So, what’s everyone’s opinion on DIR EN GREY’s eleventh album?
When this thread was created, I was “pretty much done with the first listen. Strong return to form, wow. Certainly better than TIW.” and after listening to most of the songs a couple of times for the lyrics, I’m still not satisfied. When the deluxe is out, I’ll definitely do another playthrough to get the whole experience, including the two bonus tracks.
Okay so when the tracklist was announced, I told many people that all my hopes would lie on disc 2… but it turned out to be the opposite - the remakes don’t do it for me, mazohyst is so short and simple, and ain’t afraid to die is missing the components that made it a beautiful song. Plus, that guitar solo is horrid. Disc 1 on the other hand was really a surprise, I like a lot of the songs. My favorites are Kamui, Schadenfreude and Perfume.
Schadenfreude – 薫
朧 – 薫
The Perfume of Sins – 薫
13 – Die
現、忘我を喰らう – Die
落ちた事のある空 – 薫
盲愛に処す – 薫
響 – Die
Eddie – Die
御伽 – 薫
カムイ – 薫 & Die
Mixing Engineers:
Schadenfreude – Carl Bown
朧 – Neal Avron
The Perfume of Sins – Carl Bown
13 – Carl Bown
現、忘我を喰らう – David Bottrill
落ちた事のある空 – Carl Bown
盲愛に処す – David Bottrill
響 – David Bottrill
Eddie – Carl Bown
御伽 – David Bottrill
カムイ – David Bottrill
mazohyst of decadance – Tue Madsen
ain't afraid to die – Tue Madsen
I’ve only listened once (about to head to work) but I’m kinda disappointed tbh. That weird “unfinished” feeling from Oboro is present in almost every song. Granted this band has had a problem with bloated songs/albums in the past but this feels like an overcorrection. Even songs that are a normal length feel short sometimes. I think the individual riffs, drumming etc are actually some of the best this band has ever produced and the production is more modern sounding which makes heavy parts hit harder (thin production is just about the only complaint I have about DSS) but it ultimately feels like a bunch of demos somehow. There is very little screaming which is basically the opposite problem of TIW which probably had too much. Some of the vocal performances are outstanding (choruses mostly) but a lot of it feels like Kyo kinda phoned it in after being stretched too thin between three bands.
TLDR: IMO, instrumentally this album is amazing and one of their very best, vocals and songwriting-wise it’s disappointing. The production hits harder during breakdowns etc. but has the muddy sound of TIW unfortunately.
I’ve finished my first listen, skipping the singles, and most of it sounds like they tried to impress the fans who left after uroboros.
kyo sings in really weird range at certain tracks (it’s in the PV too), which I don’t care for.
13 is still the highlight of the album, but all of the songs have excellent layered atmospheric effects which could have salvaged half of the TIW if they were applied with the same care in that album. I really hope they re-record TIW altogether with the same skill and attention phalaris has received.
compositionally, some tracks have very little going on except for kyopera and ambient samples, which are done really well throughout the entire album. I think the throwback concept for the CD also comes off very tryhard through too many songs - they did it better with arche.
Kamuy and Utsutsu, bouga wo kurau to me are the standouts so far
Tbh everything has interesting cool moments, except Eddie, that song is just lazy chugfest without much going on
Ok, after 1-2 listening the album is perfect for me. My first thought was « wow it’s short », but overall the length is perfect, I can see myself run the album in it’s entirety which it cannot be the case with a DSS or TIW (even if I defend it) or even Arche (I love it but as DSS it’s stodgy for me (idk if this adj is appropriate iam french ^^).
It’s easy listenable and it’s what I expect from them, even if I like experimentations etc, it’s important for me to enjoy an album as a whole and everything must flow which is the case here. There are few exp here and there but nothing really risky or surprising, not original but it’s well done.
A solid record, only Mouai sounds like a filler and is forgettable imo. Hard to pick up favs as I enjoyed all songs (even Ochita a single I didn’t really liked first find its place in the album) I started to list fav songs but for now I can put them all and it’s a rare fact.
Maybe contrary to when an album can grow on you and be better than after first listen, I will find it less good than now with time idk, but for now iam not disappointed at all. And it’s a much solid album compared to TIW.
depends on your own personal taste; for me, it’s schadenfreude and 13, and the absolutely massive string arrangement in kamuy which brings it up from 6 to 10 easily together with kyo’s singing
there’s a very interesting symphonic quality to the entire album which they never had in the past (uroboros might be the closest to what I mean, but not really) - it sounds like they hired a AAA movie sound producer to give it a very expensive, very immersive feel; it really sounds like a very coherent movie OST, with very impressive flow from start to the finish.
eddie drags the whole thing down a bit, but overall it’s a really great listen.
Well i need more listen before right any opinion but in general i liked. Also when the Composition Credits came out please post here. Also if anyone know Who Mix and Mastered the album?
It’s David Bottrill for the main album (Tool “Ænima” “Lateralus”, Muse “Origin of Symmetry”, Godsmack “Faceless”, Stone Sour “House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 & 2” , Mudvayne “Heavy Rock Godsmack”)
And Carl Bown (Bullet For My Valentine “Venom” “Gravity” “Bullet For My Valentine”, all While She Sleeps, As I Lay Dying “Awakened”, Heaven Shall Burn “Veto”, Trivium “In Waves” " “Vengeance Falls”)
Oboro is mixed by Neal Avron (Linkin Park “Minutes to Midnight” “A Thousand Suns”, Twenty One Pilots “Blurryface”, New Found Glory “s/t” “Catalyst”)
Finally, it’s Tue Madsen for the 2 remakes on CD2.
