dir en grey DIR EN GREY announces new Blu-ray/DVD, single, JP, US and EU tour

[cheesy_VK_Freak 76]

You are so right, Saishu. I love Shinyas drumming, but he just shows no variation whatsoever...

I know people have been ‚complaining‘ about him already during TIW and stuff, where I kinda didn‘t agree, but here...

man the whole drumming sounds bored

[blacktooth 227]

I remember people complaining about Shinya doing his Shinya thing on last.fm when Dozing Green first came out. This has been going on for a long, long time.

Edited September 17, 2019 by blacktooth

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

I'm tagging along the mob as well. I hold Shinya partially responsible for holding them back after DSS which must've been one of the reasons why they finally became an old man band when they started side stepping instead of taking leaps forward like they used to. The guitars are still farting along but at least that one riff around half way point that comes back by the end is cool for them. 

[cheesy_VK_Freak 76]

Don’t know, I thought his drumming in Arche was brilliant. 

[tallulah 17]

ugh, yes. it's everything i wanted from tiw and the acoustic version of dozing green is perfect. the live version of grief is whatever, always fun but i'm not particularly bothered.

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

54 minutes ago, cheesy_VK_Freak said:

Don’t know, I thought his drumming in Arche was brilliant. 

I always feel Shinya gets a bad rap imo. I always thought his drumming was pretty good 

[Seelentau 884]

https://direngrey.fandom.com/wiki/The_World_of_Mercy

 

Sorry for the delay, lyrics, romaji and translation are up on the wiki

[cheesy_VK_Freak 76]

ok, so there is a comment under the youtube vid of the full song where someone states that kaoru and shinya had two songs and Kyo decided to put them together. apparently die said so during an interview.

 

 

[Saishu 1589]

22 minutes ago, psychonnect_rozen said:

I always feel Shinya gets a bad rap imo. I always thought his drumming was pretty good 

He’s fine until the band goes the “extreme” route, then Shinya has to play oversimplified patterns to keep up. 

[Seelentau 884]

On 9/16/2019 at 6:44 PM, Seelentau said:

Fun fact: The single song was originally two different songs and I think it was Kyo who suggested to merge them so to create a long song.

ye

[EvilHippy 142]

+1 to Saishu's opinion about Shinya's drumming.
Also, what the hell is with Kyo's during "heavy" part? It's filtered/mixed worse than TIW.

[Joel 90]

The drumming on the song isn't even that bad. It's just that one fast section which isn't horrible but I've been hearing that same drum pattern since Dum Spiro Spero. How the hell did he even get through the extreme tracks on DSS without becoming a robot that can only play a few simplified drum patterns?

You would think he would have learned how to maneuver in sections like that by now but I guess not.

[kuyashii 124]

While I'm not trying to protect Shinya from any justified criticism (I agree the drumming on TWoM was pretty underwhelming) if people tend to bring Kyo's health issues when defending him from criticisms when it comes to his problems regarding vocals, I think we should also consider that Shinya has been struggling with some health problems afaik since 2011 (I remember during a live on the AQA tour he had to be rushed into a hospital and it was discovered he had stress fracture on the ribs and managed to play an entire gig through immense pain). I haven't really watched much live footage by them in a good while but I remember in stuff from 2011 you could see he was often making faces of pain while playing songs. While it's kinda understandable he toned down some of the craziest things within his drumming I agree his work has been kinda repetitive and monotone (even though I always loved his more "proggy" drumming with all the toms and cymbal rolls I agree on TWoM his drumming is rather bland and not really varied) and his stuff on the heavy parts has been kinda samey and overall pretty boring.

 

This is one of the reasons I'd rather have them toning down all the more extreme metal influences: they haven't really been in the prime physical condition they used to be when they were at their craziest instrumental habilities so they need to acknowledge the way their physical limitations interfere with their musicianship - and while I think the band still has room to evolve, the arguably questionable quality of their recent attempts at doing heavier stuff - via TIW- kinda demonstrated this is not really the way they could achieve the best results, plus, there are some younger bands that have been absolutely killing on this whole br00tal kei scene.

 

On TWoM itsel, I can't still express how much I love the tempo change around 8:40. That is probably my favorite moment of the song.

[Saishu 1589]

Shinya is just fucking stubborn and lazy. He’s not an extreme metal drummer, plain and simple, and he has no intentions of playing fast double kick patterns or crazy blast beats. 

[StriderSubzero 53]

Drums were the first instrument I ever learned and Shinya was a big influence on me, so I may be a little biased but I think he's a very creative drummer and I disagree that he's the weak link. For those that think he should be playing something else during the fast, heavy sections, what would that even be? There's not much room for embellishments with parts like that, and the only thing I could think that would show more technical prowess would be something like a blast beat, which may be more impressive but it certainly isn't more interesting. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by StriderSubzero

[Ro plz 1290]

Shinya's playing style at this point is comfortable but it works for what they're doing as a unit. And i cant say its boring imo.  The drums is largely why my favorite Dir songs are my fav Dir songs.

