Industrial Waste - The Rise & Fall of Darkest Labyrinth

Darkest Labyrinth had its humble beginnings as a VA (Various Artists) album in 2007. Its purpose was to showcase lesser known artists from Japan's Goth scene. It was an incredible album, one of the best compilations ever in the eyes of many. Along with the Japanese contingent, there was a song by a Greek act known as Virgins OR Pigeons that had opened for BLOOD on a few dates in Europe. Kiwamu was huge on them as well as a lot of little known Japanese and worldwide industrial acts.

When BLOOD released their LES FLEURS DU MAL album later that year, it contained 8 songs and 4 industrial remixes, including one by Kiwamu himself. Kiwamu and BLOOD had done plenty of experimentation with electronic music, including using an electronic/mechanical drum for every song they'd ever done. Not long after, BLOOD would announce their 3rd concept series, Symphony of Chaos. Rather than simply telling a story or basing music on famous poetry, this completely reshaped the band as they moved from Goth Rock to Industrial.

Virgins OR Pigeons also had a release in 2007 in Place No Reliance. Being that Kiwamu's connections and resources hadn't yet expanded, the album got little attention and sold poorly. VOP stuck with Kiwamu doing remixes for BLOOD releases, but were incredibly upset at how poorly they were received and had a falling out with Kiwamu. They moved on to the European scene where Industrial music is more known and followed.

With VOP on the way out, Kiwamu already had their successor in the wings in an Australian DJ who went by Gothique Prince Ken. GPK debuted for Kiwamu on BLOOD's DEAD-HEARTED EP, with an amazing remix of the title track. Supposedly, a 4 track demo version of GPK's first EP, Sublimis, was released around the same time, but I've never seen it anywhere. The actual release of that disc would sell out in preorders and eventually make GPKISM bigger than Kiwamu's main band, BLOOD.

Darkest Labyrinth debuted as a label with the release of BLOOD's two disc THE REAPER BEHIND ME album in 2008. The second (bonus) disc once again featured remixes from around the globe and it soon became evident that Kiwamu was going global with this label. He signed acts like Spectrum-X and Noir du'Soleil and assisted with music writing/guitar parts and even some Japanese lyrics here and there. All the while he had to help keep GPKISM going and kept signing new acts. A busy man indeed, too busy, apparently.

Like VOP, Spectrum-X and Noir du'Soleil were flops in terms of sales. VOP had already become vocal about Kiwamu, saying they'd been made all sorts of promises that didn't pan out, etc. Nullifer (Spectrum-X) joined in and so did some others. Add to that that GPK had hit a creative snag, forcing Kiwamu to write 6-7 of the last GPKISM songs and the endless barrage of bullshit from the internet, and he'd had it.

GPKISM didn't break up over a scuffle they had on Facebook. It ended because Kiwamu was sick of doing all the work for a project with someone elses name on it. "It was becoming Kiwamuism." One only has to look to where GPK is now to know that the man has questionable work ethic and little creative drive.

After GPKISM fell apart in 2010/11, Darkest Labyrinth began to quickly fall with it. Kiwamu wanted nothing to do with working with foreign artists anymore, he even publicly said so. Acts like Vanished Empire, Seileen, BESPA KUMAMERO, HimemaniK, and marlee went dormant or broke up and it became apparent that BLAM HONEY was a one shot deal. Even the short-lived reboot of BLOOD was on Starwave Records, Kiwamu's Visual Kei label that still continues today.

Darkest Labyrinth is all but dead these days. VELVET EDEN and Rose Noire are the only active bands left on the label and who knows how long before DADA has another change of heart. Even the online shop dropped Darkest Labyrinth from the name, though, it's still the URL.

Industrial music is a genre of ups and downs, bands come and go all the time. Put that into a music scene that sees bands disband, change lineups and musical styles like there's no tomorrow and you have a recipe for failure. Kiwamu stretched himself too thin and had far too much working against him. It's too bad. I watched it grow from nothing and had hope that this would prosper and standout in a music scene that is severely lacking in originality.

Rei-