Review by Whiskers

Ever since RYOUJOKU NO AME came out in July of 2006, I've been buying pretty much every CD that Dir en grey has come out with (the one exception being the Roadrunners CD). Their last single, DOZING GREEN, was great, and it's b-side, HYDRA -666-, was also good. That being said, GLASS SKIN is a great single. I was expecting a repeat of the style found on THE MARROW OF A BONE and was gladly surprised; instead of thrashing guitars and excruciating screams, the A-side features a beautiful piano melody, soft crooning, haunting guitar work by Kaoru and Die, very hi-hat based percussion by Shinya, and, gasp!, audible bass by Toshiya (also, I swear I can hear an echoing GarageBand loop in the background of the second half of the song). I was skeptic of the rerecording of undecided, which is one of the highlights of the album kisou (IMO). The rerecording, I feel, surpasses the original, which I thought couldn't be done: it's acoustic and has a more intimate feel to it, reminiscent of (at least I think) the album Still by Nine Inch Nails. One thing that I feel is missing from the rerecording, though, is the nice, tranquil "guitar solo" that begins about two minutes into the original. As for AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS -UNPLUGGED-... I haven't heard a song by Dir en grey this horrible since Pink Kiler (and that's saying something). I can only imagine that this was recorded as a practical joke to the fans. This is the only downside of the single, and, of course, I skip it every time it comes on. Finally, the RYOUJOKU NO AME live: it's good. I'd grown fond of the version found on the Family Values Tour 2006 CD, but this one surpasses it, as it doesn't have the high-pitched vocals that are found on the single version of it. As for the actual look of the single and the poster: I love the poster and I think it's great (especially Kaoru's "OMG I WEAR GLASSES CUZ I MAKE SERIOUS MUSICZ" look). The look of the CD is nice and simplistic, and I like the sticker that came with it. The cardboard sleeve feels nice, but the overall artwork for the single isn't that good (says me). All in all, I think that GLASS SKIN is a perfect single by a band that's just getting better as time goes by. I can't wait for the album UROBOROS to come out, as I hope it further displays Dir en grey's musical growth.

THE MARROW OF A BONE knocked my expectations out of the water. It opens with CONCEIVED SORROW, one of the best songs on the album. It's haunting, it's beautiful, it's a great way to open the album. However, the next song, LIE BURIED WITH A VENGEANCE, is redically different: It's a fast-paced screaming song, and I feel like SORROW is somewhat of a "faslse opening" to the album. THE FATAL BELIEVER is beautiful, definitely one of the three best songs on MARROW. I've heard it described as THE MARROW OF A BONE's "THE FINAL," and I'd agree with that in a heartbeat. After Maggots is GRIEF, one of the band's hardest songs, and it works. The mellower part of the album, the middle, is comprised of some of the best songs on the album. All of the songs up to REPETITION OF HATRED (besides ROTTING ROOT) are beautiful. After that, though, the album becomes forgetable. REPETITION OF HATRED, THE DEEPER VILENESS, and the re-recording of CLEVER SLEAZOID are all mediocre at best. The bonus dis is great, too, save CONCEIVED SORROW. I recommend this album. Not Dir en grey's best, but still pretty damn good. RECCOMENDED: CONCEIVED SORROW, THE FATAL BELIEVER, RYOUJOKU NO AME, DISABLED COMPLEXES, THE PLEDGE

This is definitely one of Dir en grey's best singles. First, you have Machiavellism, whichm sounds like a forgotten song from VULGAR and is one of, if not the, catchiest songs that Dir en grey has ever produced. It seems odd, though, that the band would choose such a catchy tune for lyrics that are about suicide (the chorus is full of the line, "HURRY UP! HURRY UP! WRIST-CUT SHOW!") And then we have -saku-. This is one of THE hardest songs that Dir en grey has ever done. Kyo does a great job going from screeching to singing the lyrics, which, at one point, seem repetitive, but at the same time deep and meaningful. And finally, thank God, GDS. I'm so glad that there's an in-studio version of this song. They open most of their shows with this, so when you're getting ready to go to one of their shows but have forgotten exactly when to chant, "KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL," this will help you remember. Also included after GDS is a live version of SYOKUBENI. Not my favorite Dir en grey song, but it's a good little treat. All in all, I recommend the SAKU single for anybody wanting to get a rougher taste of Dir en grey.

