DIR EN GREY released their 10th album "The Insulated World" on September 26, 2018

[EvilHippy 142]

35 minutes ago, Saishu said:

They considered Devote My Life for a single? Are they on fucking crack?!

Just imagine how mental the MV for it would be....

[nekkichi 6043]

47 minutes ago, Saishu said:

They considered Devote My Life for a single? Are they on fucking crack?!

probably an earlier arrangement had a different sense kind of vibe that they dropped for the album?

[Ro plz 1290]

Production aside, this album isn't as bad as its made out to be on here.  The first 3 songs I admit are nothing but noise but once NINGEN hits, the album gets better. Despite who the song credits went to, I feel like you can hear everyone shine and that there was a lot more thought put into these songs.  I have my love for specific tracks on ARCHE but that record was just "lazy" for the most part. There wasn't that much enthusiasm towards it either. Listening to this, I guess i can say I appreciate ARCHE more. Its like DIR EN GREY's (inferior version of) Beautiful Deformity.  They needed to go back to basics to find what works again.

 

I really dig that post a few pages back with the individual members comments on the album. You can tell these niggas actually sat down and really gave this their all.  Also, from here on out I'm just gonna ignore when Kaoru or anyone else says that an upcoming album sounds like so and so. This sounds nothing like the Marrow of the Bone at all.  I love Marrow but the song writing there is inferior to a majority of TIW. I can for sure hear the ARCHE sound though with how simple some of the tracks are and how they stuck to the same keys to write the tracks. My only wish is that for the next release they at least throw in a couple songs with the Drop A# tuning.  

 

Literally the highlights of the album is Ningen to Ranunculus.  With ARCHE I have to keep skipping to find the songs I fuck with. Honestly this is DIR EN GREY's best work since DSS.

 

Without the first 3 songs, this shit is a solid 9.5/10.

 

Also I might've written this tipsy....

[YukiUta 11]

I don't like to post my opinion too much, but just to balance out all the negative reviews here... I like this one.  I've been a fan for a long time, but not a die-hard.  I didn't pay attention to them for many years and have only just come back.  I bought Arche and DSS at the same time and thought they were both awful at first.  Listening to Arche more, I started to like it.  No matter how much I tried, I just can't listen to DSS.  But I've had this new album on repeat since it arrived (late, thanks to Amazon being stupid). 

I always feel like people who complain too much are just looking for things to complain about.   If the album had a new sound, they complain that it's too different.  If it sticks to the old formula, they complain it's too boring.   For me, I dont care too much about lyrics or sound quality (which most people can't pick up on anyway) or if Shinya's drumming has gotten better (!).  Do the songs grab me?  Are there parts that catch my ear and stay there long after the CD player is turned off?  And, personally, the more Kyo shouts, the better! 

Well, just wanted to put my 2 cents out there, so anybody who hasn't bought it yet won't be discouraged by the negative reviews.  My review is:

[Kelrya 145]

5 hours ago, Saishu said:

They considered Devote My Life for a single? Are they on fucking crack?!

I wonder if that will be the next video.

[Kelrya 145]

I think some people are confusing fans’ interpretations of interviews (that post from earlier today) with direct quotes from the band. That was an analysis a fan made based on a bunch of different sources plus the author’s own feelings on the record, not any single interview. Also Kaoru didn’t say it would sound like Marrow, again that was the takeaway from interviews and pre-release reviews saying it would be simpler and rawer and more aggressive.

Edited September 30, 2018 by Kelrya

[Saishu 1589]

I feel comfortable in saying this is some of the band’s best work. Questionable production aside, the songwriting is tight and focused aside from the two weird flubs from Toshiya. To be fair, the main problem with Devote My Life is that fucking main siren riff being too damn loud, but I love that breakdown with Toshiya rumbling away. 

 

Other than that, this is the first DEG album in a long time that I can listen to from beginning to end without feeling drained halfway thru. There really isn’t any filler, and they sound super confident in these songs. They’re short in length, but not in content. 

 

Fuck it, dawg, I’m happy. 

[mopkins 42]

yeah after a few listens I'm really starting to appreciate this one

 

I don't know if it'll ever crack my top 5, but there's a lot of really good stuff going on here

[dannemannen 69]

1 hour ago, Saishu said:

I feel comfortable in saying this is some of the band’s best work. Questionable production aside, the songwriting is tight and focused aside from the two weird flubs from Toshiya. To be fair, the main problem with Devote My Life is that fucking main siren riff being too damn loud, but I love that breakdown with Toshiya rumbling away. 

 

Other than that, this is the first DEG album in a long time that I can listen to from beginning to end without feeling drained halfway thru. There really isn’t any filler, and they sound super confident in these songs. They’re short in length, but not in content. 

 

Fuck it, dawg, I’m happy. 

 

I don't want to sound rude but to say that this is some of their best work, is just so wrong imo.. This album doesn't even have one 10/10 song. The best would be Ranuculus, which is a 7/10 at best. Everything else is 5/10 (average) or below. 

This comes from someone who have been a fan of them for 15+ yearsm and moved to Japan simply to be able to go to their concerts, lmao. 

