Dir en grey

[emmny 4139]

That's one of the few good things I can honestly say about MOAB...until I'm reminded about what they did to CLEVER SLEAZOID at the end and then I want nothing to do with the album again.

ANDA ZA NAME OBU JASTICE!!!!!!!!

 

srsly i think clever sleazoid would have been great with japanese lyrics lol the engrish is so godawful

 

also i dont think MOTB is as bad as i initially thought, it has some rocking songs. the ballads are all great too especially the pledge ugh i love that song.

[nekkichi 6042]

 

srsly i think clever sleazoid would have been great with japanese lyrics lol the engrish is so godawful

that's the entire point of that single release, dove. it went with subtitled Japanese PV directly on TV without censoring the pretty disturbing content, and the shitty album remaster was completely on whoever did sound mastering (was that some jealous gaijin pig face metalhead who gave them a flop american distribution deal, or smth?) 

 

I remember north american print runs of Deg albums had this consistent trail of SOMETHING SHITTY HAPPENING during production as well. 

I never made it to the damn 2013 concert because of tour bus something something happening b4 seattle too

 

marrow of the bone is a bullshit album, they literally only recorded it to see how much positive reception a Japanese quality metal band can gather in the us. GRIEF PV was a low-budget joke, it literally looked like they filmed it with a cellphone as a production test for Vinushka later.

 

same with that lol PV for Zan remake, and this sleighing perfecshun

 

[emmny 4139]

i still dont get it lol they did it in english to avoid censors??? why subtitle the pv at all lol

[nekkichi 6042]

it's a political statement, and they added subtitles not to avoid censors per se, but to give english-proficient expat and japanese business communities a clear idea of where they were going with clever sleazoid -> album era.

if you look at other vk and jrock PVs and crews, they's always a number of, I'd say pretty proficient gaijin staff, who essentially report everything they work on to the US embassy, in exchange for being a part of a crew in a language and IT firewalled entertainment industry. this stuff expanded a little bit now that square-enix, or, say, konami and nintendo outsorce a bit of stuff overseas, and hire graphic coders from abroad to work on current gen tech engines, but it all essentially overlaps somewhere. VK industry is a bit more smart and a bit more shielded (how many labels and sub-contract companies does SMEJ have for Dir en grey/FWD bands/PSC/Kisaki projects production and marketing, for example? those are mostly japanese/japanese-korean only managed atm irrc)

 

clever sleazoid was only aired in japan, made it to top-10, and similar in direction different sense PV and vinushka PVs are censored, but also same degree suggestive (medical labs, WWII nuclear pollution,  and hentai cross-references.)

it's literally a follow up to cage / obscure PVs if you look at their video timeline, uroko is getting somewhere close in a sense they still produce the most artistic stuff for internal japanese consumption, and maybe sell a bit to europe as well.

you should also take a careful look @ kyo's back tattoos if you like reading too much into visual kei symbolism.

 

and remember to catch up on history classes as well. ~ north america is barely a  relevant or accessible market, but idk if Chinese-dominant territories will let them in again atm.

[Pretsy 1343]

^

 

Clever Sleazoid was aired on many occasions through certain music/entertainment-oriented Finnish (rising weeaboo fandom gave it some buzz and TV media, e.g. our local MTV eventually exposed the whole matter...and boom, WtD and Clever Sleazoid had their first international chartings in our country!) and German (first foreign shows were in Rock am ring/Rock im Ring I think) channels. Also, in terms of NA/Canada: we should not forget the way Fuse/MTV's Headbanger's Ball (should be familiar to you, no?) promoted them back in late '05/06... (first international media channels/programs to air "Obscure", shocker!)

 

Also, I cannot see how they'd use engrish in order to avoid censors - are there any legit sources that indicate such action (e.g. Firewall staff)?

[DogManX 179]

I think some of the band members said it once in one or the other interview.

[nekkichi 6042]

@Pretsy 
 
ummmm #breaking_at_12 - finland has hizaki on grocery store cover mag shelves, while north america gets bruce jenner on the "people" cover, and it's heralded as a victory for kweer people representation or something.
 
 
fyi (2), north america got rid of rock music @ mainstream media almost entirely, and here's the pretsy in his little autist finnish world preaching about explosive cultural relevance of 2005-2006 dir en grey, oh shit. hide yo kids, hide your cultural exports. we have taylor swift, pretsy! taytay will not let obscure japanese bands dominate north american media!
 

