Sound Horizon

Profile
Sound Horizon is a group of Japanese artists who are supervised by the band's creator Revo (lyricist, composer, arranger). Sound Horizon’s main goal is to express fantasy stories with music. Each member is selected for whatever album or story they're needed in. There can be any number of narrators and vocalists, and they can be of any gender, sexuality, or ethnicity. By using lyrics, melodies, narration, sound effects, and visuals, Sound Horizon presents a whole new world for the listener to explore. Their job can be summed up as "story music", but their reach goes far beyond this. Each song is compiled into albums, linking them together with overarching stories, themes, and concepts. The base of any SH album asks the observer various questions that relate to the human experience; Life and death, love and hatred, joy and sorrow, all concepts that become more and more deep and profound with every listen.

The reach of the stories created by Revo doesn't just end with sound. Lives, Novels, Comics, and even the CD packaging play a vital role in one's interpretation of his stories. Stage performances provide a whole new way to experience the world of Sound Horizon. There are various types of concerts held by SH. "Story Concerts" are held whenever a new Story CD Album is released, and are intended to reenact Revo's "Story Music" in a staged performance. Another type of concert is the "Great Territorial Expansion" live tours (See Sound Horizon Kingdom). During the concert, the entire venue (and sometimes, the entire city) is transformed into a physical addition to a fictitious "kingdom" to further bring audience members closer to the music and each other. Because of this, Sound Horizon has become an all-encompassing experience, something that combines various mediums of art to provide a completely unique interaction between the listener and Revo's work. Novels and Comic Books and Novelizations have been created based off of Sound Horizon's stories, and while these are not canonical, they provide different interpretations for Revo's worlds (See Media Mix). All of the CD art for Sound Horizon has been illustrated by Yokoyan, who paints a vivid and essential element in helping guide the listener through the fantastical world of SH.

History
Sound Horizon first began as a website in the mid-90’s entitled “Sound-Horizon”. Published under the pseudonym “G.Revo”, Revo released original songs and covers of JRPG and video game soundtracks, some of them containing lyrical poems to accompany them. In 2001, Revo released his 1st Story CD “Chronicle” at Yoyokan’s booth during the 61st Comic Market doujin circle. SH continued to release doujin albums until 2004, with the release of “Elysion 〜楽园への前奏曲”, marking their Major Debut. This album was released under Bellwood Records and contained music from their doujin albums as well as two songs to be featured later on “Elysion ～楽園幻想物語組曲～”. When “少年は剣を…”, the band’s first Maxi Single, was released, a musical shift was apparent. Fans call everything before 少年は剣を… as “The First Era”, and everything following that as “The Second Era”. This is because the band’s lead vocalist, Aramary, departed from the band in 2005, being replaced with KAORI, REMI, YUUKI, and RIKKI. The band continued to release Story CDs and Singles, with their 2006 5th Story CD “Roman” being released under KING RECORDS. Revo continued releasing Sound Horizon CDs under KING RECORDS until 2013 with the release of “ハロウィンと夜の物語”, their fourth single, under the label Pony Canyon.

Web Songs

 * Main Article: Web Songs

Doujin

 * Chronicle | December 30th, 2001 | Self-Published
 * Thanatos | August 11th, 2002 | Self-Published
 * Lost | December 20th, 2002 | Self-Published
 * Pico Magic | May 4th, 2003 | Self-Published
 * Pico Magic Reloaded | August 17th, 2003 | Self-Published
 * Chronicle 2nd | March 19th, 2004 | Self-Published

Major Releases

 * Elysion 〜楽園への前奏曲〜 | October 27th, 2004 | Bellwood Records
 * Elysion 〜楽園幻想物語組曲〜 |April 14th, 2005 | Bellwood Records
 * 少年は剣を… | October 4th, 2006 | TEAM Entertainment
 * Roman | November 22nd, 2006 | KING RECORDS
 * 聖戦のイベリア | August 1st, 2007 | KING RECORDS
 * Moira | September 3rd, 2008 | KING RECORDS
 * イドへ至る森へ至るイド | June 16th, 2010 | KING RECORDS
 * Märchen | December 15th, 2010 | KING RECORDS
 * Chronology 「2005-2010」 | April 13th, 2012 | KING RECORDS
 * ハロウィンと夜の物語 | October 9th, 2013 | Pony Canyon
 * ヴァニシング・スターライト | October 1st, 2014 | Pony Canyon
 * Nein | April 22nd, 2015 | Pony Canyon