Dir en grey have gone through some MAJOR changes over the years, but the change from Withering to death. to THE MARROW OF A BONE is probably the biggest yet. For this album, there are only three songs without a good deal of screaming, and there are a few with no singing whatsoever!
That said, this is probably their best album yet, surprisingly.
Dir en grey is:
Kyo-Vocals
Kaoru-Guitar
Die-Guitar
Toshiya-Bass
Shinya-Drums
1. CONCEIVED SORROW
Starting off with a nice piano intro, moving into Kyo singing with some guitar in the background. Then the vocals suddenly jump up into Kyo's higher register, with the guitars becoming louder and more heavy, and than it just comes right back down, only to build up into another climax. This song is probably the perfect opener for the album, and it works so well, it really puts away any worries about hating the CD.
4/5
2. LIE BURIED WITH A VENGEANCE
This song is just about the polar opposite of the previous track, launching straight in with a heavy guitar riff. For a second, it stops, and then comes right in with Kyo screaming, growling, and overall tearing his throat apart. Without a sung lyric in sight, this song basically beats the living sh*t out of anything Diru has ever done before that could be considered a heavy song. Ending with Kyo finally proving that he can, indeed, speak the english language coherently by screaming over and over 'F*CK, F*CK, F*CK, F*CK, YOU'RE A MOTHERF*CKER!!!!'
3.5/5
3. THE FATAL BELIEVER
Taking it back a little bit from the last track, we get a good mix of singing and screaming with this track, with the chorus being mostly sung until Kyo comes in and screams KILL MYSELF! Like most of the other songs, good luck figuring the lyrics out, but at least on this one you can actually just sit back and listen, because it's actually quite melodic.
3.5/5
4. AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS
The third single from the album, this is another *very* hardcore song. Starting off by blasting you with heavy-hitting guitars and squealing pinch harmonics, Kyo comes in and screams incoherently for a little while, and then comes the chorus, with the tiniest bit of singing when Kyo says 'I'll rape your daughter ON YOUR GRAVE!' This is the perfect song to just headbang to and enjoy.
5/5
5. GRIEF
The fourth single off of THE MARROW OF A BONE, GRIEF is another headbanger, with very little singing. Kyo decides to use his voice to it's full potential in some parts of this song, yelling in falsetto and squealing higher than sounds humanly possible. Creepy lyrics accompany this crazed blast of energy, but you could really care less about lyrics when listening to this song.
5/5
6. Ryoujoku No Ame
Finally deciding to give the listener a break, Ryoujoku No Ame (Assault of Rain) is a rerecording of the second single from the album, and it is probably the one song on the album that could almost be described as 'emo,' with emotion-packed singing, and a tiny bit of screaming here and there. This is probably the closest the album gets to Dir en grey's old sound.
4/5
7. DISABLED COMPLEXES
Starting off with a little bit of percussive noises, and then moving on into some cool, soft riffs on the guitar. Then Kyo comes in, softly singing lines like 'Ah, I can't sleep again tonight because you exist, because I was raped by you...why do you listen to their voices?' This song seems kind of like a sort of sequel to track 7 on their first album, Mitsu To Tsuba/Tsumi To Batsu. Mitsu To Tsuba was about a sexual assault, from the rapist's perspective, and this song seems to be from the girl's perspective. After about 1:30 into the song, kyo goes into his falsetto and screams SHIROI AI! (white love) and from then on the song gets much more hardcore.
4.5/5
8. ROTTING ROOT
Probably one of my least favorites from the album, ROTTING ROOT starts off with a neat riff, but seems to not be quite hard or softt enough to really go anywhere. THere just isn't much to say about this song, it's not very good.
3/5
9. Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai Ni Hohoemi
This is definitely my favorite off of the album. Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai Ni Hohoemi (Enchanting Sleep, Faltering Smile) is the softest song on the CD. STarting with 15 minutes of synth stuff, and then the acoustic guitars come in, playing a beautiful riff. Then Kyo sings softly, and quite beautifully, at the end, he puts so much emotion into his high vocals, you almost want to cry, and then it comes back down. Right when you think the song is over, you hear a little feedback, and Kyo comes in with 30 seconds of distorted guitars and screaming to leave you more than a little amazed. This song would have been THE perfect closer.
5/5
10. THE PLEDGE
Another soft song, with no screaming. Notably harder than Namamekashiki, but still nowhere near most of the album. This is a fairly good song, with quite a bit of emotional singing, and it really is quite good, although it tends to drag on a bit.
3.5/5
11. REPETITION OF HATRED
With this song, Dir en grey decide that they want to bring us back into the harder stuff again. REPETION OF HATRED doesn't even give you a chance to see what's coming, it starts right off with Kyo screaming his throat out. This song is really quite good, with the chorus of "It's a completely dead passion, it's an entirely dead passion, I HATE YOU dead passion!" This is another good song to rock out to, but still with a good deal of singing.
4/5
12. THE DEEPER VILENESS
Probably the only song on the album that I really just don't like. There is little, if any, singing in the song, and it's really just two minutes of unrelentless organised chaos. Although it has some slightly interesting guitar and drum work, the song really just doesn't come together very well at all.
2/5
13. CLEVER SLEAZOID
The amazing ending to the album, this is a rerecording (read: you can hear the lyrics!) of the first single of the album. CLEVER SLEAZOID is almost all in english, and it is very hard-hitting, but still quite melodic and pleasant. I can't say too much about this song to describe it, you just need to listen to it yourself.
4.5/5
I'm not going to do a track-by-track of the second disc, but I will tell you that it is truly amazing. The unplugged version of Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai Ni Hohoemi is quite calming, with just Kyo and somepiano, whereas CONCEIVED SORROW brings in the strings with song violins and whatnot, adding a totally new element to the song. THE PLEDGE is more of a traditional acoustic song, with an acoustic guitar and Kyo singin incredibly emotionally, and THE PLEDGE alone is such a huge improvement over the original version it's hard to believe they're the same song.
PROS:
Acoustic disc is a must-have
Kyo's incredible vocals
Has some soft stuff, some hard, and some in-between
English!
GRIEF
CLEVER SLEAZOID
AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS
Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai Ni Hohoemi
DISABLED COMPLEXES
CONS:
Could be a little longer
English!
Needs a bit more of the soft and hard, a bit less of the in-between
ROTTING ROOT
THE DEEPER VILENESS
Overall, a very good and solid album.
5/5