>Also, I cannot see how they'd use engrish in order to avoid censors - are there any legit sources that indicate such action (e.g. Firewall staff)?
I think you need a brief guide on the way censorship and gay/queer people work in WASP societies, Dir en grey with the make up and stage act is immediately red-flagged as "agressively gay" here
https://twitter.com/ArielTroster/status/608081836464566272
 
I'm not feeding you anymore here, this is a dir en grey thread, and I typically ignore your bullshit anyway. go read BOOKS already. you literally have no damn clue what censorship policies cater to (hint - government, ruled by current economic monetary power, i.e. oil money, drug market - white gays, if we're talking Paris Hilton as a relevant pop-cultural icon, or nigga drug dealing if we're talking Lana Del Botched Face, for example, and churches.)

 

did you enjoy colorful finnish cosplay parties? good. go watch lana wachowski muviz and drown urself in mintu over movenpick, kiitos. we likely don't have this shit here either, btw.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

[Ro plz 1290]

I consider The marrow of a bone to be part of a "holy trinity" of progression for Dir en grey because of how the next 2 albums are. I like it because its just raw, barely any of the songs have any sort of backing track and I happen to think live, these songs blend together in a setlist so it makes for a great experience.  I can def see why people don't like it though. 

[emmny 4139]

@Pretsy 

 

ummmm #breaking_at_12 - finland has hizaki on grocery store cover mag shelves, while north america gets bruce jenner on the "people" cover, and it's heralded as a victory for kweer people representation or something.

*caitlyn jenner

and wtf does hizaki have to do with anything lol

[nekkichi 6042]

umm emmy thx for correcting me on proper use of bruce mediathirsty kardashian legal/stage name, bless his future face for a single estee lauder promoshoot in China, anyway
having hizaki (or any VK artist) outside of hot topic store is pretty cool. saw that in finland, kinda saddened every time I'm inspired enough to take a bus for groceries proper instead of just staying in my room with junk food and oatmeal lol.
is it okay that we're kinda messing with dir en grey thread, but to keep this relevant, I think shinya needs to hizaki up his hair game for next japanese tours.

 

you got it™ toshiya is the new giant enemy crab of superior japanese amedama rokku scene

 

[Champ213 1858]

Okay, this thread seems to steer pretty off-topic. Please keep it on the topic at hand, keep it civil and don't make this about personal fights, thanks.

[emmny 4139]

idc what u have against caitlyn and the kardashians, push your transphobia aside and refer to her by her chosen name and pronouns cuz thats disgusting.

 

anyway onto less prejudicial subjects...

is anyone missing the long songs on arche? when it was announced i felt they were gonna go crazy prog and do a bunch of long songs but when the tracklist was announced i was kinda disappointed (unless they were gonna make a double album--cough no). i've been a fan of all of DEG's long songs and i think they do them all very well, but i dont think many other fans share this view. tbh i just wanted an arche-style diabolos..but ok

[Pretsy 1343]

We are all going 2 hell with this level of topic derailing loooool

[emmny 4139]

We are all going 2 hell with this level of topic derailing loooool

PREZTELS!!! WHAT R ur thoughts on the absence of long songs

[Ro plz 1290]

Queen of the damned Divas doesn't listen to anyone. This thread is bound to get derailed again at some point, despite our failed attempts to keep it focused on music lmao. We're trying, Champ. Literally. With that said..............

 

 

 

Potential FAILED ATTEMPT number 105 to keep this shit sane:

I don't mind the absence of long songs on this album. I feel like people (no offense to anyone here btw), were starting to get too comfortable with the lengthy tracks, thus automatically assuming it would be a norm. And besides, I feel like they've successfully filled that quota of a long song, this time around with the MACABRE remake. I def wouldn't mind seeing a long song again somewhere down the line but with the way they ARCHE is and its simplistic writing, I think its best that it didnt happen this time around. 

[Zeus 7997]

Moderator Message:

Can any of you in this topic actually talk about Dir en grey without having to be so passive-aggressive towards one another? Throwing shade at each other while attempting to be on topic is still in violation of the rules, and so from this point on I will delete posts and issue appropriate warnings.

[nekkichi 6042]

is anyone missing the long songs on arche? when it was announced i felt they were gonna go crazy prog and do a bunch of long songs but when the tracklist was announced i was kinda disappointed (unless they were gonna make a double album--cough no). i've been a fan of all of DEG's long songs and i think they do them all very well, but i dont think many other fans share this view. tbh i just wanted an arche-style diabolos..but ok

nope. I miss Deg trip hop sound, and epic original macabre 8 minutes realness. last time they had slow tempoed long songs on DSS it was cringe-worthy and for the most part unberarable for me tbh.

