The idol world’s neo-gothic mistresses of darkness.

I’m actually at a loss for why Lyric Holic isn’t a bigger deal. As the kids say, this is straight fire:

I went with the live video for this because it includes wota how-tos, and that’s amazing. Also, appreciate just how little effort Tama puts into dancing.

I can’t even get a read for when they debuted. Their earliest YouTube contribution is from late in 2014, and everything about it looks like a meaningful first effort, so maybe we can take that on faith. But then they already had their third single out in summer 2015, and a DVD early in 2016? It takes some idol groups years to get that far.

So lack of idea of how to figure out Lyric Holic’s ascent and current status aside, I find them more and more inexplicable the more that I learn about them. Is their music good? Most of it! Dramatic, operatic and violent, with the occasional dive into a Willy Wonka fever dream:

To whit: Their first video.

Which, okay, so a little S&M gothlita never hurt anybody, but this is some Anne Rice stuff, all erotic and necrophagic and like something you might see Jerry Only credited as the director for, and all wrapped up in that Bram Stoker look that’s sort of their signature.

Great.

So who are Lyric Holic? There’s that inexplicable that I mentioned. I remember at first thinking it was kind of a weird name, whatever, but the backdrop in the “Alice” video and things that I’ve seen on Tama’s Twitter have me wondering if it is not, in fact, Tama that’s the lyric holic, and this is really the lyric holic’s band, or something.

Does it matter? No. There are three members. They have interesting Euro-style stage names and dress like they still need to finish getting ready for a masquerade at a wonderful Victorian country estate. They sort of live in this astonishingly dramatic world, titling their performances things like “Labyrinth of the Flower” and “Debut da la Fin.” I’m not entirely certain that they aren’t vampires.

In other words, Lyric Holic is confounding. Their music is good, the members are interesting, their look is unique … and I still don’t understand.

What they sound like

When they’re metal, they get metal, with melody and brutality blended together, led by Tama’s very versatile voice and with sweetly idol contributions from Lu Lu and Lynne. Like, they sound like symphonic metal sung by idols. It is that simple sometimes.

You’ll like them if

I’ve found that Lyric Holic, along with Fruitpochette, is one of the metal idol groups that has more appeal to metalheads, particularly fans of the melodic and symphonic European looks.

“Don’t you usually put in some random cross-genre comparison here, or add something kind of forehandedly insulting?”

I do! Is this better? “Or are you about 15, angsty, at Hot Topic with a parent’s credit card and looking for something more elegant than whatever Warped Tour band of the month has all your friends’ attention?”

Like, Lyric Holic’s cool, but I know a disaffected teenager’s favorite band when I see it. It’s not their fault.

Entries on the Ultimate Homicidol Playlist:

This is genuinely hard because they have a lot of video up, but most of it is repeats or low-quality live footage, and they do that thing where snips of several songs are all on the same video file. However, gimme “Alice” up there, plus “STARGAZER” and “SISTER,” which are basically symphonic thrash and could stand up as closing theme music for a weird Castlevania sequel.

Members

Tama E Carmel Twitter Blog

Lu Lu Luria Twitter Blog

Shiorin a la Mode Twitter

Former Members

Lynne Francoise Twitter Blog

I’m literally guessing with their names, cobbling this together from Google and a German-language profile. Correct me if you can.

Discography

“Dependence” (single)
“Stargazer” (single)
“Gojikanatibu” (single)

They’ve also released a DVD, Alice, and I’d ordinarily not list videos in a discography, but I have a feeling that there’s some original kind of content in there.