Review Summary: Small seeds in a verdant garden.
As a fan for over half of my life, I have decided to revisit the entire discography of one of my favorite bands. I haven’t listened to a lot of these songs in a very long time, so I am excited to go back to them with a bit more of a critical ear. Without further ado, a proper introduction and some words on
DIR EN GREY’s first release,
MISSA.
The history of Japan’s
DIR EN GREY is one that spans decades and genres, beginning in early 1997 shortly after the dissolution of the members’ prior group,
La:Sadie’s. Vocalist Kyo, guitarists Kaoru and Die, and drummer Shinya set out to form a new unit, leaving their former bassist, Kisaki (who went on to become a figurehead of sorts within Japan’s independent visual kei scene), and recruiting Toshiya to finalize the lineup that has remained consistent for over 25 years.
With the origin story out of the way,
Dir en grey (stylized as such to reflect their aesthetic choices of the time) released their first EP,
MISSA, shortly after their formation.
MISSA features six tracks of the metallic, driving brand of alternative rock that was commonly found in the visual kei (a musical scene in Japan that puts high emphasis on aesthetics and theatrics — for the “uninitiated,” think somewhere between glam rock and Dragula) bands of the mid-90s. While it may feel a bit rudimentary by comparison to today’s offerings, it’s easy to see the appeal; the production is crisp, the aesthetic is dialed in, and the songs comfortably ride the fence between edgy and accessible. Tracks like “蒼い月 (Aoi Tsuki)” call upon the jangly, disjointed influences of
黒夢 (Kuroyume) while the very next song, “GARDEN,” blasts on in shimmering, overdriven splendor, not unlike their contemporaries in
Luna Sea (or yes, I suppose, just…other songs by
黒夢). To round out the entire record, the quintet take it upon themselves to dial up the intensity just a few more notches with “秒「」深 (Byo「」Shin)” a thrasher that sees the band toying around with sounds that will soon become a staple for them.
On the merits of the tracks above,
MISSA stands relatively tall as the first proper release from a young band, but that’s because the album never quite hits its stride until track four. The front half of
MISSA feels a bit underbaked by comparison; those songs lack a certain “depth of flavor” that seems to noticeably enrich the works of more seasoned songwriters. To the band’s credit, however, their ability to follow those tracks with three that feel much more “complete” on the very same record says quite a bit about their inevitable trajectory.
MISSA is by no means the first record I’d recommend to someone thinking about diving into
DIR EN GREY’s extensive discography — to be quite frank, it may actually be the last. It is not, however, a bad offering in the slightest. As a matter of fact, it feels a bit like a fun anecdote of a very different band when looked at in retrospect. It wasn’t long after the release of “MISSA” that the band really started gaining serious traction, garnering the attention of all the right people after some impressive chart positions with “JEALOUS” (a song that I really like!) and “-I’ll-“ (a song that I don’t really like!), two singles that weren’t featured on
MISSA or their next full-length,
GAUZE. While they may not be included with this release proper, the through-lines are clearly there — they showcase more finely tuned songwriting and really set the stage for the first era that defined the band’s success.
If you’re looking for a little piece of visual kei history or you simply want to see how much a band can change in 25 years,
MISSA is a worthwhile listen. There’s a lot of filler, the songs could all have at least a minute shaved off of them, but at its core
MISSA is a pretty solid showing when it comes to introductory efforts.
