Dir en grey

[nekkichi 6043]

9 hours ago, Euronymous said:

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.

the wind whispers: stream CHEDOARA ～ ～ ～

[EvilHippy 142]

12 minutes ago, saiko said:

Like actually trying not to realize what a tragedy is that one of the most creative bands in Japanese music history suddenly ran off of ideas lol

Well, it felt like this album was rushed.
But, tbh, TIW is much more fun and live-friendly than overcramped Arche (which, nevertheless, still had good and fun songs) or ESPECIALLY DSS.
Methinks (and, probably, not only me) that this album will be better to listen when they'll release full-format DVD for it.

Edited August 16, 2019 by EvilHippy

[Saishu 1589]

3 hours ago, saiko said:

Like actually trying not to realize what a tragedy is that one of the most creative bands in Japanese music history suddenly ran off of ideas lol

A lot of hyperbole there

[Mei 276]

19 hours ago, Euronymous said:

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.

Haven't u people come to realize why the album was named that way? Despite zetsuentai?

[EvilHippy 142]

30 minutes ago, Mei said:

Haven't u people come to realize why the album was named that way? Despite zetsuentai?

Yeah

They wanted a cool name on the merch slippers.

[nullmoon 784]

9 hours ago, EvilHippy said:

Yeah

They wanted a cool name on the merch slippers.

Cool? The album sounds like a damn double-glazed window emporium XD 

 

And don't get me started on that album cover... 

Edited August 17, 2019 by nullmoon

[kuyashii 124]

I partly agree with what Euronymus said. Not many bands are able to release more than one great album, specially back-to-back, so when a band releases something that doesn't lives up the expectations created by the stuff they already released, it's always going to lead to disappointment. I know that comes to tastes after all, but  let me give you an example: both Uroboros and DSS  raised the stakes so high for me I was very concerned about the quality of the music (and also Kyo vocals, since 2014 wasn't being a good year to him) of Arche before it came out (we should also remember it was, back then, the longest time period between the release of two albums). I was a bit bummed when the album came out, but the problem is that I was comparing it to the previous albums. I still see a lot of problems with Arche (still think "Uroko" should open it, a couple of songs could go to the trash cough "Chain Repulsion" cough, some of the production choices annoy me, "Midwife" is the inbred kid of "Dreambox"' and "Akatsuki"'s poor cousins) but after some years I learned to value it better (the ballady stuff is definitely some of the best things they ever done).

 

The part I disagree is that TIW still sucks, even if you take out of the band's catalogue  

[Mei 276]

^ 2014 being a bad year to kyo? According to whom? 

 

I remember when uroboros and dss came out many fans were ranting because they didn't stick to the v kei sound and started sounding chaotic (I agree those realeases are not so easy to listen as practically everything a vkei band releases).

Arche was a comeback to the former sound , like, kyo started wearing those sick-ass clothings and make-up again. And I don't get how some ppl criticize songs like chain repulsion which is the clearest example of it.

 

However, if I get real, problem is Shinya. His drumming on both uro and dss started sounding different, not necessarily in a bad way, in fact, he helps a lot with the atmospheric sound of both albums. Arche is just fine, and kyo cleansed and enhanced his vocals, he made some biblical fry whistle singing on the 7th octave, being a man and doing that is notorious.. But tiw is messy just because, and I shouldn't say this so openly but anyway take it as an opinion, neither die not kaoru are "good"/outstanding guitarists, honestly. I'm pretty sure if Shinya calmed the fk down a bit more this album would have been more enjoyable. Nonetheless I love the last 4 tracks, in which Shinya seemed to have rogered what was better for the albums sake. Ha!

Edited August 17, 2019 by Mei
Grammar mistake

[Saishu 1589]

Shinya’s problem is that he’s fucking boring when the band gets heavy. Sure he plays fast, but he’s barely doing anything. 

 

Now listen, Shinya’s hands do some creative things. I love his tom patterns, and he usually has some great fills. When he’s in a groove he sounds awesome. Now kick things up a notch; he starts to rely on this very basic kick, snare, kick, snare pattern that’s almost like what you play when you’re just learning to play blast beats. He tried to be more varied during for the DSS stuff, but he couldn’t pull that shit off consistently and started scaling it back for lives. 

 

Bottom line: Shinya’s feet suck. I guarantee you he wasn’t gung ho about the band’s heavier direction, and he was probably like “whatever, fuck you guys. Still gonna play like it’s 1999”.

[geist 227]

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. 

Edited August 17, 2019 by geist

[nekkichi 6043]

13 minutes ago, geist said:

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,

I'm just wondering where y'all have been when those albums initially dropped and the locals were creaming themselves over the new-found heaviness they could actually imitate in their little going nowhere personal music projects x

[geist 227]

35 minutes ago, nekkichi said:

I'm just wondering where y'all have been when those albums initially dropped and the locals were creaming themselves over the new-found heaviness they could actually imitate in their little going nowhere personal music projects x

 

lmao true true. I think there’s a fundamental difference between the music as a composition and the vocals though. The music is excellent (bless Papa Kaoru) but the vocal delivery is all over the place and a turn off for me. If I had my way I’d have Kyo re-record the vocals or have someone else do them entirely. 

