On the studio version of Keloid Milk, Kaoru uses a 7-string in drop G#. It isn’t for modern riffage type stuff, but rather to add a 4th below the root in the power chords for a thicker overall rhythm guitar sound.
And I’m PRETTY sure the rhythms on their cover of Warsaw no Gensou are in drop E,
Is that how they have it written in the Kisou score book?
I’ll check when I get home, but if I remember correctly Kaoru on Keloid Milk is using a 7-string where the 6 higher strings are tuned as if it’s in drop C#, and the 7th string is a low G# an octave below the 5th string. That then allows you to just add in that string on the same fret you’re playing the drop-tuned power chord on for a 4th below the root/octave below the 5th. Deep tones on easy mode
Not technically “drop G#,” but still tuning down low enough to have that note lol
According to what I got from one of the talented DEG guitar cover contributors (RPG guy from Japan, perhaps you might have heard of him), Warsaw no Gensou had an EADGCFAD tuning (8 strings! They used Stephen Carpenter 8-string LTDs) though it doesn’t help that DEG never performed the cover live AFAIK.
If I’m not mistaken, the most recent time they’ve played it, Kaoru straight up just using his 6 string (and has his hand taped).
Maybe back then (before they started dipping heavy into Drop tuning), that Tuning sense? But with how locked in they’ve stayed with the 2 Drop A# and Drop A Tunings, I can’t see em dipping lower.
Hell, I think Sukekiyo and Petit’s Guitar tunings are within Dir en grey’s as well. It’s fair to assume Kyo’s vocal range is also a factor.
Not to say he can’t dip into that Drop G range but yeah….this late in the game? Idk (I’d like to see it too).
Yeah live Kaoru def tended to stick with a 6-string in drop C# even back in the day. The 7-string tuning he used on the studio version is sort of a subtle effect, since he wasn’t using that low string for heavy riffage. Like I said above, he was only using the tuning to add a lower note under the root in power chords.
Ex.
If we take an E5 power chord in drop C#, it would be voiced like this (parenthesis = string tuning):
(D#)—
(A#)—
(F#)—
(C#)-3-
(G#)-3-
(C#)-3-
But in the tuning he uses for Keloid, he can voice it like this:
(D#)—
(A#)—
(F#)—
(C#)-3-
(G#)-3-
(C#)-3-
(G#)-3-
The result is a thicker-sounding power chord, because you’ve got that extra lower note and you’re doubling the 5th of the chord the same way one usually doubles the root in a power chord. Having BOTH intervals in the chord doubled rather than just one of them adds oomf, especially when you then add distortion on top of that.
It’s sort of similar to how Devin Townsend can do huge power chords super easily in his open tunings. Since he’s tuned to open C (CGCGCE), if he barres all the strings except the highest, he can move a power chord around that doubles the 5th and triples the root, which contributes to his wall-of-sound production style.
The “akshually” moment: Petit Brabancon had gone beyond Drop A (to Drop G) since Miya started to flirt around with tunings he began to adopt since Mucc’s Aku era…AFAIK? Koku is a good example of this.
@NewsMan 's latest comment made me think of our past speculation wrt. whether Kaoru used 7 strings for “Deity” on MACABRE as E5s sounded unusually “crunchy” (unlike what tab books implied). There was an impression that instead of 0-2-x-x-x-x, he was playing 0-0-2-x-x-x-x. Doesn’t help either that 2000-2002 era was the time when Kaoru “refused” to play proper power chords unlike Die did (looking at you, original “Bottom of Death Valley”)
I’m getting off topic a bit, but i’ve been a DEG fan for about twenty three years and Shinya still amuse me so much. He still seems so candid, still a fan of J-pop and cute gadgets (look his channel youtube). An eternal “kidult”. 
Do you guys think Kaoru is sitting on like 2 or 3 songs that would qualify as single material?
If they’re playing new songs on this tour I’m sure they’re close to a new single.
For once I’m more interested in what they have in the remake department this time. I wonder if they’d remix any songs from Phalaris as a b-side too.
It seems to me more like they’re going to release an album. Their singles only feature one new song, a few remakes, and little else. But they’ve played two new ones. Maybe it could also be a mini…
They’re likely to release a single first before the album. That’s how they usually do it; one single at the end of the previous album cycle, and another at the beginning of the next.
It’s been about 1 year, 3 months since The Devil In Me. With any luck, pre-orders for a single will materialise at the end of this tour (THE MORTAL CHAPTER 0). Hopefully, the LP will be released 4-6 months later. Dropping a single and then making us wait over a year for the full-length (as they did last time) would be misery.
Really hope it’s not a mini, especially since PHALARIS didn’t pleasure me as much as I’d have liked. But, as always, the old adage “any port in a storm” holds true.
Pretty sure we’ll get any sort of announcement at the tour final
DIR EN GREY HD The Mortal 2.8 Final chapter prologue
5 Ugly Kingdom Hearts
Shinya interview for realsound
Cool. I like it!
Does Toshiya actually play cello? If he does, I wish we’d get some of that on an album. It could be such an interesting texture to add. They already have programmed string sections on certain songs. Imagine how cool it would be to have layers of Toshiya playing cello mixed in with the programmed strings on something like Kamuy. Hell, they had a session cellist and violinist for ‘Oboro.’ If you’ve got a band member who can do that himself, utilize him!!
