doombox

2015/01/21 Release ￥2500(+tax) DQC­1429(KSF­012) 1.Gravity Sky 2.Moment 3.Friendless Friend 4.ルサンチマン 5.硝子の漂流記 6.Adolescence 7.アンドロメダに願いを 8.雨邪鬼マーチ 9.36F View 10.Biographer

If you don't agree with the poll you have the option of posting your own opinion/review in the thread. Why not simply say "It was a great album, but certainly not their best" instead of criticizing? It's kind of sad there are 5 in depth reviews there and what you took away from that post was the poll.

Yep. I need this.

Iirc I liked the second half of this album only. I should listen to it again now that it's been a while. But I really like their previous releases so I'd still recommend this band to people without hesitation.

Her voice is the nicest thing about this. Basic song. The Engrish translation. Horrible recording quality.... Maybe they'll be good in a few years.

DIR EN GREY need little introduction in circles such as these, but it bears repeating that they've been the chameleons of Japanese rock and metal over the last 17 years with a career that all but started in the Oricon Top 10. The band has not only toured the world over, but been one of the handful of Japanese rock acts to do it continuously. Outside of their home country, they've won awards on MTV2, Kerrang! Magazine, and Loudwire.com, to name a few. Many would call them the quintessential Japanese rock band of the last 10 years. And this year they've graced us with their 9th full length album, ARCHE. For me, ARCHE was a bit of a 'grower'. After my initial listen I was left with only a single song I can say I enjoyed, which was largely in part to it being previously released as a single. "輪郭(Rinkaku) " was the bar I expected the rest of this album to reach, and that was an error on my part. After getting over my previous expectations, the second and third spins of this album revealed "Un deux", "Phenomenon", and "空谷の跫音(Kukoku no kyouon)" all to be gems in their own rights. All four songs have strong rhythm that seperates them from the rest of the album. Shinya's drums sound absolutely massive on these tracks. I have to say the production on most of the album is amazing. These songs not only have driving beats to them, but the emotional element really comes through. Unfortunately, I can't say that the rest of the album had this effect. A large chunk of this album sounds boring, to be frank. It's as if the band is no longer striving to out-do themselves. They sound complacent and uninspired. Songs like "濤声(Tousei)", "Chain Repulsion", "懐春(Kaishun)", and "Behind a vacant image" all have transition issues that keep the songs from establishing their own flow, or they simply feel like parts of songs thrown together that never achieve the dramatic highs or lows the band is known for. None were so bad that I was itching to skip them, but I was left rather unimpressed and they ultimately end up as album filler. I was shocked to come across so many songs on this album that I absolutely could not make it through willingly. Too many songs are worse than dragging and complacent, they forge right on into contrived try-hard material. This probably stems from so many of the songs not having a strong enough emotional core that they can wonder off into vocal dramatics and muddy chug-fests without losing their focus. At points, it began to feel like the band threw in everything from their arsenal as they tried to fill in the gaps where the album required something heavier. The problem with coloring with all of your crayons at once is everything turns into mud. Somehow DIR EN GREY found that magical place where a song can be ridiculously heavy yet go absolutely nowhere. "咀嚼(Soshaku)", "Cause of Fickleness", "Midwife", and "Revelation of Man" all made me really annoyed in the same way a child feels locked in a car with your little brother poking at you repeatedly. I just needed them to stop. Even though I have not been on the hype train for this band since Withering to death., I could appreciate they were passionate about their new direction and they were growing, expanding, and evolving with it on the previous albums. But it seems that journey has come to an abrupt halt with ARCHE. And worst of all, the compositions feel more half assed than anything I've ever heard DIR EN GREY release before. There was far too much strangeness for the sake of strangeness, failed transitions from polar opposite sides of the spectrum with no unity, and basic recycled material that was not even near the high points of their discography. I was lucky that I ended up liking more of the album than I initially thought I would, but ARCHE is definitely not going to be one of the pillars of the band's catalog when I look back on their body of work. Rating:

@blackdoll

I just happened upon this golden goose. "too many colored like a great escape"

Diggin it! Reminds me of the black keys a little?

That Jizue sample is really nice. I'm definitely curious about that album now.

I wonder what happened with them and The End Rec. Or if Sony split them up. Edit: Nevermind. It was definitely Sony as Razor and Tie is backed by them.

They just announced US Warped Tour. I am so excited! Hopefully no more cancellations.

International akissforjersey - New Bodies tags: post-hardcore, christian ††† - Crosses tags: electronic rock, alternative, post rock Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World tags: dance punk, indie rock Emarosa - Versus tags: alternative, emo FrnkIero AndThe Cellabration - Stomachaches tags: punk, garage rock Geri X - White Light tags: indie rock, americana GOGO STAR - 망가진 밤 tags: electronic rock Issues - Issues tags: post-hardcore, pop Life and Time - The Great Deep tags: garage rock, psychedelic rock 입술을 깨물다 - FINE tags: indie rock, pop, ballad Slaves - Through Art We Are All Equals tags: post-hardcore, alternative

Japanese: Rock/Pop about tess - Shining tags: rock, pop, alternative Age Factory - 手を振る tags: rock asobius - pray&grow tags: rock back number - ラブストーリー tags: rock, pop, ballad Hello Sleepwalkers - Masked Monkey Awakening tags: rock UNLIMITS - アメジスト tags: rock, pop punk 和楽器バンド - ボカロ三昧 tags: vocaloid, neo-traditional, folk, pop Samples: 天樂 & 千本桜

Japanese: Metal/Alternative/Hardcore a crowd of rebellion - Calendula tags: emo, post-hardcore, metalcore ARTEMA - STARGAZER tags: electronicore BABYMETAL - BABYMETAL tags: heavy metal, pop CHRONOMETER - Construction of Destruction tags: electronic, alternative, industrial CRYSTAL LAKE - CUBES tags: hardcore, metalcore FACT - witness tags: post-hardcore Make My Day - Relentless tags: post-hardcore, metalcore SHARK ETHIC - NEVER SAY NEVER tags: hardcore sukekiyo - IMMORTALIS tags: atmospheric rock, alternative wrong city - Induction of Otherside tags: alternative

Japanese: Visual BUCK-TICK - 或いはアナーキー tags: gothic rock, industrial rock DuelJewel - Story tags: hard rock, metal girugamesh - gravitation tags: hard rock, alternative metal MUCC - THE END OF THE WORLD tags: rock, alternative NAINE - NEW ANSWER IS NEW ENDING tags: electronic rock NoGoD - Make A New World tags: metal

I think they're kinda cute, tbh. XD But LMAO I'm not paying $20 for any of them. WTF

Ahhhh too bad it's just an acoustic session. I was really hoping the DVD would have footage from all of the international touring they've been doing.

I guess each member will blog about the break up. This makes me sad, they had a lot of potential.

That sounds exactly like I envisioned them being. Well except the ex-junkie part. But then again, this is rock'n'roll and we all know what goes with that. lol.

Please do.

I think Gekitetsu is going to forever be the awesome band with the dude in epic leopard pants. I can only imagine their concerts have to be ridiculously fun.

I'd definitely say this one or their self titled. They do have more melodic songs, the preview is about as heavy as they get.