DIR EN GREY - DUM SPIRO SPERO

[Guest]

狂骨の鳴り was nice for the first 20 seconds, in a shitty-attempt-at-Berio-or-Xenakis-kinda way. Kyo's vocal effects are hilariously cheesy/tacky as ever. They also ruin THE BLOSSOMING BEELZEBUB, which could've been quite a nice (albeit basic in both the basic bitch and simple sense) post-rock number without. 「欲巣にDREAMBOX」あるいは成熟の理念と冷たい雨 is kinda good! Until the incredibly awful section at 2:30. The first part would make for a good dubstep remix. 獣慾 + 滴る朦朧 are boring fillers. Actually kinda like LOTUS. His vocals aren't as bad as usual (thought are still ~i'm not vk anymore but I can't sing anything clean not nasally~) and the melody is almost gazette-ish catchy, which isn't that great a compliment. Another couple of fillers until DECAYED CROW, which set a whole new level of awful for the album. VANITAS, much like the beelzebub song, would make for a nice post-rock number. Ending the album on AMON (Symphonic Ver. Bonus Track) - after 2 particularily uninspired fillers -流転の塔 + 羅刹国 (Bonus Track) - was an interesting touch, thought it would've been far improved with his vocals. Kudos for being able to afford a real harp, thought if you could do that why would you then bring in the incredibly bad synth strings - which after just hearing a real instrument that's normally synth'd in, highlights the complete lack of musicality and critical ear the album recieved in editing/processing.

4/10. There's a couple of nice tracks, but that's about it.

[Des 289]

Another couple of fillers until DECAYED CROW

I respect your opinion and you may think the album is filled with fillers and total shit for the most part.

But... honestly, you might want to check out DIABOLOS a second time 'cause I get the impression you might've been doing the dishes or walking the dog while this was playing. It's the highlight of the album for me. And not only me.

The re-recording of Rasetsukoku is the only re-rerecording they've done that I actually really like.

This I agree with! It's actually cool... which I didn't expect after all that butchering of old tracks they've done before.

[relentless 254]

I'm having a really hard time with this album. It's great and just so weird -- very hard to properly grasp and take in. There's so much going on that I need a while to see if I love it or not. Though I will say that despite any reservations I or anyone else may have, you can not discredit this band for what they have done on this record. It doesn't take some sort of music theory enthusiast to understand that what the band is doing is pretty great. The remastered version of Hageshisa to... really bothered me though. Jens Bogren (original engineer) did an AMAZING job with it (besides leaving the bass out), and Tue just kind of dulled it down. Which is surprising because Tue's work on the rest of the album is AMAZING and some of the best mastering I have heard on an album in a while.

Right now I can't really assign it a number rating, but I know this is a great album and something that will propel their status across the world once more attention gets drawn to it.

oh and, DIABOLOS sort of drags on...but it's cool i guess

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Fucking amazing album, enthralled beginning to end. 10/10

[Daisuke 20]

infinite/10

BEST f*cking Album of year.

Is so perfect, all song are a masterpiece.

*Fanboymodeout*

10/10, great album, very very solid work. Beautiful guitars, strong bass, powerfull Drums, and amazings vocals.

[Wonrei 108]

This was written while listening to the album.

Kyoukotsu no Nari - DAT PIANO. It just gave the idea how the whole album would sound.Made me shit my pants.The despair here is incredible. piano/10

The Blossoming Beelzebub - DAT PIANO[2].This is amazing,holy shit.First favorite.Really proggy.This is dense,holy fuck.Fuck Vinushka,this is where the gold lies. piano/10

Different Sense - drum and bass. worst single/10 also known as 6/10

Amon - fuck yeah,atmospheric,nice. fits/10

Yokusou ni Dreambox shit long title - what the fuck is this seriously my body likes this vocal melody.alot.HOLY FUCK THE AGRESSIVE PART,FUCK YOU DIR EN GREY THIS IS GOOD. bricksshat/10

Juuyoku- One of my favorite samples,fuck yeah this is good.Really well done. demon summoning/10

Shirutaru Monrou - Nice,atmospheric,felt like Amon to me. fits/10

Lotus - hey lotus I liked you single I like you here with bass.Felt like I was in hell and suddenly there's this light clearing the area.Vocals also sound more echoey?dunno how to say. single/10

