic anymore (and since many people have stopped paying attention to it), the scene has become a lot smaller.
 
It's true however (but that's more for the new vs old VK thread) that many people left the scene, because the music has changed and they don't pay any attention to newer releases. I am sure some of them still enjoy the old music they have come to like, but they don't care about any new releases or bands. I myself had stopped listening to VK between 2006 and 2007 (which was a rather short pause anyway). VK lost some fans, as it started to become different, but as you can see it also gained new ones. I guess we could discuss this as some kind of generational conflict (as many of the new fans are in the age we old ones were when we first discovered VK, but yet grew up with other music and have different tastes) in the other thread.
 
Also finally: are music videos really that important anymore? I have the feeling that it's not only limited to VK, but the overall music scene. Music videos don't seem to have the same value as they did maybe 10 or 20 years ago, when MVs were broadcasted on MTV (when it was still mainly a music TV channel) and MVs were often produced with high budget. My mom used to own Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on VHS and it was the extended long edition with Making of. The VHS was probably around 2 or 3 hours. It was expensive, but she loved it and watched it many times. How often do we modern consumers watch a MV? Would we buy a MV with making of for 20-30€? I don't think so. Many people have stated they watch PVs and MVs one time on youtube and never again. We live in a world, where everything has started to become fast lived and is consumed like Junk Food. This is logical, because the WWW offers so much and in masses at a few clicks. Our consuming behaviour isn't the same, so I guess the aproach to MVs and PVs has changed drastically. I know a band which personally would like to make MVs for their music, but they don't do it, because they know people would watch them one time and it would be more expensive and profitable. And before they are forced to do a 0815 cheap low budget one they rather produce none.

Also another thread where we can discuss this whole "old VK is better/worse" thing (Gaz posted a link to another thread)
 
The title of this thread is definitely misleading a bit. Also everyone else has said, what's to say and mentioned the shift in interests, copyright and so on. I want to add a bit of my perspective, mainly from my subjective experience with the Austrian and German fanbase, which is mostly based on real life experiences (with my rather tiny and small local VK fanbase) and what i have witnessed on several national and German Forums, Boards and Websites.
 
I came in contact with VK in 2003 and 2004. I have heard of it even earlier in Anime Magazines, but didn't pay any attention to it. Back at this time it was difficult to get information on VK bands. Only if you have been to Japan yourself you would have come into contact with more obscure indies bands. The groups that were known over here were all the big groups, the ones signed to major labels or which were pretty popular and well established: Dir en grey, Malice Mizer, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Pierrot, L'arc~en~Ciel, Moi dix Mois and Gackt (technically not VK, but he was in Malice and so appealed to the european fans). My first real experience with VK was, when the distributor Gan-Shin was founded and started to release some VK CDs here. Mind you, they were still hard to get, at least in Austria. Only one store carried Dir en grey and Moi dix Mois' albums and so I bought them. The only reason why I knew about these bands was because of Manga magazines.
 
I am sure there were several people in the early 00s who came to VK not through the Anime "Scene" but I'll say for the majority of the fanbase at this time this was the entrance. Let's say 90% of the German fanbase at least was compromised of Manga reading Weaboos, who threw around japanese words in their German sentences, because it was so cool and so on. VK appealed to them, because they already lived in a fantasy world and bubble, where everything is "kawaii" and where Japan was the garden Eden of the Earth, filled with hot crossdressing men. The Anime fandom was very big at the time, as we were still in the midst of the Anime and Manga boom, which started somewhere in the mid to late 90s. Everything japanese was considered "fresh", "new" and "exotic".
 
Now more then 10 years have passed and surely the world isn't the same. Nowadays everything is much more accessible. You don't need to spend shitton of money and habe patience to be able to get your hands on a new CD of your favourite VK band. You can buy their CD now easily in Online Stores or just download them. The Anime and Manga boom is over too. Being a Weaboo was always frowned upon, but today it seems to have become an even heavier stigma. In the 00s young teens still could go away trying to appear unique and cool by dressing up as self proclaimed "Visus" (yeah, they really saw Visual kei as some kind of subculture…) and shout "people who criticize me just don't understand it!". But if you do this today, then you are considered highly immature, dumb and annoying.
 
Of course most of those "Visus" grew out of it (and very fast). Almost no one of these people I knew (and have even seen in real life) sticked to it. Most of them moved on and became "normal". Others entered other subcultures in the course of the 00s (such as Scene and recently Hipster). A big majority of them don't even want to remember their old self, when they cosplayed as Kyo or Ruki daily (even to school) and probaböy washed their hair only once every 8 days (I am not joking. Many Visus' outfits and body hygiene were bad). I have to say that the current and modern fanbase isn't nearly as crazy as the old one. The cosplays and outfits have gotten better and I feel the amount of delusional fans has started to decrease.
 
So simply put: because it was new and because the Anime/Manga community offered a quick and well guided portal to it, VK was very popular here between 2004 and 2008. It was still fresh and the many japanese oriented fansites and boards were often the only information sources – hence there was also a bit more of a sense of community. Many places were similiar in activity and interest as MH is now. People regulary chatted about what band X is doing, even if the topics were often arbitrary. When I look into the same forums today, there is almost no activity left. That surely gives you the impression as if the VK fan scene would be dead. But MH actually disproves it. I'd say that since VK has become "normalized" and doesn't seem so new and exotic anymore (and since many people have stopped paying attention to it), the scene has become a lot smaller.
 
It's true however (but that's more for the new vs old VK thread) that many people left the scene, because the music has changed and they don't pay any attention to newer releases. I am sure some of them still enjoy the old music they have come to like, but they don't care about any new releases or bands. I myself had stopped listening to VK between 2006 and 2007 (which was a rather short pause anyway). VK lost some fans, as it started to become different, but as you can see it also gained new ones. I guess we could discuss this as some kind of generational conflict (as many of the new fans are in the age we old ones were when we first discovered VK, but yet grew up with other music and have different tastes) in the other thread.
 
Also finally: are music videos really that important anymore? I have the feeling that it's not only limited to VK, but the overall music scene. Music videos don't seem to have the same value as they did maybe 10 or 20 years ago, when MVs were broadcasted on MTV (when it was still mainly a music TV channel) and MVs were often produced with high budget. My mom used to own Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on VHS and it was the extended long edition with Making of. The VHS was probably around 2 or 3 hours. It was expensive, but she loved it and watched it many times. How often do we modern consumers watch a MV? Would we buy a MV with making of for 20-30€? I don't think so. Many people have stated they watch PVs and MVs one time on youtube and never again. We live in a world, where everything has started to become fast lived and is consumed like Junk Food. This is logical, because the WWW offers so much and in masses at a few clicks. Our consuming behaviour isn't the same, so I guess the aproach to MVs and PVs has changed drastically. I know a band which personally would like to make MVs for their music, but they don't do it, because they know people would watch them one time and it would be more expensive and profitable. And before they are forced to do a 0815 cheap low budget one they rather produce none.

