DIR EN GREY

Could be blind but havent seen anyone post the updates on this here yet.

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2025.1 RELEASE

sure

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:partying_face:

Can you believe it? Today, 26 years have passed since Dir en grey made its major debut! 🎉🌷 https://t.co/wZywPnkUim

— DIR EN GREY (@DIRENGREY_ENG) January 20, 2025
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Hey, so why are the singles considered the major debut? I’m looking at the labels everything came out through, and EastWest released Missa, the “major debut” singles, and Gauze. What about Missa was different where it’s considered an indie album as opposed to a major release, despite coming out on the same label as their major releases? What am I missing here, does EastWest have different levels of distribution or something?

It’s about the label they were signed to at the time of release, from my understanding.

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Aha, it looks like they jumped from Front Mission to sun-krad at the end of October 1997 - of course Missa came out a few months before that. This makes sense. Thanks!!

Buyee just sent me an email that they got my copy. So they barely made that date :rofl:

I hope this is ok to ask, I’ve been mulling over this question for a while after reading some topics on the forum, so…
Is diru still considered visual kei?

They’re one of my favourite musicians but I’m not too “in the loop” with the vk community. I’ve heard comments say they’re not vk/jrock anymore, so i was wondering if this is the case, and what makes a band visual kei?

Idk, they seem pretty visual af to me right now.

I wouldn’t worry too much about lables.

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During the Marrow of a Bone era, they tried really really really hard to distance themselves of the label, but now I think they take an whatever approach. They still are very close to the community at large, many of their friends and collaborators are on the genre, and they are on a vk-label.

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Yes and no.

Yes, very much so.
Here’s a band photo for their latest single. If this isn’t VK, everything I know is a lie.

vk.gy is currently running a series of articles entitled The Official Guide to Visual Kei explaining exactly that.

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Right?

It’s not exactly oshare kei, but considering how “non VK” they’ve already been…



… the recent looks are intensly VK.

Or maybe these looks were Amerikan nyuu metaru kei? Because they were clearly going for something like this:

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From MARROW to UROBOROS, they dropped the VK costumes since they were trying to break into the American market, and I guess management thought the West would consider it a joke. But also, I’ve heard it said that the band actually regarded this period as VK, too.

I get the confusion, but also, these guys have been dressing up for shows and photo shoots ever since. Feast your eyes:






The last two are from the 2024 EU tour. Ain’t nothing more VK than a man wearing a corset.

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And their recent looks slay so hard. Goosebumbs!

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that first picture is unbelievable WHEW :weary:

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They’re vk because they’re still marketing themselves like a vk band on a label that does exclusively vk and 90-99% of their outside of deg collaborations with other musicians are with people that have vk affiliations. I’m sure musically you’ll be able to find that strain of dna too if you dive deep into it, but musically and aesthetically vk has had such a variety that it’s their scene connections and marketing that become the most tangible feature of whether something is vk or not

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Thanks for all the replies!
I was kinda scoffing when I seen comments saying they’re not vk anymore, so i just wanted to make sure I’m not stupid.

Why did they try to distance themselves of the label during Marrow? Was it all to try to cater to the US market?

Labels are so hard to keep track of sometimes when I just wanna enjoy the music…

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There is probably no definite answer to this. I think it was a mix of trying to fit better into the us market and also them wanting to get rid of the “vk is for girls” cliche. There were remarks that they wanted more male fans. It all felt like they wanted to appeal to a diffrent group of fans. And then they got older and realized they prefer their own thing. I think what we now see is really what they wanna do, what they believe in. But that’s just my interpretation and hope. But honestly especially Kyo does not seem like he could be bothered to dress up like this, if he didn’t want it.

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I dunno how anyone else feels about it but i feel a “Visual K” look is actually a specific look in itself. Like there are so many bands out there who have strong visuals but are not considered VK, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Imperial Triumphant, Gutalax, Altarage, Psyborg Corp (earlier days), Gaerea and basically ANY black metal band who does the face paint and spikes etc… and so many more in different genres also… So is having a strong visual style enough to be VK? I dont really think so. I feel like these days, Dir fit in this category also, although they still have strong visuals they dont have a typically VK look anymore. I mean think about it, someone says to you, “draw a VK band” most are going to follow the same themes/styles etc… But then again, when Issei (NAZARE) did an insta Q n A i asked if he considered it possible for non Japanese bands to be VK, and his answer was basically “if you say its VK its VK” so who knows man? I feel like this is a bit more subjective than having a definite cut off point from being VK to not VK…

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