Gilles de Rais - BECAUSE

Gilles de Rais

BECAUSE

1993/01/21

1. BECAUSE

2. PICTURE OF FUTURE (Mechanical Version)

3. 殺意 (Solid Version)

4. SEXER SEXER (The Lunar Mix)

5. BAGHDAD

6. PLEASURE SONG (The Nuclear Mix)

7. SO BALLET (Demo Version)

8. BLUE (Extended Version)

9. COSMO

Gilles de Rais were one of the early pioneers of the forming visual kei scene, and even though they only released a handful of albums, their impact cannot be understated. Today I'm rocking to their second full-length "BECAUSE".

The first time I experienced the magic of these four gentlemen was on the "EXTASY SUMMIT 1992" live video where they played a scorching rendition of their iconic fast-paced aggressor "Satsui". Their cool all-black attire and passionate delivery, especially singer JOE's gothic vibe, immediately captured my attention and made me want to seek out their music. I soon got my hands on this CD, and it's been a delight to be able to blast this historical gem on the stereo till this day.

"BECAUSE" is a curious disc in the band's history as it's called an album but truthfully it's more like a patchwork of new tracks, unreleased old material and alternate recordings and mixes of previously released songs. It was the followup to their EXTASY RECORDS debut album "Satsui" so I assume either the label or the musicians themselves thought it would be a good idea to re-release and re-imagine some old tunes that they had originally published in a more limited indies setting. In any case, I'm really happy with the outcome as some of these tracks actually feel like the definitive versions of these songs to me.

Highlights of the album include the infectious title track with its iconic Engrish chorus ("You Just For Because Now..."), the previously unreleased outtake "BAGHDAD" and a new mix of "PLEASURE SONG", a track that previously only appeared on a live-limited promo CD and on VHS as a music video. Especially these latter two compositions show how much of an influence Gilles de Rais must have had in the coming years. While the former presents a menacing atmosphere with its whirlwind of constantly changing cadences, the latter embodies the prototypical post-punky VK banger every band had to have at least a few of (just to name one example, Penicillin totally ripped off the main riff a year later). A special mention also goes to the extended version of "BLUE" that they transformed into a more beautiful and fragile mood through a long acoustic intro complete with ambient effects and violin solos.

No question about it, "BECAUSE" is a must-listen for old-school fans, but it can also provide an entertaining experience for newcomers interested in the scene's beginnings. It doesn't really get any better than this.