Phantasmagoria was a Japanese visual kei band formed in November 2004 in Osaka by Kisaki, the Executive of Under Code Production, a Visual Kei indies label located in Osaka, Japan. Previously, he was the Executive of the indies label Matina.
Phantasmagoria was formed in November 2004 and their first single "Material Pain" was released in "Shoxx magazine" on December 21 of the same year.[1] The following day the group released its first Maxi-single, "Moonlight Revival".
Phantasmagoria was featured on the cover of a well-known visual kei magazine, "Cure", one month after their formation, becoming one of the fastest-rising indies bands to appear on the cover of a magazine.[2]
Rame (bassist of Vidoll) teasingly began referring to the band as "Mago" (Mago means "grandchildren" and was taken from Phantas-mago-ria). The name "Mago" is now used by fans as well.[citation needed]
Phantasmagoria played their first concerts in the United States on October 21 and 22nd, 2005 at Oni-con in Houston, Texas. On March 26th, the band played their first Japanese one-man.
On February 23rd, 2007, guitarist Iori and drummer Matoi left the band. The reason given for Iori's departure was that he did not feel comfortable being in a major band; Matoi stated in Japanese interviews that he left due to a foot injury, but in English interviews, KISAKI stated that he also did not feel comfortable being in a major band. On April 5th, KISAKI announced that he was retiring and Iori and Matoi had returned to the band, but the band would be "sealing." He followed up on the announcement on a live radio show on April 8th, where the band's first and last fan trip was revealed, as well as the final event tour and final oneman tour. KISAKI officially retired from the active visual kei scene on August 31, 2007 but continued to run his label and produce music.
On May 3rd 2008 Phantasmagoria performed live at Hide Memorial Summit.
Riku was / is (?) in a band called ????????. His new band features members of Pashya, the Pumpkin Head, and Jaguar, and has released several singles, 3 mini-albums, and a collections album. In February, all of the members left this band except for Riku. As of right now, the status of this project is unknown but Riku was chosen to be the vocalist of Kisaki's new band.
Jun had his solo project, called ?????, in which he sings and writes music. He now works with Lori in a new project, spiv states.
Matoi is in a band called JILL CHRIST and their first single, "Chrism...Code46358," was released on April 18, 2008. This project hasn't released any material since then.
Phantasmagoria is releasing an album of rerecorded songs over the summer of 2008 and a photobook of their costumes. Also, a new single was revealed that would be sold at live performances, with a new song called "Vanish....".
They resumed activities (again) for only a limited of time by the end of December2009. In 2010, they released 2 singles, "Diamond Dust" and "Seeds of Brain" before officially disbanding the project. KISAKI announced at their last live that he started a new project, ? -the end of corruption world- which has Riku as their vocalist.
From Wikipedia:Phantasmagoria was a Japanese visual kei band formed in November 2004 in Osaka by Kisaki, the Executive of Under Code Production, a Visual Kei indies label located in Osaka, Japan. Previously, he was the Executive of the indies label Matina.