Blood Stain Child is a Japanese five-piece Visual Kei heavy metal band formed in Osaka in the year 2000. Originally a Melodic Death Metal band with heavy Symphonic Metal stylings and Synth-Pop influences, they have since opted for a musical style that combines Melodic Death Metal, Industrial Metal and various styles of Electronic Music including trance, techno and Japanese Pop Music. On 2016, they formed a new indie label called Earth Nation Records, after they were signed to Pony Canyon (until 2011) and Lantis (until 2014) in Japan. While they haven't found any mainstream success, the band has had continued success in Japan and has performed in many events and conventions all over the world.
Despite their success, the band has had several lineup changes over the course of their musical career, with only one of the band's original lineup still active.
It is arguable that they are part of the Visual Kei movement as they have not explicitly referred to themselves as such, but they have used visuals and costuming similar to many established Visual bands, with the remaining members of the original lineup being the most Visual members of the band. All the band's current and former members have had their start in or have worked with various independent Visual Kei bands.
Members (All members use Stage Names)
Current Lineup:
- Sadew – lead vocals (2007–2010; 2018–present)
- Ryu – lead guitar, synth guitar (1999, 2000–present)
- G.S.R – rhythm guitar, synth guitar (2007–present)
- Yakky – bass (2016–present)
- Yasu – drums (2018–present)
Former Members
- Masato – rhythm guitar, vocals (1999)
- Daiki – rhythm guitar, synth guitar (1999–2005)
- Shiromasa – rhythm guitar, synth guitar (2005–2007)
- Violator – drums, percussion (1999–2010)
- Sophia – vocals (2010–2012)
- Makoto – DJ/VJ (2013–2014)
- Ryo – bass, screamed vocals (1999–2016)
- Kiki – clean and screamed vocals (2012–2016)
- Aki – keyboards, synthesizer, programming, backing vocals (1999–2016)
- Saika – lead vocals (2016–2018)
- Gami – drums, percussion (2010–2018)
Discography
- Silence of Northern Hell (2002)
- Mystic Your Heart (2003)
- Idolator (2005)
- Mozaiq (2007)
- Epsilon (2011)
- Last Stardust (single) (2014)
- NEXUS (single) (2016)
- Tri Odyssey (EP) (2017)
- The Legend (compilation) (2018)
- Del-Sol (single) (2019)
- AMATERAS (2019)
- 2045 (single) (2021)
- CYBERIA/METALIA (2024)
Blood Stain Child provides examples of
- Alternative Metal: Has shades of this from Idolator onward.
- Ambiguous Gender: Many fans would say Ryu, but DJ Makoto fits this trope to a T.
- Band of Relatives/Sibling Team: Ryu, the lead guitarist, is the brother of Ryo, the Lead Bassist.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Sophia's image is that of an "alien loli".
- Berserk Button: Sophia dislikes being called by the nickname "Sophie".
- Canon Discontinuity: Their first two albums, Silence of Northern Hell and Mystic Your Heart have now been largely overlooked by the band and its fanbase.
- Seems to no longer be the case as the band would later release The Legend, a compilation with several re-recordings of songs in their discography, including material from the first two albums.
- Careful with That Axe: The band's harsh vocalists have done particularly brutal examples throughout their career, most notably the opening screams for "Freedom" from Mozaiq and "Sirius VI" from Epsilon.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl: Ryu, a male example. Sophia too...
- Cuteness Proximity: Ryu likes playing with cats.
- Distinct Double Album: CYBERIA and METALIA — the former will be done in the band's usual brand of trance metal and the latter's an expansion of the symphonic stylings that made a comeback on AMATERAS and the 2045 single.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ryu is rather famous in the Visual scene for being one of the most convincing crossdressers in Visual Kei. DJ Makoto also appears very waif-ish as well.
- Expy: Frontman Sadew is a near-carbon copy of In Flames' Anders Friden; both in terms of appearance and vocal timbre. He even grew long, thick dreadlocks and a beard during one of the band's most Visual phases. Recently, he too, cut off his dreadlocks.
