by saishoe
May 5, 2013 04:48 pm · 4
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12012 | deicida of silence(2013)

12012’s new mini album opens up with somber piano chords, reminding you that these guys have suddenly become bitter and tortured after several years of milquetoast pop/rock. Even more baffling is that before that they had already been pretty heavy, but in that distinct VK style. This here — these five new songs — are 12012 continuing to cling desperately to Dir en grey’s leg. 

“Please teach us how to be heavy!”

In all fairness, I like the first track, “Mi Sengiri no Tsubomi, Kushikumo Koukotsu no Sakura” (posted above). There’s melody, and Wataru isn’t unleashing his awful new growls and shrieks all over the place (they are there, though). In fact, it sounds a bit like the band’s early heavy style, only updated for modern times. It stumbles a bit when it goes double time and Wataru starts regurgitating his socks, but it quickly resolves itself with a rousing and heartfelt chorus. 

The title track is messy in its attempts at being progressive metal, ultimately sounding disjointed and just slapped together haphazardly. Again, nice melody in the chorus, but it sounds like it doesn’t belong here.

Next song is called “Chaboo-Chaboo” and I’m not kidding. Sounds like something Girugamesh threw away about six years ago. It starts with a goofy four on the floor groove while Wataru actually says “chaboo-chaboo”, and then everything just kind of cuts loose and doesn’t make much sense.

Next up is “Yume Kui”, which… also sounds like Girugamesh circa 2007 what the hell is going on here?! At the two minute mark it gets a little tech death-y for a few seconds, but there isn’t much else that stands out.

The mini closes out with “Door to the Sky”. It’s another confusing hodge-podge of crunchy metal riffs and saccharine sweet vocals and I’m running out of things to say because this entire experience is so underwhelming. I’m not disappointed because I didn’t expect much. There’s just a general lack of focus in this new, heavier 12012. I can’t imagine they’ll continue like this for much longer.

by saishoe
April 5, 2013 08:33 am · 6
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I’m not going to break this down track by track because we already have three reviews here that have done that. I just kind of wanted to approach this EP from Dir en grey (yes, I said EP. I’m not Japanese, okay?) from a different perspective, as it seems like this release has made people a little cranky.

Let’s be honest, the first thing that crossed a lot of people’s minds when the tracklist for The Unraveling was announced was, “Welp, they’re going to ruin all of these classics!”

False.

The classics are still there on the original recordings. They’re still on that CD-R you burned in 2002. They’re still sitting on your hard drive. These new interpretations don’t replace the originals that you loved (though they will replace them live, no doubt), they simply offer a fresh new take on some old songs. And that’s what a few of these needed.

“Kasumi”, for example, was a fairly basic affair. It was all dull guitar chugging in 6/8 with a lame guitar solo (if you can even call it that) in the middle. Here on The Unraveling there are new textures and sounds and a nice dual harmony guitar solo in place of whatever that was in the original. Same goes for “Karasu”, which is actually one of my favorite Dir en grey songs. I love the addition of the atmospheric bass sounds that Toshiya has been employing live for years now, and the new production gives the song the edge and the heaviness that the Kisou version was striving for in the first place. Sadly, the climax doesn’t really build and explode like it used to, but overall this is far superior.

The new 16-minute “Macabre” is, for the most part, played true to the 2000 version until around the 10-minute mark when the new section comes in. It does sound a bit tacked on since there’s no real transition, but it works, and there’s some great new stuff in there. Kyo introduces a gorgeous new melody during the acoustic-y bit in 3/4, and I love the addition of the organ, giving it this awesomely ridiculous Malice Mizer vibe. The big ending may seem over-indulgent, but we’re talking about a song that was over-indulgent to begin with. I’m glad the band just had fun and ran with it. Also worth noting is that the major problem with the original song is fixed here: Toshiya’s incongruous bass line is gone, replaced by a smoother and less prominent performance.

New track “Unraveling” is also great. It has a monster groove and I love that Kaoru and Die have stopped resorting to just chugging their way through everything. Kyo’s voice runs the gamut as well, and the typical double tracked chorus returns. But let’s be honest, when did Kyo NOT double his vocals?

