is the fourth and final album by the Japanese visual kei rock band Malice Mizer, released on August 23, 2000. The title roughly translates as "Church of Roses" or "Sanctuary of Roses". In February 2007, ''Bara no Seidou'' was re-released by German record label

Trisol Music Group The Trisol Music Group, GmbH (or Trisol), is a German business group and record label headquartered in Dieburg. Owning multiple sublabels, they specialize in producing musical works pertaining to darkwave, dark folk, gothic rock, deat ...

, packaged in both jewel case and limited slipcase versions, both including the ''Cardinal'' music video collection DVD.

Influences

''Bara no Seidou'' is a major change from Malice Mizer's previous albums with less of a focus on the twin guitar sound that was present in their previous discography, but retaining a chameleon trait like artists such as

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...

. The band's sound switched from an ordinary

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

sound into a dark,

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

one; however, they still continued to use the violins, harpsichords and other instruments present in their older works and also added in a pipe organ and a choir for a haunting, melancholic, and religious feel to the album. For example, the song "Seinaru Toki Eien no Inori" is based around an organ and choir but still includes dual guitars and drums, which gives it a

feel. Fan favorite "Kyomu no Naka de no Yuugi" is a track that uses an organ and harpsichord mixed with a synthesizer and drum machine for more of a dark wave element. This song is influenced by

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

and features a different image in its video, but still retains the dark themes of the album. After the death of Kami, it could be argued that the "funeral

goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

" element present in their attire is because of his death, and the song "Saikai no Chi to Bara" is a reference, and tribute, to him.The song "Saikai no Chi to Bara" is a longer version of the song "Saikai" from the EP '' Shinwa'', dedicated to the deceased Kami.

Live promotion

The band released the DVD ''Bara ni Irodorareta Akui to Higeki no Makuake'' of their two-day live concert at the

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

. Like their previous tour, "Merveilles L'Espace", this tour was very theatrical, having a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

cathedral on the cover of the album as a stage prop and a moon that changed colors several times during the performance. However, unlike the previous tours, it did not completely consist of the members playing their instruments and relied more on the theatrics.

Track listing

Personnel

* Mana – guitar on 2, 4, 8, and 9, synthesizer, drum machine on 3–7 *

Közi Közi is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and DJ. He is best known as one of the guitarists for the 1990s visual kei rock band Malice Mizer. After they went on indefinite hiatus in 2001, he formed the industrial rock duo Eve of Destiny an ...

– guitar on 2, 4, 8, and 9, synthesizer, vocals on 3 (distorted), 6 (backing and distorted) and 10 (whispered), drum machine on 3–7 * Yu~ki – bass guitar, vocals on 3 (distorted) and 10 (whispered), drum machine on 3–7 * Shu – drums *

Klaha , known professionally as Klaha, is a Japanese former singer-songwriter. He is best known as third vocalist of the visual kei rock band Malice Mizer from 2000 to 2001. He was previously in the 1990s new wave band Pride of Mind, and started a solo ...

– vocals on 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 * Maki Okada – vocals on 2 * Youko Takai – vocals on 7 * Yuichiro Goto – strings on 2, violin on 4, 9 and 10 * Motohide Tanaka –

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

* Masao Nakazato – mastering * Teruhisa Abe –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

, design * Kenji Tsukagoshi – photography * Taqueya Yamashita – cover art * Yukie Itoh –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

* Kami – "eternal blood relative"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bara No Seidou 2000 albums Malice Mizer albums