Review Summary: Celebrating Empty Howls
Having not taken time out to write a review in over a year, I'm hyper aware of how difficult creating an enticing opening paragraph actually is. I recall that the last time I wrote about Dir En Grey, in fact, I opened with a short creative writing imagescape to describe the way Gauze felt in my head. But as I'm listening to
The Insulated World, I realise that in much the same way that "Keibetsu to Hajimari" opens the album cold, with limited awareness of pacing, I should also open this review similarly by just cutting right to the chase: this album isn't going to impress you.
Earning acclaim far abroad of their native Japan for their engrossing progressive and alternative metal stylings to an extent that hasn't really been achieved since X Japan, a feat that very few can attest to, Dir En Grey have developed a reputation as a band that consistently pleases. A reputation very much solidified when Uroboros took the stage, pushing the boundaries of what mainstream metal could be with it's dense atmospheres and aggressive presence and then following it up with the even more brooding and imposing Dum Spiro Spero. At the forefront of this tight, forward-thinking musicianship was their most salient component, vocalist Kyo, whose seemingly limitless voice could express unbridled anguish and angst.
Now a band at the mercy of expectation as well as an extensively touring workhorse, what you'll find on
The Insulated World is a band writing music out of what feels more like a perceived obligation rather than an actual passion to put something out there. It's a series of disingenuous callbacks to previous things that worked, which doesn't come as that much of a surprise considering the album comes hot on the heels of a tour cycle in which the band performed standalone shows in which a single album from the band's past was showcased. As such, said tour brought back a fairly large catalogue of songs which haven't been performed in a long time, and it's these sounds that you hear crop up all over
The Insulated World.
The two tracks which introduce the album, "Keibetsu to Hajimari" and "Devote My Life" scream of the Vulgar era and include exactly the same things that made that album work and the elements which secure it near the bottom of the band's discography. The tracks are mercifully brief, they just sort of are present and then they aren't, they're directionlessly aggressive and embrace the alternative metal sin of including random electronic effects that add nothing to the sonic palate, nor are they present enough in the song to define it in any way. Though "Keigaku no Yoku" later embraces electronics with more heart, the song itself feels like the entire thing is the bridge. It stops and starts, stuttering its way through different dynamics without ever cohesively linking them to anything. The lead two singles (the final single I'll approach a little later) "Utafumi" and "Ningen wo Kaburu" make a lot more sense in this context of past sounds, a fact I had earlier realised of "Utafumi" when I saw the Mode of Withering to Death show and the track seamlessly blended in, even directly nodding to the song Beautiful Dirt with Kyo's kooky falsetto slide. "Ningen wo Kaburu" on the other end of the spectrum covers more recent ground with its bells ringing of the Arche cycle, though both tracks just end up getting lost in the overall quagmire of the album in general. "Rubbish Heap" and "Values of Madness" are possibly the worst offenders as far as falling into line go, the former recalling Chain Repulsion from the prior album while the latter is probably the single most 'contemporary' sounding thing the band has ever put out, being pretty much indistinguishable among its ilk.
As far as standout moments go, the album's nostalgia for the past hides a lot of them and eventually even these are numbed by return listens to the album as a whole. "Zetsuenai" attempts to provide something more tangible to hold onto, being the album's lone overly long track (in fact, the only tracks that break the 4 minute mark don't arrive until track 10). Unfortunately it's ambition is difficult to describe, as again with the rest of the album, it fails to escape comparison to previous successes, this time Macabre and Rinkaku in the album's softer moments, while the rest of the track runs par the course. As I said of "Keigaku no Yoku" earlier, "Zetsuenai" likewise is a series of sections that do not marry, they simply coexist and make it difficult to find oneself keeping up with it. "Ranunculus" (yeah see I remembered to get to it) is one of the album's worst offenders in terms of songwriting, coming across way too on the nose about it's anthemic properties and containing some borderline tasteless "pretty" moments. While "Followers" does certainly have a ripper of a chorus (it also has a snoozer of a guitar solo), the album's lone genuine standout moment as a whole comes in the form of "Aka", a track with breathable pacing, capable songwriting and a cohesive sound palate.
In general, the album doesn't sound particularly amazing sonically. Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero are both praised for their production value and while Arche may have been a bit too loud, it still maintained some real weight too it.
The Insulated World often feels flat, the bass indistinguishable from the leads, the clean sounds mixed way too low and the drums as if they are coated in a layer of sand. But aside from it's instrumental non-presence,
The Insulated World does pack a welcome surprise that was uncertain to ever truly reappear: Kyo's vocals. You wouldn't believe this was the same Kyo who has been dodging notes, encountering voice cracks and otherwise in general being very shaky on the road. Kyo's cleans are as mastered as they've ever been and although they're never at the jaw-dropping heights they were circa Dum Spiro Spero, his chops are nonetheless show-stoppingly impressive.
The Insulated World is not the kind of album you wait 4 years for. It's nostalgic certainly, even serviceably so in places, but it lacks its own individual charm that previous efforts always maintained, while also highlighting the flaws that let these albums down so much. The album does hit every now and then, but these moments don't come often enough and at times get lost under all the misses. Realistically ending up as a less direct Vestige of Scratches, the band's greatest hits album which proceeded it,
The Insulated World may please someone looking for new material on the live circuit, but ends up being a rather inconsequential addition to Dir En Grey's catalogue.
