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Review Summary: It mostly just seems like wizardry at face value, with some understandable features for even the most topically inept pragmatist. It’s heavy, complicated, nostalgic, and probably underlying some grandiose vision for the band that its individual members want fans to digest as prep for whatever they end up releasing next. Talking about Arche as a nod back to their older style is silly because Dir En Grey have been evolving with every album, maintaining influence from their origins through-out their 18 year career--and only really breaking away from it for their death metal epoch Dum Spiro Spero in 2011. The nod-back is them as they are today (very similar to how they have been with every album) except that Arche is a perfect medley of their J-Rock influenced form of progressive metal, now fused with Dum Spiro Spero death-mongering glory. For those readers new to Dir En Grey, they’re without a doubt at the forefront of all metal with what is in my mind a perfect release. I will probably be listening to this album with moderate frequency for the rest of my life, and forever respecting the fact that their evolution up to this point has been non-linear.
Sure everyone out-grows riff-driven music with no other substance or form built out from the pith. But Arche is unlike a peach, and unlike an onion. You can’t just take a giant bite out of it with your time and see the centre, bare and naked as the seed of thought that ignited this ingenious undertaking, or peel back the layers to find the homogenous constituents that formed the centre. Opening it up would be the same as a classic car mechanic trying to understand what’s underneath the hood of a Tesla. It mostly just seems like wizardry at face value, with some understandable features for even the most topically inept pragmatist. The five members that Dir En Grey is comprised of are all intricately synchronized moving parts. Separation of their music into distinct aspects injures the integrity of the whole, which is absolutely immutable. For example, the guitars, bass and drums are all perfectly in time with one another, so intimately infused that trying to isolate them would diminish any attachment felt towards the feat. Kyô’s vocals are a treat for the passive listener and a nightmare for the active listener. How does anyone describe such an effortless shift from essentially every important vocal style ever engineered by the minds and voices of singers preceding him? By recognizing him as not being bound by the same physical limitations that most other music-inclined virtuosos are. Anyone else currently characterized as an important vocals innovator would be unlikely to manage Kyô’s diverse range in their life-time even if the younger ones started to try right now. It’s best to begin by memorizing the chorus lines and then try to match the rest. But for all those aspiring singers out there, Kyô has your talents in check mate for the time being. For those who want to play the guitar bits, try dropping your tuning to F# or just placing it in a new octave to get on their level.
Did I forget anything? Probably. But in my defense it has been half a week of constant plays and I still haven’t fully digested it. I don’t know at this point if I ever will because there always seems to be something additional to admire. Check the album out for yourself if you’re interested in the most cohesive, story-driven, emotionally and instrumentally complicated, slice of musical progress since, well… I don’t really think Arche is comparable to any other important albums. Likening it would be unjusticiable if tried by any practicing critic. Oh, and start with the track “Uroko”.
| other reviews of this album |
Simon K. STAFF (4.5)
Arche celebrates the bands 15 year career in style....
Brabiz (5)
Look away and wake up......
thelocalhentai (5)
DEG finds a great balance between their more recent work and their older JRock influenced ...
Naeveo (4)
Dir en grey fuse new and old sounds, creating their best effort since Uroboros....
TheKleszcz (4.5)
Diru an gurei niu arubum, at last....
JDane07 (4.5)
DIR EN GREY return to top form with their most focused effort in years, while delivering a...
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Album Rating: 5.0
Finally a review that does the album justice. Let's get the songs ripe in our minds and figure out what this thing really is.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
You're welcome.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
This review told me....nothing. It's a good thing I already listened to the album.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
@SlimJim
Now my first draft was a copy-paste of my Soundoff, so I've learned that I deserve the 1-12 start I got.
But this review tells you very little about the album itself?
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haha yeah, what's up with that summary
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
this might be the most pretentious review I've ever read
stopped reading after the onion and peach line
| | | Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off
I can understand somebody giving this album a 5, but when a review like this is so turgid and showcases delusions of eloquence... Well, I'm pretty guilty of that, too.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
btw where is everyone listening to the album at? i need to get on that
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
This review states:
i) It’s heavy, complicated, nostalgic, and probably underlying some grandiose vision for the band that its individual members want fans to digest as prep for whatever they end up releasing next
ii) Arche is a perfect medley of their J-Rock influenced form of progressive metal, now fused with Dum Spiro Spero death-mongering glory
iii) the guitars, bass and drums are all perfectly in time with one another, so intimately infused that trying to isolate them would diminish any attachment felt towards the feat
iv) Kyô’s vocals are an effortless shift from essentially every important vocal style ever engineered
v) The last paragraph is a disclaimer for stuff that wasn't mentioned, alluding to more subtle complexities which take time to understand.