 

These feelings for me started around The Unraveling when Kyos vocals really became over indulgent. He’s doing all these unnecessary wails and it just throws me out of the music. 

 

Kyo is generally great and what he lacks in chops he makes up for in creativity; but lately that “creativity” has begun to wear thin. 

[saiko 429]

2 hours ago, Saishu said:

Bottom line: Shinya’s feet suck. I guarantee you he wasn’t gung ho about the band’s heavier direction, and he was probably like “whatever, fuck you guys. Still gonna play like it’s 1999”.

How can you 'guarantee' that?

 

Also, I've always tended to think that both Kaoru and Die's strength relied more on songwriting rather than on actual guitar skills. I mean, they managed to put out a really creative and always changing sound while at the same time attaching to current trends on metal, punk and alternative rock (and also local pop) since MISSA. In that sense, no doubts over why Yoshiki put the eye on them back in 1998...

 

Nowadays I tend to believe that Kaoru and Die aren't mediocre guitarists, but rather have a different technical approach to the musical trends they want to craft over. To put it into few words, I sometimes have the impression that still today they try to play arranges inspired by bands of nu-metal, death-metal, etc., in the way their 'music papas' did back in the ending 80s, a.k.a. like post-punk goth acts (or "positive punk", like the proto-VK bands liked to label this trend in music). The most visible example of this Die: the resemblance to D'erlanger's Cipher in his playing is very strong, even on TIW. Like, what metal guy would hit those beautiful gothic syncopated chorused cleans within a brutal 0-1-00-1 atmosphere? (Same goes for Toshiya's cutting melodic lines).

 

Of course, I'm not saying this approach of theirs is wrong, all on the contrary: that's one of the keys why the sound of Dir was and still is very unique. And also may be why every Western metalhead writing a review on them since 2005 still doesn't get a clue over their releases out of labeling them 'art-metal' or 'avant garde-metal' while comparing them only to Manson, Korn and Deftones...

[Saishu 1589]

1 hour ago, geist said:

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. 

Yeah, this pretty much. Insulated World is the first album since Marrow that sounds like it was written with live performances in mind. 

[nullmoon 784]

1 hour ago, geist said:

TIW is better than Uroboros by a long shot

Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?! 😂 

Edited August 17, 2019 by nullmoon

[Saishu 1589]

23 minutes ago, saiko said:

How can you 'guarantee' that?

 

Kaoru saying Shinya is the most stubborn coupled with the suggestion that he wanted to quit when the band dropped the VK image. 

 

Also just listen to his playing. He is not interested in extreme metal drumming regardless of the band often tipping in that direction. All that growling and low tuned extended range guitar chugging in Uroko, yet Shinya treats it like a Gauze song. 

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

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

[libertine 125]

.

Edited December 12, 2019 by libertine

[EvilHippy 142]

29 minutes ago, libertine said:

I don't understand why missing a few falsettos live is such a big deal. Between 2005 and 2006 Kyo didn't hit any notes live and people were fine with it.

He wasn't relying too much on falsettos at that time? Like, he started overusing them either since DSS, or Rinkaku. And then almost every second/third song has him sing high notes, which sounds terible in live.

 

Also, during 2005-2006 he had other problem. Skipping a lot of words to catch some breath or just to scream his lungs out (you can notice it in post WTD single b-sides). 

Also also, wanted to throw another stone at Arche. Overabundance of solos. In some cases songs win from it (Uroko, Kaishun), but usually it seems like a padding (and this album is already 16/18 songs long, c'mon). And they even added solo for Kukoku no Kyoon when it was released as an Utafumi b-side! Like, TIW is more balanced with solos (like, there is a 7sec something in Rubbish Heap (starts at 1:55) and only in Aka we receive first their usual solo).

Edited August 17, 2019 by EvilHippy

[Saishu 1589]

Funny thing about all the solos on Arche is that most of them are in the same place: right after the first chorus of each song. 

 

No one can honestly say that Kyo is a great vocalist on a technical level, which is why I don’t really put much stock in all those “THE VOCAL RANGE OF KYO” videos. He’s not consistent at all, but it’s clearly by design since he typically puts emotion before technicality. 

 

WtD era was the worst. 

Edited August 17, 2019 by Saishu

[EvilHippy 142]

5 minutes ago, Saishu said:

Funny thing about all the solos on Arche is that most of them are in the same place: right after the first chorus of each song. 

Totally yes. It's like they wrote songs for Arche using only one blueprint.

[libertine 125]

.

Edited December 12, 2019 by libertine

[EzraEroguro 174]

I leave for five months, and y'all are still arguing over technicality. 

 

I love you guys, never change.

P.S. New York is Sold Out. Congratulation.

[saiko 429]

2 minutes ago, EzraEroguro said:

I leave for five months, and y'all are still arguing over technicality. 

 

I love you guys, never change.

P.S. New York is Sold Out. Congratulation.

VK is nowadays filled with so much shit that if it wasn't for Dir, Dimlim and Kizu MH would be pretty dead!

[cheesy_VK_Freak 76]

Arche is amazing, the ballads touch your heart right in the feels and uroko needs to be exhibited in a freaking gallery, because its a genius piece of art

 

TIW is sheyat for me