Diabolos - Hey that echo.Hey whats wrong.HEY IS THAT MERZBOW.Sample comes.Oh hey.oh wait wtf can't describe actually

This is deep.2deep4u The whole way this shit works.Vinushka. X tending to infinity/10

Akatsuki - another favorite sample.sounds like you're lost in some forest and demons are coming to attack ya.Me likey

God this is good.DAT FUNKY SONG DAT RAP Funk/10

Decayed Crow - not really that original,but I like it's atmosphere and guitars.Who is that dawg distorting his guitar so much it sounds like aids? aids/10

Hageshisa - hageshisa/10

Vanitas - so here is ballad.at first felt pretty bland,but then the guitars came.Oh hey guitars.Now it's beautiful and kind of reminds me of old vk shit in the melody. sadballad/10

Ruten no Tou - It started like it was going to finish the album.Like dem guitars.Really nice,the sample was the shittiest part of the song.Really strong song overall.Could've been a single.Hope they make a pv or something for this. perfectcloser/10

Rasetsukoku - MOSHKICKASSHEADS/10

Amon(Symphonic shit) - harp.You dir en grey dudes probably knew harp is my favorite instrument ever did you? They should do an album with an orchestra now. Dir en Symphonic/10.

I loved Uroboros and got shocked by it at first.But this,my boys,this is another level.My favorite Dir en grey album

[dannemannen 69]

狂骨の鳴り was nice for the first 20 seconds, in a shitty-attempt-at-Berio-or-Xenakis-kinda way. Kyo's vocal effects are hilariously cheesy/tacky as ever. They also ruin THE BLOSSOMING BEELZEBUB, which could've been quite a nice (albeit basic in both the basic bitch and simple sense) post-rock number without. 「欲巣にDREAMBOX」あるいは成熟の理念と冷たい雨 is kinda good! Until the incredibly awful section at 2:30. The first part would make for a good dubstep remix. 獣慾 + 滴る朦朧 are boring fillers. Actually kinda like LOTUS. His vocals aren't as bad as usual (thought are still ~i'm not vk anymore but I can't sing anything clean not nasally~) and the melody is almost gazette-ish catchy, which isn't that great a compliment. Another couple of fillers until DECAYED CROW, which set a whole new level of awful for the album. VANITAS, much like the beelzebub song, would make for a nice post-rock number. Ending the album on AMON (Symphonic Ver. Bonus Track) - after 2 particularily uninspired fillers -流転の塔 + 羅刹国 (Bonus Track) - was an interesting touch, thought it would've been far improved with his vocals. Kudos for being able to afford a real harp, thought if you could do that why would you then bring in the incredibly bad synth strings - which after just hearing a real instrument that's normally synth'd in, highlights the complete lack of musicality and critical ear the album recieved in editing/processing.

4/10. There's a couple of nice tracks, but that's about it.

Now when you say it, you are correct. Most of the new songs feel like typical unintresting fillers.

Also I wonder why they threw away ther melodic choruses. Sure they try to be artsy, non-commercial and all that but damn, DEG, you are a band that has made some really cool melodic music through the years *turns on dead tree*. You have the talent. Leave the unintresting blargh blargh to western bands.

But will listen more to the album today, hope it grows ^^

[Senedjem 510]

Holy fuck this shit is brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8/10

[Mei 276]

This was written while listening to the album.

Kyoukotsu no Nari - DAT PIANO. It just gave the idea how the whole album would sound.Made me shit my pants.The despair here is incredible. piano/10

The Blossoming Beelzebub - DAT PIANO[2].This is amazing,holy shit.First favorite.Really proggy.This is dense,holy fuck.Fuck Vinushka,this is where the gold lies. piano/10

Different Sense - drum and bass. worst single/10 also known as 6/10

Amon - fuck yeah,atmospheric,nice. fits/10

Yokusou ni Dreambox shit long title - what the fuck is this seriously my body likes this vocal melody.alot.HOLY FUCK THE AGRESSIVE PART,FUCK YOU DIR EN GREY THIS IS GOOD. bricksshat/10

Juuyoku- One of my favorite samples,fuck yeah this is good.Really well done. demon summoning/10

