22 years after their disbandment, KISAKI-led visual kei band MIRAGE recently announced that they have started their third phase and will release their first full album on April 20th.
As 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of their formation, visual kei band MIRAGE recently announced that they have started their third phase and will release a new album on April 20th.
MIRAGE was a band led by bassist KISAKI, who is a well known figure in the visual kei scene due to his work with bands such as Phantasmagoria and Lin and the Matina label. They originally started activities in 1997 and were only active for three years, disbanding in January 2000. However, despite their short career and a vocalist
change in September 1998, MIRAGE were very productive. They released two mini-albums - one with their first phase vocalist TOMO and one with his successor AKIRA, who younger visual kei fans may recognize from the bands MASKED RIDER SYSTEM and RENAME - as well as a number of singles.
MIRAGE has reunited for shows sporadically over the years since disbanding, but never fully restarted activities.
The line-up for MIRAGE's third phase includes three members from the band's previous incarnations: bassist KISAKI, vocalist AKIRA and guitarist YAYOI. In addition, they've welcomed two new members, guitarist SHUN,
who fans may recognize from bands such as JILS and NEiN, and [zo:diaek] drummer YOMI.
Titled BIOGRAPH, the album will be MIRAGE's first-ever full-length release. It will contain 10 songs, including BURIAL, which is a tribute to the band's original drummer AYAME, who passed away in 2013, as well as new
songs, new recordings and remixes, including an "aggressive retake" of …Air and 2022 versions of the songs Hyakkaryouran and MOON LIGHT DANCE. While AKIRA will be the main vocalist, it was noted that
TOMO also appears on two of the songs.
The album will be released in two types. Type A will come with a bonus DVD featuring a video for Hyakaryouran, while Type B will be CD-only, but it will feature a song called Cloudy as a bonus track.
MIRAGE have also announced two live events to commemorate the album's release and their 25th anniversary. Titled Carve of BIOGRAPH, they will take place at 246 LIVEHOUSE GABU in Osaka on May 22nd and at Meguro Rock-May-Kan in Tokyo on the
29th. Details on the events are available on KISAKI's blog.
A spot for BURIAL, a maxi-single MIRAGE put out back in 2018 to accompany
a limited-time revival for their 20th anniversary, can be viewed below, followed by live footage of Hyakkaryouran from a concert held in 2012.
