In June of 2003 four women from Tokyo banded together to turn the visual kei world on its ear. They coupled melodic vocals and haunting growls with heavy guitars and pounding drums to create what some describe as "visual kei dark metal." On December 28th they held a debut live with founding members Jyou (ジョウ), Miko (ミコ), Naoto (猶人), and Mally (マリ). In March of 2004, a month after the release of the band’s first free demo-tape Hai no Yuki (灰の雪), a second guitarist, Omi (乙魅), joined their ranks.

As the newly completed exist†trace, the band held their first live in March of2 004 with the current line-up. After many live appearances around Tokyo they released their second free demo-tape Kokomu (ココム) in July, and the fans were hooked.

On August 28, 2005, the girls released their first single Ambivalence. From that point on the band pushed forward at a dizzying pace. Another single, Funeral Bouquet, was put out into the world the day after Valentine’s Day of 2006. The break-out track "JUDEA" would cement the band’s status in the hearts of their fans and become one of their most well-known songs. Shortly after the July release of their single Riot, they were invited to perform at a Meguro Rockmaykan event sponsored by Sequence Records in November. The live was recorded and released on the DVD Silent Hill 2061125 Pavilion which deer barks in March of 2007. Only a few short days after the live event, exist†trace’s song "Mabushii Hodo no Kurayami no Naka de" (眩しい程の暗闇の中で) was featured on the omnibus album SUMMIT 03 with other top indie artists such as SULFURIC ACID and HIZAKI. The ladies finished out 2006 by releasing their first min-album Annunciation -the heretic elegy-, which came with a DVD containing their first PV for "JUDEA."

Refusing to slow down, the band hit 2007 early with a second-press release of Funeral Bouquet as the five prepared for a coupling tour across Japan with fellow Sequence Records band Gemmik. One year after the release of Riot the band put out their new single Liquid on July 18, 2007. The heart-pounding songs provided the perfect send-off as they began their fall tour and continued their aggressive live schedule well into 2008, hosting and appearing at several large events such as Fool’s Fest 08 and Gemmik’s last live.

exist†trace made an announcement in May of 2008 that they would be taking a hiatus to "improve the band" and focus on refining the members’ personal and musical styles. Three months later, on August 29th, the girls exploded back onto the scene with their revival live Reprologue. They also announced a European coupling tour with Black:List that would hit places such as France and Finland. The tour was a huge success and shortly after returning home from their first overseas lives the band released Recreation eve, an 11-track album featuring a collection of their best songs, a new opening track entitled "Reprologue," and two re-take versions of their songs "JUDEA" and "Venom".

The band embarked on a promotional tour for the new album that took them head-first into 2009 and through much of the spring. On April 22nd they released the six-track mini-album VANGUARD -of the muses-, which proved they were back in full force and ready to hit the world with their unique musical style.

With an unrelenting schedule and the music to match, these ladies of Jrock are becoming an unstoppable force, proving time and time again that the girls can play just as hard as the boys.

Article by: Jessica
Edited by: Kelly/Kia

Read more about exist†trace in our recent interview.
exist†trace official website – www.exist-trace.com
exist†trace official MySpace