So hey! This is a great release! It’s Dir en grey taking classics and injecting some much needed depth and variety, while at the same time converting them to jive with their current style. It works.

Except for that weird Danny Elfman-esque bit in the middle of the unplugged version of “The Final”. The hell was that?

by saishoe
December 21, 2012 07:28 pm · 16
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dir en grey | rinkaku (2012)

“Rinkaku” is a natural evolution of the sound Dir en grey has been exploring over the past five years or so: equal parts progressive, heavy, and melodic. It opens with sparse piano notes, cleanly picked guitar, and some airy atmospherics before the thick distortion comes in. The densely layered section after that is almost noisy, but multiple listens reveal it to be meticulously crafted, almost symphonic in a way. Kyo mostly sings in his higher register here — approaching an operatic tone on occasion — but I get the sense that he’s comfortable with it. The chorus is as sweeping and grandiose as Dir en grey choruses come, with Shinya masterfully attacking the toms in his recognizable, off-kilter style. The solo section is the show stealer; a dual harmony piece played over a flamenco-esque riff that gradually builds as Shinya throws out maniacal drum fills one after another. It conjures up memories of Dir en grey’s early days, sounding almost like it was lifted from 2001. I love that Kaoru and Die appear to be stepping up their game after several years of just chugging it out, as “Rinkaku” offers a wide variety of riffs that intertwine and play with each other. The outro seemed off to me at first, as it’s sinister tone seemed incongruous with the rest of the song. But the lyrics here — onisan kochira te no naru hou e* / oni o tsukamae watashi to kawa — (translation: demon, come and catch me, can you hear me clapping? / when I catch the demon, we’ll switch) serve the sudden, disturbing tone perfectly. And then there’s a sudden ending much like the one in “Lotus”.

Then we have another one of Dir en grey’s self-covers. This time it’s “Kiri to Mayu” from 1997’s Missa. Instead of playing it straight with a few modifications here and there like in their remakes of “Obscure” and “Undecided”, we have a total deconstruction like what they did with “Hydra” and “Tsumi to Batsu”. With those two, though, there were at least hints of the original songs in there. I’m hard pressed to find anything familiar in this rendition of “Kiri to Mayu”. The solo threw me for a loop, sounding like something lifted from a Carcass song. It’s an interesting take on an old song. It was mildly offensive upon first listen, but having taken it in repeatedly it’s grown on me. I just try not to squeeze any of the source material out of it.

The final track is a remix of “Rinkaku” from Akira Yamaoka. Anyone familiar with his work as composer for the Silent Hill video game series will know his handiwork without even reading the liner notes; this is unmistakably Yamaoka. Dir en grey have dabbled in remixes in the past and they’ve mostly been weird abominations that sound more like jokes than anything else, but Yamaoka has created the band’s best remix by far. Or by default depending on how you look at it. It’s not Yamaoka’s best work, but he serves the song well and I would be fine with Dir en grey employing him for future remixes. Anything to keep the band themselves from doing the remixing. Please.

So, I like it. But then Dir en grey are now notorious for being slow with new releases, so my enthusiasm could stem from being starved for new material.

Dir en grey: forever dangling that carrot in front of the fans.

*These are the exact same lyrics that open “KR Cube” from the Macabre album. They reference a tag-based game where the person that is ”it” is blindfolded and must find everyone by the sounds of their clapping. The person who is “it” is referred to as the “demon” (oni).

by goodliar
December 16, 2012 10:30 pm · 3
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dir en grey | rinkaku pv

Dir en grey just published this on their Facebook page and to answer their question as to whether we, the fans, like it: I, for my part, don’t. Throughout the various stages of information they disclosed about this single, I was under the impression that this was going to be some epic ballad and I saw my assumption confirmed by the time the (supposedly incomplete) radio preview surfaced. It seemed to have all the right parts: an epic chorus, a proggy guitar solo and an atmospheric breakdown, all of which would eventually culminate in the climax of the song which to me is the part after the final chorus.

