"What is human?"
"Nothing but a being of malice and misery."

After the disbandment of their previous band Matenrou (摩天楼) in early 1992, Mana and Közi formed a new band together in August of 1992, naming it MALICE MIZER (マリスミゼル), which was taken from their answer to the question "What is human? Nothing but a being of malice and misery."

Inspired by classical music and Italian horror soundtracks, the pair sought to create a twin guitar sound and recruited vocalist Tetsu, bassist Yu〜ki, and drummer Gaz to complete their line-up.

This lineup, however, was short-lived, as drummer Gaz soon left the band in March of 1993 and Kami joined two days later. The two drummers "swapped" bands and coincidentally shared the same birthday.

Vocalist Tetsu remained with the band until his departure in late 1994 after not wanting to be part of a visual kei band, the direction the other members wanted to venture into.

It wasn't until October of the following year that Gackt joined as the new vocalist. It was during this time period that the band experienced peak stardom through their major label. But this, too, was short-lived. In New Year's 1999, it was announced that Gackt had split ways, and the remaining members continued as a quartet again until Kami's death in June of the same year.

Now reduced to a trio, they released both instrumental songs and ones that both relied on their vocals and occasionally guest vocalist Khala, who officially joined in August 2000 and remained until the end of 2001.

Throughout the band's nine-year history, they went through line-up, musical, and visual changes. With vocalist Tetsu, they had a baroque sound that evolved into French pop and became renowned for their extravagant theatrics after Gackt joined the band. Their sound evolved into gothic after Gackt's departure and Kami's subsequent death, and they continued with Klaha as their third and final vocalist until their indefinite hiatus in December of 2001.