geist

Excuse me....
 
Mine are 8.99.

You’ve definitely heard worse, and you’ve definitely heard worse production by Dir en grey. 
 
The production is fine. I only have issues with small mixing/artistic choices that in the grand scheme of things don’t matter. 
 
It IS drastically different from arche, though, which feels too sterile to my ears. The guitars have poor mixing and the drums are just too far forward in the mix along with the vocals. 
 
The Inferno is a great example of this. Listening to the full mix in stereo, Kyo is practically drowning everyone else out and I hate that. But again, those are artistic choices that at the end of the day don’t matter too much. 
 
And ive said it since the beginning: The Insulated World is their strongest material to date. Hands down. 

fellas is it gay to stan sashimi slipknot

Pffffffffffffft. Bruh, Dir En Grey is a wayyyy more creative name. 
 
Also, the whole #ReserectVK thing was stupid lmao. What was Patrik like as a person?

Shinya is just fucking stubborn and lazy. He’s not an extreme metal drummer, plain and simple, and he has no intentions of playing fast double kick patterns or crazy blast beats. 

The holy trinity of DEG live transitions is RINKAKU- AKURO-MAZO from Psychonnect
 
That songs evolution is ballin.

Zetsuenai was amazing and im looking forward to this long ass shit

what are the odds of the song ending up being like 10:05 just so they can say ''see? it's over 10 minutes guys!!!"

That’s an odd response. It seems weird to me you would make assertions and then be unable to back them up like that. 
 
This may be the first time I’ve ever seen a band play the same two songs in the encore that they did in their set; but I’ll start paying extra attention just for you. 

Arche was the reason I temporarily stopped listening to the band, The Insulated World is why I came back. Arche isn’t bad but there’s nothing going for it. In total it’s an album with cool parts but nothing holds it together for me maybe because there’s so much filler. 
 
Also, let’s stop pretending Kyos vocals weren’t awful around 2013-2015. With Dum Spiro Spero and Arche, Kyo began relying on those falsettos that he can’t reliably hit. They’re all over Arche and when they play these songs live, even songs from DSS, they don’t sound as good as they do on the record because they’re songs crafted in the studio with things Kyo could only do in the studio. 
 
The Insulated World is an album the band can actually perform live, sounds great live, and shows the band at a creative peak no one expected them to hit. TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot and maybe even DSS largely because they’re dealing with more complicated song ideas. The material is just so much more interesting. The only downside is the production isn’t as great as Uroboros but I tend not to obsess over that stuff. 
 
The Insulated World is great and deserves to be in company with the likes of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero. 

.

I also don’t like the lives during the DSS and Arche period. It’s after Sukekiyo and during the Mode lives that I got back on board and Kyo is killing it. The DVD that came with TIW has the best available lives of almost all the songs included, especially Vinushka and Different Sense are great

Arche was the reason I temporarily stopped listening to the band, The Insulated World is why I came back. Arche isn’t bad but there’s nothing going for it. In total it’s an album with cool parts but nothing holds it together for me maybe because there’s so much filler. 
 
Also, let’s stop pretending Kyos vocals weren’t awful around 2013-2015. With Dum Spiro Spero and Arche, Kyo began relying on those falsettos that he can’t reliably hit. They’re all over Arche and when they play these songs live, even songs from DSS, they don’t sound as good as they do on the record because they’re songs crafted in the studio with things Kyo could only do in the studio. 
 
The Insulated World is an album the band can actually perform live, sounds great live, and shows the band at a creative peak no one expected them to hit. TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot and maybe even DSS largely because they’re dealing with more complicated song ideas. The material is just so much more interesting. The only downside is the production isn’t as great as Uroboros but I tend not to obsess over that stuff. 
 
The Insulated World is great and deserves to be in company with the likes of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero. 

Arche was the reason I temporarily stopped listening to the band, The Insulated World is why I came back. Arche isn’t bad but there’s nothing going for it. In total it’s an album with cool parts but nothing holds it together for me maybe because there’s so much filler. 
 
Also, let’s stop pretending Kyos vocals weren’t awful around 2013-2015. With Dum Spiro Spero and Arche, Kyo began relying on those falsettos that he can’t reliably hit. They’re all over Arche and when they play these songs live, even songs from DSS, they don’t sound as good as they do on the record because they’re songs crafted in the studio with things Kyo could only do in the studio. 
 
The Insulated World is an album the band can actually perform live, sounds great live, and shows the band at a creative peak no one expected them to hit. TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot and maybe even DSS largely because they’re dealing with more complicated song ideas. The material is just so much more interesting. The only downside is the production isn’t as great as Uroboros but I tend not to obsess over that stuff. 
 
The Insulated World is great and deserves to be in company with the likes of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero. 

Arche was the reason I temporarily stopped listening to the band, The Insulated World is why I came back. Arche isn’t bad but there’s nothing going for it. In total it’s an album with cool parts but nothing holds it together for me maybe because there’s so much filler. 
 