However, now that the actual single version of the song seems no different than the earlier radio preview, I can’t help but feel something is missing. As it is, there is literally no build-up. Just parts slammed together (some in a very crude manner). While I still have a somewhat naive hope of the actual CD version being different from the version they just published, I’m really just perplexed at how unfinished this sounds. I assume we’re all used to Dir en grey showing extreme diversity in the different parts that constitute their songs but usually these parts are confined in an adequate timeframe, allowing them to mold together. This, however, is a puzzle of beautiful individual pieces awkwardly jammed together without yielding any sort of cohesive result.

:(

Edit: Turns out this is merely a “Promotional Version Clip”. Alas, the wait for the actual version continues. And way to make a fool of myself for getting worked up over nothing on my first entry :P

nega | vanitas (2012) Nega sucks. The above statement has been uttered by myself many times to many people (who respond with little resistance) ever since I heard these guys cover Dir en grey’s “Zakuro” and call it “Guilt Trip”. They aren’t similar, they’re damn near the exact same song! Nega drummer Yuu rips Shinya’s drum fills note for note. There’s a mid-song build up right before the guitar solos in both songs, and then the solos even share near-similar time marks! 4:12 in “Guilt Trip”, and 4:16 in “Zakuro”! And both guitar solos end with slides down the guitar neck with a reverb effect! Madness! But this is what Nega does; they shamelessly use other bands’ songwriting as blueprints for their own. It’s mostly a despicable practice, but something about Nega gives me the impression that they’re still putting their heart and soul into this. But they have two other major problems aside from plagiarism, and their latest album, Vanitas, has both in spades. 1. Jin is a terrible vocalist. 2. Their production is so bad it’s hard to believe it’s supposed to be that way. Jin alternates between a nasal caterwaul and a shriek that sounds like someone stole his shoes and laced the studio floor with thumbtacks. And then they have the audacity to put him right in front of the mix, as if they are actually featuring him. Which brings me to the production: a cornucopia of harsh white noise that’s the aural equivalent of what it feels like to chew on tin foil. It hurts the brain and saps energy and makes listening an exhaustive experience. But then how is the music itself? It’s music. The album starts with “Vanitas Vanitatum”, an intro track whose opening dissonant piano notes might make you think you downloaded Dir en grey’s Dum Spiro Spero and the files were tagged wrong. That leads into “Purgatory”, which slaps you across the face immediately with Jin’s unholy screeching. The band slips and tumbles down the stairs behind him until they reach a bright and open chorus you’ve heard a million times before. A few tracks later, “Goodbye Human”, comes in to make things worse with its tired, shuffle beat jazz groove. Following that is “biranyueni”, a relatively interesting number with some odd meter changes. By this point, though, you notice that the band is a bit of a one-trick pony. Nearly every riff is a chug-fest punctuated by pinch harmonics, and the drummer seems to have nailed down quad fills right before they started recording and he’s really excited about it because, man, does he use them a lot! “V-Rock Is Dead”, I’m guessing, is supposed to be an ironic statement of sorts about the poor state of visual kei at the moment. The use of cheesy synth and auto-tune is attempting to drive the point home about “fake” rock stars, but, for crying out loud, this is Nega. They aren’t established or respected enough to be pointing the finger at anyone, especially not when their entire catalog is based on emulating the work of other bands. “tamerau koto naku o kizutsuketa yubisaki wa, to madou koto naku kegareta o kazaru” is your standard issue VK soft rocker. Opens with some acoustic guitar plucking, runs through some jangly guitar work, ends with the acoustic guitar from the beginning, and closes out two minutes longer than it should have. But, oh man! Here comes “munashiki `nama’ no guui ≒`shi’ no shinni”, the albums centerpiece! Clocking in at over 12 minutes, it’s surprisingly filled with interesting ideas and is shockingly well-composed. It’s a bunch of melodrama, as expected, especially the middle section where each band member busts into a cadenza, earnestly displaying their skills on their respective instruments, with guitarist San choosing to channel Sugizo for his part. The album is a nondescript blur after that, with “Will” being the only standout because it reminds me a bit of Dir en grey’s “ain’t afraid to die”.  So, yeah, Nega is nothing if not consistent. And I, unfortunately, have this morbid fascination with them, so I find myself listening to them once in a while. ON PURPOSE! Like I said, they’re doing nothing noteworthy, but I sense true sincerity behind it all. I respect that, and who knows, maybe one day Nega will emerge from the shadows of their peers and rise above as something truly great. Eh…
by saishoe
November 26, 2012 01:00 am · 4
·

nega | vanitas (2012)

Nega sucks.

