Dir en grey

[Seelentau 884]

2 hours ago, Saishu said:

I mean, to be fair, Kyo has been singing Fukai this way since, what, the Vulgarism tour? It’s not new at this point, just finally committed to a studio version. 

iirc, he sang the normal version back in Berlin, 2015.

[Ro plz 1290]

13 hours ago, Saishu said:

Compression will be the death of me. Why these dudes keep insisting on cramming everything together into a sonic fuck fest is beyond me. They sit back and listen to the final mix and go “shit yeah this is dope, send it out” 

 

 

It wasn't until Easy Make that I finally realized what you saying. Its gotten to the point where I can't even listen to it unless its at home with my speakers because at least then its not as bad. 

 

Fukai is a pleasant listen, and its not as blarring on the ears but my only complaint is Kaoru's part on 2:36 to 3:02. Could've done with out whatever effect he was messing with. I don't think I can forgive the fandom as a whole for collectively deciding the other two tracks were plausible candidates for remakes. I doubt i'll do more than 1 initial listen to both.

[Saishu 1589]

8 hours ago, blacktooth said:

Record in analog dammit! My life would be complete if Dir en grey used a mellotron. 

My hope is Kaoru will at some point hear the last three Opeth albums and be like “hey, I can hear the stuff! I want people to hear the stuff too!”

[Tanishi 598]

VESTIGE OF SCRATCHES is not mastered by Tue Madsen is it? Googling turned up with nothing so I assume it's not.

Edited January 6, 2018 by fieldsgrow

[Seelentau 884]

5 hours ago, Ro plz said:

It wasn't until Easy Make that I finally realized what you saying. Its gotten to the point where I can't even listen to it unless its at home with my speakers because at least then its not as bad. 

 

Fukai is a pleasant listen, and its not as blarring on the ears but my only complaint is Kaoru's part on 2:36 to 3:02. Could've done with out whatever effect he was messing with. I don't think I can forgive the fandom as a whole for collectively deciding the other two tracks were plausible candidates for remakes. I doubt i'll do more than 1 initial listen to both.

The fans didn't decide on the remakes.

[Ro plz 1290]

Wasn't there a voting going on and it ultimately came down to those three? IIRC that was the case, unless im trippin

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ iirc the voting was only limited to which songs the fans would like to see on the best album (as a whole in general, not for re-recording).

 

edit: http://kyotakumrau.tumblr.com/post/166276992292/best-albumvestige-of-scratches-201812 (also it seems the band members themselves remastered the tracks, whatever that means here)

Edited January 6, 2018 by Jigsaw9

[Saishu 1589]

You know damn well the fans voted for Garden, but DEG was like “LOL”

[Pretsy 1343]

Sucks to see how dry these arrangements sound when they filter that good ol' grittiness away from VULGAR/WtD guitars.

 

Why are we discussing Opeth here though? Kaoru did mention them as his favorites but that doesn't make them a plausible example on how Dir should master/remaster their repertoire. Apples and oranges, tbqh.

 

We should also throw in Alice in Chains as a reference too, no? Dirsters love grunge, and grungy approach easily triumphs over something you call "prog" anyday.

[Saishu 1589]

I mentioned Opeth because they’re last three albums are analog recordings. They sound very natural and there are actual dynamics, which is how I wish DEG could sound instead of sounding more and more like a giant wall of noise with a MIDI drum kit behind it. 

[Seelentau 884]

[matthazell 35]

I somehow surprisingly didn't hate the IIID empire remake as much as I thought I was going to.  huh.

 

SPANK and SPANK though, ugh lmao

Edited January 6, 2018 by matthazell

[mopkins 42]

I actually really like this take on Beautiful Dirt

 

but IIID Empire I... uh...... hm

[Seelentau 884]

wtf are you guys talking about? They only remade Fukai and Beautiful Dirt.

[Pretsy 1343]

Now we have reached the point where Kyopera is off-key EVEN IN THE STUDIO!

 

This is the musical definition of Kyo "Spank and Spank"-ing the monkey for sure. This is nothing more but an unnecessary wank.

 

Kaisan please.

 

[Saishu 1589]

3 hours ago, Seelentau said:

wtf are you guys talking about? They only remade Fukai and Beautiful Dirt.