Also, let’s stop pretending Kyos vocals weren’t awful around 2013-2015. With Dum Spiro Spero and Arche, Kyo began relying on those falsettos that he can’t reliably hit. They’re all over Arche and when they play these songs live, even songs from DSS, they don’t sound as good as they do on the record because they’re songs crafted in the studio with things Kyo could only do in the studio. 
 
The Insulated World is an album the band can actually perform live, sounds great live, and shows the band at a creative peak no one expected them to hit. TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot and maybe even DSS largely because they’re dealing with more complicated song ideas. The material is just so much more interesting. The only downside is the production isn’t as great as Uroboros but I tend not to obsess over that stuff. 
 
The Insulated World is great and deserves to be in company with the likes of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero. 

Arche was the reason I temporarily stopped listening to the band, The Insulated World is why I came back. Arche isn’t bad but there’s nothing going for it. In total it’s an album with cool parts but nothing holds it together for me maybe because there’s so much filler. 
 
Also, let’s stop pretending Kyos vocals weren’t awful around 2013-2015. With Dum Spiro Spero and Arche, Kyo began relying on those falsettos that he can’t reliably hit. They’re all over Arche and when they play these songs live, even songs from DSS, they don’t sound as good as they do on the record because they’re songs crafted in the studio with things Kyo could only do in the studio. 
 
The Insulated World is an album the band can actually perform live, sounds great live, and shows the band at a creative peak no one expected them to hit. TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot and maybe even DSS largely because they’re dealing with more complicated song ideas. The material is just so much more interesting. The only downside is the production isn’t as great as Uroboros but I tend not to obsess over that stuff. 
 
The Insulated World is great and deserves to be in company with the likes of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero. 

just sent the insulated world to a musician friend of mine check out,and his mind is blown away .he instantly became a DnG stan.then i got intrigued,like "why can i not enjoy that album as well?".so i just decided to give it a spin,without any sense of criticism or comparing with previous works,and it actually flowed really well. i've come to the conclusion that TIW can be an outstanding experience for non DnG hardcore fans.compared with the 3 previous albums,TIW is just ridiculous,but i think if we take that out from the dir en grey-hall and listen to that as a random metal album,we'd be able to enjoy with no problems.

Arche as a whole is really good; but there are a few tracks I can't stand including Midwife, Kaishun, and Sustain The Untruth. Midwife isn't a "bad" song per se; but holy shit that intro is terrible. I've ranted about this several times before. Kaoru writes this amazing groove and what does Die do? He fucking ruins it with this terrible lead work. And OF COURSE it's a few db higher than Kaoru in the mix so you get this awful lead guitar passage and all the good shit is buried underneath it.
 
Fuck that song. One of these days I'll stop being lazy and write my own lead passage for a cover; but right now I'd rather keep complaining.

Typically what happens -- or what has happened the past couple of years -- is the band stands behind a barricade and people stand/sit in front of them and get their picture taken. There is very minimal interaction with them, and sometimes they let you do questions for a few minutes. The value, and if it's "worth" the $148, is entirely based on your own subjective assessment. 
 
For me it's worth it because I've been dying to ask Kaoru guitar-related questions for fucking ever. I don't care about getting a picture, I don't care about the laminate, I don't care about early access to the venue or the merch -- all I want to do is ask Kaoru guitar related stuff so I can pick his brain. That's worth $148 imo

THIS FUCKING SUCKS. Why did they make a video that's 2 minutes long and only include 1:30 of music?
 
When your music is that boring, I guess it makes sense.

A lot of good ideas on this album, which I suspect are Takumi's. A lot of not-so-good ideas on this album, which I suspect are Kyo's.

After a couple listens, I have to say that I quite enjoy INFINITUM. It's not the album I was wishing for but it's interesting and engaging and in the end, that's more valuable.
 
I guess the real challenge with every new sukekiyo album is letting go of your preconceptions of what they "should" sound like. My personal concept of their sound is primarily influenced by songs like elisabeth addict, in all weathers, focus, 12時20分金輪際, foster mother etc... this blend of something delicate and intimate with something strange and feral, this almost operatic sense and scope of drama and the patience in balancing the subtleties and intricacies of silence and melody with excessive temperament and chaos. ADORATIO went a slightly different route and partly exchanged a wider arc of cohesion and emotional immersion for structural liberty and immediacy. INFINITUM feels similar in that way but it's even more direct and "short of breath"... which is fine but it just doesn't make me feel as involved.

A lot of good ideas on this album, which I suspect are Takumi's. A lot of not-so-good ideas on this album, which I suspect are Kyo's.

Dorothy is one of those songs a fake Japanese band would make as a joke. I can picture the PV already:  cats in kimonos dancing in front of a backdrop of Mt. Fuji and the Japanese flag. Mix in some 80’s filter aesthetics, and you’ve got a banger.  

I'm just saying it would be a weird experience showing up to a sukekiyo show expecting to snort coke off a fat goth's manboob only to find a bunch of teenage girls dancing and waving in a synchronized VK dance cult.