VORTEX

Romaji and English translation of the song VORTEX from the album TOXIC and the single VORTEX by the GazettE.

Lyrics originally sung in English are in italics , and words or phrases I felt were implied are in [brackets] in the translation.

I also (usually) put repeats of chorus/verses/stanzas in [brackets] if they’re not written that way in the original lyrics for ease of singing along.

If he writes a word in the lyrics but doesn’t sing it, I put it in light grey to make it easier to skip when singing along.

I usually romajize katakana characters in CAPITALS, and keep punctuation and line spacing as close to the original booklet as possible. If you see me putting spaces before punctuation at the end of a sentence or writing things in mixed-case capitals, that’s because it’s how it was in the booklet.

Any comments I had during the romajization/translation process will be included as footnotes so as not to disturb the flow of the song. They’re not required reading, but Ruki does some pretty nifty things with his lyrics/kanji choices, or sometimes there’s further explanations about words or phrases in there.

VORTEX: Romaji

Nidoto kesenai kurai ni kizu wo fukameteku Malice
IKI sugita atama wo eguri tobikau Bug ni Noise wo

Tsukaisute no ai to shitte urareta KARAKURI
“Tanjun meikai Buzama na asu da” tte
Rikaishiteru jiten de owatteru

Yugami mawaru Vortex of beats
Hakike no naka de odoru
Right before my eyes
The world that decayed
Right before my eyes
You murder somebody

Too tragic to stay with you

Guruguru to mawaru Loop no naka de
Kikai shikake no sora ni kiete yuku
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Zaratsuita shita de ho wo nazotte
Stolid na Dummy ni yume wo misereba kudarou ga etsuni kawaru sa
I don’t wanna become the fuckin’ garbage like you

Vortex of industry

Shut the fuck up
Jack off

The only thing you really know about me is…
You can’t take my soul away from me
The only thing you really know about me is…
I can’t answer your silly wish

Yugami mawaru Vortex of beats
Hakike no naka de odoru
Right before my eyes
The world that decayed
Right before my eyes
You murder somebody

Kurai kurai yami ni ochite yuku
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Kegare naki koe modoro ni mamire
Imaja sono uso ni mi wo nageru
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Scrap ni nareba kachi wa kieru
Sungeki no namida wa sono muneni todokanai

Guruguru to mawaru Loop no naka de
Akai jikake no sora ni kiete yuku
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Zaratsuita shita de yoku wo nazotte
Stolid na Dummy ni yume wo misereba kudarou ga etsu ni kawaru sa
I don’t wanna become the fuckin’ garbage like you

VORTEX: Translation

Malice deepens the wounds that can’t ever be erased
The Noise of the buzzing Bug boring into my head took my breath¹ away

I’m familiar with disposable love and that wind-up doll² you’ve sold
I say, “To put it simply, tomorrow will be an ugly day.”
From the moment you understand, it will all be over

Distorted, swirling Vortex of beats
Dance until you feel sick inside
Right before my eyes
The world that decayed
Right before my eyes
You murder somebody

Too tragic to stay with you

Inside a spinning and swirling Loop
Disappearing into the mechanical sky
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Tracing your craving with a parched tongue
If you could dream like a Stolid³ Dummy
I think your anguish would be replaced by peace of mind
I don’t wanna become the fuckin’ garbage like you

Vortex of industry

Shut the fuck up
Jack off

The only thing you really know about me is…
You can’t take my soul away from me
The only thing you really know about me is…
I can’t answer your silly wish

Distorted, swirling Vortex of beats
Dance until you feel sick inside
Right before my eyes
The world that decayed
Right before my eyes
You murder somebody

Falling in the gloomy, unfamiliar⁴ darkness
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Even pure voices can also be smeared with filth
Now throw yourself into that lie
[COUNTLESS BUG]
It’s worthless if it becomes Scrap
The tears from your performance don’t reach your heart

Inside a spinning and swirling Loop
Disappearing into the mechanical sky
[COUNTLESS BUG]
Tracing your craving with a parched tongue
If you could dream like a Stolid Dummy
I think your anguish would be replaced by peace of mind
I don’t wanna become the fuckin’ garbage like you

Since he wrote iki in katakana (イキ), it could mean a couple things. I picked the one that made the most sense to me – 息 iki meaning “breath.”
He uses the same word (or part of it) 機械 karakuri later as part of the word “mechanical”; written in kana the way it is, I translated it differently here. It could mean “machine/device” or also “trick/mechanical puppet or string doll.” Since there are a bunch of mannequins/dolls in the TOXIC album artwork for this song, I went with that. I don’t think this is referring to an actual wind-up toy – but combined with “disposable love,” more like someone peddling a fake persona. (The dolls are displayed hanging from the ceiling in rows, as well as in boxes marked “disposal X” in the album artwork.)
Stolid means “unemotional, impassive,” and for non-native-English speakers, a dummy is another word for a mannequin or a doll a ventriloquist makes talk. So basically, with the next line, “If you could turn off your emotions when you dream, you’d feel a lot better.”
暗い gurai means “dark, gloomy,depressed, unfamiliar, unknown.” Since he repeats the word twice, right before 闇 yami, which is “darkness,” this could be translated literally as “dark, dark darkness” but it sounded kind of awkward to me in English. I chose to translate both gurai words as different meanings, even though they’re technically the same word.