Technically they didn’t remake anything, they just re-recorded those three songs. I don’t think they were looking to do drastic changes considering this is a best of compilation and all. 

[Seelentau 884]

29 minutes ago, Saishu said:

Technically they didn’t remake anything, they just re-recorded those *two songs. I don’t think they were looking to do drastic changes considering this is a best of compilation and all. 

FTFY

And na, those are remakes, not re-recordings. A re-recording would be simply recording the original tracks with upgraded gear/technic.

But since they entirely changed the sound and sometimes even the lyrics, they're remakes. At least in my book. I don't think there's any official definition, though.

[Saishu 1589]

Why do you keep saying two songs? Am I missing the joke?

 

only song that’s really different is Fukai, and we’ve pretty much heard that version before. 

 

It’s all half-assed whatever it is. 

[Seelentau 884]

I refuse to accept the existence of THE IIID EMPIRE's remake.

Two songs it is.

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

There were no surprises for me after hearing the previews, and adding to the feeling of predictability the same problems they've had for a while now still persist. To start off with the negative: the covers they've had for this and the DVD's have been corny & awful, and it's symptomatic of the string of poor stylistic decisions that plague 'lot of the stuff they do now. When I heard that electronic effect in the beginning of Fukai I had a hard time believing this is a band with +20 years of experience with all the professionals of the business at their disposal that I'm listening to: because it's fucking stupid and adds absolutely nothing but terrible awkwardness, like a bird flying over a scenery only to hit the glass wall of a skyscraper and fall to its death with a quiet thump. It's, much like the covers, a lot of aesthetic pomp on the surface level that when you scratch it, it only reveals more surface or just sieves through your hands and shatters to pieces entirely. 

 

With that I suppose the best thing about this is that they didn't do anything drastic. These sound like they were trying to create that spontaneous and chaotic live, one-shot feeling with a super loud studio production backing it, and I still kind of appreciate the idea and I would have loved to hear a version like this of IIID EMPIRE... just not this one. This is one of those times when I love what Kyo is doing in theory, but not in practice, and had they done a few things different I'd fuck with it; and apropos of which I think Fukai works quite well and it almost sounds like it could've fit on Arche, and this largely comes down to the choice of sounds they decide to take. Spank and sperg or spark and spark makes a difference, as does adding electronic flourishes and noodling mini-solos betwixt an old song of theirs. Will it replace the old version? No, but I'll play them side-by-side if I'm in the mood for it.

 

It does also feel like the days of remakes like Tsumi to Kisei are over, and they'll settle for an updated sound that's either more live adaptable or they feel like putting out a studio version of the live track. Either way I don't care what they do, since the only way it'll impact my life is if they do their live sets dirty like with insisting on playing the awful new Obscure instead of the old one. 

 

 

[nekkichi 6043]

awful new Obscure (2)

[Saishu 1589]

Best part of Beautiful Dirt was Kyo’s HA HA at the end and he doesn’t even do that in the new one. 

 

Best parts of new IIID Empire: that thing Toshiya does in the middle break, the weird skronky thing Kaoru does around 2:24. 

 

Absolute worst thing about new IIID Empire: Kyo spankin’ and spankin’, also GOOGLY EYE GOOGLY EYE GOOGLE EYE

 

 

[Ro plz 1290]

Fukai seems to be the only remake that they actually put a solid effort in.

 

 

I'm also just gonna pretend like the other two remakes don't exist because they were terrible. I may check out the actual re-masters when it leaks but im sure i'll just stick to the originals. This is just a cash grab, nothing more and nothing less. Just give us a new album please for the love of Zordon.

[Seelentau 884]

New release earliest at the end of 2018, I'd say. First will be the last mode of DVDs. Then a single, then the album.

 

I really like the end of Beautiful Dirt. I agree that the missing HAHA is sad, but how they pick up again after slowing down for a second is nice.

Fukai is, compared to the live versions, disappointing. I was really looking forward to it, but meh. There's too much difference from the live version.

It's just nice to have the lyrics, finally.

[Seelentau 884]

wait a minute

the leaks we got from VOS are the three songs that are on each of the CDs, right?

then what about the videos on the DVD? are those the same songs, just with a video?

afaik, they decided against the one-takes, right? so they're PVs?