Unlucky Morpheus is often introduced by its singer. The music she sings is written by the guitarist.
A Doujin Circle
Shiren (紫煉) was born on 10 March 1987 in Kanagawa Prefecture and studied at the music school MI JAPAN. In 2008 he and Fuki, who had met the year before, started Unlucky Morpheus.
It did not begin as a band in the usual sense. It began as a doujin circle, part of Japan’s self-publishing fan culture. The first release, the mini-album Hypothetical Box on 3 October 2008, was a set of metal arrangements of music from the Touhou Project video games.
That scene is easy to underestimate from outside. It gave a young arranger an audience, a deadline and a reason to finish records, years before any label was involved.
Originals
The turn came in 2014 with affected, the first Unlucky Morpheus album made up entirely of original songs. CHANGE OF GENERATION in 2018 was the first to enter the Japanese chart, at number 26. Unfinished (2020) and evolution (2022) followed.
Shiren’s credit across all of it is the same: composer and arranger of every song, guitarist, and the harsh voice behind Fuki’s clean one. He also joined the band Yousei Teikoku in 2013.
The Hand
Some years ago he developed tendonitis in his hand. His answer was practical. He went looking for the lightest instrument he could find and settled on a headless seven-string guitar made by Strandberg. He has described it as the only choice that suited his body.
The Recent Run
The pace has picked up. In May 2024 the five instrumentalists, without Fuki, released a melodic death metal album under the name Unholy Orpheus, what is DEATH?. Then came a pair of Unlucky Morpheus albums: Gate of Heaven on 26 November 2025 and the concept album Gate of Hell on 3 June 2026.
Why It Matters
A lot of Japanese metal musicians came up through live houses. Shiren came up through fan conventions and game music, and built a six-piece with a violinist, Jill, out of it.
Start with CHANGE OF GENERATION, then Gate of Heaven and Gate of Hell back to back.