Also another thread where we can discuss this whole "old VK is better/worse" thing (Gaz posted a link to another thread)
 
The title of this thread is definitely misleading a bit. Also everyone else has said, what's to say and mentioned the shift in interests, copyright and so on. I want to add a bit of my perspective, mainly from my subjective experience with the Austrian and German fanbase, which is mostly based on real life experiences (with my rather tiny and small local VK fanbase) and what i have witnessed on several national and German Forums, Boards and Websites.
 
I came in contact with VK in 2003 and 2004. I have heard of it even earlier in Anime Magazines, but didn't pay any attention to it. Back at this time it was difficult to get information on VK bands. Only if you have been to Japan yourself you would have come into contact with more obscure indies bands. The groups that were known over here were all the big groups, the ones signed to major labels or which were pretty popular and well established: Dir en grey, Malice Mizer, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Pierrot, L'arc~en~Ciel, Moi dix Mois and Gackt (technically not VK, but he was in Malice and so appealed to the european fans). My first real experience with VK was, when the distributor Gan-Shin was founded and started to release some VK CDs here. Mind you, they were still hard to get, at least in Austria. Only one store carried Dir en grey and Moi dix Mois' albums and so I bought them. The only reason why I knew about these bands was because of Manga magazines.
 
I am sure there were several people in the early 00s who came to VK not through the Anime "Scene" but I'll say for the majority of the fanbase at this time this was the entrance. Let's say 90% of the German fanbase at least was compromised of Manga reading Weaboos, who threw around japanese words in their German sentences, because it was so cool and so on. VK appealed to them, because they already lived in a fantasy world and bubble, where everything is "kawaii" and where Japan was the garden Eden of the Earth, filled with hot crossdressing men. The Anime fandom was very big at the time, as we were still in the midst of the Anime and Manga boom, which started somewhere in the mid to late 90s. Everything japanese was considered "fresh", "new" and "exotic".
 
Now more then 10 years have passed and surely the world isn't the same. Nowadays everything is much more accessible. You don't need to spend shitton of money and habe patience to be able to get your hands on a new CD of your favourite VK band. You can buy their CD now easily in Online Stores or just download them. The Anime and Manga boom is over too. Being a Weaboo was always frowned upon, but today it seems to have become an even heavier stigma. In the 00s young teens still could go away trying to appear unique and cool by dressing up as self proclaimed "Visus" (yeah, they really saw Visual kei as some kind of subculture…) and shout "people who criticize me just don't understand it!". But if you do this today, then you are considered highly immature, dumb and annoying.
 
Of course most of those "Visus" grew out of it (and very fast). Almost no one of these people I knew (and have even seen in real life) sticked to it. Most of them moved on and became "normal". Others entered other subcultures in the course of the 00s (such as Scene and recently Hipster). A big majority of them don't even want to remember their old self, when they cosplayed as Kyo or Ruki daily (even to school) and probaböy washed their hair only once every 8 days (I am not joking. Many Visus' outfits and body hygiene were bad). I have to say that the current and modern fanbase isn't nearly as crazy as the old one. The cosplays and outfits have gotten better and I feel the amount of delusional fans has started to decrease.
 
So simply put: because it was new and because the Anime/Manga community offered a quick and well guided portal to it, VK was very popular here between 2004 and 2008. It was still fresh and the many japanese oriented fansites and boards were often the only information sources – hence there was also a bit more of a sense of community. Many places were similiar in activity and interest as MH is now. People regulary chatted about what band X is doing, even if the topics were often arbitrary. When I look into the same forums today, there is almost no activity left. That surely gives you the impression as if the VK fan scene would be dead. But MH actually disproves it. I'd say that since VK has become "normalized" and doesn't seem so new and exotic anymore (and since many people have stopped paying attention to it), the scene has become a lot smaller.
 
It's true however (but that's more for the new vs old VK thread) that many people left the scene, because the music has changed and they don't pay any attention to newer releases. I am sure some of them still enjoy the old music they have come to like, but they don't care about any new releases or bands. I myself had stopped listening to VK between 2006 and 2007 (which was a rather short pause anyway). VK lost some fans, as it started to become different, but as you can see it also gained new ones. I guess we could discuss this as some kind of generational conflict (as many of the new fans are in the age we old ones were when we first discovered VK, but yet grew up with other music and have different tastes) in the other thread.
 
Also finally: are music videos really that important anymore? I have the feeling that it's not only limited to VK, but the overall music scene. Music videos don't seem to have the same value as they did maybe 10 or 20 years ago, when MVs were broadcasted on MTV (when it was still mainly a music TV channel) and MVs were often produced with high budget. My mom used to own Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on VHS and it was the extended long edition with Making of. The VHS was probably around 2 or 3 hours. It was expensive, but she loved it and watched it many times. How often do we modern consumers watch a MV? Would we buy a MV with making of for 20-30€? I don't think so. Many people have stated they watch PVs and MVs one time on youtube and never again. We live in a world, where everything has started to become fast lived and is consumed like Junk Food. This is logical, because the WWW offers so much and in masses at a few clicks. Our consuming behaviour isn't the same, so I guess the aproach to MVs and PVs has changed drastically. I know a band which personally would like to make MVs for their music, but they don't do it, because they know people would watch them one time and it would be more expensive and profitable. And before they are forced to do a 0815 cheap low budget one they rather produce none.

Also another thread where we can discuss this whole "old VK is better/worse" thing (Gaz posted a link to another thread)
 
The title of this thread is definitely misleading a bit. Also everyone else has said, what's to say and mentioned the shift in interests, copyright and so on. I want to add a bit of my perspective, mainly from my subjective experience with the Austrian and German fanbase, which is mostly based on real life experiences (with my rather tiny and small local VK fanbase) and what i have witnessed on several national and German Forums, Boards and Websites.
 
I came in contact with VK in 2003 and 2004. I have heard of it even earlier in Anime Magazines, but didn't pay any attention to it. Back at this time it was difficult to get information on VK bands. Only if you have been to Japan yourself you would have come into contact with more obscure indies bands. The groups that were known over here were all the big groups, the ones signed to major labels or which were pretty popular and well established: Dir en grey, Malice Mizer, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Pierrot, L'arc~en~Ciel, Moi dix Mois and Gackt (technically not VK, but he was in Malice and so appealed to the european fans). My first real experience with VK was, when the distributor Gan-Shin was founded and started to release some VK CDs here. Mind you, they were still hard to get, at least in Austria. Only one store carried Dir en grey and Moi dix Mois' albums and so I bought them. The only reason why I knew about these bands was because of Manga magazines.
 