[Saishu 1589]

Opinions. 

[nullmoon 784]

The best thing to do is come back to this in a few weeks/months. I can imagine people's opinions will have changed wildly by then

[nekkichi 6043]

18 minutes ago, dannemannen said:

This album doesn't even have one 10/10 song. The best would be Ranuculus, which is a 7/10 at best. Everything else is 5/10 (average) or below.

ranunculus is so weird in a sense I don't hate the song (and I love the video), but I absolutely don't want to listen to it like ever, it literally feels like 4 minutes of nothing w/o the visuals to accompany the song;

 

meanwhile I have about 2 or 3 album cuts in my deg playlist and they fit nicely sometime between arche and whatever remains of VOS tracks I have left there.

[Tokage 5930]

surprised we havent had another "IS THIS THE END OF VISUAL KEI?!?!?!?!" thread re: this album tbh 

[Saishu 1589]

Ranunculus is the outlier on this album. It sounds like something they had been holding on to – at least musically and not necessarily lyrically – as early as 2002-2003. I understand wanting to end the album on a lighter note positive note, but I feel like a more straightforward rock number like Un Deux would have been better to close things out? As it stands they kind of already did this with Inconvenient Ideal. 

[Hizuki 1]

1 hour ago, dannemannen said:

 

I don't want to sound rude but to say that this is some of their best work, is just so wrong imo.. This album doesn't even have one 10/10 song. The best would be Ranuculus, which is a 7/10 at best. Everything else is 5/10 (average) or below. 

This comes from someone who have been a fan of them for 15+ yearsm and moved to Japan simply to be able to go to their concerts, lmao. 

 

 I’ve been lurking this forum since the new release and reading this I felt the need to join the discussion  

 

But you do sound rude and are assuming that your opinion is the correct one. And liking the album is the “wrong” opinion. 

 

Speaking as a fan since 10+ years and I lived in Japan for around 3 years to be able to go to their concerts.  I think that this is one of their best albums.

 

My point being that opinions differ even among longtime fans. However I feel sorry for those of you who can’t enjoy the album because of the mastering etc. 

But I’m quite sick of the whole “I don’t like the band’s new stuff so I’m a true fan” bullshit. 

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Hizuki
Typing error

[Paraph 826]

Not really understanding how an opinion on personal taste has more/less merit depending on how long you've been a fan and if you've been to Japan or not. I personally have been listening to this album more than anything they've put out since VULGAR/Withering, so because of that it stands out as being one of their better efforts as far as I'm concerned. 

[Seelentau 884]

In fact, if you like anything after their 2 track demo tape performance as DEATHMASK, you're not a true fan. They sold out with MISSA and became mainstream trash.

[nekkichi 6043]

20 minutes ago, Saishu said:

It sounds like something they had been holding on to – at least musically and not necessarily lyrically – as early as 2002-2003.

it sounds nothing like their fantastic, genre-redefining output from that era, seek some other comparisons

 

UROBOROS reject? anytime.

19 minutes ago, Hizuki said:

But you do sound rude and are assuming that your opinion is the correct one.

u sound pressed af

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by nekkichi

[Hizuki 1]

2 minutes ago, Paraph said:

Not really understanding how an opinion on personal taste has more/less merit depending on how long you've been a fan and if you've been to Japan or not. I personally have been listening to this album more than anything they've put out since VULGAR/Withering, so because of that it stands out as being one of their better efforts as far as I'm concerned. 

Not sure if this was a reply to mine or dannemannen’s post.

 

but I was only playing along with dannemannen’s “I’m a hardcore fan” game.

 

I do agree being a fan for X amount of years or living in Japan is not relevant. 

[Saishu 1589]

29 minutes ago, nekkichi said:

it sounds nothing like their fantastic, genre-redefining output from that era, seek some other comparisons

I did. 

29 minutes ago, nekkichi said:

 

UROBOROS reject? anytime.

 

Exactly. 

 

But I was specifically targeting Kasumi because it’s also a mostly boring 6/8 sea shanty. 

[geist 227]

35 minutes ago, Saishu said:

But I was specifically targeting Kasumi because it’s also a mostly boring 6/8 sea shanty. 

 

It’s definitely in 4/4. The rhythm is in triplets so the guitars gives the illusion of 3/4 or 6/8; but the drums make it clear it’s still 4/4

 

It’s incredibly boring, especially that awful Unraveling remake. 

Edited September 30, 2018 by geist

[Ro plz 1290]

5 hours ago, dannemannen said:

 

I don't want to sound rude but to say that this is some of their best work, is just so wrong imo.. This album doesn't even have one 10/10 song. The best would be Ranuculus, which is a 7/10 at best. Everything else is 5/10 (average) or below. 

This comes from someone who have been a fan of them for 15+ yearsm and moved to Japan simply to be able to go to their concerts, lmao. 

I hope whenever you see them from here on out, even after the album run is over that they play TIW from start to finish.

 

How funny your post was made my day dawg 😂😂😂😂😂

Edited September 30, 2018 by Ro plz

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

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[Seimeisen 4406]

5 minutes ago, Takadanobabaalien said:

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