I've been waiting for this moment! Today I'll write about an awesome and very gothic band: Yousei Teikoku. (first post of the year!)
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| Fairy Yui and Tachibana (vocals/lyrics and guitar/music) |
Formed in 1997 as a project of Team Fairithm, Yousei Teikoku, an indie band at that time, composed and performed songs mainly for games. The uniqueness of the group is in their creation concept. Meaning literally 'Fairy Empire', the band was formed in order to revive the empire that exists between the human world and Spiritua, the spirits realm. Therefore, their music intends to make people recover their belief in the fairies so the Yousei Teikoku can rise again.
After releasing albums for almost 10 years, the group finally signed a contract with anime label Lantis and became a major band. Since 2006, their singles are almost always related to an anime and eventually some songs are released for video-games. The first major best-album 'Gothic Lolita Propaganda' was well received among lovers of the gothic and J-Pop worlds. But it was with the first original album 'Metanoia' that Yousei received greater attention, especially with the track 'Wahrheit'.
'Wahrheit''s Promotional Video (credits to the subber/uploader)
After the successful releases, the group spent the year of 2008 producing only songs that wouldn't be used as any theme. Three singles with one Promotion Video each were released. It was definitely a great year for Yousei Teikoku's fans (and for the fairies, I believe).
'Hades: the bloody rage''s Promotional Video - the second single from 2008, showing a more rock-ish sound
In 2009, the group started once again to produce anime songs. This time they focused on ballads, as it can be noticed in the maxi-single 'Irodori no Nai Sekai' and the following single, 'Gekkou no Chigiri'. The band also released one single for a PSP game and a best-album, 'Gothic Lolita Doctrine', revealing a strong military image that would be used in their first big live tour in 2010. Fans were only a little disappointed since none of the tracks got a video.
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| 'Gothic Lolita Doctrine''s concept - Surrender to the Fairy! |
While new songs started to take a long time to show up, 2010 was a good year as new Promotional Videos were released: one for the first single of the year 'Baptize', used as an anime's opening theme and one for 'rebellion anthem'. This last song, released in September 2010, surprised fans for its excellent quality. It was a like a gift for the waiting fans! Also, these were the first videos to show the bassist and drummer, a sign that the band got officially bigger.
To end the year, Yousei Teikoku produced 'Gothic Lolita Agitator', their third best-album, which contained unreleased songs. The first live DVD was also released in the same day as the album.
'rebellion anthem''s Promotional Video - just awesome!
For 2011, fans can already expect a new single as a song called 'The Creator' was used as ending theme for the OAD 'Mirai Nikki'. A national tour is also scheduled, promoting the most recent best-album.
Yousei Teikoku is another reason for loving japanese music. They're incredibly unique and it seems that they never make a bad song. If you like gothic lolitas and rock (plus fairies) you can start listening to them right now and help the Fairy Empire recover it's original strenght!
Das Feenreich! ^^