I am sure there were several people in the early 00s who came to VK not through the Anime "Scene" but I'll say for the majority of the fanbase at this time this was the entrance. Let's say 90% of the German fanbase at least was compromised of Manga reading Weaboos, who threw around japanese words in their German sentences, because it was so cool and so on. VK appealed to them, because they already lived in a fantasy world and bubble, where everything is "kawaii" and where Japan was the garden Eden of the Earth, filled with hot crossdressing men. The Anime fandom was very big at the time, as we were still in the midst of the Anime and Manga boom, which started somewhere in the mid to late 90s. Everything japanese was considered "fresh", "new" and "exotic".
 
Now more then 10 years have passed and surely the world isn't the same. Nowadays everything is much more accessible. You don't need to spend shitton of money and habe patience to be able to get your hands on a new CD of your favourite VK band. You can buy their CD now easily in Online Stores or just download them. The Anime and Manga boom is over too. Being a Weaboo was always frowned upon, but today it seems to have become an even heavier stigma. In the 00s young teens still could go away trying to appear unique and cool by dressing up as self proclaimed "Visus" (yeah, they really saw Visual kei as some kind of subculture…) and shout "people who criticize me just don't understand it!". But if you do this today, then you are considered highly immature, dumb and annoying.
 
Of course most of those "Visus" grew out of it (and very fast). Almost no one of these people I knew (and have even seen in real life) sticked to it. Most of them moved on and became "normal". Others entered other subcultures in the course of the 00s (such as Scene and recently Hipster). A big majority of them don't even want to remember their old self, when they cosplayed as Kyo or Ruki daily (even to school) and probaböy washed their hair only once every 8 days (I am not joking. Many Visus' outfits and body hygiene were bad). I have to say that the current and modern fanbase isn't nearly as crazy as the old one. The cosplays and outfits have gotten better and I feel the amount of delusional fans has started to decrease.
 
So simply put: because it was new and because the Anime/Manga community offered a quick and well guided portal to it, VK was very popular here between 2004 and 2008. It was still fresh and the many japanese oriented fansites and boards were often the only information sources – hence there was also a bit more of a sense of community. Many places were similiar in activity and interest as MH is now. People regulary chatted about what band X is doing, even if the topics were often arbitrary. When I look into the same forums today, there is almost no activity left. That surely gives you the impression as if the VK fan scene would be dead. But MH actually disproves it. I'd say that since VK has become "normalized" and doesn't seem so new and exotic anymore (and since many people have stopped paying attention to it), the scene has become a lot smaller.
 
It's true however (but that's more for the new vs old VK thread) that many people left the scene, because the music has changed and they don't pay any attention to newer releases. I am sure some of them still enjoy the old music they have come to like, but they don't care about any new releases or bands. I myself had stopped listening to VK between 2006 and 2007 (which was a rather short pause anyway). VK lost some fans, as it started to become different, but as you can see it also gained new ones. I guess we could discuss this as some kind of generational conflict (as many of the new fans are in the age we old ones were when we first discovered VK, but yet grew up with other music and have different tastes) in the other thread.
 
Also finally: are music videos really that important anymore? I have the feeling that it's not only limited to VK, but the overall music scene. Music videos don't seem to have the same value as they did maybe 10 or 20 years ago, when MVs were broadcasted on MTV (when it was still mainly a music TV channel) and MVs were often produced with high budget. My mom used to own Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on VHS and it was the extended long edition with Making of. The VHS was probably around 2 or 3 hours. It was expensive, but she loved it and watched it many times. How often do we modern consumers watch a MV? Would we buy a MV with making of for 20-30€? I don't think so. Many people have stated they watch PVs and MVs one time on youtube and never again. We live in a world, where everything has started to become fast lived and is consumed like Junk Food. This is logical, because the WWW offers so much and in masses at a few clicks. Our consuming behaviour isn't the same, so I guess the aproach to MVs and PVs has changed drastically. I know a band which personally would like to make MVs for their music, but they don't do it, because they know people would watch them one time and it would be more expensive and profitable. And before they are forced to do a 0815 cheap low budget one they rather produce none.

Also another thread where we can discuss this whole "old VK is better/worse" thing (Gaz posted a link to another thread)
 
The title of this thread is definitely misleading a bit. Also everyone else has said, what's to say and mentioned the shift in interests, copyright and so on. I want to add a bit of my perspective, mainly from my subjective experience with the Austrian and German fanbase, which is mostly based on real life experiences (with my rather tiny and small local VK fanbase) and what i have witnessed on several national and German Forums, Boards and Websites.
 
I came in contact with VK in 2003 and 2004. I have heard of it even earlier in Anime Magazines, but didn't pay any attention to it. Back at this time it was difficult to get information on VK bands. Only if you have been to Japan yourself you would have come into contact with more obscure indies bands. The groups that were known over here were all the big groups, the ones signed to major labels or which were pretty popular and well established: Dir en grey, Malice Mizer, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Pierrot, L'arc~en~Ciel, Moi dix Mois and Gackt (technically not VK, but he was in Malice and so appealed to the european fans). My first real experience with VK was, when the distributor Gan-Shin was founded and started to release some VK CDs here. Mind you, they were still hard to get, at least in Austria. Only one store carried Dir en grey and Moi dix Mois' albums and so I bought them. The only reason why I knew about these bands was because of Manga magazines.
 
I am sure there were several people in the early 00s who came to VK not through the Anime "Scene" but I'll say for the majority of the fanbase at this time this was the entrance. Let's say 90% of the German fanbase at least was compromised of Manga reading Weaboos, who threw around japanese words in their German sentences, because it was so cool and so on. VK appealed to them, because they already lived in a fantasy world and bubble, where everything is "kawaii" and where Japan was the garden Eden of the Earth, filled with hot crossdressing men. The Anime fandom was very big at the time, as we were still in the midst of the Anime and Manga boom, which started somewhere in the mid to late 90s. Everything japanese was considered "fresh", "new" and "exotic".
 
Now more then 10 years have passed and surely the world isn't the same. Nowadays everything is much more accessible. You don't need to spend shitton of money and habe patience to be able to get your hands on a new CD of your favourite VK band. You can buy their CD now easily in Online Stores or just download them. The Anime and Manga boom is over too. Being a Weaboo was always frowned upon, but today it seems to have become an even heavier stigma. In the 00s young teens still could go away trying to appear unique and cool by dressing up as self proclaimed "Visus" (yeah, they really saw Visual kei as some kind of subculture…) and shout "people who criticize me just don't understand it!". But if you do this today, then you are considered highly immature, dumb and annoying.
 
