Kelrya

Lol me too, that’s my third least favorite.

I like every DEG album, but the problem I have with Macabre (and to a lesser extent Kisou which is probably my second least favorite) is that it feels like an awkward transition between the straightforward VK of Missa and Gauze (and other singles from this period) and the more western influenced metal feel of Vulgar and beyond. It’s not catchy or melodic enough to be catchy and melodic, and not heavy and aggressive enough to be heavy and aggressive. So I’d rather just listen to the albums before and after depending on what mood I’m in. I actually don’t mind Taiyou no Ao besides the weird ass Caribbean sounding interlude lol. Not sure what they were going for with that.

I agree.

The imagery of ripping off someone’s face and wearing it as a mask lol. Maybe I’m taking the meaning too literally but I’ve seen other people saying this.

I like Hydra 666 a lot (more than the original) but the only similarity is the rhythm and the ambient interlude. I don’t hate the original version but it doesn’t do much for me. Macabre as a whole is my least favorite DEG album although I love the title track. From what I could gather from concert reports (my Japanese isn’t perfect but it’s decent) they played a fast and heavy yet catchy song with heavy riffs and a lot of growling and shouting during the mode of DSS tour. Then during the mode of Kisou tour they played another new song but this time it was a ballad with an electronic intro and no screaming. Given that 人間を被る means to wear a human as a mask/hat I feel like it’s gonna be the heavy song although who knows, it could be a completely different song. I saw a couple interviews around the time that 詩踏み came out where Kyo said that DSS is his favorite DEG album but that he felt that it was fans’ least favorite. It’s my favorite too so I may be biased but I think people liked it more that MoaB in general. He also said that he though ballads weren’t a good choice for a single which makes me think the next single may not be the song played during mode of Kisou.

I hope that the remake of Ash isn’t almost completely unrecognizable (like Tsumi to Batsu or Hydra 666, although I do like both of these songs a lot I see them more as sequels than remakes) but also not so similar that it serves no purpose (like The Final or Kasumi). I think their best remakes are the ones that have enough recognizable aspects of the original for fans to latch onto, but update the song in interesting ways, like Kiri to Mayu or Zan or Karma for example. Of course at this point I’m just expecting a heavier version of the instrumental with a bunch of cat noises, angsty whispering and yodeling from Kyo.

I was just thinking today how long it will be until this band runs out of songs they want to re-record and starts re-recording re-recordings. Well that time has finally arrived, they are making a third version of Ash for the b-side of 人間を被る.

Also Kyo said some weird stuff about how he doesn't even know where the other members' houses are and that after concerts he goes straight back to his hotel room and eats dinner (often McDonalds) in the bathtub. My Japanese is not perfect so it's hard to tell whether he's being serious or not sometimes. He also said that his favorite Dir en grey album is Dum Spiro Spiro but that he thinks it's not popular with a lot of fans and that he dislikes Gauze (he said the Gauze tour was not fun because he was not in the "mode of Gauze" lol.)

He was obviously joking about the final meal question. I listened to some of their Japanese interviews, Toshiya said they would introduce new songs to their tour setlist step by step. Kyo said that out of the batch of new songs that they have written so far , there is another heavy song like 詩踏み and then some softer songs.

They basically never show Kyo in the studio videos. Even when it shows vocals being recorded it just shows the rest of the band recording gang vocals.

I was listening to some recent radio interviews with Kyo and he was saying some interesting things about their past work. My Japanese is far from perfect so there are some parts that I couldn't make out (the radio DJ was the over the top hung-go fast-talking Japanese host type and Kyo was all shy and mumbly/stuttery sounding so it was kinda frustrating to listen to lol) but Kyo said he has a ton of complaints about Gauze. He also said that his favorite album they've made to date is Dum Spiro Spero, but that despite it being his favorite it is possibly their least popular album (idk if I agree with that but I know some long-time fans of their more stereotypically VK era don't like their metal stuff). Dum Spiro Spero is also my favorite (tied with UROBOROS) and his comments seem to back up my theory of why ARCHE felt so disappointing. It's a great album to be fair, but it was obvious pandering rather than a natural progression of their own taste. 詩踏み is a good sign to me because Kyo doesn't sound like he's trying to force himself to restrain his vocal range and sing in a way that panders to his old VK fans. Now we just need to get rid of the dumbed down instrumentals. It's a good song held back by Kaoru and Die suddenly being seemingly unable to play more than 1 string and 4 notes on their guitars.

For me, even though I think all of their albums are at least good, Macabre is hands down their weakest album. There are some good tracks like Macabre, 理由, 羅刹国, and 蛍火. However there are a lot of really bizarrely written /borderline bad ones like Egnirys Cimredopyh, Berry, and 脈. Or just plain boring songs like Audrey. Their following album, 鬼葬, has the same problem to a slightly lesser extent (although at least Macabre doesn't have anything quite as awful as "FOOCHA FOOCHA JAPINSEEZ FOOCHA") I liked the straightforward VK style on Gauze, and I love the more metal sound from Vulgar onward. But those in between albums (Macabre and 鬼葬) sound like the awkward growing pains of a band wanting to expand out of relatively standard j-rock territory without having decided on an actual new direction yet.

That's like half their songs though

Revelation of Mankind is Saku v2?

I really don't get the hate for The Inferno lol I really like that song.

This one should work. http://youtu.be/0wAXkLd-XLg

I really like that 詩踏み is heavier than most of ARCHE but I don't understand why they keep dumbing down the guitar riffs. Most of this song could be played on one string. They had some really interesting riffs on DSS but since ARCHE (even The Unraveling to a lesser extent) the guitar playing is pretty boring. This song seems to have remedied the lack of vocal variety on ARCHE but hopefully the new album will have some more interesting riffs and song structures. I mean the first and second verses in this song are basically identical. I actually like this song a lot for what it is (especially the varied shouts screams and growls during the verses and the refreshing use of non-falsetto clean singing in the chorus) but I'd like a return to the more creative/progressive feel of Uroboros/DSS.

I'm glad it's heavier than most of ARCHE.

Die actually broke his guitar or just a string? Lol

It's not necessarily an Arche left over. Was Rinkaku a DSS leftover?

I mean this song still sounds metal af though lol

Some of the vocals remind me a lot of TMOAB. And the first vocal part at the start of each verse sounds like his crazy sounding screaming from the original version of Obscure. Instrumentally it's less of a throwback since it's still 7-string guitars. The riffs are pretty hard to make out given the low tuning combined with the poor quality radio rip.