 

I didn't like the macabre remake as well, cleaner sound aside it was cheesy and unnecessary, but thx for a shot of nostalgia for old kyo vocal range idk

 

@TMS

hunny, the queen of damned divas is listening to the voices ha friends and someone else project onto her through like personal talks and skyping!!!!! and also voices of some random ppl who bully me for sharing tranny music on FB behind my back because KIDZ CAN SEE IT! speaking of kidz btw, did u smoke pot this week? (I'm not requesting an answer here btw, have a weed cookie, and add pretsy on tinder already, thxbye.)

I ALSO APOLOGIZE TO THE KARDASHIANS, MOMAGER IS THE BEEEST!!!!!!!

[Ro plz 1290]

Amazing moment when me and Pretzy have been butt buddies since Dir en grey's debut.

 

We make love while explaining their music every night (I say we go at it to Uroko tonight, bro).

 

Been hip to dat Unraveling ass before Tinder.

 

Beat ya 2 the punch

[relentless 254]

Vinushka was that one rare "long" song by Dir en grey that I took to. At first I thought DIABOLOS was awesome for the heavier section; but then you start to realize it's just the same 4 minutes repeated to buffer the length and it becomes a chore to listen to. With Vinushka, I never had that problem.

 

Generally, it feels like Dir en grey are not "progressive" enough to tackle songs of that length. With 3-5 minute songs, there is no great demand to do anything crazy complex in terms of performance or harmony; but when you start stretching music to 8+ minutes, musical development becomes crucial and necessary. When 12012 (I believe it was) tried to do a song that stretched that long, it was garbage because it went nowhere.

 

Though harsh, my thoughts are: if you're going to pull what 12012 did, or what Dir en grey did with DIABOLOS, there is literally no reason why I should listen to the song in its entirety, or at all after the first listen. There is nothing there to appreciate aside from one riff here or there they may come up with; but that one tiny section should not be reason to have to sit through something for 8+ minutes. The remake of MACABRE hits this point home for me. There is one part in the whole remake -- about 12 minutes in -- that I would want to listen to again. And it's unfortunate, because I'm not the kind of person to skip forward in a song, listen to one part, and be done with it. I want to appreciate that one piece of music on its own terms; but when there's nothing there to appreciate, why bother?

[ghost 2686]

@@relentless

I agree with the heavier parts on Diabolos. I don't feel like they particularly add much to the song. Demo ver. FTW.

Aqua was bad too. You said this in your review of XII but it doesn'the change key at all (or something like that)!

Wasn't Zakuro a fan favorite at some point as well? Or was it just the BLITZ 5 performance that made it more popular?

I particularly loved the solo. Even learned it when I was first learning guitar.

[Wicked Teletubby 528]

Touru and Shinya along with X Japan's Heath are planned to be guests on Toshi's performance at Lunatic Fest.

[Crube 585]

I'm genuinely surprised they didn't jump on the EDM metal hybrid thing yet. Sure, Hydra had the EDM influence and maybe a handful of other songs, but I meant like girugamesh and MUCC levels by adding the little woooooompp and wooooopss and [DRILL BITS BORING INTO A PIECE OF WOOD INTENSIFIES] sounds.

[Pretsy 1343]

I'm genuinely surprised they didn't jump on the EDM metal hybrid thing yet. Sure, Hydra had the EDM influence and maybe a handful of other songs, but I meant like girugamesh and MUCC levels by adding the little woooooompp and wooooopss and [DRILL BITS BORING INTO A PIECE OF WOOD INTENSIFIES] sounds.

Hydra? EDM influence? 

 

They've always had some odd industrial rock/metal influences (or "nuances" if you will) throughout their career, and that too is purely due to Kaoru's love towards NIN and similar acts (as a case in point, go back further @inspiration thread and see my post about Kaoru).

 

If anything, they will most likely just move on with these "nuances" ("the peak" was during Vulgar-era, I think?) and stay in their comfort zone, rather than derail and go down the risky route (seeing as this might lead to another grandiose MOAB-ish episode and they will be effed up due to massive fanbase losses)

[Crube 585]

I was referring to the drum beat mostly I suppose? Also, I don't remember there being a massive fanbase loss. Then again, I wasn't really paying attention to the other fans at the time.