Of course most of those "Visus" grew out of it (and very fast). Almost no one of these people I knew (and have even seen in real life) sticked to it. Most of them moved on and became "normal". Others entered other subcultures in the course of the 00s (such as Scene and recently Hipster). A big majority of them don't even want to remember their old self, when they cosplayed as Kyo or Ruki daily (even to school) and probaböy washed their hair only once every 8 days (I am not joking. Many Visus' outfits and body hygiene were bad). I have to say that the current and modern fanbase isn't nearly as crazy as the old one. The cosplays and outfits have gotten better and I feel the amount of delusional fans has started to decrease.
 
So simply put: because it was new and because the Anime/Manga community offered a quick and well guided portal to it, VK was very popular here between 2004 and 2008. It was still fresh and the many japanese oriented fansites and boards were often the only information sources – hence there was also a bit more of a sense of community. Many places were similiar in activity and interest as MH is now. People regulary chatted about what band X is doing, even if the topics were often arbitrary. When I look into the same forums today, there is almost no activity left. That surely gives you the impression as if the VK fan scene would be dead. But MH actually disproves it. I'd say that since VK has become "normalized" and doesn't seem so new and exotic anymore (and since many people have stopped paying attention to it), the scene has become a lot smaller.
 
It's true however (but that's more for the new vs old VK thread) that many people left the scene, because the music has changed and they don't pay any attention to newer releases. I am sure some of them still enjoy the old music they have come to like, but they don't care about any new releases or bands. I myself had stopped listening to VK between 2006 and 2007 (which was a rather short pause anyway). VK lost some fans, as it started to become different, but as you can see it also gained new ones. I guess we could discuss this as some kind of generational conflict (as many of the new fans are in the age we old ones were when we first discovered VK, but yet grew up with other music and have different tastes) in the other thread.
 
Also finally: are music videos really that important anymore? I have the feeling that it's not only limited to VK, but the overall music scene. Music videos don't seem to have the same value as they did maybe 10 or 20 years ago, when MVs were broadcasted on MTV (when it was still mainly a music TV channel) and MVs were often produced with high budget. My mom used to own Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on VHS and it was the extended long edition with Making of. The VHS was probably around 2 or 3 hours. It was expensive, but she loved it and watched it many times. How often do we modern consumers watch a MV? Would we buy a MV with making of for 20-30€? I don't think so. Many people have stated they watch PVs and MVs one time on youtube and never again. We live in a world, where everything has started to become fast lived and is consumed like Junk Food. This is logical, because the WWW offers so much and in masses at a few clicks. Our consuming behaviour isn't the same, so I guess the aproach to MVs and PVs has changed drastically. I know a band which personally would like to make MVs for their music, but they don't do it, because they know people would watch them one time and it would be more expensive and profitable. And before they are forced to do a 0815 cheap low budget one they rather produce none.

I've been listening to them more lately. At the beginning I couldn't stand Karma's voice either, but it started to grow on me. His voice sure has some similarity with Yuuki's, but Karma's singing style is still very different. I wouldn't call the band old school though, as they remind me more of the typical 2002 upwards Nagoya kei stuff. Except we tag everything from before 2007 as old school now. 2004-2006 was the time I was getting into VK, so AvelCain's sound is pretty familiar for me and I really like it. (I blame the Nostalgia factor)
 
They find a good balance between heavyness, aggressiveness, melody and gloom. I tend to like their fucked up crazy and chaotic songs, i really enjoy when Karma's blabbering perverse things, laughs and screams. You know already, I am the kind of person who likes the batshit insane side of VK. So their band concept is pretty appealing too. It made me laugh however, when some people on tumblr shit their pants because Karma sings about slitting his wrists. Sure, he does some questionable stuff (such as cutting his wrists and showing pics online), but well… I guess some other artists perfomances must be the apocalypse (Throbbing gristle, anyone?). So yeah, a pretty fine and interesting band.

What happened in Ferguson last night was a disgrace on all sides involved. It was pathetic. It was horrendous. It was grotesque. It was fucking stupid.
 
 
There was an instance where a teen (black teen as this is no doubt, the focus of the entire issue) was shot by a cop, and protests began.
 
 
WHAT happened -- We do not know as there are several conflicting reports (one side says Brown was shot with his hands up, the other said the kid made a grab for an officer's gun with a friend before trying to run away).
 
 
HOW did it happen -- We do not know as there are several conflicting reports (see above)
 
 
 
With that in mind, this group (there's no beating around the bush, all Black) were angered and sought justice for what they believed happened -- so they began a peaceful protest at the sight of the shooting. Soon after, officers (some with K-9 units) entered the scene as is customary of police to do in the states. Oddly enough, though there is the freedom of speech, there are pathways you have to go through in the legal system to get approval for a rally / demonstration (were there? Not to the best of my knowledge). It just so happens that due to a larger group gathering at the scene, more officers had to be called in. With the increased violence against police, you can understand why lots of cops show up even when apprehending just one subject, let alone an entire gathering of people. 
 
Soon after police were present, SOMETHING happened.
 
 
WHAT happened -- We don't know as there are conflicting reports (see above)
 
 
 
What happened after, what we do know, gets worse. An officer beaten outside of a Taco Bell, several stores (numbered ~14) were broken into, vandalized (one set on fire), and robbed for all of their merchandise. Multiple gun shots, helicopters shot at, rocks thrown at police, etc. Afterwards, these groups kept moving through Ferguson with just a few reports of break ins happening shortly after the mob moved out at around 3 AM.
 
 
 
 
This demonstration, originally built as a peaceful protest demanding justice for the kid shot, turned into a free-for-all "take everything you can" (as quoted from one member of the mob, female) that had nothing to do with Police, and had nothing to do with the kid that was shot. This becomes even more clear when a large group of the "protesters" (i.e. mob) were people coming out of town well after the riot broke out.
 
 
 
 
 
So what does this all mean?
 
 
 
Is this a "revolution"? Is this Blacks fighting for equality? Is this "The Man" stepping on minorities and preventing them from living free? The short answer, to all of those, is no.
 
 
 
 
"Is this a revolution?" - The ignorant (yes, ignorant) seem to think so. One look on Twitter (#ferguson) reveals a whole shit load of justification for the incredibly stupid acts that transpired last night. "We are standing up for ourselves", "Only violence can end oppression", (various quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), etc. The problem though, IS WHAT PART OF A FUCKING REVOLUTION INVOLVES BREAKING INTO A LOCALLY-OWNED RIM SHOP, AND LOOTING 1 SINGLE 22" RIM FOR YOURSELF? AND IN THE PROCESS, DESTROYING ALL PROPERTY IN SAID STORE JUST TO GET THE MERCHANDISE? With the family of Mike Brown speaking out AGAINST the riots, this paints a different picture. This wasn't a "revolution", this was a mob that got out of control and decided to take matters into their own hands.
 
