Moth in Lilac plays a very groovy, rhythmic style of metal. M9N (pronounced Mokkyun) on drums, NaluchaRos on base and Lisa-13 on guitar provide various pulsing beats. Lisa’s guitar style is perfect for rhythmic metal. Due to having been born without a right hand, she never uses palm-muting, but plays every chord open and quickly chops it off with her left hand. New guitarist You also frequently supports the rhythms as well, which helps MIL establish an easy, headbangable groove on every song. Taking lead of all this rhythm is Ayano, the vocalist. Far more than a deliverer of lyrics, Ayano adds the melodies using her multiple voices. She growls, screams, sings, and sometimes uses a voice that sounds more like an angry cat than a person. MIL has that genre-spanning quality that makes it a great soundtrack to every aspect of life; job, housework, studying, or driving. Their total immersion beat is great for headbanging, dancing, or even sex.
Live shows are energetic and almost magical in their atmosphere due to the unique personality brought by the individual members. While Lisa-13 has expressed that she doesn’t want her disability to be a focal point for the band, watching her flog her Schecter with a pick stuck into a leather prosthetic is one of the most metal and inspiring things you will ever experience. Also, keep an eye on her fashion sense. While an awesome guitarist at night, during the day she works as a model. She admits that she never wears the same outfit on stage more than once, which makes each show a unique event. As if being a beautiful, overachieving, rock-star, fashion model wasn’t enough, she also claims she can talk to birds. With everything else she has accomplished, it would be smart to believe her.
Lisa-13 is not the only one with superpowers. NaluchaRos, the bassist, is only touching the ground about 10% of the show and is airborne the rest of the time. She literally starts jumping up and down when the first four count is heard and doesn’t stop until the last encore is done. She claims that if the bass weren’t holding her down, she would reach the stars. That would explain why Lisa-13 says she is her hero, but according to NaluchaRos, that isn’t her superpower. Apparently, she can sleep continuously until someone wakes her. I think she is just protecting her identity. If a masked, flying superhero who beats down evildoers with a Fender Jazzmaster Bass shows up in Tokyo, then her secret is safe. When asked who her own hero was, she claimed to be very inspired by Tetsuya from the prominent Japanese band L’Arc en Ciel.
I have already mentioned the multitude of voices that Ayano is capable of. Her clean voice was developed while studying at a music school. A previous band she sang in was very inspired by OTEP, and she had to copy all those styles, but didn’t know she could make all those sounds until she tried them. With MIL she continues to refine the tone of all her different techniques to make as big an impact as possible. If you stand near enough to the front of the venue, her presence will remain with you for hours afterwards. So powerful is her ownership of the stage and audience, one would never guess that before she steps out she is so nervous she is almost trembling. Transform from a nervous wreck to a dominant vocalist who can divide her spirit to grasp each member of the audience is a superpower worth having.
YOU is the newest member of the MIL powerhouse. Stepping in after former guitarist retired due to nerve damage in her hand, YOU had some big expectations to live up to. Influenced by Ron “Bumblefoot Thal, Allan Holdsworth, and the visual kei band Janne Da Arc, YOU fits perfectly into the band’s style of mixed genres. He claims his superpower is cross-dressing, which is a legit ability. I dressed as a woman once. I found it uncomfortable, partly because of the unfamiliar clothes, partly because all my friends gouged out their eyes. YOU is very comfortable and lovely in his clothes, and is downright badass as a lead guitarist.
Of course, this leaves me to tell you about M9N. MIL’s EP and full album were both written and recorded using drum emulating software. The ladies of the band must have decided at the time that the drums should be as complicated as possible, and some of the rhythms on the recordings shouldn’t be humanly possible. Yet M9N to make them not only possible, but easy enough to reject the need for a towel mid-performance. When asked, he admits that he is very happy when he can pull off those beats, even though they are very difficult. His humour and banter onstage show his obvious chemistry with the band. This hasn’t lead to his playing a nose flute onstage, however, even though he claims to have that ability. His bandmates, whom he calls his heroes, have probably had to reject that idea more than once.
If you are a fan of Korn, Slipknot, Marylin Manson, or White Zombie, you will be a fan of Moth in Lilac. If you are a fan of banging your head until it detaches and joins the other disembodied skulls in the mosh pit, you will be a fan of Moth in Lilac. If you are a fan of music that makes you want to both dance and break stuff at the same time, you will be a fan of Moth in Lilac. You can see them on YouTube in a number of live videos, and they do have an official music video. They currently have two CDs available for purchase at online retailers, and a third CD released in Spring 2018.