I am very tired of people dissing Dir en grey for this single. They change their sound on each of their albums, making them a unique band. Their lyrics aren't changing either, just read lyrics from kisou, an album where most of the songs have lyrics just as bad as the lyrics to Agitated Screams of Maggots. The song itself is good, but RYOJOKU and SLEAZOID are superior songs to me. I've been waiting for Kyo to scream throughout an entire song, and here it is. Kyo's been doing it at live shows for the past year, and people weren't complaining then, so stop complaining now. Even without the vocals, this song is amazing. Kaoru and Die seem to be battling each other with their guitars, creating a unique sound, and I don't know why somebody as small as Shinya can drum so quickly and well. The live tracks are great, too, but the best of the three has to be KODOKU NI SHISU, YUENI KODOKU. You can close your eyes and imagine Kyo fish-hooking during the second verse, where there are no vocals. Spilled Milk is alright and OBSCURE is good, but I wish he actually sang more of it. If this, SLEAZOID, and RYOJOKU are a taste of Dir en grey's new sound, I can't wait for their next album.

Kisou is, to me, the worst album that Dir en grey has ever released. Listening to it, you can't help but notice the drastic style changes of each song; "FILTH" is a fast-based hard rock song, "embryo" is a slow melody, "JESSICA" is a fast pop song, and "The Domestic Fucker Family" and "Pink Killer" are songs that are just annoying noises and vocals set to a beat. As one of the songs on the album is titled, Dir en grey's musical style in this album is "undecided." As far as I'm concerned, the only two good tracks on this album (JESSICA and embryo) had already been released as singles, so I'd recommend buying those instead of this album.

Besides six Ugly, this was Dir en grey's first venture into the American rock genre (whereas GAUZE and MACABRE were still more pop, and Kisou . . . well, I'm still trying to forget that album), and they managed to pull it off very well. This album has it all: Fast paced songs like THE IIID EMPIRE and OBSCURE, slower songs like RED...[em] and SAJOU NO UTA, and just fun songs like Child prey and ASUNAKI KOUFUKU, KOENAKI ASU. This album seems to come in layers: The first four tracks are fast rock songs, the fifth and sixth are slower songs, the next three are fun to listen to, and all of them from there (excluding AMBER) are faster-set songs once again. Kyo's voice is simply amazing in this album: From screeching in songs like audience KILLER LOOP to singing melodically in KASUMI, you can clearly see how far he's come in terms of a singer within the past few years. Also, the actual lyrics are darker and more mysterious (ie. INCREASE BLUE, AMBER, and Child prey). I would pick this up if you want to get into Dir en grey, or if you're already a fan and need to get into this band somehow. RECOMMENDED SONGS: DRAIN AWAY, audience KILLER LOOP, OBSCURE, Child prey, and ASUNAKI KOUFUKU, KOENAKI ASU.

One of my favorite albums by Dir en grey, this is their first album that I ever picked-up and bought. Listening to it the first few times, most of the songs sounded the same, but the more I listened to it, the more I realized that each song is different: Some fast songs like Merciless Cult and C, some VERY fast songs liks -saku- and Beautiful Dirt, some slow songs like dead tree and HIGEKI WA MABUTA WO OROSHITA YASASHIKI UTSU, and just great rock songs like KODOU and Machiavellism. Definitely better than Dir en grey's last two albums (VULGAR and Kisou), Withering to death. shows a complete change in Deg's style of music, which isn't necesarilly a bad thing. The band has seemed to mature, hanging up their Visual Kei attire and trading it for black jeans and armless t-shirts: In other words, a more rock n'roll kind of Diru. In my opinion, if you ever pick up two Dir en grey albums in your life, pick up this one and GAUZE, not only because they're the best of the band's albums, but also so you can see how greatly they've changed in the years. RECOMMENDED SONGS: Machiaellism, dead tree, THE FINAL, -saku-, KODOU, and HIGEKI WA MABUTA WO OROSHITA YASASHIKI UTSU.

When I first heard that Dir en grey was coming out with a new single, I had to get it. I only own Withering to death., so I jumped at the first chance to get it. The title song, RYOJOKU NO AME, is great, and I hope it appears on their next album. Kyo's voice is as great as ever, and I like the direction that the band is headed in. As for the live tracks, THE FINAL is definitely the best of the three, while HIGEKI WA MABUTA WO OROSHITA YASASHIKI UTSU is by far the worst; you can barely hear Kyo's voice in it. Mr. NEWSMAN is almost as good as THE FINAL, but it lacks in some parts (also towards the end, you can hear the song "Child prey" beginning to play). I'm going to be seeing Dir en grey at the Family Values Tour on the 20th in Sacramento, and comparing Kyo's vocals on this single to his vocals at the Rock AM Ring a few months earlier seems odd: He sounds like a completely different person here, whereas his voice continually gave-out at the Rock AM Ring show. Overall, though, I was pleased with spending about 20 dollars for the single, and I hope that their next album is as good as their previos releases.

CLEVER SLEAZOID was one of the first songs by Dir en grey that I had ever heard (the other one being OBSCURE), and they showed me that just because Dir en grey is from Japan doesn't mean that they don't know how to make music that other people from different countries can like. CLEVER SLEAZOID is still one of my favorite songs by them, and the video is definitely worth checking out, too. The live tracks are also great and show that Deg can do live shows just as well as they can do music in the studio.