jchertudi's cd collection.

This is a short album, given that the first song is just a short piano instrumental. It features the band's first vocalist, TETSU, later of ZIGZO fame, who has a high-pitched and sort of deranged way of singing. This is pretty far cry from the band's later singers, so it turns off a number of people. I don't mind it though, and more importantly, this is the only album where you get an album almost full of MALICE MIZER's classically inspired rock. seraph and gogo no sasayaki are the only divergences into a bit of light but pleasant pop. BAROKKU and kioku to sora are absolutely foundational to the band's sound and should not be missed. A cool debut recording for the band.

merveilles is the defining album for the band, without a doubt. It was the peak of their success and featured fan favorite vocalist Gackt, who later went on to pursue a popular solo career. The cool twin-guitar rock of memoire is only found in the fantastic VERU-EERU, but that's OK because the other songs are still great. au revoir is a bit of French inspired pop that has got to be their best attempt at that, as well. Listeners are also treated to an updated version of memoire's great ballad, EEGE. The variety of the rest of the album is pretty incredible too: the psycho circus ILLUMINATI, the straight acoustic rock of Brise, the synthpop Ju te veux, and the gothic pop? of gekka no yasoukyoku. The variety is incredible and the fact there's only one bummer (S-CONSCIOUS) is a huge step up from their previous and following albums. merveilles stands as an album not to be missed.