From: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=8537
Dir en grey is a popular Japanese rock band formed in 1997. The group has maintained the steady lineup of (Kyo) (vocals), (Kaoru) (guitar), Die (guitar), Toshiya (bass) and Shinya (drums). Their current music has become quite eclectic and is difficult to categorize, but is generally a form of Hard rock. However, they are known to mix metal, goth, and pop.
In 2006 Dir en grey played their first American concert at SXSW06 in Austin, Texas. They then played their second concert at the Avalon Club in New York, then Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, California was their last concert of this tour. They played with Opiate For The Masses and Yoshiki was present at the time. They reportedly played a new, unidentified song whose title is currently unknown. All of their US dates sold out in less than a day, and people from all over the world were in attendance.
Now they have released their U.S. debut, Withering To Death. Not many people knew what to expect when Diru (a common nickname for Dir en Grey) would release an album in America. Would they change their sound to catch American audiences? Would all their songs be translated into english? Well, I’m happy to say that neither of these happened. The only difference between the American and Japanese releases was the booklet translation.
Now, forward onto the review. The album opens up with Merciless Cult, which starts off with some trippy techno sounds and then goes into some fairly catchy and heavy music. Kyo starts off with some whispering, then goes into some very deep death-metal-like growling, then singing. Here is where you will decide whether or not you like Kyo’s vocals. After the screaming of ‘LOVLESS!!!" (one of the only times where you can understand the lyrics), Die shows some melodic guitar skills, unlike Karou’s powerchord-slamming. (And they work very well together), however, the song is a tad bit short, especially for an opener.
Next, is the song C, Die plays some melodic riffs at the beginning, then going into some heavy music, however not as heavy as Merciless Cult. The song sounds a bit more mainstream than their other work, especially during the chorus, but that just shows us the diversity in the record. Shinya also brings in some very noticable (in a good way) drumming. The next track is ‘saku-, which opens with Kyo screaming and in the first 5 seconds, tells you that it’s going to be one of the heavier songs on the album. Kyo’s voice is beautiful as usual, and I would decribe it, but honestly I’ve never heard anybody that sounds like Kyo. Shinya once again produces some great catchy drumming, but in the guitar section, it’s a bit more punky and simplistic, but works very well with the rest of the song.
Jesus Christ R’nR is undeniably the catchiest song on the album. Starting out with some arabic-like guitar and a simple yet catchy drum beat, then getting into a very trippy sound guitar riff. The song is pretty much catchy all the way through, and this has some of Kyo’s best vocals, where he brings out some very high-pitched vocals. This song is probably the highlight for Kyo’s vocals, showing his vocal range from high-pitch singing to deep growling. The solo is also great, where Die makes us wonder at first whether it is him using an effect pedal or if it’s Kyo going ‘Woah-woah" with synthesizers backing his voice. (I’m pretty sure it’s the guitar, though).
Then comes the weak part of the album. GARBAGE, Machiavellism, Beautiful Dirt, and Spilled Milk are all boring, repetitive, and sound like boring nu-metal. All of these songs are boring and actually sound very uninspired. I seriously thought about TALITM-era Korn when I heard these songs, except when the bass is heard, it actually sounds good. The only good part in any of these four songs is the trippy techno intro to Beautiful Dirt.
However, they did put the two best songs in between the four worst. Right between Machiavellism and Beautiful Dirt are dead tree and THE FINAL. Dead tree is a very emotional track, and you don’t even need to understand the lyrics to know that. It starts of with very ballad-like guitars, and Kyo’s singing is very emotional and depressing and makes him sound very vulnerable. Right after a guitar riff that sounds like a distorted version of a riff from Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Fire", Kyo goes into a screaming fit of rage, adding to the emotion of the song. Think Korn’s Daddy, except Japanese, better vocals/playing, and no crying. (Although he does sound like he’s about to breakdown). Much like Jesus Christ R’n R, Kyo brings out as much vocal range as possible, except he doesn’t do as much high-pitch stuff this time. Note: Apparently dead tree is about when he was supposed to marry who had left him for his best friend the day before their wedding, just an interesting fact.
Another great song is THE FINAL, which is a single, if I’m not mistaken. THE FINAL starts out very techno-ish, then goes into a mix of melodic guitar and heavy guitar and drums. This track is also Toshiya’s highlight, where the bass is strikingly noticeable during the verses, which it hasn’t been too much in previous tracks. The drumming is best on here during the chorus. The guitar isn’t really anything too special on this track, but everything else makes up for that.
The closing track is KODOU, which starts off with an orchestra-like sound, and then Shinya’s drumming comes in and brings out the real Diru. This song also sounds like a ballad during the verses, but has a heavy chorus. After the chorus, Die does the best guitar solo on the album, which is hard to explain, since Die has a very unique guitar playing style. By now you should have gotten the idea that Kyo can sing. This is another great highlight on the album.
So now Diru has crossed-over into American soil, and are even joining Korn, Deftones, and Flyleaf on the Family Values Tour (which I will be attending mainly for Dir en Grey and Deftones). This album definitely shows that Diru has a lot of diversity and are good at what they do. So now for the pros and cons
Positive:
-Diversity
-Kyo has a great voice
-The members work together greatly and don’t try to show off over one another, everyone has highlights on this album.
-Something different for America
-dead tree and THE FINAL
Negative:
-Sometimes Karou’s powerchords drown out Die and make it hard to hear his talent.
-Middle of the album is pretty weak
-Some people may not like Kyo’s vocals or need them to grow on them
-dead tree would have made a better closer than KODOU.
THE FINAL verdict: (ya see what I did their?)
Inside of Diru: 4.5/5
In America: 5/5