is a Japanese

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Som ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, consisting entirely of female members. The members originate from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and initially formed in June 2003. The founding members are Jyou, Naoto, and Mally, who met Miko and Omi after placing an advertisement for guitarists.exist†trace on JaME
Retrieved on Sep 21, 2007 (English) To date, Exist Trace has released four albums, eight EPs, and nine singles. In addition, the band has appeared on eleven compilation albums and three omnibus DVDs, plus their self-released 2012 concert DVD ''Just Like a Virgin''. Exist Trace made their U.S. debut at

Sakura-Con Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held during March or April at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. The convention, which is traditionally held over Easter weekend, is the largest anime convention in the ...

2011 in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. On June 15, 2011, they made their major label debut on Tokuma Japan Communications with the EP ''True''. Their song "I Feel You" was featured in Nadeshiko Japan's official 2012 guidebook DVD. Their highest charting release was ''Virgin'', which reached number 84 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

album chart.

Biography

Members

*Lead vocals : Jyou (ジョウ) *Lead guitar : Omi (乙魅) *Rhythm guitar, vocals : Miko (ミコ) *Bass : Naoto (猶人) *Drums : Mally (マリ)

Musical style and direction

Exist Trace's early music can be described as

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

, with vocalist Jyou's growls and shouts throughout many songs, which contributes to their dark undertone. They have since added more complex sounds to the compositions, their guitar sound often featuring heavy distortion and technically virtuoso riffs and solos. The lyrics are mainly based on gothic themes, and their music style has resemblance to gothic rock. In recent work, they have experimented with different electronic and melodic approaches to their music, such as the jazz-influenced "Ginger", the electronic rock of "Diamond" and the '80s disco feel of "Spiral Daisakusen".

Career

In 2013, Exist Trace introduced their 'new world' musical direction, where long-time main lyricist/composer miko would officially be taking a dual-vocal position with Jyou. The twin vocal style was emphasized on 2013's single "Diamond". In 2014's "Spiral Daisakusen", the pair again share front billing and the center spot on the music video. The first album to fully incorporate the twin vocal style, ''World Maker'' (2014), revealed an improved duet system, where vocals are typically heavier towards Jyou in allocation, but making good use of miko's sweeter counterbalance. In 2016, the band released the ''This Is Now'' mini-album, which included re-recorded versions of the singles "Twin Wings" and "Shout Out", which had been previously released as live-show-only CDs. In Japan, the ''This Is Now'' EP sold out within a day, across such stores as ZEAL LINK, Disk Union and BRAND-X. On July 29, 2020, Exist Trace released the EP '' The Only Garden''.

International acclaim

Over time, the band has developed a dedicated international following, largely by word of mouth. In 2008, Exist Trace embarked on a tour of Europe, including the United Kingdom. The band also traveled to the US, playing Japanese culture conventions Sakura-Con in 2011, Tekkoshocon X in 2012, and A-Kon in 2013.

Official fan club

2014 brought the introduction of the band's official international fan club, 'Archangel Diamond', to act as a supplement to the Japanese fan club 'Vanguard'. The club became an active presence on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, featuring fan artworks and responding to fan questions. It officially opened for membership on May 19, 2014, the 19th of each month being generally used for Exist Trace announcements as it is 'Igu day'/イグの日 (

Japanese wordplay Japanese wordplay relies on the nuances of the Japanese language and Japanese script for humorous effect. Double entendres have a rich history in Japanese entertainment (such as in kakekotoba) due to the language's large number of homographs (d ...

on the shortened form of the band's name). Archangel Diamond promised to connect international fans more closely with the band, and offered fan club exclusive merchandise, special prices on merchandise, monthly newsletters with messages from the band members, and special contests and interactions with the band. As of late 2017, the club changed its identification to "International Support Team", and ceased paid activities but continues to post English updates.

Releases

Albums

*''Recreation Eve'' (November 19, 2008) *'' Twin Gate'' (November 3, 2010) *''Virgin'' (May 23, 2012) *''World Maker'' (September 24, 2014)

EPs

*''Annunciation -The Heretic Elegy-'' (December 13, 2006) *''Demented Show'' (September 9, 2007) *''Vanguard -Of the Muses-'' (April 22, 2009) *''Ambivalent Symphony'' (October 21, 2009) *''True'' (June 15, 2011) *''The Last Daybreak'' (October 19, 2011) *'' This is Now'' (March 16, 2016) *'' Royal Straight Magic (November 16, 2016)'' * '' The Only Garden'' (July 29, 2020)

Singles

*"Ambivalence" (August 28, 2005) *"Riot" (July 17, 2006) *"Funeral Bouquet" (January 10, 2007) *"Liquid" (July 18, 2007) *"Knife" (June 2, 2010) *"Diamond" (July 3, 2013) *"Spiral Daisakusen" (May 14, 2014) *"Twin Wings" (April 19, 2015) *"Shout Out" (July 19, 2015)

Demo tapes

*"Hai no Yuki" (灰ノ雪, February 22, 2004) *"Kokumu" (黒霧, July 1, 2004)

Omnibuses

*''Drive Up!! vol. 1'' (April 15, 2005) Corrosion *''Summit 03'' (November 29, 2006) Mabushii Hodo no Kurayami no Naka de (眩しい程の暗闇の中で) *''Deviant's Struggle'' (June 20, 2007) liquid *''Fool's Mate Select Omnibus Seduction#1'' (December 16, 2007) Sacrifice Baby *''Summit 04'' (January 30, 2008) Venom *''Summit 05'' (December 10, 2008) Judea *''Shock Edge 2009'' (October 14, 2009) Liquid *''Neo Voltage'' (May 26, 2010) Unforgive You *''Iron Angel'' (January 15, 2011) Liquid *''Final Summit 2000~2010'' (February 16, 2011) Mabushii Hodo no Kurayami no Naka de (眩しい程の暗闇の中で) *''Mariannes'' (July 20, 2011) Liquid

DVDs

*''Silent Hill 2061125 Pavilion which deer barks'' (January 31, 2007) SACRIFICE BABY *''0704272930'' (September 18, 2007) Lilin/JUDEA *''Visual-kei DVD Magazine vol.4 V-Rock Special'' (March 31, 2010) *''Just Like a Virgin'' One Man Show (Shibuya O-WEST 23 June 2012)

References

External links

Official website (Old)

Official website (Current)

Artist page at Visunavi (Japanese)
{{Authority control Visual kei musical groups Japanese melodic death metal musical groups Japanese alternative metal musical groups Japanese gothic metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2003 All-female bands Musical quintets Musical groups from Tokyo