Moi dix Mois (lit. "Me Ten Months" in French) is a Japanese

visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, 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 ...

band, founded in 2002 by

Mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

after

Malice Mizer Malice Mizer (stylized as MALICE MIZER) was a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band active from 1992 to 2001. The band was notable for their music and their live shows, featuring lavish historical costumes and stage sets, with short silent ...

paused activities. The guitarist and sole songwriter has been the only constant member in a series of lineup changes, and the band's material is released on his own record label Midi:Nette.

History

March 19, 2002, approximately three months after Malice Mizer announced their indefinite hiatus, Mana announced the formation of his solo project, Moi dix Mois. Their first single, " Dialogue Symphonie", was released October 19 of the same year. Moi dix Mois played their first concerts outside Japan in March 2005 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

as part of their Invite to Immorality Tour. After the tour's final show on April 24, 2005 in Tokyo, singer Juka left the band. A new phase of the band began on March 1, 2006, when they released the album, '' Beyond the Gate''. This featured a new vocalist named Seth. Before the album was released, Mana indicated that the sound would be the beginning of a renewed direction for the band, possibly more integrated towards

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. After the announcement of the ''Beyond the Gate'' release was made, Seth was revealed as the new vocalist, and it was announced that Kazuno (bass) and Tohru (drums) were both leaving the group. In June 2006, Moi dix Mois headlined the

Wave-Gotik-Treffen The (WGT; German for "Wave Gothic Meeting") is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds (gothic rock, Electronic body music, EBM, Industrial music, indust ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany. They then returned to touring in Japan. A prospective five city tour in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

was scheduled for July 2006, but cancelled due to the band citing "differences in policies" with the tour organizer; however, Mana did make a U.S. appearance at the 2006

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...

Anaheim, CA Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

on July 1, where he announced that Moi dix Mois was planning to tour America sometime "within the calendar year". However, this US tour did not materialize in 2006. On March 28, 2007, they released their fourth album, ''

Dixanadu ''Dixanadu'' is an album released by Moi dix Mois on March 28, 2007. It contains re-recordings of "Tentation" ("Last Temptation") and "Pessimiste" ("Neo Pessimist"), originally from the album '' Dix Infernal''. Style The album features Gothic me ...

'', the first with the current lineup. On December 27, 2008, Moi dix Mois held the Dis Inferno Vol.VI ~Last Year Party~, where they played a session gig along with Mana's fellow Malice Mizer guitarist

Közi Közi (born May 29, 1972) 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 d ...

. They performed at Anime Expo 2009, the largest anime convention in North America, on July 2 at the

Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center located in the southwest section of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. It hosts multiple annual conventions and has often been used as a filming locat ...

. Also in July they went on a short two-gig coupling tour with Közi called Deep Sanctuary, playing on the 17 in Osaka and the 19 in Tokyo. At the V-Rock Festival '09 on October 24, Moi Dix Mois played two new songs, "Dead Scape" and "The Sect", and a new version of "The Prophet". In July 2010, they went on another tour with Közi, titled Deep Sanctuary II, this time with Malice Mizer bassist Yu~ki as a special guest at Akasaka Blitz on the 17. This was the first time in 9 years that the three Malice Mizer members were on stage together. Moi dix Mois' fifth album, '' D+Sect'', was released on December 15, 2010. On August 27, 2011, Mana announced that Moi dix Mois will be releasing a compilation album as part of their 10th anniversary celebration. The album is composed of re-recordings of older songs, from the group's first two albums, by the current line-up. Fans requested which songs were chosen through Mana's blog. The album, titled ''Reprise'', was released on July 11, 2012 and includes the new song "Je l'aime". On April 7, 2012, Moi dix Mois performed at

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

2012 in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. To celebrate their tenth anniversary, Moi dix Mois held a special concert at Shinjuku Blaze on March 20, 2013. At the end, former members Juka, Kazuno and Tohru reunited with Mana for a one-off performance of the group's original lineup. On May 19, 2014, guitarist K was found dead at his home by relatives. A memorial concert was held on September 15 where Moi dix Mois performed, including the new song "Beast Side" that was composed in memory of the guitarist. His replacement, Ryux formerly from the band Omega Dripp, was announced by Mana on December 3. In 2023, the band teamed up with

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, D and

Matenrou Opera is a Japanese visual kei symphonic power metal band. It was formed in 2006 by vocalist Sono and drummer Yuu, who were previously in the band Jeniva together.

for the four-date Japanese Visual Metal tour between September 22 and October 2. The four bands collaborated on the song "Kyōsōkyoku ~Tanbinaru Kettō~", which was released as a single credited to the JVM Roses Blood Symphony.

Member history

Moi dix Mois has experienced numerous lineup changes, with leader and guitarist Mana the only constant member. Vocalist Juka and bassist Kazuno were employed from Moi dix Mois' conception, with Tohru originally a support drummer. Tohru officially joined with the release of "Shadows Temple" in May 2004. K was introduced as guitarist and "death vocalist" with the Dis Inferno III event in December 2004. At the end of the Invite to Immorality Tour on April 24, 2005, Juka announced that he would be leaving. A year later, Kazuno and Tohru left with the release of ''Beyond the Gate''. At the same time, Seth was announced as being added to the project as their new vocalist. Sugiya and Hayato provided live support until the release of "Lamentful Miss", which included them for the first time as full members. After K's death in 2014, he was replaced by Ryux. The current lineup consists of: *

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

* Seth –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Sugiya –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Hayato –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Ryux – guitars

Discography

Studio albums * '' Dix Infernal'' (March 19, 2003),

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

Peak Position: No. 77 * ''

Nocturnal Opera ''Nocturnal Opera'' is an album released by Moi dix Mois on July 20, 2004. It was also released in Europe as a 2CD digipack, with the other CD containing a collection of the singles released by Moi dix Mois. A 2CD Jewel Case was also released in ...

'' (July 20, 2004) No. 116 * '' Beyond the Gate'' (March 1, 2006) No. 84Moi dix Moisのアルバム売り上げランキング
''oricon.co.jp.'' Retrieved 2012-02-19. * ''

'' (March 28, 2007) No. 158 * ''D+Sect'' (December 15, 2010) No. 113 Compilation albums * ''Reprise'' (July 11, 2012) No. 102 Singles * "Dialogue Symphonie" (November 19, 2002),

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

Peak Position: No. 97 * "Shadows Temple" (May 31, 2004) No. 103 * "Pageant" (October 6, 2004) No. 40 * "Lamentful Miss" (October 4, 2006) No. 73Moi dix Moisのシングル売り上げランキング
''oricon.co.jp.'' Retrieved 2012-02-19. DVDs * ''Dix Infernal ~Scars of Sabbath~'' (December 16, 2003), Oricon DVDs Chart Peak Position: No. 274 * ''Europe Tour 2005 -Invite to Immorality-'' (July 27, 2005) * ''Dixanadu ~Fated "Raison d'être"~ Europe Tour 2007'' (January 30, 2008) No. 206

References

External links

Official website

Official MySpace
{{Authority control Gan-Shin artists Visual kei musical groups Japanese gothic metal musical groups Japanese symphonic metal musical groups Japanese musical quintets Industrial metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in Japan Trisol Music Group artists