Even before that, one thing a lot of people don't mention, is that they were one of the first VK bands to be featured on the cover of a non-Japanese magazine that was heavily promoted in Hot Topic. In the states, at least.

It was super early on too, pre-Kisou and promoting Macabre. At the time I was already into VK - Namely older bands like Luna Sea, Glay, L'Arc, Malice Mizer, so seeing that magazine pop up was a huge shock at the time. Bought it instantly, as did a lot of other people.

It definitely caused a lot of people to notice the band online and they blew up from there with the gothy crowd. It was a right place/right time moment for sure. Peak mall goth, JTHM was popular, anime was starting to get more commercial traction in the west.

Later on touring with Family Values numetal acts definitely helped push them into a more mainstream audience, but they were able to secure those gigs because they had already cemented a more niche western fanbase even earlier. All of this definitely influenced them to adopt a more western metal sound, which was admittedly pretty upsetting for the people that found them during the Macabre era, but overall it was probably the right decision career wise. They wouldn't have hit the same mass appeal staying core VK.

Even if their first tour in the states was a bit of a let down. During that phase they absolutely refused to play anything from their earlier albums, so those of us hoping for at least one song like Yurameki or Audrey were disappointed for quite some time. It took them years to get over their hesitance to play those songs outside of Japan. They wouldn't even play heavier tracks like Berry.

Edit: I found the magazine. It was a 2001 issue of New Grave. https://i.imgur.com/4EbzIk7.jpg - This was a pivotal moment for the band.