 
"Blacks fighting for equality" - This tends to happen when a black teen is shot, or when any member of the Black community is at the mercy of a police force. Though institutionalized racism is still very much a thing, this matter is completely unrelated. This has nothing to do with workplace discrimination, or discrimination in education, or in the government offices. This has to do with a teen that was shot in an altercation with police (whatever the instance was). It pisses me off that people are so quick to make a racial divide in a matter when it isn't called for. People wanted answers to what happened. But instead of sticking around and asking the serious questions, they robbed convenience stores and walked out with handfuls of liquor and food.
 
 
"The Man" - This is the most intriguing part, and one that I feel has SOME merit, even when as a whole it doesn't. This very well could be an instance where a cop was quick to gun a kid down, and IF THIS WAS THE CASE, then the peaceful protestors in Ferguson are absolutely right to want answers. An investigation (regardless) should be done, and those accountable should be held accountable. BUT, what if the police reports are true? What if (after FBI investigation and third-party investigation has finished) Mike Brown DID make a move for an officer's gun? Then what does that make of the actions of those involved (remember: many rioters were coming from out of town, NOT rioting because they were upset at police, though some were).
 
 
And don't even get me started on this MLK bullshit. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man that taught to avoid doing EXACTLY THIS. It makes me sick that people are now hiding behind his quotes to reason something he would never have stood for in the first place.
 
 
 
 
What transpired the other evening was not a revolution. it wasn't right, it wasn't justified, and it sure as hell was not going to help the cause taken up by the peaceful protesters.
 
 
 
What this did. What the rioters HOPED it would do, will have the opposite effect. People will not turn to the cause of what happened in Ferguson, of anarchy, of robbing CHICKEN PLACES, of robbing SPORTING GOODS STORES, and say "THAT IS AN IDEAL I STRIVE FOR" No. Whenever a group of people resort to barbarism, they instantly lose any credibility to their cause when there are outlets to access to bring those accountable to justice.
 
 
What the Rioters (they are NOT protestors) did last night was fucking pathetic.
 
 
 
 
EDIT: and perhaps the most fascinating point of all. Police did not shoot and kill one Rioter. If this was truly a "revolution" rising up against oppression, those cops would not have hesitated to shoot. Yet they didn't. Not once. Suspects were taken into custody.

But he was already pretty clear about it. It's not a cover, it's the same recordings he said.
 
 
Normally I would suspect that some random seller on Yahoo wanted to make some money and just faked the tape. But Kisaki's official site confirms the cover and tracklist and it's pretty weird in itself that the tracklist is 2/3 of the Nude-of-J tape. Which is another thing, the Nude-of-J tape has 3 tracks, so it's not just that the tape somehow ended up in the wrong case, someone must have gone through the trouble to copy over those 2 songs specifically.
 
 
Aaaaand there's more. I recently got the mp3s for another purported early Kisaki band, SHEY≠DE, via trade. It was later brought to my attention that they were probably fake. Fake files can happen in trades, although my source was usually a very realible one. One of the tapes I got is also on Kisaki's homepage, this one:
 
http://kisaki-official.syncl.jp/?p=shop&id=530032&af=
 
So, I showed my files to another japanese guy I know who's very knowledgable about old vk stuff, he said the tape I got was actually by a band called INSANITY.
 
And here's where it gets interesting.
 
Upon googling a bit I found this old auction where somebody was selling that old INSANITY tape: http://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/w80588066/
 
The tracklist is slightly different, but look at the cover! It's the same as on Kisakis page, except that one is red!
 
 
For comparison:
 

瑠璃の雫 by SHEY≠DE
 
1. insanity
2. XXXXX
3. 夢遊病者
 
 

Unnamed tape by INSANITY
 
1. 恋模様
2. Desert Labyrinth
3. 瑠璃の雫
 
The first song on the SHEY≠DE tape has been altered with the name of the actual band (!), and the second one has been replaced with xxxxx (!!). The third song of the INSANITY tape was used as title for the SHEY≠DE tape (!!!). Now that's creative! But hey, at least he came up with a COMPLETLY NEW fake name for the 3rd song this time. And he re-colored the cover in Photoshop. That's gotta be worth something, right?
 
The INSANITY tape was sold for 1000 Yen btw. The seller could have asked for a lot more for a SHEY≠DE tape, so there's no reason whatsoever for him to fake a SHEY≠DE tape into an INSANITY tape.
 
 
At first I thought I was spoofed by a tricky trader. But there seems to be more to it. So after the dubious LAYBIAL and Levia tapes.... make it three.

黒装束ノ調ベ
Kuroshouzoku no shirabe
Melody dressed in black

残虐を望む踊り子よ　理想の死に場所で首を吊れ
Zangyaku wo nozomu odoriko yo
Hey danseuse, since you want torture
Risou no shinibasho de kubi wo tsure
Look for the best place to die and hang yourself
腐りゆくマネキンに見写れば『黒い呪縛』が・・・
Kusari yuku manekin ni miutsureba "kuroi jubaku" ga...
When the decaying mannequin's view captures me this "black curse" is...
 
lalalalalala...

エグリ出した眼球が痛い
Eguri dashita gankyuu ga itai
Your gouged eyesockets hurt

飛び散る肉片を拾い集め
Tobichiru nikuhen wo hiroi atsume
Gather the scattered shreds of flesh

願い続けた十字架の前
Negai tsuzuketa juujika no mae
I kept praying before the cross

『盲目な逆子の血が欲しい・・・』
"Moumoku na sakago no chi ga hoshii..."
"I ache for the blood of that blind breech birth..."

黒い夢　無情な刻　せせら笑うマリアと影に
Kuroi yume
Black dream
Mujou na toki
Heartless hour
Sesera warau maria to kage ni
With a scornfully laughing Maria in the shadows

永久に　閉ざした　孤独の中で
Eikyuu ni
Eternally
Tozashita
Confined
Kodoku no naka de
In loneliness
 
XXX

悲しみに狂う踊り子は　醜く果てる精神異常者
Kanashimi ni kuruu odoriko ha
A danseuse gone insane in grief
Minikuku hateru seishin ijou sha
An unsightly perishing psycho

切り取られ…　さらけだした…
Kiri torare...
Mutilated...
Sarake dashita...
Denuded...
剥き出しの愛し×××
Muki dashi no aishi xxx
Exposing her sweet xxx
 
lalalalalala...

鮮血を浴びる干からびた体
Senketsu wo abiru hikarabita karada
Showering my parched body in fresh blood

憐れむ罪人達の嘆き
Awaremu tsumibitotachi no nageki
The grieving sinner's lamentations

辿り着いた理想郷の果て
Tadori tsuita risoukyou no hate
The end of utopia we struggled so hard to reach

黒装束をまとう愛しい人よ
Kuroshouzoku wo matou itoshii hito yo
My darling dressed in black

『不協』奏でる『賛美歌』を歌いなさい
"Fukyou" kanaderu "sanbika" wo utai nasai
Sing to me the "jarringly"-played "hymn"

黒い夢　無情な刻　せせら笑うマリアと影に
Kuroi yume
Black dream
Mujou na toki
Heartless hour
Sesera warau maria to kage ni
With a scornfully laughing Maria in the shadows

道化師に　導かれ　死臭漂う…
Doukeshi ni
Led by
Michibikare
The pierrot
Shishuu tadayou
Smell of corpses is drifting along

『これが理想郷なのか…』
"Kore ga risoukyou na no ka..."
"So this is utopia...?"

