Biography -
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ManifestiV began as a visual kei industrial duo in Vallejo, California early 2014, founded by two morticians that met years prior in Dallas, Texas. Paragraph, guitarist & programmer, joined forces with Lillith, vibraphonist & visual artist. Paragraph wrote & tracked their debut Einer Sie Gern with Lillith while she built her vibraphone from an old set of keys that survived a marching band's trailer's totaling, in tandem with a custom oak hardwood flooring frame & K&K Sound pickups to make it electric. After a bit of US touring, the duo relocated back to Dallas (where they met) to write more music amidst longtime friends & influences.
After having recorded their sophomore release God Is A Martian at Prairie Sun (the go-to studio for Les Claypool of Primus, Tom Waits & more), the duo continued touring extensively amidst visits to Southeast Asia, Europe, Central America & Burning Man to help craft their sound influenced by tribal living and industrial strength. After releasing remixes & a Radiohead cover on 3vE in 2019, they recruited drummer Ryan A & bassist Kevin Porter from Secret Of Boris, debuting the four-piece lineup opening for Curse Mackey and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult at Deep Ellum's legendary Trees. Since then, the band also played with Mortiis, Living Dead Girl, and slated to play with Ministry and Front Line Assembly before a pandemic induced cancellation of that ManifestiV opened concert.
That live four-piece lineup recorded Horsemen 2021 at ¶ & Lillith's two-acre-plus east Texan post-pandemic vegetable & egg farm, reading the writing on the wall and adding to it speechlessly, save a 'secret track' message on the State of the Planet from the UN Secretary General. This inspired the reunion of Lcn1 with ¶ & Kevin, who had all three made their first recordings together a score before. Demos for the new record in 2022 spawned a pre-mix album The Bitter Truth foreshadowing the 2023 epic dirge Legacy LP, both highlighting what humanity leaves behind and heads towards with its current trajectory.
The embellished five-piece lineup played a series of milestone events behind that pair of GIVE/TAKE releases throughout 2024. Highlights began with the seventh Vulgarfest installment where the ManifestiV set, debuting Lcn1 live, melded into the following set by Secret Of Boris, with their singer Cameron Taylor and Vivid & Vulgar singer Aaron Scott lending guest vocals to the ManifestiV set. Lillith then lent vibraphone to a few SOB songs and vocals to their cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box”. This took inspiration from the Nine Inch Nails & David Bowie Outside Tour in 1995 where both artists blended their changeovers & played as guests on each other’s stages.
That ManifestiV live quintet continued with autumn shows, including opening for Stabbing Westward at the Dallas mainstay Granada Theater, and concluding with a special ten year anniversary celebration of the ManifestiV debut album Einer Sie Gern (that released 12/13/14 at Slim's in San Francisco) where some of its songs, all the way to new ones written since Legacy, made up an-hour-plus career-spanning setlist. That show at Zounds Sounds B-Side in Dallas, adjacent to its A-Side music school, featured a custom 3D acrylic pour UV reactive art gallery painted & curated by Lillith, and the venue’s lighting the entire night drenched the duration of the event in blacklight. All five live ManifestiV players that night affixed temporary UV reactive tattoos for an extra glow added to the show, fittingly closing out the year & show cycle behind the latest Legacy album.
2025, Lillith & ¶ ventured to Thailand & Japan for two months respectively to finish writing what the five began the previous year: Universe 25, their longest & most ambitious effort yet. Spearheaded by singles “Never In History” & “Alpha Intelligence” recorded the previous year by & with the quintet, the music on Universe 25 abandons the noise & anxiously doomsday overtones of recent ManifestiV recordings, taking a turn for far more positive present & futuristic lyrical outlooks while keeping the sonic atmospheres darkly beautiful.
Lillith & ¶ realized, especially with a name like ManifestiV, honing in on the light of what keeps humanity going & recognizing life’s beauty amidst a sea of ugliness strengthens both players and listeners. The pair shifted their music from highlighting & grieving global apathy & doom to embracing & nurturing compassion & care. Rediscovering their visual kei roots in Japan 2025, Lillith & ¶ vowed to heal & give energy with ManifestiV music henceforth. Having reflected over their first decade, the duo noticed their previous music sometimes focused on humanity’s darkest directions & tendencies, promptly inspiring a perspective reversal in their newest compositions.