If you're looking to understand what the actual album is about, you're looking for an essay and not a review. If you're still confused about what this album is like, I'm sorry to have failed you.
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-the fact that you were able to sum up the content of the review in like 1/10 the word count pretty much shows what people are complaining about.
-the summary is ridiculous. "topically inept pragmatist"... imagine if you were reading this review out loud to a friend of yours. put down the thesaurus. nothing wrong with utilizing your vocabulary to make certain sentences pop, but come on.
-"homogenous constituents that formed the centre" - aside from being wordy, it's redundant. a constituent is something that's a part of something. so, saying "constituents that formed the centre" is redundant. you could just say "the centre's constituents". or, better yet, just cut this out
-"If you're looking to understand what the actual album is about, you're looking for an essay and not a review" - i think people are looking for something that's enjoyable to read and gives an idea of what to expect should they choose to spend time/money on it, even if it's just your opinion
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
@JohnnyOnTheSpot
I'm getting the sense that English is just not your first language and you're pretty pissed that this review wasn't more simple for you to read. But for your satisfaction:
Annex to the Conclusion
This album is worth spending your time and money on.¹
¹ I personally consider this point redundant since it can be inferred by the rating but apparently direct statements are easier on user JohnnyOnTheSpot's mind. - Departures
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
"I'm getting the sense that English is just not your first language and you're pretty pissed that this review wasn't more simple for you to read."
Oh boy....
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
holy fucking shit departures you are a huge ass and ignorant at that
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@departures - erm, I'm not 'pissed'. I was just trying to shed a bit of light on why people didn't enjoy reading your review. I didn't
neg it, for what it's worth. I'm also not saying it was too high-brow for my poor little mind, I'm saying it's needlessly wordy. learn to
take a bit of advice and who knows, your writing might improve. the proof is in the pudding, and people seem to be disliking your
writing so far, so... could it be that it just isn't that great?
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Thanks for the advice. Hopefully people find the point-form notes useful.
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oh, and 'out-grows' shouldn't be hyphenated. but don't let my weak grasp on the English language deter you.
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it's all good man, just don't be so quick to insult people for offering their 2 cents. it'll make people quick to shit on you, and more reluctant to try and be helpful
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These are just a couple things I think if you worked on could improve your review:
"with some understandable features for even the most topically inept pragmatist."
Can you please explain why you wish to make it so wordy, I really don't mean to offend you but not everyone is going to understand what you're saying here(I do, so don't get the wrong idea)
"It’s heavy, complicated, nostalgic, and probably underlying some grandiose vision for the band that its individual members want fans to digest as prep for whatever they end up releasing next. Talking about Arche as a nod back to their older style is silly because Dir En Grey have been evolving with every album."
what do you mean by nostalgic if it doesn't hearken back anything old?
"Dir En Grey have been evolving with every album, maintaining influence from their origins through-out their 18 year career--and only really breaking away from it for their death metal epoch Dum Spiro Spero in 2011."
Please clarify what you mean if a band has been evolving in style but never deviating from their origins until 2011, also get rid of the dash in throughout
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I got some more suggestions
"For those readers new to Dir En Grey, they’re without a doubt at the forefront of all metal with
what is in my mind a perfect release. I will probably be listening to this album with moderate
frequency for the rest of my life, and forever respecting the fact that their evolution up to this
point has been non-linear."
okay, so you love this album, what am I supposed to get from this information?
I get that you love it, but what can you say to me so that I know whether or not I'm
going to love it? Basically: I want you to replace these sentences with reasons as to why
this is so great, not detailed explanations, but some reasons that will be clarified in further
paragraphs
Sure everyone out-grows riff-driven music with no other substance or form built out from the
pith. But Arche is unlike a peach, and unlike an onion. You can’t just take a giant bite out of it
with your time and see the centre, bare and naked as the seed of thought that ignited this ingenious
undertaking, or peel back the layers to find the homogenous constituents that formed the centre.
Opening it up would be the same as a classic car mechanic trying to understand what’s underneath the
hood of a Tesla. It mostly just seems like wizardry at face value, with some understandable features
for even the most topically inept pragmatist. The five members that Dir En Grey is comprised of are
all intricately synchronized moving parts. Separation of their music into distinct aspects injures
the integrity of the whole, which is absolutely immutable."
there are a lot of metaphors and allusions here, but none of them really assist with what
you're trying to say here, what does all this mean in terms of the album? Can you do something to
tie it into the music? because right now nothing here makes sense from the standpoint of a guy who
knows nothing about this band/album
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its like a non-clever but kinda accurate parody of how reviews on this site are trending lately.
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