I’ve been listening to mostly visual era Dir en grey for quite some time, but I can float some recommendations.
You missed their ultra-serious M04R BR0074L TH4N U phase with Dum Spiro Spero.
Good luck getting through the entire first half of The Insulated World.
You’d probably like the ARCHE album. Pretty decent mix of styles there.
Oboro! their newest single has a strong vulgar vibe.
I second arche - the whole album is nice, not too heavy, and has a very cohesive throwback feel to it.
you should give the unraveling a try for the title track:
they have re-recorded a number of vulgar songs over past few years, most of them sound butchered.
Withering to death imo
Holy shit, what the fuck.
Ahh great thanks Everyone. Given Arche a listen and I love it and Oboro. I do like some of their heavier stuff but DSS seems to just blur all together for me
DSS is a pretty challenging album. First time I heard it, I couldn’t make head or tails of what each song was even trying to do. There were so many ideas thrown in, it felt random as heck.
It’s a slow-burn grower for sure. If you stick with it patiently, listen to it every so often, eventually the songs will begin to breathe. It’s their most technically complicated and possibly most musically competent album. I feel like it’s something that benefits from dedicated listening sessions; that is, turning the lights down, lighting some candles, making yourself a nice beverage, and being absorbed into the music.
Having said that, it’s definitely not my favourite. I really have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
Ruten no Tou is the best dir en grey track ever. This track alone pushes DSS on place two of my favourite albums of them.
At least DSS has Rasetsukoku. Probably the first song from the album that I got into, haha.
Will agree with having a very specific mood to enjoy the album.
That, Amon, Juuyoku, The Blossoming Beelzebub, and even Diabolos. DSS has a lot to appreciate.
Yes.
At first I thought the album would be mediocre but after listening to the whole album I realised how good it is in the most parts. so much variation of tracks, so much variations in tracks.
I listen to DSS at least once every two weeks.
But honestly some people probably wouldn’t be able to withstand my weekly playlist for as long as I did.
It took me until a few years after Arche came out until I really “got” Dum Spiro Spero. It’s a challenging record to get in to, and yes a lot of the songs absolutely blurred together for me as well for a handful of years. It’s not accessible, and it’s not trying to be.
I’m finally able to appreciate it now. Lotus and Ruten no Tou are in my top Diru tracks these days. But it’s ABSOLUTELY a slow-burn, like NowhereGirl said.
Well, sort of. I think this was a bonus track on English editions of the album? But it’s actually a b-side that was initially only on Disc 2 of the JP Limited Edition. It’s a bit like saying Kigan is on The Insulated World (also an EU bonus).
The Symphonic versions can die in a fire. They’re so, so bad. I wish they could’ve recorded a real orchestra. What they went with sounds so incredibly fake. Disappointing.
Iirc when I first time listened to DSS, it also had Rasetsukoku and Amon (Symphonic Ver.) Probably that was either an EU or US version. What I want to say is that Rasetsukoku was heavy, but also much more comprehensible, catchy, and not overloaded with stuff.
Eh. For me those symphonic versions were hit or miss. Symphonic Amon sounds much more full compared to original, while Different Sense even gets emotional during chorus. However, most of the time, I can’t understand what they/Takumi was trying to achieve.
How do you feel about the original version of Rasetsukoku then?
Original version is pretty good, actually! Of course, it has some quirks of that era (like Kyo’s random monologues and weird sound effects), but in the end, original Rasetsukoku is a catchy banger which I’m more than fine to listen alongside the re-recording.
…However, I can only listen to studio recording of original Rasetsukoku. For some reason, most of their pre-2011 live takes sound weird. Feels like Kaoru and Die are playing wrong notes after the intro.
(Rasetsukoku - YouTube 0:17 to 0:26 compared to Dir en grey 「羅刹国」LIVE (2003) - YouTube 0:44 to 0:54 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJQi43t1YUA 1:04 to 1:13). Which is funny, because these parts are closer to the re-recording than the original, but still.
DSS is the album that would unironically benefit the most from a hi-fi setup, some nice monitors and a good audition room. If we are to put it besides the original mix of Uroboros, it’s a miracle.
Speaking of Arche, who knew after dozens of listens Cause of Fickleness would end up as the one track that is the most enjoyable.