Shirutaru Monrou - Nice,atmospheric,felt like Amon to me. fits/10

Lotus - hey lotus I liked you single I like you here with bass.Felt like I was in hell and suddenly there's this light clearing the area.Vocals also sound more echoey?dunno how to say. single/10

Diabolos - Hey that echo.Hey whats wrong.HEY IS THAT MERZBOW.Sample comes.Oh hey.oh wait wtf can't describe actually

This is deep.2deep4u The whole way this shit works.Vinushka. X tending to infinity/10

Akatsuki - another favorite sample.sounds like you're lost in some forest and demons are coming to attack ya.Me likey

God this is good.DAT FUNKY SONG DAT RAP Funk/10

Decayed Crow - not really that original,but I like it's atmosphere and guitars.Who is that dawg distorting his guitar so much it sounds like aids? aids/10

Hageshisa - hageshisa/10

Vanitas - so here is ballad.at first felt pretty bland,but then the guitars came.Oh hey guitars.Now it's beautiful and kind of reminds me of old vk shit in the melody. sadballad/10

Ruten no Tou - It started like it was going to finish the album.Like dem guitars.Really nice,the sample was the shittiest part of the song.Really strong song overall.Could've been a single.Hope they make a pv or something for this. perfectcloser/10

Rasetsukoku - MOSHKICKASSHEADS/10

Amon(Symphonic shit) - harp.You dir en grey dudes probably knew harp is my favorite instrument ever did you? They should do an album with an orchestra now. Dir en Symphonic/10.

I loved Uroboros and got shocked by it at first.But this,my boys,this is another level.My favorite Dir en grey album

best review ever made. ever.

[sai 868]

It took me half an hour to write a review and now it's gone. Great. Anyway, i rated it a 6/10. There is just too much vomiting going on in some of the filler tracks that make me say "no thank you". However, I see myself buying this album anyway after a while

Intro and THE BLOSSOMING BEELZEBUB were cool. DIFFERENT SENSE sounds nicer to me now in album context. AMON was awful. DREAMBOX song was cool until that awful part starting on 2:30. Rest of the album mediocred from good to average.

Tracks 6 and 7 were fillers that could've easily been left out btw :/ They were so weird I could best describe my reaction this way:

Track 6 with the chanting, really? At least it gave me a good laugh LOTUS still rules btw.

[Guest]

Who is that dawg distorting his guitar so much it sounds like aids? aids/10

oh

[finnthesubhuman 26]

Literally this album so far is giving me that feeling of complete shock, like someone's trying to kill you and succeeding but rather than being scared of dying, you're scared of the thought someone's trying to kill you, and you're considering how unlikely such a scenario is, because nobody's really tried to kill you and succeeded before. And, to top it off, it comes with that sense of incredulousness that comes with the realisation that you quite like it, and people should try to kill you and succeed more often.

So I can't decide whether I love it, hate it, worship it, or want to vomit on it.

This is the strangest position I have ever been in, and I'm only halfway through.

?/10.

[Tony 1]

This album is so overwhelming on the first listen. There's so much going on, its hard to keep up with the pace. I think I'm going to have to listen to something else before I'm ready to give this a second listen.

This is easily their most chaotic album yet, it makes UROBOROS look like a pop record. They weren't joking when they said the singles were "easy listening".

Like UROBOROS, this is going to need time, and a lot of it, before you can even begin to grasp what the band has created.

[finnthesubhuman 26]

If I rate it properly, I'm scared Zeus will come down from the heavens and destroy me and all my relatives past and future.

[Wicked Teletubby 528]

I'm totally smashed. my head hurts. the MOO took all of my emotions and feelings.

sad thing is I don't know whether it's good or not.

I can't even rate it now.

what I can definitely say, I totally love the BWLARLAWLARBWLA intro and the BEELZEBUB stuff.

also I really like the new versions of singles. they sound different which is good for me.

anyways, it's a demon summong, facesmashing, guttearing album and I think I love it.

holy fucking gawd.

oh yeah. one more. the midget will definitely suck live with all this WAH HIYAH HURRR ROAR stuff.

