Album Rating: 3.0

Lyrically, I thought Marrow was comically bad. Can’t comment on Kisou’s lyrics cause honestly I’ve never read the translated lyrics to it (official or fan translated).

Album Rating: 4.5

Well yeah that’s because Kyo’s English is awful lol.

Album Rating: 4.5

Well here is the official translation of Pink Killer, which I like a lot musically but is lyrically just a bunch of edgy sounding stuff smashed together nonsensically.



“Bust Number 1 you crazy psycho

Bust Number 2 still masturbating even though you are a patient

Bust Number 3 your antenna cut off

Bust Number 4 your body temperature is dying your brain cut off



Bust Number 5 no oxygen for you, so you will soon die

Bust Number 6 masturbating while I cut your face off

Bust Number 7 no function to bear a child

Bust Number 8 no function to urinate



Bust Number 9 cut off your body

Bust Number 10 still masturbating while you pee in your pants

Bust Number 1 categorize myself with some acid

Bust First person is brainwashed living in a coffin



Obligation Obligation My body feels nothing

Obligation Obligation My body is not perfect

Obligation Obligation My body rots

Obligation Obligation My body has decomposed



Love comes out from the body

Feeling comes out from the body

Liver destroys from the body

Child destroys from the body



Dead and dead, killing child

It becomes slime, we bust out… let's go”

Album Rating: 4.0

"Pink Killer" and "Domestic..." are among their worst songs, but luckily not that representative of Kisou. That album still has top tier ballads and some nice quirkier songs like "24ko Cylinders" and "Gyakujou...".

Album Rating: 2.0

@Faded I'd probably have given this a 3 if the production wasn't so bloody awful. It's better than Marrow, but that's not saying much.



The difference is that now DEG are a band in their 40s, at an age where decline is expected. A fantastic comeback by 45 year old guys is possible, but a bit unlikely (we'll see what that new Tool album is like). And it seems likely their future will involve more Marrow-era crap reminiscent of bad metalcore. And I say this as someone who likes good metalcore.

Album Rating: 4.5

None of us know what they will sound like in the future, like I said they never make the same album twice. They’ve changed their sound so many times at this point. Their next album will most likely be a lot different than this one, just like this one is a lot different than Arche which was a lot different than DSS.

Album Rating: 2.0

I'm sure the next album will be different, but it may just be moving further in the current direction, which I don't like. As I said, an amazing comeback is possible, but a bit unlikely. I'm not saying it's absolutely over, just that it probably is.



I'm considering putting my rating up to a 3 by just focusing on the songs and not the production, since some of them are OK. But I think not having Tue or someone nearly as good producing this is deserving of a bad rating.

Gotta say I’m not down with this Marrow hate I’m seeing

Album Rating: 2.0

@jester Marrow sounds too much like bad metalcore for me, and the lyrics are hilariously retarded. It's not completely without merit, but I think it's pretty weak. The fact they were taking influence from Korn of all bands says a lot about Marrow.



I actually haven't listened to Marrow in a long time, so I may be being a little unfair, but that's the impression I got.



Bear in mind that I'm not old enough to have cared about nu metal when it was relevant. I've never seen bands like Linkin Park as anything other than bland and abysmal. Also, my first DEG album was Uroboros, so I started with their strongest work.

Album Rating: 3.0

"They never make the same album twice"



This album is the closest they've sounded to it though. derivative sums it perfectly

Album Rating: 3.0

"I'd probably have given this a 3 if the production wasn't so bloody awful. It's better than Marrow, but that's not saying much."

I would've too. My rating fluctuated from initially being a 2.5 on first listen, then being bumped up to a 3 after the 3rd listen, then very briefly a 3.5 at my listening peak, and finally bumped back down to 2.5 after being away from it for 2+ weeks.



"I'm not old enough to have cared about nu metal when it was relevant. I've never seen bands like Linkin Park as anything other than bland and abysmal. Also, my first DEG album was Uroboros, so I started with their strongest work."

