Yukito (the bassist) started Raphael in 1997. Shortly after, Kazuki, Yukito, and Hiro joined the band. They started performing lives at the end of ’97, along with a demo tape. Their music is very uplifting, with obvious rock and metal influences. All of the members were very young when the band started too!
1999 saw their first major release of Lilac; their first album, and White Love Story; their first single. Later in ’99, they signed to a major label, their debut single being Hana Saku Inochi Aru Kagiri, and their first mini album, Mind Soap. During this time, they also toned down their hard visual kei image.
In 2000, Raphael released Lost Graduation, Sosugyo - Graduation, and the live video Raphael Special Live Graduation. These albums revolved around the fact that the members of Raphael (who were still very young at this time) would have graduated, had they not pursued music.
October 31, 2000 is the day Raphael took a turn for the worst. Kazuki suddenly passes away. They continued to release throughout 2001, but their releases consisted mainly of Best of’s and compilation discs. Afterwords, Raphael went on hiatus, and then officially disbanded.
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