TRNTY D:CODE was formed in 2017 by vocalist 丐 (Kai) and drummer 39 after the disbanding of their previous ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band KILLANETH. For this new project 39’s position changed from drummer to manipulator, and that change unsurprisingly brings a much more digital sound along with it.
While the current status of activity for TRNTY D:CODE is a bit unclear to me (the group is still considered ‘active’ in 2025, despite nothing being released since 2018 but there has been a live performance in 2023), they’re still a group I have been wanting to discuss into more detail for years now.
The group has released two physical singles, namely “GRAVITY” in January of 2018 and “[HELL]hound.” In November of the same year, and two digital songs: “GRAVITY (Another Ver.)” and “No.6” in the same year. So I can imagine you wondering right now: “But 雪 (Yuki), this group hasn’t released anything in almost 7 years, they’re not even active, and several of the members have even left the group by now, what possibly possesses you to bring them up now?”. And to that, dear reader… I can only say that I don’t have a satisfactory answer to that either.
When “GRAVITY” was first released I discussed that single in more detail, and the intention at that time had been to give the same treatment to “[HELL]hound.”, especially because the sound of both singles is quite different. Unfortunately this discussion never happened, so instead we’re doing it now. About six and a half years after release.
As I mentioned a moment ago already, “[HELL]hound.” was released on November 28 of 2018, and comes in a limited edition containing “[HELL]hound.”, “inside.” and “gone.” as well as a DVD with the music video for the title song, and a regular edition containing a fourth song “steep.”. (Which interestingly enough has been given the third track on this regular edition, before “gone”.)
As usual we’re covering both releases in this review, meaning all four tracks (in the order of the regular edition) and the music video for “[HELL]hound.”.
Additionally, bassist MST and vocalist 丐 (Kai) have left the group in 2020 and 2022 respectively, but they were still a part of the group when this single was released. That’s why they will be mentioned as part of the group within this review. At the moment of writing, guitarist SHiO and manipulator 39 are the only remaining members of the group.
It’s hard to “live” with the darkness inside of oneself
If you’ve heard the “GRAVITY” single, you might have noticed that 丐 (Kai) sings in English most of the time. On the previous single there was only one song which mixed their native language into the lyrics (all of which are written by 丐 (Kai) by the way, and all compositions have been done by SHiO, the exact same style is used on this single as well), but on “[HELL]hound.” There are two songs that mix both languages into the lyrics.
Starting with the title song, “[HELL]hound.” is one of the songs sung entirely in English, which is a bit of a weird experience for me because it makes my position here (being a bilingual Dutch/English speaker) a lot easier. One line that stands out is the one I already highlighted as the title for this section: “It’s hard to “live” with the darkness inside of oneself”, which sums up the mindset and style in which 丐 (Kai) writes his lyrics quite well. Not just for this track, but in general.
The storyteller here is quite direct with what they want to convey, but also somewhat poetic with how the hellhound stalking them is described with his freezing eyes, aiming at them while drooling. And while “[HELL]hound.” still relies heavily on the autotune aspect (something “GRAVITY” before it did too), the rap-section at the start of the song is definitely a new addition to TRNTY’s repertoire.
The MV starts with vocalist 丐 (Kai) walking through a quiet neighborhood with a body of water in the background before switching to some indoor shots of the entire group in a round space with a dominantly red light, but throughout the video we also see solo shots of each member both indoors and outdoors, mixed with group shots in both locations and styles. (A fun visual tidbit with this video is the hoodie you see 丐 (Kai) wear at the start and outside shots is actually part of his own clothing brand ANK (Another Neid Kerberos) – a brand that you also saw the members of KILLANETH wear and promote before.)
The music video is fairly simple – something that can be said about the previous MV as well -, but as usual: does the MV translate the lyrics into a more visual format? Absolutely not. There is a story in these lyrics, but the music video absolutely doesn’t add anything to that on a visual level. This MV is definitely one that you’d look at with the intention to see the members rather than ‘enjoy the story’ being told.
A nice aspect of the music video is that the English lyrics are on the screen throughout the entire video, but the Japanese translation is as well. Allowing speakers of both languages to understand (and hopefully ‘enjoy’, in a way) the story of “[HELL]hound.”.
Up next is “inside.”, which continues on the foundation the title track already laid out for us both in the lyrics and on an instrumental level. And along with that, the overall theme for the single also shines through: there’s a mental struggle, but there’s also a sense of motivation and understanding. “Woodpecker knocks at my head, so it’s noisy.”, is a line I personally really relate to as well. But there’s also the motivation in the form of “Don’t let your emotions sleep!”, for example.
