Review by Craig

Dum Spiro Spero is not only a world class metal album, but the heaviest material Dir en grey has ever released. I'll start by saying; this is the best production Dir en grey has ever released. Everything is perfectly mixed, nothing too high or too low. Every pick, wack, crash, scream, shriek, growl, falsetto, slap, etc. etc. can be heard with ease. I'm glad they took their time to get it right. But the most important thing is the performance. Everyone is five stars here. The solo by Karou in Different Sense and the solo by Die in Vanitas are their greatest solo's ever. They are perfectly perfomed and complex. These are not the mini solos we heard on earlier releases. These are full blown solos with much character and emotion. The bass is so well played. Toshiya does everything he is known for and more. Amon is definitely not the weakest song on the album. There are none. But the bass playing on Amon is why he's my favorite bass player. The drums are so well mixed that this is the best Shinya has ever sounded. Especially listening with headphones his kit sounds monsterous. You can clearly hear his stirkes in one ear and strikes in the other. He's very intense on this album. But the highlight, as always is Kyo. His growls are deeper, his screams higher, his singing cleaner. Kyo now perfectly holds his screams and growls with ease. There's also some choir-esque vocals unheard before, especially on Ruten. As for the bonus material, it's plenty. A great Re-work of Rase, now sounding more live than ever. The symphony over Amon makes it sound beautifully brutal. The unplugged Ruten is very haunting. The demo's are great, especially Kyo's different vocal performance on Akatsuki. And the remixes are very interesting and of high quality. Karou's remix sounds like an outer space version of a Gaga song on shrooms and Kyo's remix sounds like a Mayan human sacrifice. The DVD is great with six music videos in widescreen and interview and in studio-footage. Just wish there were subtitles. The booklet is great with more poems by Kyo and huge two-page layouts of every band memeber. The only reason this record is slightly second to Uroboros is the suprise factor. No one thought after Marrow they would write their masterpiece but they did. With that aside, this album is on even playing field with Uroboros. Dir en grey is writing their best material ever and never disappoint.

This release is truly great. I think remastering has got a bad rap, especially in the U.S. mostly because all that's normally altered is loudness and almost always for the worse. This is certaintly not the case. My biggest complaint about the original mix was at times you could hardly hear Kyo, especially during the low gutturals. Now Kyo is front and center. The low Guttural can now be heard in Reiketsu and Gaika. The drums finally sound as big as they actually are. The drum mix was amazing on Dum and it's the exact same thing here. You can clearly hear Shinya go from one side of the kit to the other side beautifully from ear to ear. He sounds like he has eight arms. His bongo playing also comes through great on Ware. I can't say enough for how great the guitars sound. You can finally hear Die's amazing and funky playing on Stuck Man which was very diffcult to hear in the original and the beautiful acoustic playing on Ware. You can hear every guitar part perfectly. The bass is also well done. While maybe not as thumping as in the orginial, but certainly decipherable, especially on Reiketsu and Red Soil. As for the extra's, they're just icing on the cake. The new Sa Bir, the version from the last dvd, is now more intense and creepy, almost feeling like you're on an acid trip. We finally get the orginial versions of Glass Skin and Dozing Green that we should have got in the first place. Hydra 666 was a strange choice but looking back on the song it really became a staple at shows during the Uroboros period and to be honest if most fans weren't told it was a re-work of Hydra or it didn't say Hydra most would think it's a new song. And I'm very happy that Bugaboo acapella was put at the beginning rather than the end since it adds so much emotion to the song. It almost sounds like Kyo's singing a lullaby. You get a whisper to a singing to a growl. It's a perfect blend and sequence. The extra's really round out the release. This release finally showcases the greatness of the album. Guitars are clearer than ever, Kyo is right in your face, drums are huge and every strike and crash is clean and thunderous, and the bass perfectly balanced. By the way, Toguro is better here. The fuzz and distortion in the beginning is gone, Kyo sounds live, and you can finally hear Die and Karou's killer playing. Hopefully Dir en grey continue to use Tue and Alan in the future.