Album Rating: 5.0

"Ohhh ya they just didn’t have US releases because half their US fanbase were weeaboo pussies that jumped ship when the band dropped Uroboros"



Either that or they jumped ship at Withering because that was when DEG made their American debut and that them J-rock/VKtards couldn't stand the thought of their precious band being exposed to (in their eyes) normies and non-weeberz. I poked into listening into American DEG fan convos when I saw the band during their last American tour and I swear 3/4th of them are the "fans" that don't like anything post-Withering/Marrow and are just there cause it's DEG.

Album Rating: 4.5

They gained a lot of new fans and metal media exposure with this album, though.

"Either that or they jumped ship at Withering because that was when DEG made their American debut and that them J-rock/VKtards couldn't stand the thought of their precious band being exposed to (in their eyes) normies and non-weeberz"

Pretty sure isn't true. American Dir fans which were already fans of Dir were at their most rabid for Dir during the Withering and Marrow years. A write up Dir shows in that era on Buck Tick Zone details it pretty well and their footage in Despair's 2nd DVD. With this album it's less of them losing fans, it's just their focus shifted to a new audience.

Album Rating: 5.0

Goes to show my ignorance...I jumped ship w/DEG in between DSS and Arche so I totally missed what the fanbase really was like prior to when I jumped in. That was wrong of me to make that assumption. I've heard some pretty crazy stories about some in-fandom fighting, trolling, and fangirls sneaking in the band's tour bus though.



I was under the impression DEG were mostly niche to anime fans and J-rock/VK fans prior to their American debut and when that happened they lost those fans, but gained fans coming from the Korn and Deftones fanbase on account of touring w/both bands during that era.

"I was under the impression DEG were mostly niche to anime fans and J-rock/VK fans prior to their American debut and when that happened they lost those fans, but gained fans coming from the Korn and Deftones fanbase on account of touring w/both bands during that era. That was wrong of me to make that assumption. "

They were mainly fans on online forums, fans of with VK or Japanese culture in general. VK groups have performed at anime conventions but there wasn't a specific overlap between anime fans and Dir since they have never been in an anime OP/ED and they never performed at an anime convention. In terms of the tours in 2006/07 with Korn and Deftones, it exposed them to a lot of people but I'm not sure whether that really sold many people on the band. The crowds were mostly dead for their Family Values Tour and 2007 was arguably the band's lowest point. I think Uroboros is when new fans really started to increase overseas.

"the instrumentation is a bit inconsistent "

What does this even mean?

Pretty sure I read about Child Prey being used for an anime OP

Damn, I never knew Child Prey was used in Grappler Baki. I stand corrected.

Mindfuck metal at its best right here

@Darius: You could try Arche, due to being more streamlined and ballad based than this (so less chance of changes in instrumentation you don't like). The vocals growing on you would help massively since they're such a big reason why people like these guys. I didn't like his cleans originally so it could happen to yourself, but if that doesn't happen they are too prevalent to get any significant enjoyment out of their albums. So, trying Arche and occasionally coming back is the advice I can give.

I think Dum Spiro Spero is the most consistent sound-wise. Also the heaviest

Album Rating: 5.0

Dum Spiro Spero is definitely the hardest to "get", but all of the last 3 are dense af. A lot to take in.

Album Rating: 5.0

I think the Six Ugly EP? But don't quote me on that. It was their first release to aim at an international audience.

Six Ugly was the first release to take serious influence from the west, however, it was not internationally released. Vulgar was the first album to have a pressing outside Japan.

Dramatically. They went to a Nu Metal sound, where raw energy and down-tuned riffs became a mainstay. Note that this was due to what the band listened to at the time rather than trying to change for a particular demographic since this changed happened 3 years before they hit stateside. Six Nine was more of a novelty of trying to make the most western influenced album possible to what the band liked at the time. Doesn't really fit into their evolution at all and was very different to what they did at that point. Despite this, they rolled with it for a year and it fits very well with Kisou in a live setting. Vulgar adapted these Nu Metal ideas with a dark and sinister atmosphere, a marriage between Nu Metal and their style in the Visual Kei days. In terms of the American audiences influencing the band directly, that wouldn't happen until 2006.

I feel like there’s also a good bit of punk thrown into the riffs as well. I know they technically fit under the nu metal tag for awhile but they sounded nothing like any other nu metal band

Probably Alt-rock/metal with some prog influence and experimental bits. They’ve always been pretty hard to define

Missa was basically Luna Sea/Kuroyume worship. Alt Rock/Metal really like Jester said, however, Visual Kei has a particular brand of that style in the 90's despite only being defined by an aesthetic style. Gauze is taking that style and developing it far more, putting their own take to it. Macabre took that and made it less hook based and 'experimental'. Kisou took all this and added an industrial edge.

They’re so across the board that getting into them is a pretty daunting task. There’s an old CalculatingInfinity quote where he says he didn’t really get the big deal about them and now he’s like the most diehard fan on the site lol

Think of the Dir infection as an exponential curve over time ;)