Most of the song is sung in English, with some Japanese here and there to accentuate the emotion 丐 (Kai) is trying to convey to us, complimented by the emphasis on the guitars (yes, despite SHiO being the only guitarist in the group’s lineup you’ll hear two guitars, which is not as strange or unusual as you’d think) and the subtle addition of 39’s manipulation that also doesn’t make the autotune shine through as much as it would on the title track.
Following is the bonus track only found on the regular edition of the release, “steep.”. There’s a good reason on why this bonus track has been put before the final song on the regular edition, but we’ll get to that in a moment. “steep.” is the other song that’s sung entirely in English, and actually pulls a new topic into the single. One that is used more often than not, but a sense of ‘love’ shines through. Not just love for another person, but also love for oneself.
The manipulation influence also comes forward a lot more in the introduction to the song, but fades more into the background afterwards, but again, the use of autotune is a reoccurring staple within TRNTY D:CODE, but it’s mostly used in the more melodic vocals, and definitely not in the heavier ones. “Don’t be misled by sentence, written by rotten adults. I think for myself and decide for myself.” (And for you spelling and grammar ones out there: 丐 (Kai) is not a native English speaker. He can bring his message across very well, but this is how it’s written in the original lyrics, so I am using them the same way.)
Closing off the single is “gone.”, and now is the reason I can tell you why “steep.” was added before the final song. While the entire single has had a metalcore influence and higher paced tempo, “gone.” is a ballad in every sense of the word. Not just that, but the final notes of “steep.” also make the perfect bridge between both songs. (This is also one of the reasons I combine both the regular and limited editions into one review – you’d miss things like this otherwise!)
“gone.” also continues the theme of love we started to see in the previous track, mixing both Japanese and English and being the most poetic track for that reason as well. While clearly being a ‘longing’ type of love, there’s also a hint of anger hidden in these lyrics, causing it to be a bit of a stretch in terms of fitting in with the other tracks, but there are some connections that can be made here. It’s also a different style that we didn’t hear from TRNTY yet, but 丐 (Kai)’s voice is very fitting for.
Conclusion
“[HELL]hound.” delivered us a single that although still in the realm of ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) had a(n overall) more metalcore sound than other releases of that time, which directly ties into the members not being a fan of the Visual genre musically, but fashion wise they were. Something that also returns in the style of the lyrics, since the metal and metalcore genres in Japan make a lot more use of the English language, mostly because the groups they like in this genre come from overseas and use English. In fact, during interviews I’ve heard these artists say that they didn’t even see Japanese as an option in their music, because it just sounds ‘weird’ to them. (And why the title track of this single initially sounded ‘weird’ to me, like I pointed out already. By that logic “gone.” would be the most ‘visual’ song on this release too.)
While the theme of the single is quite clear, the way it is brought forward in each song is quite vague. The title track paints a very clear picture while the other tracks don’t follow this style in the slightest, resulting in a bit of a ‘mix & match’ style for the other songs from a lyrical standpoint in particular, but connect through the instrumental choices as well as the (occasionally subtle) rap portions we hear here and there – some being very clear like the ones in “[HELL]hound.”, but others being more in the metalcore-style like for example “steep.”.
These unusual choices also put the single in the spotlight when it came out, along with the fact that more ‘rap’ was incorporated into “[HELL]hound.” as a whole than other releases at that time. Looking back on this release several years later was quite an interesting trip down memory lane for me. If the group will ever pick up activities again is anyone’s guess, especially since two members have left the group in the meantime, and the remaining members are in different projects like 東京インフェルノ (Tokyo Inferno) and Rs:ARFT – the latter being a continuous session project which also has one of the vocalists of 東京インフェルノ (Tokyo Inferno) and bassist MST in the lineup.
And while the single is now available for streaming on Spotify and other music platforms, it’s also still available as a physical release through CDJapan. So of course we’ll provide you with all the links below:
 TDC-1L // ¥1,800 |  TDC-2L // ¥1,500 |
02. inside. 03. gone. DVD 01. [HELL]hound. (MV) | 02. inside. 03. steep. (Bonus track) 04. gone. |
2018.11.28 Shop: CDJapan | 2018.11.28 Shop: CDJapan |
More about TRNTY D:CODE
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雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years, she's still the one responsible for the interviews and most of the live photography you see here at Arlequin, but the majority of reviews and behind-the-scenes work is also done by her.
The reviews she writes are from the viewing point of an overseas fan, and thus written in English before being translated to Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. In the English versions she also tries to explain the meaning behind certain kanji or song titles to the readers, but what you don't see here is that these explanations are omitted in the Japanese versions in order to appeal to these readers more.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.