割れる月　踊る首　逃げまどう子供達の姿
Wareru tsuki
Bursting moon
Odoru kubi
Dancing neck
Nigemadou kodomotachi no sugata
The figures of children running about to escape

鳴り止まない　鐘の音に　終末の情景を描いた
Nari yamanai
Incessantly ringing
Kane no oto ni
The sound of chimes
Shuumatsu no joukei wo egaita
They painted a picture of the end of the world

missantroop

私の中で消えゆく空よ
Watashi no naka de kie yuku sora e
To the sky, vanishing inside of me
今は何も信じられず
Ima wa nani mo shinjirarezu
Now that I can't believe in anything anymore
一人眠りたい
Hitori nemuritai
I want to sleep alone
刹那すぎる悲劇の物語は
Setsunasugiru higeki no monogatari wa
The tale of an unbearibly painful disaster
冷たい雨に消えていく
Fades away in the cold rain
Tsumetai ame ni kieteyuku
いつまでも貴女だけを愛しているから…
Itsumademo anata dake o aishiteiru kara
Because I love only you, forever...
そして僕も貴女の
Soshite boku mo anata no
Eventually I'll come
側へ…
Soba e...
By your side...
 
憂鬱な目覚めに　鏡を見つめれば
Yuutsu na mezame ni
When I wake up depressed
Kagami o mitsumereba
And look into the mirror
忘れたい事実が　無情に映し出される
Wasuretai jijitsu wa
I see the reality I wanted to forget
Mujou ni utsushi dasareru
Heartlessly reflected

悲しみに抱かれて　僕は一人孤独に
Kanashimi ni idakareta
While I was, embraced by sorrow,
Boku wa hitori kodoku ni
By myself and
脅えながら　君だけを凝視めていた
Obienagara
Afraid of loneliness
Kimi dake o mitsumeteita
I gazed at only you


造花の花は　哀しい物語に咲くでしょう
Zouka no hanabira wa
The blossoms of artificial flowers
Kanashii monogatari ni saku deshou
May bloom in sad fairytales
その花はきっと貴女の死顔にも似て
Sono hana wa kitto anata no shigao ni mo nite
And I'm sure those blossoms resemble your dead face

忘れられない夜に　冷酷な貴女が
Wasurerarenai yoru ni
In that night that I can't forget
Reikokuna anata ga
When I was stained
最後に見せた綺麗な毒色の嘘に染まりゆけば
Saigo ni miseta kireina dokushoku no uso ni somari yukeba
By the beautiful poisoncoloured lie you coldheartedly revealed in the end

私の中で消えゆく空よ
Watashi no naka de kie yuku sora e
To the sky, vanishing inside of me
今は何も信じられず
Ima wa nani mo shinjirarezu
Now that I can't believe in anything anymore
一人眠りたい
Hitori nemuritai
I want to sleep alone

切なすぎる二人の終りは
Setsunasugiru futari no owari wa
Our unbearibly painful end
冷たい雨に消えてゆく
Tsumetai ame ni kieteyuku
Fades away in the cold rain

この夢が醒めないうちに　貴女の幻と
Kono yume ga samenai uchi ni
As long as I don't wake up from this dream
Anata no maboroshi to
I want to be kissing
永遠に接吻けていたい
Towa ni toshizuketeitai
This illusion of you forever

悲しみに抱かれて　僕は一人孤独に
Kanashimi ni idakareta
While I am, embraced by sorrow,
Boku wa hitori kodoku ni
By myself and
脅えながら　君だけを凝視めていた
Obienagara
Afraid of loneliness
Kimi dake o mitsumeteitai
I only want to gaze at you

愛しすぎる貴女の姿を思い出せば
Itoshii sugiru anata no sugata o omoidaseba
When I recall your unbearibly dear figure

なぜか涙は止まらず
Naze ka namida wa tomarazu
Somehow my tears won't stop
悲しすぎる貴女の終わりは、
Kanashi sugiru anata no owari wa
And your unbearibly sad end
冷たい雨に消えてゆく
Tsumetai ame ni kieteyuku
Fades away in the cold rain

そしてまた朝が来ればあの憂鬱が
Soshite mata asa ga kureba ano yuutsu ga
And then, when another morning comes I guess
僕を悩ませるんだろう
Boku o nayamaseru'ndarou
I'll suffer from depression again

いつまでも君の為に唄うよ
Itsumademo kimi no tame ni utau yo
Eternally I will be singing for you
流した涙の数だけ幸せに……なろう
Nagashita namida no kazu dake shiawase ni... narou
I'll find peace just by the number of tears I shed...

白昼夢の惨劇
Hakuchuumu no sangeki
Daydream tragedy


「絶望が生み出した   惨劇の悪夢
「Zetsubou ga umidashita
"Despair made me dream
Sangeki no akumu
Of a tragedy
　　　真昼に見た黒い太陽は,   重くのしかかる非哀情」
Mahiru ni mita kuroi taiyou wa
The black sun I saw in midday was
Omoku no shika karu hiaijou」
Feigned sadness weighing heavily on me"

狂い始めた知的生命体　憂鬱の陰に隠れて時を待つ
Kurui hajimeta chiteki seimei
I lost control over my intelligent mind
Yuuutsu no kage kakurete toki o matsu
Waiting for the right moment, hidden in the shadow of depression
一握りの天才が作り上げた　破滅のシナリオ
Hitonigiri no tensai wa tsukuri ageta
A handful of prodigies could enact
Hametsu no shinario
This scenario of destruction

暗い空の下  運命の時は迫り
Kurai sora no shita
Under a dark sky
Unmei no toki wa semari
The moment of destiny drew near
なにも知らない君は幸せそうで...
Nani mo shiranai kimi wa totemo shiawase sou de
And you, unaware, seemed so happy...

