Visual-kei band Raphael is up to something after being on hiatus since 2001. In mid-February, the band launched their official website with a countdown timer.�The countdown timer is set to reach '0' on April 7th.

Raphael originally formed in 1997 with vocalist YUKI, guitarist Kazuki, bassist YUKITO, and drummer HIRO. They accomplished their first one-man live in April of 1998, and made their major debut in July of 1999 with the single, "Hanasaki Inochi Aru Kagiri". To coincide with the members' graduation from high school in March of 2000, the band held a special concert, called "graduation", at Nippon Budokan.

The band had a definite influence on the visual kei scene, and showed the power to lead the visual kei band boom. However, in October of 2000, member Kazuki passed away due to a tranquilizer overdose. Raphael later closed the curtains on their activities in January of 2001 after their tour, "Raphael Tour 2000-2001 Shinseiki wo Kakenukero!".

Since then, YUKI and HIRO formed a rock band called "rice". On April 6th, they will hold a one-man live at Harajuku Astro Hall to commemorate their 11th anniversary. YUKITO is also in a band called "Dance Dance Dance", and held their first live concert in February.

Stay tuned to tokyohive for follow-up reports!

Source & Image: Oricon