- Genre-Busting/Genre Roulette: Scroll back up and see the genres that influenced the band's musical style. Song to song, they can differ between any combination of these genres.
- Genre Mashup: They describe themselves as playing "hybrid metal trance". They also draw inspiration from Industrial Metal and the harder, more abrasive end of Melodic Death Metal. They even went as far as having Ettore Rigotti of Disarmonia Mundi (an Italian melodeath/industrial metal band) produce Epsilon, just because they were aiming for a very specific sound.
- Genre Shift: To "Hybrid Metal Trance" from Idolator onward.
- Gratuitous English: Early releases suffered from this and Word Salad Lyrics. Their English has gotten noticeably better from Idolator onward.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Sadew lost his signature dreads by the time he rejoined the band.
- I Am the Band: Ryu has been with the band since their 1999 debut.
- Incredibly Long Note: Kiki has become rather well-known for her long, wailing screams.
- Lead Bassist: Ryo, a type B and C, is among the most well-known members of the band, being one of the founding members and one half of the Vocal Tag Team (the other half being Sophia from 2010-2012 and more recently, Kiki).
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Ryo and Ryu.
- Melodic Death Metal: The pioneers of this musical style in Visual Kei.
- Metal Scream: Ryo and Kiki are Type 3 screamers.
- New Sound Album: Idolator, with its trance and J-pop elements. Epsilon reintroduced the Melodic Death Metal stylings of the older albums but also included Industrial Metal influences a la The Gazette and elements of Thrash Metal courtesy of Gami from the now-defunct Visual Kei Death Metal band Youthquake. AMATERAS re-adds the symphonic influences that the band eschewed on Idolator to their modern style.
- Otaku:
- Ryu loves Lolita Fashion, anime (especially Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell and CLANNAD) and cosplay. His brother Ryo supports his hobbies.
- G.S.R is a gamer and among his favorite games are God of War and Resident Evil.
- Gami is a fan of K-On! and Toradora!.
- Piss-Take Rap: Sadew frequently does this in some songs from Mozaiq.
- Rearrange the Song: The band is notable for including rearranged versions of songs from limited-release singles in their full-length albums.
- Revolving Door Band: See the list of former members above.
- Signature Style: Harmonious power riffing typical of Melodic Death Metal combined with the poppy synths of J-pop and trance-inspired buildups, together with a stew of elements from different styles of electronic dance music.
- Soprano and Gravel: During the Sadew V1 era, the band used samples of female voice tracks for cleans while Sadew himself performed the screams note . The Sophia era had Ryo employ screams. On Last Stardust it was Kiki on cleans and Ryo tackling the screams. Saika during his time in BSC handled both.
- Start My Own: Some time after her departure, Sophia founded Season of Ghosts.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Neo-Gothic-Romance" compared to the rest of Mozaiq, it's slower than the rest of the songs on the album and features much more of Sadew's clean singing, giving it a relative ballad feel. "Sai-Ka-No" is this to possibly their entire discography, as it's more of a Japanese Pop Music style ballad, has none of Ryo's screaming, and is not metal in the slightest.
- Token White: Former member Sophia is actually Greek.
- Visual Kei: The band has not explicitly stated themselves as such, but they have performed alongside established Visual bands and have showcased Visual attire ever since the start of their career. The band's former members have also had careers as musicians in the scene.
- Vocal Evolution: In the band's early days, Ryo was nothing short of a Dreadful Musician, but by the time Epsilon was released, he had developed a screaming capacity rivaling Kiyoharu of Kuroyume, Kyo of Dir en grey or even Maria Cross or Dave "V.I.T.R.I.O.L." Hunt in terms of harshness.
- Vocal Tag Team: Sadew/Ryo, then Ryo/Sophia, followed up by Ryo/Kiki until 2016.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Ryu is just one in a list of highly convincing crossdressers in Visual Kei, alongside Hizaki of Versailles, Shinya of Dir en grey, Mana of Malice Mizer, Bou ex-An Cafe and early Yoshiki Hayashi of X.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: The "e" in Epsilon is rendered as "ε".