時は止まり　黒い空が
Toki ga tomari  
Time stood still
Kuroi sora ga
The black sky had
無情に　産み落とした
Mujou ni  
Coldly
Umi otoshita
Given birth to
惨劇と　黒い太陽
Sangeki to
This tragedy and
Kuroi taiyou
A black sun that
一瞬にして“死”の情景を描いた
Isshou ni shite "shi" no joukei o egaku
For a second, depicted the spectacle of "death"

黒い太陽が君を溶かし　
Kuroi taiyou ga kimi o tokashi
The black sun was melting you
奇形な肉の塊と姿を変えた
Kikei na niku no katamari to sugata o kaete
And you turned into a deformed lump of flesh

屍の海の中で何度も君の名を呼び続けたけど
Shikabane no umi no naka de nandomo kimi o yobu kedo
In a sea of dead bodies I kept calling your name over and over and yet
二度と目を覚まさず一筋の涙が流れた
Nido to me o samasazu hitosuji no namida ga nagarete
A trickle of tears ran down from those eyes you'd never open again

僕は、君の涙を嘗め　最後の戯れをした夜
Boku wa,
I,
Kimi no namida o name
Tasted your tears
Saigo no tawamure o shita ato
That night after playing with you for the last time
君を箱に詰め「僕も逝くよ…」と空を眺めた
Kimi o hako ni tsume
I packed you into a box,
 「Boku mo yuku yo...」
Saying "I will leave, too..."
To sora o nagamete
I stared into the sky

黒い太陽が僕を溶かし・・・
Kuroi taiyou ga boku o tokashi…
The black sun will melt me...

「でも僕は　すぐに悲しくなんかなくなった
「Demo boku wa
"But immediately
Sugu ni kanashiku nanka nakunatta
My sadness was gone somehow
ずっと君は一緒だから・・・
Zutto kimi wa issho dakara...
Because you're always with me...
ずっと君は生きているから・・・
Zutto kimi wa ikiteiru kara...
Because you'll always live on...
ずっと君は僕を見つめているから・・・
Zutto kimi wa boku o mitsumeteiru kara...
Because you're always watching over me...
僕の大好きだった君の目玉を
Boku no daisuki datta kimi no medama o
Your eyes that I loved so much
僕の大好きだった君の眼球を
Boku no daisuki datta kimi no gankyuu o
Your eyeballs that I loved so much
ずっと僕は・・・
Zutto boku wa...
I have always...
ずっと君は・・・
Zutto kimi wa...
You were always...
ずっと君は僕を見つめていた
Zutto kimi wa boku o mitsumeteita
You were always watching over me
ずっと君は僕を凝視めていた」
Zutto kimi wa boku o gyoushimeteita」
You were always staring at me"

「ずっと君と一緒だから・・・
「Zutto kimi to issho dakara...
"Because I'm always with you...
ずっと君は生きているから・・・
Zutto kimi wa ikiteiru kara...
Because you'll always live on...
ホルマリン漬けにしてあげたから　僕は大好きな君の瞳を
Horumarin zuke ni shite ageta kara
Because I preserved them in formalin
Boku wa daisukina kimi no hitomi o
Your eyes that I love so much
小さな瓶の中にホルマリン漬けにして　ずっと今でも愛している」
Chiisana bin no naka ni horumarin zuke ni shite
In a small bottle, preserved in formalin
Zutto imademo aishiteiru」
Always, even now I still love them"

君が僕に残していった　　一つの小さな生命を
Kimi ga boku ni nokoshiteitta
You left them for me
Hitotsu no chiisana inochi o
A tiny piece of life
瓦礫の海の中でそっと君から取り出して
Gareki no umi no naka de sotto kimi kara toridashite
In the sea of wreckage I gently salvaged them from you

僕は君の生まれ変わった　　この小さな少女に
Boku wa kimi no umarekawatta
Your reincarnation
Kono chiisana shoujo ni
This little girl
君と同じ名前を名付け、ずっと愛し続けた
Kimi to onaji namae o nazuke, zutto aishi tsuzuketa...
I gave her your name and kept loving her forever...

やがて時は過ぎ君と同じ歳になった少女を…
Yagate toki wa sugi kimi to onaji sai ni natta shoujo o
Time passed and soon she was your age...
「少女の目玉をエグリ出し」
「Sono shoujo no medama o eguri dashi」
"I tore that girl's eyes out"
君の眼球を植え付けずっと愛し続けた
Kimi no gangyuu o ue tsuke zutto aishi tsuzuketa...
I grafted your eyeballs into the empty sockets and kept loving you forever...
 
-------
 
 
Please note that while the romaji (=sung version) always differs a little from the original in Hisuis lyrics, they do so especially in this one.
The lyrics are in past tense but a big part of them is sung in present tense or no tense at all, many words are simply omitted.
The two middle parts (in quotation marks) are not printed in the booklet, but taken from the 白昼夢の惨劇 live limited single's case. (One version had the lyrics, the other one the middle parts)

video link
 
血染めの喜劇
chizome no kigeki
Bloodstained Comedy

鏡を見つめれば死の輪郭を映す
Kagami wo mitsumereba shi no rinkaku wo utsusu
If I look into the mirror I see death's silhouette

赤く染めた血染めの未来で
akaku someta chizome no mirai de
In a future that's dyed red in blood

悲鳴に似た産声を上げ
himei ni nita ubugoe wo age
Emitting our first cry, as if screaming for help

奇形な僕と未熟な君が存在した
kikei na boku to mijukuna kimi ga sonzai shita
There we were, me, misshapen and you, premature

十字架に吊るされた半狂乱の姿
juujika ni tsurusareta hankyouran no sugata
The half-crazed figure hanging on a cross

蘇る罪の重さに耐え切れず…
yomigaeru tsumi no omosa ni tae kirezu
Unable to carry the weight of the resurrected sin

気が付けば幻覚に生きる
ki ga tsukeba genkaku ni ikiru
If she regains consciousnes, she'll live an illusion

幼きして「あの世近く感じた」
osanaki shite "ano yo chikaku kanjita"
So childish, "I sensed the netherworld so close"


血染めた喜び殺めた悲しみを置き去りに
chizometa yorukobi ayameta kanashimi wo okizari ni
Bloodstained joy, murdered sorrow, leaving it all behind

惨殺の快楽を恐怖に閉じ込めれば
zansatsu no kairaku wo kyoufu ni tojikomereba
If I shut up my lust to slaughter with fear

震えた体抱き締めきれず笑えてしまう
furueta karada dakishime kirezu waraete shimau
Unable to bear your trembling body's embrace I'll start to laugh

奇形児と未熟児の戯れ
kikeiji to mijuku ji no zare
A deformed child and a premature baby's play

video link
 
オペラ座の悲劇
Operaza no higeki
Disaster at the opera house


深く錆び付いた夜の中で　暗く悲しい物語を演じる
Fukaku sabi tsuita yoru no naka de
In the middle of a night deeply covered in rust
Kuraku kanashii monogatari wo enjiru
I'll perform this dark sad story
醜い顔を仮面で隠し　誰も邪魔をさせない僕の恋だから
Minikui kao wo kamen de kakushi
My ugly face hidden behind a mask
Dare mo jama wo sasenai boku no koi dakara
I won't allow anyone to disturb me for this is my love

