Biography
Formed in Tokyo during March 2003, the vampire-obsessed visual kei outfit D emerged when vocalist and chief songwriter Asagi joined forces with bassist Lena, drummer Hiroki, and guitarists Ruiza and Sin; Sin departed soon afterward, yielding his spot to Hide-Zou. All five participants arrived with prior band experience. Intense live activity plus a pair of mini-albums quickly built a loyal following, which the group leveraged for its first full-length release, the 2005 album The Name of the Rose, titled after Umberto Eco’s medieval mystery novel.
The group’s moniker carries no specific significance; its logo appears in an ornate cursive script that Asagi said he selected purely for its visual appeal and sense of “balance.” Musically the band fused symphonic and death metal ingredients with irresistibly hook-laden melodies, virtuoso execution, and assorted world-music touches, while many tracks advanced an overarching narrative centered on two warring vampire clans, one of which had abandoned human blood.
Asagi’s singular operatic tenor, marked by a slight nasal quality and a finely honed falsetto, combined with his well-documented “Gothic Lolita” attire fixation—he appeared on a single cover wearing a frilly basque, thigh-high red PVC lace-up boots, fishnet stockings, and wielding a cat-o’-nine-tails—positioned him as the ensemble’s visual centerpiece. Even after “going major,” D remained among the rare acts that refused to soften their image, instead amplifying the extravagance with rubber bondage garments, towering platform boots, intricately constructed hairpieces, and unsettling contact lenses.
Lena exited in 2005; Hide-Zou handled bass temporarily until Tsunehito joined as the permanent replacement. Subsequent albums—Tafel Anatomie (“Anatomical Chart,” titled after an eighteenth-century medical treatise) in 2006 and Neo Culture: Beyond the World in 2007—grew steadily more ambitious. A major-label contract with Avex Trax arrived in 2008, prompting fan anxiety that the music would soften; the concern proved partly justified when the 2009 debut major release Genetic World adopted a noticeably pop-oriented approach, shedding some of the bombast heard on Neo Culture. That shift was clearest on the single “Snow White,” a lavish tribute to nineteen-fifties Disney film scores.
The 2010 follow-up 7th Rose restored aggressive, heavy riffs and rasping “death” vocals while retaining the newly acquired pop sensibility; just over nine months later the band delivered Vampire Saga, which sustained the same hybrid style, expanded the vampire saga, incorporated the German-language track “Der König der Dunkelheit” (“The King of the Darkness”), and featured a drum solo. In January 2011, shortly before that album appeared, D and fellow Avex act Megamasso both joined the German roster of Gan-Shin, a label already home to several other visual kei groups. The band promptly scheduled a European tour and a European edition of Vampire Saga for later that year.
The group’s moniker carries no specific significance; its logo appears in an ornate cursive script that Asagi said he selected purely for its visual appeal and sense of “balance.” Musically the band fused symphonic and death metal ingredients with irresistibly hook-laden melodies, virtuoso execution, and assorted world-music touches, while many tracks advanced an overarching narrative centered on two warring vampire clans, one of which had abandoned human blood.
Asagi’s singular operatic tenor, marked by a slight nasal quality and a finely honed falsetto, combined with his well-documented “Gothic Lolita” attire fixation—he appeared on a single cover wearing a frilly basque, thigh-high red PVC lace-up boots, fishnet stockings, and wielding a cat-o’-nine-tails—positioned him as the ensemble’s visual centerpiece. Even after “going major,” D remained among the rare acts that refused to soften their image, instead amplifying the extravagance with rubber bondage garments, towering platform boots, intricately constructed hairpieces, and unsettling contact lenses.
Lena exited in 2005; Hide-Zou handled bass temporarily until Tsunehito joined as the permanent replacement. Subsequent albums—Tafel Anatomie (“Anatomical Chart,” titled after an eighteenth-century medical treatise) in 2006 and Neo Culture: Beyond the World in 2007—grew steadily more ambitious. A major-label contract with Avex Trax arrived in 2008, prompting fan anxiety that the music would soften; the concern proved partly justified when the 2009 debut major release Genetic World adopted a noticeably pop-oriented approach, shedding some of the bombast heard on Neo Culture. That shift was clearest on the single “Snow White,” a lavish tribute to nineteen-fifties Disney film scores.
The 2010 follow-up 7th Rose restored aggressive, heavy riffs and rasping “death” vocals while retaining the newly acquired pop sensibility; just over nine months later the band delivered Vampire Saga, which sustained the same hybrid style, expanded the vampire saga, incorporated the German-language track “Der König der Dunkelheit” (“The King of the Darkness”), and featured a drum solo. In January 2011, shortly before that album appeared, D and fellow Avex act Megamasso both joined the German roster of Gan-Shin, a label already home to several other visual kei groups. The band promptly scheduled a European tour and a European edition of Vampire Saga for later that year.