[Erin 19]

Who is that dawg distorting his guitar so much it sounds like aids? aids/10

oh

lol'd irl

don't know if I should try this. maybe for the lulz

[nekkichi 6043]

@ Erin

don't even bother, Herpes summed it up flawlessly perfectly.

I really wonder what happens if this thing doesn't sell. Are they gonna rage-kaisan? Is Kyo going to kill himself?

[Asakusa 95]

watching from the shadows.

[dannemannen 69]

Different Sense is better than all other songs together.

[Wicked Teletubby 528]

DECAYED CROW. I'm loving it.

[Rosà 37]

After some listens I can say that album is a little bit tiring. UROBOROS was in some way perfect, but this one is too chaotic for me. I dunno if will change mind, but i'll write a t-b-t review, after some more listens.

[mopkins 42]

the more I listen to this, the more it almost feels like MACABRE PART II

I... think I'm in love

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Well... I have listened to this album probably seven or eight times now, so here it goes.

The album starts with the intro that i remember shit about ( seems to be a recurring theme with this album ). It's nowhere near as awesome as Sa bir, which destroys speakers and windows. Gladly the following track is more of my liking. It really feels like a ritual, but there's not a single riff in it, which makes it feel more like a continuation of the intro, which i don't mind really. It sort of works, but doesn't get me to go like " holy shit this is awesome ". So guess something is lacking for me. Love Kyo in it tho.

Different Sense is still a guilty pleasure for me. The chorus is nice and i really like the lyrics. Amon on the other hand is garbage. It goes nowhere, the guitar work is same as in any song on this album. Really the guitars are boring as hell on this album. Sometimes they feel aggressive and ferocious when the drums and bass play along and blast your ears, but not in this song they don't. BLONK BLONK WHACK WHACK BREE BREE. Nice job on the "riff" ( feel bad calling them those ) recycling too. Then the album gets guilty pleasury for three songs. I like 'em and Dreambox actually manages to get really good at times. The others are just something i wouldn't stand if made from another band, because fanboys roll like that. For now i'm destroying furniture when the part from Shitataru Mourou comes around.

Lotus still just is. Can't decide if i dislike it or sort of like it at times. Some parts are pleasing and catchy, some just roll by. I have listened to Diabolos and Vanitas for a million times now, but i can't get a grasp on them, probably because there's not much to get a grasp of. I just remember parts when Kyo does something nice with his vocals and the solo. It just rolls by! In Vinushka ( got to compare ) the drumming was great, acoustic implementations were fucking awesome and the guitars were nice enough. In here though, the drumming is boring as hell, the guitars suck and i just can't get hold of the progression and i always forget which part came before this and that. Maybe i just suck, but whatever i have listened to much longer and challenging music before and got hold of them fine. Nothing really happens in Vanitas though and that song just sucks. No more on that.

Akatsuki just is too. I guess it's passable at times, but that's really not enough. Decayed Crow sounds like a Bring me the horizon track. Uuuuuughhhh.... Well they had a solo from Pray for plagues in Juuyoku anyway. ( feel me to correct me on that guitar experts )

Ruten no tou is easily my favourite song on the album. It just rocks. Catchy, the agressive parts come just in time and i just love Kyo in it.

My opinions are bound to change, since i may start understanding Diabolos beneath all that crappy playing and uninspired drumming, maybe. I liked the deathcore/asian mysticism vibe i got first, but the bland drumming is just way too unforgivable for me. Also the album is hard for me to listen to whole as Hageshisa to clearly doesn't fit in because the riffing reminds me way too heavily of Uroboros and Moab with little hints of DSS, Amon is unbearable and i have hard time fitting Lotus into the album too. Needs much more listens from me before making final judgement. I just thought writing a review of it would help me to get a grasp on this album, but nope. Sorry for this feeling confusing, badly written or a molestation of the english language, but i'm just that confused right now.

[JustSumNerd 0]

Seems like this is an album that takes a couple of listens to grow on you and its true...my first listen I was kinda like o.O; but after a couple more listens I fell in love with vanitas, diablos and dreambox. I'm starting to love the album but those three are my fav so far

[Mamo 1172]

I consider most of the songs on this album epic and I love every single song on this album. I think that Vanitas, Diablos, and Differnet Sense were the best songs on the album. Btw I also like the new version of Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami.