Review by Don

Here comes another EP, which brings the thoughts back to 'MISSA'. One could think it would be easy to compare those two. However, it isn't! On 'MISSA', Diru strived for their own sound which they have maintained and perfected for three brilliant albums so the situation is a little different for this mini-album. Having only 6 tracks on, I'll start by saying that I love the first four, Mr. NEWSMAN being such a great opener, Ugly is one of my favourites with it's constant changing drum rhythms, HADES with such overpowering heaviness and finally umbrella with it's irresistible chorus and awesome riffs! Here's where I think the album falls from being a really great one, the two final tracks which are re-recordings of two old songs. children originally appeared as a B-side to TAIYOU NO AO and has been FUNKed up with some really strange guitar sounds. Then we have Byou ' ' Shin which was the last track on 'MISSA' and has now become a whole lot darker. Even though both new versions have better sound, I actually prefer the older ones more. Just slightly below great, it's still a must have for Dir en grey fans!

It's always interesting when a band struggles for an identity, when their sound is still very raw and unpolished. This is definitely the case for 'MISSA', the first release from Dir en grey. This EP holds good production value and the band is playing really well together. All songs are good while "Erode", "GARDEN" and "Byou ' ' Shin" are my favourites. So while this is nowhere near as good as anything else they've released, remember that every career has a beginning and in this case, a very good one!

There couldn't be a better debut album than 'GAUZE', it's perfection from beginning till end! The balance between all songs is great as the variation and pacing. It's so hard to pick favourites cause I truly love every song on this album. If I can't mention them all I'll just say "Schwein NO ISU", "raison detre", "Cage", "TSUMI TO BATSU", "YOKAN", "MASK", "-ZAN-" and "akuro no oka" which isn't far from all. The whole band is just great, Kyo gives his all in every song with his amazing voice and brilliant lyrics. The guitar work from Kaoru and Die is wide and brilliant, with some fantastic solos from Kaoru, Toshiya is always present with his rich and throbbing bass and Shinya only leaves room for flawless drumming. I can't say which album is their best cause they're all so different [and they really are] but if you consider yourself a fan, this is a must in the collection [along with all the other albums of course] A debut album can't possibly get any better than this...