KILLANETH was a relatively short-lived ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band that climbed the ladder within the genre very quickly, despite only releasing two official singles, a live limited single and eventually a second press of their first single featuring a new third track, fully replacing the original third track of that release. Needless to say, when the band announced that their upcoming tour would be canceled and the band would disband on top of that, it was quite shocking news.
Not long after the official disbanding vocalist 丐 (Kai) and drummer 39 announced the formation of a new project named TRNTY D:CODE. The project saw it’s debut in April of 2017, but for interested parties looking from outside of Japan the project was a big mystery due to lack of any coverage of the live shows that took place.
The first thing everyone who didn’t attend any of these shows would see was the announcement of the group’s first single “GRAVITY”, which would be released on the 31st of January 2018, followed by the message that two members had joined the lineup. Namely SHiO (formerly known as KAI in his previous project LOVE LOCK) as a guitarist and MST (formerly known as miki when he was still a part of THE DC) as a bassist. Additionally, drummer 39 would be changing his name to ‘saku’, and change his position from drummer to manipulator – a change I will not be honoring in this review, since he ended up changing back to his original name later.
“GRAVITY” was released through KEIOS ENTERTAINMENT, a label owned by YOHIO – who you might recognize as a member of the Swedish ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) inspired project Seremedy, or his current project in Japan: DISREIGN.
The regular edition of the single exists out of the title track “GRAVITY”, “No PAIN No GAIN” and “喰row” (Kuerow), while the limited edition only contains the first two songs as well as a DVD containing the music video for the title track.
GRAVITY
(Words: 丐 (Kai) | Music: SHiO)
One thing that immediately stands out is the switch in main language used opposed to KILLANETH. Where the previous band used mostly Japanese with some English mixed in, “GRAVITY”s lyrics are fully in English. 丐 (Kai) is not a native English speaker (obviously), so he can get his point across, but for English speakers the grammar might be a bit odd here and there. With 39’s change from drummer to manipulator for this project you obviously get a lot more digital influence mixed into their sound, which also results in a very obvious use of autotune for 丐 (Kai)’s vocals. If you’re familiar with KILLANETH’s work this will still sound like the same singer, but with a different approach than the previous project. This project combines elements of rock, metal and hiphop mixed with a digital sound, while delivering the lyrics in English primarily.
The lyrics are more on the sad side, and even though they don’t tell a clear story, they do sketch an emotional state very clearly. The chorus of “Now or never, even if I die tomorrow I have no choice but to live “now”. We have no time to regret, there are lots of things to hurt, we can still scream out.” sums up the emotion 丐 (Kai) is trying to convey through this song very well. How much these lyrics tie in with ‘gravity’ as up for your interpretation however, since this term can be used in multiple ways.
The music video for the title song is a relatively simple one, with a color scheme that compliments the single’s artwork. In the sense of the artwork having similar colors to the overall visuals you’ll see in the music video. The members are located in a clearing with trees surrounding them, performing the song without any additional information or visuals that add to the lyrics. There is a digital overlay that ties the manipulator role more into the video, but it doesn’t add anything to the story that’s being told, resulting the video to be more of an aesthetic one than one that translates the lyrics into a visual format. One extra thing we do get to see is the group’s support drummer 神崎 流空 (Kanzaki Iria), who we also see in a different ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band 0.1gの誤算 (0.1g no Gosan)
No PAIN No GAIN
(Words: 丐 (Kai) | Music: SHiO)
The second song actually continues the choice of delivering the lyrics in English, but also remains in a similar emotion overall. Contrary to the title song, “No PAIN No GAIN” features a heavier vocal style with screams and grunts, combined with a more melodic style for the instrumentals. The lyrics and instrumentals are more ‘aggressive’ and have a higher tempo than it’s predecessor, but the lyrics also describe that the ‘pain’ (if this is physical or emotional isn’t specified, so I can’t tell you either) endured as a child formed them to what they are today, resulting in the term “No PAIN No GAIN”. “If this pain did not exist, I would not have known of this scenery. I am grateful for this pain. Always. When I was still a child, I could get up even if I fell down. Like that…”
喰row (Kuerow)
(Words: 丐 (Kai) | Music: SHiO)
The last song on the single, which is only included with the regular edition of the release, mixes both Japanese and English within it’s lyrics, but as a non-native Japanese speaker who is still learning the language I struggled a lot with the title of this song, as well as every time it returns into the lyrics. If it’s a misspelling of the English term ‘raw’ isn’t completely off the table for me, but 喰 (Kue or Kuraru) can be used as ‘eat’, ‘drink’ or ‘receive (a blow)’. Based on the rest of the lyrics I assume 丐 (Kai) is aiming for the ‘receive a blow’ definition, but as I said, I am not a native speaker and still learning the language so if this is wrong, that’s why.
Unlike the other two songs, this is more of a rock-ballad type of sound that combines a higher tempo for the instruments with a calmer vocal presence, but also uses the autotune as a feature, not as the main style like we saw in the title song. Despite the lyrics taking a shift to a more angry type of emotional state, the instrumentals create a much more cheerful tune to go with it. The lines “Silence becomes poisonous, breaking all your walls. Sound and words are forces. Take down enemy. The biggest enemy is always inside us.” do tie in with the overall message of the single, but also feel like a much more direct and even ‘aggressive’ style compared to the rest of the release.
Conclusion
While “GRAVITY” is only the first work of TRNTY D:CODE, it has some familiarity to it if you’ve heard the other projects of the members before, while still being it’s own entity at the same time. While I say there is some familiarity, it’s absolutely impossible to say ‘this sounds like KILLANETH or LOVE LOCK’, for example. The choice to use English as the primary language for the lyrics is an interesting shift, since this is usually not done on this scale in ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei), but is quite common in the metal genre. The members have admitted that they are not fans of the musical side of the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) genre, but they do very much like the fashion that the scene has created – something that also returned in vocalist 丐 (Kai)’s clothing label Another Neid Kerberos, or ANK for short. He has showed some of the items with KILLANETH before already after all.
The group might just be shoved more towards the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) genre due to their visuals and costumes, but it might not be the place where they want to be based on their statement about the music within the genre.
However, their first single definitely makes a statement from a lyrical standpoint, showing off the style the group might be aiming for with their future releases. If you come to this release expecting something like KILLANETH has made previously, then you’re going to be disappointed. But if you’re expecting a slightly heavier style than the previous project of 丐 (Kai) and 39, then “GRAVITY” might be able to deliver that for you already, but only time will tell what the future will bring for TRNTY D:CODE.
A small update in 2025: “GRAVITY” is now available for streaming on Spotify, which is why we’ve updated this article with a Spotify playlist and also changed the information about the release to the formatting we used at that time rather than the original formatting. You can find the updated information below.
 KEJCDS-1 // ¥1,800 |  KEJCDS-2 // ¥1,500 |
02. No PAIN No GAIN DVD 01. GRAVITY (MV) | 02. No PAIN No GAIN 03. 喰Row (Kuerow) |
2018.01.31 Shop: CDJapan | 2018.01.31 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.