Malice Mizer - "Transylvania" Song Analysis

Song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X2AuguKh1M

Translation from: https://www.lerman.biz/asagao/translations/malice_mizer/songs/transylvania.php

Before getting into the song today, I wanted to shine a little bit of background on the band that made it, Malice Mizer (Standing for "Malicious Misery") They're a highly influential Japanese visual-kei band that were only together for about 9 years. Three years after their conception, the band's vocalist, Tetsu, retired his position after releasing one album and doing live shows. Replacing him was GACKT, which was the drummer, Kami's, best friend. With four returning members and a new vocalist at helm, Malice Mizer released their second studio album, "-Voyage ~Sans Retour~" The first track on the album is, "闇の彼方へ～" translated as, "To you From the Darkness" It's a classical piece of music that sounds like you're entering a castle on a dark night, and leads directly into the second track of the album as well as the one I'm analyzing today, "Transylvania." This song was the world's first taste of the new Malice Mizer. Let's see what it's all about.

Getting the song title out of the way, "Transylvania" is a real region in Europe where the legendary vampire Dracula, as well as Dracula's castle, is said to hail from.

Full translation will be available at the end.

The song opens up with horns, drums and strings, creating an ominous and European tone. Then, vocalist GACKT quotes some lines from "Interview With the Vampire" in a whisper. The song's main vocals start while the ominous background is still bringing a chilling vibe.

"In order to escape from deep sadness

I had been trying to invite death onto myself

But that was a grave mistake"

It seems like the singer of this song is regretful of a fatality that they've come upon in the search to make themselves feel better.

"Though all I sought for was peace

As I listened to the pulsation of your heart with my hands

And the tranquility in the midst of your silently changing breaths...

I bid farewell to the sunshine and was reborn

Upon seeing the beauty of the night for the first time I cried

And when I awoke from my deep sleep

You were standing there beside me"

It seems like the "death" that the singer was seeking for himself was actually more of a rebirth. He embraced someone and became someone new, giving up sunlight as a result. Given the context of the song, someone obviously turned him into a vampire. I find it so profound that the "beauty of the night" was so intense that he shed tears for it. This one line makes me wonder... how good must it feel to embrace being a creature of the night?

"The temptation for eternity I once felt deep...far...long

Still draws forth candied kisses"

Now that immortality is in his grasp, as a vampire, it's bittersweet. The reasoning comes in the next part of the song.

"This song...the song my beloved loved to hear

I'd not heard it for such a long time.

She left this world and abandoned me alone forever

Please, let me hear your voice once more...once more"

This could refer to two different things, to a past lover that had passed, which could be a reason why the singer was seeking death in the first place. Or, the one that had turned him into a vampire in the first place ended up dying somehow. I personally prefer the second theory. I think it's much more tragic if he is now going to be alone for the rest of his possibly immortal life, left to roam the Earth with no one by his side.

"Drink from me and live forever

In order to grasp a new world of everlasting immortality

There is no meaning in your murmurings"

It is popular in media that humans can become vampires by, ironically, sucking the blood of a vampire. The singer is trying to convince a human to become a thrall so that he is no longer alone in this world. The human might have a lot of fear or conviction against this, as they are "murmuring."

All in all I think this song is amazing. The instrumental hits just correctly and is paired well with the amazing vocals. This was a great song and story to showcase to the world what Malice Mizer was about, and is one of the most unique and quality blends of different music styles that I've heard before.

P.S. I am going to suck your blood.