Review Summary: For some reason, this was the last dir en grey album I chose to listen to, I'm not entirely sure why, but it's their best material, by far. This is one the best album's I've listened to, period, it's a wonderfully strange blend of metal, techno, and accou
The album opens with one of my favorite diru intros ever,
Kigan. The song is very well balanced, opening with a catchy riff, and kyo's soft-singing, and leading into the chorus, of gruntled screams of "VICTIMIZATION!". The best way to introduce an album, it's a good precursor of sounds to come.
The song is followed by
Zomboid, just a fun song about dirty little things. I happen to find it particularly amusing when kyo says "High Toransu Purei", which can easily be translated to "High Trance Play". I also really like the techno-esque songs on here, which is played alot throughout the album.
Next is
24Ko Cylinder. I love this song. The song isn't particulary hard or soft, but it's wonderfully catchy, and you can hear the emotion in kyo's voice in the song, which only increases as the song progresses.
The next song,
filth, is a typical diru song, which doesn't particularly fit on the album. It's got the weird intro that almost sounds like it's being backmasked, followed by semi-screaming verses, a weird voice chorus, followed by a soft emotional extension of the chorus. And while that may sound weird, that is typical diru. I like the song, it's just not one of the best on the album
Bottom of Death Valley is another good song from the album. The song opens with a catchy bass, accompanied with kyo's soft singing, which later leads into screaming "I!".
This another one of the better songs on the album
Next is
Embryo, a really depressing song with a mildly optimistic-sounding chorus.
The song is kinda weird to listen to for english listeners since the song's impact rely's on it's lyrics, but if you understand that it's about a girl whose mom killed herself and her dad's now raping her but she has comfort in knowing that her mother is loves her from the afterlife, you can enjoy this song.
The
Shinsou tracks are cool, this one has a tecno vibe to it, which just calls for dancing to, it's hard not moving while listening to this.
Next is my favorite song on the album,
Gyakujou Tannou Keloid Milk. It's just so catchy, and kyo's voice is just so entrancing, that I can't help but be addicted to it. The song is the best example of kisou's diversity, as this song has some weird electronic sounds along with good ol' diru metal.
Haha, good ol'
domestic F*cker Family. Every band has one of these songs, Korn had "y'all wanta single" Slipknot had "Surfacing" SOAD had "F*ck the system", and Diru had
Domestic ***er Family. They're just songs that say "F*ck" (or in this case "F*cker") alot, and their entire entertainment value derives from that, and Diru succeeds at saying F*ck, because it sounds really cute in Japanese!
Undecided is another good example of Kisou's diversity, as this song using accoustic guitar, very well, I might add. It's weird when you first listen to it, but it's really amazing as the song progresses, a nice experimental dir en grey song.
The next song,
Mushi, is one of the most emotional Dir en grey songs ever. You can almost hear kyo about to burst into tears near the end, and the inclusion of the guitar solo only makes the song better.
Ah, yet another
Shinsou, this one has a hip-hoppish sound, a good beat to it. It's just a nice instrumental inclusion.
Jessica is my favorite of the singles on this album. The song has a (really weird for diru) happy feel throughout the whole thing, and seems to fit nicely onto the flow of the album (unlike the other singles, "embryo" and "filth"). It's nice to see diru picking a happy song before going into the extremely heavy last two songs.
Karasu is the 2nd heaviest song on the album. I really like anything heavy by dir en grey, as long as the whole album isn't uselessly heavy *coughmarrowofabonecough* (no, I'm just kidding, marrow was cool, but it only had, like, two or three songs that weren't screamo...and in English to take the cake) ANYWAY, the chorus, "DEATH EDUCATION" is a really catchy two-word chorus, and makes you wonder why they don't have Death Ed. in schools...
The next (and kind of last) song,
Pink Killer is the heaviest song, with a speedy rhythm and screaming all the way through. A good way to close the album, with Kyo's screaming so that you will see how F*cked up he is.
And, of course, the album closes with a piano shinsou, ending one of my favorite albums ever. Truly, it is my favorite dir en grey album as I see it as the most experimental. If you haven't listened to this, and you're a diru fan...well, *watatatatatata!* you're already dead.... (I know, the reference is random)