Not knowing how the sausage is made sometimes makes liking stuff easier, I also adhere to this strategy (I don’t like Dir en Grey).
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An album in which the more you know, the less you like it… 
Worldview.
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sausage anology is spot on haha
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It’s a weird one, thats for sure. But I’m liking it so far.
Kaijin ni Kisu is such an interesting opener… repetitive, but rhythmic and building.
I don’t like this as much as I liked PHALARIS, but I think it has potential. Just need another 50 or so spins to figure it out!
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Such a weird take. Do people seriously stress over how an album is recorded this much?
Like, does the band’s choice of what microphones or what microphone preamp was used factor into someone’s enjoyment of the album? “I dunno man, they used an Universal Audio preamp and not a Rupert Neve. I guess I can’t like this album anymore”?
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disliking this album is unreasonable
liking this album is unreasonable
everyone get a grip already!!!
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Welcome to a Dir en grey review thread
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Album is just unreasonable, man no measured opinion can be produced by anyone
There, I solved it
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Most of us have been doing this for 20 years y’all.
Dir enreasonble indeed, holy fuck.
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this is the logical endpoint for diru discourse, so it’s probably about time for this thread to collapse in on itself
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We reached the point where we talk about talking about dir en grey
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I’ve said it around here before, but I hated DSS upon release and it literally wasn’t until I gave it another front-to-back listen on my drive to NYC to see them hitting the US for The Insulated World. Between release in 2011 and that moment in 2019, I could only appreciate a few songs here and there off the record and now it’s one of my favorites in their discography.
I can’t speak for others because I didn’t have a pulse on the conversations back then, but that was my own subjective experience with the album.
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I’ve always wanted to talk about talking about Dir enreasonblé.
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When I listen to the album, it’s personally less like when I listen to the gorgeus soungs from Arche like Tousei and Kuukoku. I think the lyrics and title reflect Mortal Downer a lot for me. It’s like someone who has very chronic depression, and the song titles and the wizard theme does it for me. It’s to say, it’s like another Marrow of a Bone, but slightly more complex for me. Something you put on when you’re in the same mood as the album. A wizard in the middle of nowhere isolated from the others, and what makes the conventional sense of good or bad meaningless, if that makes sense.
This is to say, I can see why it would be less to someone else’s taste. It feels a lot less complex and something you might resonate with on a more personal level instead, or just enjoy. “Worldview and such.”
But in other words, for me, it’s like “brain go tung tung and like angry caveman noise.” I like Demand because it starts pretty simple, and midway through switches to a love-letter/tragic romance story full of hatred and vivicity (I think that’s a word). It’s something I personally find less common, but even so feels personal in a weird, relatable sense. Maybe because DeG is so long established and already feels personal. The lyrics are very much Kyo struggling a lot again, and just straight up putting that out. Like ze wizard ISOLATED… IN THE VOID… Ze Mortal Downer…
Is it good? Bad? It’s clearly not trying to be good, and I think that’s the best I can describe it. If brain like, it likey. If not, then I think that also makes sense.
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By not going through the whole album in one go, tbh. At least personally it’s easier to go through each song separately, on my own pace. This way 11 out of 14 tracks got doable for me.
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I’m rather late but I’ve been listening to the album quite some times by now and I think I finally have an opinion.
With the first listen I couldn’t get into the album at all. I felt bored in a certain way even though the word doesn’t really encompass everything. By now I figure there might have been some kinda numbness involved to keep the gloomy, depressive vibes from me and therefore I didn’t feel very much which created something similar to boredom. I went for a second time, this time with the lyrics in front of me because I often get better access to songs this way but this time it barely worked. I felt reminded of DSS, just not as bad (and I know lots of people don’t agree with me and that’s fine).
I didn’t wanna give in though. With Phalaris things were different, I got into it right away but since I didn’t have any expectations that was alright (there was no hype for me, but I keep that feeling from me as much as possible in general to prevent disappointment). I know that sometimes albums need to grow on me so I settled for not going through the album from start to end but listen to it on shuffle mode.
That did it.
While I had named two songs that I liked after the first listen (Void and no end, well, and of course TDIM, but I enjoyed that one since its release as a single, not loved but enjoyed), I didn’t feel as crushed by the album anymore than before. If the band was aiming at a really depressive feeling with that album, they did a great job, at least on me. Suffering from depression it’s just not what I need, so dissolving this by the shuffle mode did a great job.
It’s far from being my most favorite album (I updated my list) but it’s far from DSS in my ranks, too. My favorite track probably still is no end, but Void is still high up, as are Bloodline, Mobs, 蜿蜒, 歪と雨, 盲目が故に and The Devil In Me.
Some people mentioned MD reminds them of TMOAB. I’ve been reminded of several albums here or there, always for very short parts of songs (I don’t remember which). But still the closest MD gets to me is DSS, just in a better way. For me it’s not TMOAB. I’ve been chewing on this for quite some days and I think it’s because in my opinion MD screams depression, while TMOAB is pure anger.
So, after finding my way into MD and while I truly never got into DSS (there are 3 songs I listen to from that album), I decided to try that way on this one, too.
But nope, it didn’t work out. I don’t like it any more than before. That’s been my fourth try since it got released (I don’t know how many times it have been for each one) so I do accept that this album is not my cup of tea.
Which leads to my list of Diru albums:
THE MARROW OF A BONE
Withering to death
PHALARIS
THE UNRAVELING
VULGAR
MORTAL DOWNER
UROBOROS
ARCHE
UROBOROS [Remastered & Expanded]
The Insulated World
鬼葬 (kisou)
GAUZE / MACABRE
DUM SPIRO SPERO
MISSA / 改-KAI- / six Ugly
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How would you guys compare it to BTS Arirang? It is another album released around the same time that many people call a hit and miss, just like many people do with MD.
No opinion, don’t come for me but I never got into kpop 
thats first week sale, u have to wait after 20/4 or further to see if can hit 20,000 sales
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I made a playlist using the band’s setlist from Club Citta and I think the Mortal Downer songs blend incredibly well with their other songs.
EnEn into Dreambox sounds so legendary.
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