Sadly, I was Irony, lol. And even back then other than Linkin Park, I hated nu-metal LMFO! And Uroboros was my first DEG album too so yeah, I started w/what I still think is their magnum opus.

Album Rating: 2.0

I agree Uroboros is their magnum opus. I first listened to it in 2014 because it was on one of Mike Portnoy's recommended album lists and I'd never heard of them before. As soon as I heard Vinushka, they were one of my favourites. Hearing them at their best at first does make some of their other albums a bit disappointing, though. The nu metal/Linkin Park influenced stuff (WTD/Marrow) in particular I really don't get, since I was a small child when Linkin Park were popular (born 1997), so there's no nostalgia factor involved for me. It just sounds bland by comparison.



I think that's part of the reason I disagree with some other DEG fans. I wasn't listening to them pre-Uroboros, and I never listened to any other nu metal bands either (unless Faith No More counts), because I'm not of that age demographic. Uroboros might as well have been their debut for me.

Album Rating: 4.0

Not only Marrow takes cues from Korn. Toshiya is a big fan of the band and nu-metal in general. He's apparently the main composer for "Values of Madness" which makes sense.

Album Rating: 3.0

They didn't really play nu metal until their fourth album though, so there's no reason why their debut wouldn't be their debut for you. Gauze is such a good album, too. Has been their best by a long stretch until Uroboros dropped as far as I'm concerned.

I do like Vulgar and Withering to Death though, but the other pre-Uroboros stuff never clicked with me. Haven't given MOAB much attention admittedly, but apart from some moments (like the opener) it feels bland to me.

Album Rating: 3.0

Macabre has loads of nu-metal aspects

Album Rating: 3.0

Not more than Uroboros I'd say, but I haven't listened to that one in ages ..

Album Rating: 3.5

I barely listened to any nu metal at the time either, eventhough it was all the rage when I was a kid in the late 90's. Aside from a couple bands I just found it boring, and still do.



That said, the slight influence nu metal had on WTD and MOAB has never really bothered me. They're not my favourite, but I like them (especially WTD). Maybe it's because I was already into them years before they were released and Gauze was my first album, so I wasn't surprised at all the sound changes that followed. Which is why this one didn't surprise me either, and neither will the next one probably.

If anything, the change from Arche to TIW has been much less drastic than most of what they did in the early 2000's, lol, Kisou and Vulgar blew my mind back then. Or the change from Marrow to Uroboros, now THAT was a big one too.

Album Rating: 4.0

The ballads on TMOAB are all great, but the album works the best in a live context, especially in Tour08 The Rose Trims Again and the Mode show.

On another topic, here's a track from an album that Tue Madsen recently worked on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zq515THuuE. No matter what you think about the song, it still makes me wish they would have hired him again.

Album Rating: 3.0

Yeah I mean, the genre is never the problem, it's determined by stylistic devices anyway and those can be used for the better and worse - and Vulgar definitely makes use of the nu metal-typical shallow-brained aggressive riffs in a fitting way.



This one is kinda surprising in that it seems to add one album to the mid-era of the band and not to the later one, with the exception of a few songs that they probably wouldn't have made before DSS (like Aka).

Album Rating: 2.0

@Rik I definitely didn't mean to suggest that their first 3 albums were nu metal; they're not at all. I was specifically talking about WTD and Marrow. You're right that TIW fits in much more with those albums than the previous 3, though, and that's why I don't like it very much. The riff quality is just so much lower.



Toshiya liking nu metal and being responsible for Values of Madness makes a lot of sense. I like his bass playing, but damn his taste is awful. I'm glad he doesn't have a side project.



Giving TIW a 2 is because of production and annoyance that they've regressed musically to the WTD/Marrow era. Taken purely on its own merits and without considering production, I'd give it a 3.



@Evo The ballads on Marrow are definitely the best thing about it, and the main reason I gave it a 2 rather than a 1. I haven't listened to it for a while, but that's the main good thing I remember about it. I still prefer the ballads on Uroboros/DSS/Arche, though.