 

We can't sit here and claim he didn't kill it on Uroko, Rinkaku, Ningen, Grief, Different Since ,etc. And depending on the song and how long they've been playing it or haven't played it, he DOES make some clear changes from the OG versions. 

 

And in regards to the heavy parts in the longer songs, Kaoru literally repackages the same riff from Vinushka. You cant blame him for doing his usual thing in those situations. Hazuki (Lynch.) and Ruki (the GazettE) are guilty of the same thing in almost every album and their drummers are just responding in kind as well. But again, it works for what they do. 

 

As long as he ain't faking like he can play certain things (like he did in DSS), I'm honestly ok. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Ro plz

[geist 227]

10 hours ago, Saishu said:

Shinya is just fucking stubborn and lazy. He’s not an extreme metal drummer, plain and simple, and he has no intentions of playing fast double kick patterns or crazy blast beats. 

 

This, tbh, and the thing about playing in an extreme metal style is: those things are kinda necessary. Doing the same lazy pseudo blast beat over and over again can get tiring, especially when it sounds barely distinguishable from VST drums you can program on a computer. It's flat, and on top of that his creative choices for these parts are always suspect. You have the fast section, and then it slows down exactly like you'd expect it to and Shinya just keeps pulling from the same ideas in a copy/paste format that just doesn't fit.

 

Case in point: When it comes to professional musicians, unless they're garbage, I almost never butt-in and say "they should have done this and this differently" because I trust the creativity of those making the music; but Shinya is different. In the climax of the song there is a section that requires double kick to support the heightened momentum of the guitars. It's 9:15 - 9:50 where there's all this space for where the double kick SHOULD go; but it's not there because Shinya is not, like Saishu said, an extreme metal drummer and thus does not have the proper artistic instincts to flesh out the parts he needs to.

 

Shinya's not terrible, but he's not a great metal drummer, and when someone like me -- who isn't a drummer -- can clearly see Shinya's missed opportunities for better drums, then you know there's a problem.

[blacktooth 227]

What gets me is this: take a look at his kit.

 

 

How much of it does he actually use when it matters most? He's very creative when songs are slow to mid-tempo, but as soon as things speed up he gets tunnel vision.

[kuyashii 124]

I see Shinya as a bit like Nick Mason of Pink Floyd when it comes to drumming (even their tom-tom and cymbal work is kinda similar!). Their styles are actually pretty neat and really add up to the songs when it comes to creating atmosphere, but they definitely aren't the most technical drummers and I'm pretty sure if Mason tried to play something by someone like Neil Peart or Bill Bruford, the results wouldn't be that stellar - which is what happens when Shinya tries to go outside his comfort zone.

 

Maybe part of Shinya's love of Yoshiki includes a desire to get worse and worse with time lol

[rekzer 599]

it's on spotify for anyone that cares

 

 

[Saishu 1589]

World of Mercy has very familiar tom patterns, a groove that was lifted from Behind a Vacant Image, Aka, and Followers, and the exact same baby’s first blast beat that he’s been using since DSS. At one point he WAS at the very least throwing in some triplets on the kick, but then he wouldn’t repeat it live and apparently just gave up entirely. 

 

Shinya has very creative hands, but his feet are practically dead weight. 

[EvilHippy 142]

Sometimes Shinya pulls his weight very well.  In Keibetsu to Hajimari he even bangs as there is no tomorrow (I love part from 0:13 to 0:30, it's so agressive and unusual of him). 
But when Downfall and Zetsuentai has same drum pattern during fast parts of songs... I dunno, just give me something different than tom-cymbal-tom-cymbal pattern. 

[emmny 4139]

No cap the riff sounds like a mejibray heavy part (that part from killing me)

[psychonnect_rozen 585]

Got around to listening to the song. Holy fuck I am blown away! This is the best thing ever! I absolutely love the final few minutes and the guitars sound epic as ever.

 

If only I had the money to see them live I could hear this amazing piece live

[Saishu 1589]

6 hours ago, StriderSubzero said:

Drums were the first instrument I ever learned and Shinya was a big influence on me, so I may be a little biased but I think he's a very creative drummer and I disagree that he's the weak link. For those that think he should be playing something else during the fast, heavy sections, what would that even be? There's not much room for embellishments with parts like that, and the only thing I could think that would show more technical prowess would be something like a blast beat, which may be more impressive but it certainly isn't more interesting. 

What could he play in the faster sections? He could use both kick drums for one. He doesn’t need to play a blast beat, but an interesting kick drum pattern would go a long way. He basically plays a four on the floor beat almost every time for faster sections, which leaves a lot of empty space. There’s nothing interesting about that when he does it all the time.