ManifestiV persists in reminding everyone they encounter that anyone can celebrate their abilities to manifest their own realities through careful & clear communication, self-care, compassion and mindfulness, enhancing awareness & connection within ourselves & each other.
~ ¶ & Lillith, July 2025
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“ManifestiV definitely has a unique vibe. Dark soundscapes intertwined with layers of instrumentals, distorted guitars, haunting vocals, and Lillith’s homemade vibraphone all combine to create a unique listening experience, the perfect soundtrack for surviving the apocalypse.”
M'Lou Elkins - MusicFiends.com
“ManifestiV’s Legacy ...is immersed in dark & brooding soundscapes layered with intricate instrumentals & haunting vocals.”
S. Mayo - ReGen Magazine
“Somewhere between lullaby and awakening exists ManifestiV... soothing bells intertwine brilliantly with crunching guitars… all of which are crowned by haunting vocals.”
R. Ramos - Procession Magazine editor
“When the rhythms slow down, the menace increases.”
C. Pollard - ReGen Magazine
“The ManifestiV Traction mix of [fellow GIVE/TAKE artist EbE404’s] 'Slipping by One' expands a chugging guitar part and brings in [vibraphones AND] saxophones, turning the song into a neo-noir soundtrack.”
Justin Roby - ReGen Magazine
"..their rhythmic distorted sounds paired with vibraphone along with their stage costumes is something to be experienced. ...they had a presence along with a look which was different and unique but relatable."
Bryan Bardes - Audio Vein Entertainment
"they do have a unique sound: space-faring metal"
Steven Gullotta - Brutal Resonance Webzine
"There’s... a darker side to Dallas’ performance scene, one that post-industrial band ManifestiV has grabbed by the horns."
Erin Shea Devany - Dallas Observer (Dallas TX)
"This experimental industrial couple trades vocal duties while making music that sounds synth-backed and filled with crushed beats and fuzzy guitars."
David Fletcher - Dallas Observer (Dallas TX)
"Vocals and guitar crunch from Paragraph contrast with the ring of Lillith's vibraphone [& voice] in a relaxing way."
Juan Cornejo - Project Zer0 (Ft Worth TX)
"God is a Martian perfectly balances heavy grooves, guitar riffs and [vibes]/synth with smooth warm vocals... you would swear this was a 5-piece band at times. The title track closes out the EP with all the boxes checked as ManifestiV brings you home from their journey far, far away."
Bradley Amos - Deep Dallas Radio (Dallas TX)
"Heavy distorted guitars chugging under the unique sound of a vibraphone with the electric undercurrent works so well, and every sound is crisp & focused, that it’s easy to get pulled into their mysterious world."
Rob Bozzoli - Halfway Serious (Santa Cruz CA)
"Paragraph let loose... darting about the stage, thrashing around to the heavier parts of the tracks and even taking a mighty leap into the air at one point, all while shredding on his guitar. They have a strong industrial quality about their music, which often leaned towards more rock tendencies; though there were some nice slower, even melodic jams mixed in. The more experimental side of things came from Lillith, who played the vibraphone, which added a great touch to the songs; her luminous eyes visible from even far away, as they looked as if they were piercing through everyone watching."
Jordan Buford - The Music Enthusiast (Dallas TX)
"...the pair have made an album which is both hard-hitting and addictive... powerful and anarchic but also blends in enough pop sensibility to make them appealing... wanders effortlessly over an industrial ambient soundscape which lends itself as much to originality as it does to bravado."
Paul Scott-Bates - Louder Than War (Manchester UK)
"ManifestiV undoubtedly feeds off each other’s artistic talents. What caught my attention were the subtle movements Lillith does in between and during her harmonies, using her instrument as a canvas for so much more than a soundscape. To her left in sync, Paragraph magnetizes the set with his body, vocals, and piercing guitar."
Jessica Navarro - Rooftop Playlist (Austin TX)
"This is what music is gonna be in a post-apocalyptic world... I would call it experimental, but I would say these guys don't act like they're experimenting with anything. They've got it down to a science."
Matthew Blake - Whiskey Boy Radio (Dallas TX)
"If a heart can be naked and survive, this is the sound it would make."
TJ Walkup - Omnific Pictures (Vallejo CA)