In the second half of 1999 and the beginning of 2000, Malice Mizer, still without an official vocalist, released a number of singles and began to work on a new album. Malice Mizer left Nippon Columbia shortly after and returned to Midi:Nette. No reason was given, but after just four months he would release his first solo EP. In July 1998, the Yokohama Arena's stage would be the last for Gackt as in January 1999, at the height of Malice Mizer's success, he would suddenly leave the band. It was a massive success and was released on video as Merveilles l'espace. The band even had their own radio show around this time and played a two-day live at the Nippon Budokan, which involved a large building as a stage prop and elaborate theatrics each member performing a skit with another member on their own (including the aforementioned skit in which Gackt fell to the stage and returned to 'Heaven' by song's end).
The band became increasingly popular and in 1997 signed with Nippon Columbia, where they released a number of successful singles, a short film ( Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Shunkan no Naka de~ de L'image), and, in 1998, their major label debut album, Merveilles. In 1996, Malice Mizer released their second album, Voyage ~Sans Retour~. Visually, the band abandoned their 1980s goth look for colorful historical costumes with a gothic feel. With a new concept created by Mana, the band's music became more art rock and synthpop, incorporating even stronger classical and electronic elements.
In 1995, after a year of inactivity, Malice Mizer recruited Gackt as their new vocalist. The band's continued use of his lyrics in songs they continued to perform with later vocalists suggest an amicable split. While the exact reasons are unknown, Tetsu went on to take a different direction in his work. Only days later, singer and lyricist Tetsu left the band after his last gig on December 27. In 1994, after a couple more demos, the band released their debut album Memoire on Mana's newly founded independent record labelMidi:Nette, and re-released it at the end of the year with an additional bonus track, 'Baroque', under the title Memoire DX. Shortly after the release of Brain Trash, Gaz left the band to join Kneuklid Romance, while Kneuklid Romance's drummer Kami in turn joined Malice Mizer. Before this, they had released a demo tape called 'Sans Logique' (a nod to French pop singer Mylène Farmer's hit song 'Sans Logique') which contained no vocals. Their first official release was the song 'Speed of Desperate' on the 1993 compilation Brain Trash. Malice Mizer's sound during the Tetsu era was a mixture of early 1980s gothic rock, progressive rock and strong classical influences.
The band's name is an abbreviation of 'malice and misery', extracted from 'Nothing but a being of malice and misery.' - their reply to the question 'What is human?' From the outset, the band established their trademark 'twin guitar' sound, whereby two guitars play different melodies creating polyphony. After leaving Matenrou, guitarists Mana and Közi formed Malice Mizer in August 1992 with Tetsu on vocals, Yu~ki on bass and Gaz on drums.
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