Visual kei and Showa kayou kei creep through the velvet theatre curtains as 怪人二十面奏 unveil 精神寓話 (Seishin Guwa, “Mental Fable” / “Spiritual Allegory”), a deliciously antique nightmare dressed in rock-band formalwear. The track feels like a haunted gramophone arguing with a distortion pedal: Makoto’s dramatic vocals prowl through lyrical fog while KEN’s composition turns old-world melody into a strange little cabaret machine with fangs. Released as a two-track single with ハヤリウタ (Hayariuta, “Popular Song” / “Trend Song”), this is its own ornate clue in the band’s ongoing mystery-rock casefile.
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