The above statement has been uttered by myself many times to many people (who respond with little resistance) ever since I heard these guys cover Dir en grey’s “Zakuro” and call it “Guilt Trip”. They aren’t similar, they’re damn near the exact same song! Nega drummer Yuu rips Shinya’s drum fills note for note. There’s a mid-song build up right before the guitar solos in both songs, and then the solos even share near-similar time marks! 4:12 in “Guilt Trip”, and 4:16 in “Zakuro”!

And both guitar solos end with slides down the guitar neck with a reverb effect! Madness!

But this is what Nega does; they shamelessly use other bands’ songwriting as blueprints for their own. It’s mostly a despicable practice, but something about Nega gives me the impression that they’re still putting their heart and soul into this. But they have two other major problems aside from plagiarism, and their latest album, Vanitas, has both in spades.

1. Jin is a terrible vocalist.

2. Their production is so bad it’s hard to believe it’s supposed to be that way.

Jin alternates between a nasal caterwaul and a shriek that sounds like someone stole his shoes and laced the studio floor with thumbtacks. And then they have the audacity to put him right in front of the mix, as if they are actually featuring him. Which brings me to the production: a cornucopia of harsh white noise that’s the aural equivalent of what it feels like to chew on tin foil. It hurts the brain and saps energy and makes listening an exhaustive experience. But then how is the music itself?

It’s music.

The album starts with “Vanitas Vanitatum”, an intro track whose opening dissonant piano notes might make you think you downloaded Dir en grey’s Dum Spiro Spero and the files were tagged wrong. That leads into “Purgatory”, which slaps you across the face immediately with Jin’s unholy screeching. The band slips and tumbles down the stairs behind him until they reach a bright and open chorus you’ve heard a million times before.

A few tracks later, “Goodbye Human”, comes in to make things worse with its tired, shuffle beat jazz groove. Following that is “biranyueni”, a relatively interesting number with some odd meter changes. By this point, though, you notice that the band is a bit of a one-trick pony. Nearly every riff is a chug-fest punctuated by pinch harmonics, and the drummer seems to have nailed down quad fills right before they started recording and he’s really excited about it because, man, does he use them a lot!

“V-Rock Is Dead”, I’m guessing, is supposed to be an ironic statement of sorts about the poor state of visual kei at the moment. The use of cheesy synth and auto-tune is attempting to drive the point home about “fake” rock stars, but, for crying out loud, this is Nega. They aren’t established or respected enough to be pointing the finger at anyone, especially not when their entire catalog is based on emulating the work of other bands.

“tamerau koto naku o kizutsuketa yubisaki wa, to madou koto naku kegareta o kazaru” is your standard issue VK soft rocker. Opens with some acoustic guitar plucking, runs through some jangly guitar work, ends with the acoustic guitar from the beginning, and closes out two minutes longer than it should have.

But, oh man! Here comes “munashiki `nama’ no guui ≒`shi’ no shinni”, the albums centerpiece! Clocking in at over 12 minutes, it’s surprisingly filled with interesting ideas and is shockingly well-composed. It’s a bunch of melodrama, as expected, especially the middle section where each band member busts into a cadenza, earnestly displaying their skills on their respective instruments, with guitarist San choosing to channel Sugizo for his part.

The album is a nondescript blur after that, with “Will” being the only standout because it reminds me a bit of Dir en grey’s “ain’t afraid to die”. 

So, yeah, Nega is nothing if not consistent. And I, unfortunately, have this morbid fascination with them, so I find myself listening to them once in a while. ON PURPOSE! Like I said, they’re doing nothing noteworthy, but I sense true sincerity behind it all. I respect that, and who knows, maybe one day Nega will emerge from the shadows of their peers and rise above as something truly great.

Eh…