華やかな舞台の幕は閉ざされ
Hanayakana butai no maku wa tozasare
As the gorgeous stage was closed
美しい死骸に僕は魅せられた
Utsukushii shigai ni boku wa miserareta
I was seduced by your beautiful corpse
何も見させない僕以外は
I won't let you see anything but me*
仮面を抜き捨て狂いだせば
Kamen wo nuki sute kurui daseba
If I pull down my mask and let the madness show
仮面を外した顔を見た君が　そして
You'll see my unmasked face*
And then *
悲劇の幕は今開かれる
Higeki no maku wa ima hirakareru
The disaster has lifted it's curtain now

貴女の見る物すべて　僕が奪いそして君の声
Anata no miru mono subete
Everything you see
Boku ga ubai soshite kimi no koe
I will take from you and then your voice
姿を腐乱させた美少女と共に　深い闇へ墜ちて逝く
Sugata wo kaeta shoujo to tomo ni
Together with a beautiful girl whose figure I allowed to decay
Fukai yami e ochite iku
I'm falling into deep darkness

我が命　短命故に　君を愛さなければ良かった
Waga inochi
For this life
Tanmei yue ni
Is so short
Kimi wo aisanakereba yokatta ne
I had better not loved you

腐蝕の闇に君の死骸が
Fushoku no yami ni kimi no shigai ga
Your corpse in the corroding dark
素敵に腐りゆく醜さに愛を
Suteki ni kusari yuku minikusa ni ai wo
Decaying beautifully, my love for this ugliness
歪んだ愛が憎しみを求め
Yuganda ai ga nikushimi wo motome
A distorted love, demanding hatred
死劇の幕は今開かれる
Shigeki no maku wa ima hirakareru
The death play has lifted it's curtain now

貴女の醜く腐る　血染めの涙の仮面に接吻を
Anata no miniku kusaru
A kiss from your ugly rotten mask**
Chizome no namida no kamen ni kuchizuke o
Stained with bloody tears
私の命滅び逝こうとも　毒の顔を愛し続けるでしょう
Watashi no inochi horobikou to mo
Although my life may perish
Doku no kao wo aishi tsuzukeyou
I guess I'll love that poisoned face forever

貴女の見る物すべて　僕が奪いそして君の声
Anata no miru mono subete
Everything you see
Boku ga ubai soshite kimi no koe
I will take from you and then your voice
姿を腐乱させた美少女と共に　深い闇へ墜ちて逝く
Sugata wo kaeta shoujo to tomo ni
Together with a beautiful girl whose figure I allowed to decay
Fukai yami e ochite iku
I'm falling into deep darkness

気違いな僕を誰か　｢はやく幕が降りる前に殺して｣
Kichigaina boku wo dare ka
This freak I've become, someone please
"hayaku maku ga oriru mae ni koroshite"
"Kill me quickly before the curtain drops"
悲劇の中で唄う　貴女へ最後に贈る歌劇
Higeki no naka de utau
Within this tragedy I'm singing
Anata e saigo ni okuru kageki
An opera as my last gift to you


狂気に満ちた殺人劇は　静かに　今　幕を降ろす
Kyouki ni michita satsujin geki wa
This murder play abound in madness
Shizuka ni
Is now
Ima
Quietly
Maku wo orosu
Closing the curtain
呪われた仮面舞踏会は血で血を償い　又　惨劇を繰り返す
Norowareta kamen butoukai wa chi de chi wo tsugunai
In this cursed masquerade-ball blood is redeemed with blood
Mata
And
Sangeki wo kurikaesu
The tragedy repeats itself

姿を変えた美少女を捜して…
Look for the beautiful girl whose figure had changed...*

----
*these lines are not sung
**these paragraphs are written from the girls perspective

十字架の結末・・・
Jūjika no ketsumatsu...
The end of the cross...


三番目の十字架が結末を迎えたなら…
Sanban-me no jūjika ga ketsumatsu o mukaetanara…
When the third cross came to its end...
その結末を君が望んでも
Sono ketsumatsu o kimi ga nozondemo
Although you may have longed for that end
十字架は何も何も
Jūjika wa nani mo nani mo
The cross wishes for nothing
望まない
Nozomanai
Nothing
その結末は永遠に…
Sono ketsumatsu wa eien ni…
That end will eternally...
この十字架は永遠に…
Kono jūjika wa eien ni…
This cross will eternally...
十字架は君を忘れない
Jūjika wa kimi o wasurenai
The cross won't forget you


---
This text is printed on the backcover of their first cd "十字架の結末・・・" in memory of guitarist hizumi who died shortly after completing the recording.

 

廃人狂イ人形
Haijin kurui ningyō
Mad cripple puppet


『生まれながら4の業を持つ彼は、
“Umare nagara 4 no gō o motsu kare wa,
He who bore the fate of death* by birth had,
神を断絶したため、
Kami o danzetsu shita tame,
In order to extinguish god,
皮膚を剥がされ、
Hifu o hagasare,
His skin flayed,
足枷をつけられて、
Ashikase o tsukerarete,
Strings attached to his limbs,
まるで独楽のように、
Marude koma no yō ni,
And was, just like a spinning top,
愛する人の前を引きずりまわされました。
Aisuru hito no mae o hikizuri mawasaremashita.
Forcefully dragged around in front of the person he loved.
その痛みに快楽を憶えた彼は、
Sono itami ni kairaku o oboeta kare wa,
He who felt pleasure from that pain,
自らの足枷で神を吊し上げ、
Mizukara no ashikase de kami o tsurushiage,
Used his own strings to hang god,
そして糸の切れた操綉人形は、
Soshite ito no kireta ayatsuri ningyō wa,
And the marionette* that eventually cut off it's threads
今日も貴女を求め、
Kyō mo anata o motome,
Was searching for you today, too,
街を彷徨い続けました。』
Machi o urotsui tsuzukemashita. ”
Continuing to wander the streets..."


明日眠る前にこの話を思い出したら、
Ashita nemuru mae ni kono hanashi o omoidashitara,
Tomorrow when you recall this story before going to bed,
そっと後ろを振り向いてxxxxxxx
Sotto ushiro o furimuite xxxxxxx
Quietly turn to look behind you xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxしなければ、xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx shinakereba, xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx If you don't, xxxxxxxxxx
xxxx首を吊って笑ってるでしょう。
xxxx kubi o tsutte waratteru deshou.
xxxx will hang you and laugh, I think.

 
 
 
------
Those printed lyrics have no resemblance to what's actually sung. The latter part is included as narration at the end of the original version on NEW AGE CULTURE～第一楽章～, though.
*'4' in japanese can be read as 'shi'- 死 meaning 'death'
*操り人形 meaning marionette. For some reason the 'ri' is written with the kanji 綉 meaning 'embroidery' here.