Back in the 16th century if Da Vinci did add a mustache to The Mona Lisa wouldn't it have been considered as revolutionary and groundbreaking?

Now it would just be vandalism lol

"If I only heard Vinushka and thought that was pretty good, would I like this?"

Nope, I suggest starting with DSS and then Uroboros, but I can point you to some killer similar tracks in their catalogue

Dreambox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryrbrYSb8cs

Macabre remake, their best prog song possibly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWQudjazE0o

Diabolos, Another vinushka like song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yke-gv8TyyE

Album Rating: 3.0

I was gonna say, diabolos is succcccchhhhh a jam. Probably better than vinushka

Album Rating: 4.0

This album is by far the easiest Diru album to get into in my opinion. It sits really well in terms of accessibility but that's probably because it lacks some of the detail and quirkiness of past albums. It took me years to get into DSS and months for Uro but those two albums are definitely way more intricate than these. I feel like this is almost like "Arche" light but I'm still messing with it heavily. "Zetsuentai" is such a jam for me.

Didn't even know this was a thing. Wtf

Whoever it was that said this album is best described as Arche meets Marrow of a Bone is probably right. This has the similar vibes and riffing styles of Arche but the immediate and aggressive nature of Marrow. It’s not their best obviously but it’s a good album and I’m enjoying it.

Album Rating: 3.5

I've listened to this album about 4 times now, and I am pretty confident in my score... which makes me kinda sad since I was hoping this album would have grown on me more at this point. Maybe live performances will change my mind, as they did with vulgar and marrow.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

I find it kinda weird honestly that a song in a live context should bolster your opinion of it's studio recording. If anything should it not reinforce that the studio version is missing something?

First time listening to this band. Not my thing at all

Album Rating: 3.5

@Jas Yeah of course, what I mean is that songs that didn't initially impress me can sometimes be seen in a new light after a stellar live performance brings out the best elements of a track. Obviously, this doesn't make the studio recording any better, but at least to me I am able to more thoroughly see the bands vision, if that makes any sense

Album Rating: 4.5

I can understand what you’re saying. The mode of Macabre dvd helped me appreciate that album more.

Album Rating: 3.0

“I can understand what you’re saying. The mode of Macabre dvd helped me appreciate that album more.“

Likewise. Studio wise, I rate it a 2.5 and honestly I still don’t really like it in the studio. Live however I think it’s ACTUALLY great and somewhere between a 3.5 to 4 for me.

" If Arche was the big celebratory party for their career, The Insulated World is the hangover from it all." GOSH ! you get it perfectly !
It made me EXACTLY the same effect as MOAB at the time. Like a slap after WTD and Vulgar.
But I still find TIW more mature, faaaar more mature than MOAB at its time.

Album Rating: 3.0

Opener still rips.

Yep ! The two first songs are HxC as hell, love them! Celebrate Empty Howls is as weird as beautifull.. Keigaku is for me the best song of the album and Ranunculus (what a shitty title) sounds like a X Japan song to me (I know..), love it ^^
If DSS was the perfect complementary suite to Uroboros, TIW is the perfect opposite face of Arche and I love how Diru like to remind us that they do what they want from one album to another, despite what we want for, despite what we wish.
TIW is less catchy than Uro/DSS in this metal-core style, and it is less singable than Arche in its visual-old-school style, and in that it is a less punchy album than the 3 last ones.. but it is a mechanical, musically impressive piece of metal in the Diru disco. IMHO.

Album Rating: 2.5

This is quite good. Not really seeing where people are saying this is a band completely misstepping. Only truly bad track was Values of Madness and I still wouldn't call it "Terrible".

Album Rating: 3.0

This isn't so much a misstep, it's just an album that clearly shows a band who've pushed themselves as far as they can go creatively. This is all enjoyable stuff, but it's a very derivative record imo.

Album Rating: 4.5

There’s wayyy more experimentation here than there was on Arche imo. The band even said Arche was supposed to be like a culmination of the band’s history of styles where as this record is them pushing themselves forward onto a new path. It’s not as good as DSS or Uroboros remastered but I think it’s great and it’s funny to me how this is the only place I’ve seen with this sort of negative reaction to it. Also I was listening to a radio interview with Toshiya the bassist and if anyone is wondering why Values of Madness sounds different it’s because he wrote it instead of the guitarists who are normally the main songwriters for the band. He also wrote Devote My Life and he wrote Midwife on Arche.

Album Rating: 3.0

I have to respectfully disagree. If this is their interpretation of "moving forward" they're in trouble. Yeah, the latter half of the album is much more experimental and enjoyable, but there's way more referencing here than on Arche -- and it's all done in a very clumsy way. Not to mention the guitar riffs are quite possibly the worst the band have devised thus far; they're so repetitive, to the point of irritating at times. The rhythm section on "Devote My Life" is so fucking good, but that high pitch guitar lick is so goddamn boring and annoying it ruins a lot of the effect.



In fact, I'll give Toshiya and Shinya their credit here, the rhythms can be pretty great at times.

Album Rating: 4.5

I agree about the repetitive guitar riffs actually. Downfall would be a lot better if it didn’t repeat the same riff 100 times and it actually had the lead guitar in the verses. I think I’m coming at this from a different angle than most Western fans due to living in Japan the last couple years and keeping up with the interviews and whatnot so I’ve know exactly what to expect this whole time. They said they had problems pulling of some of their proggier layered stuff live and while that is my favorite style of theirs I guess I accepted early on that this was gonna be a more direct aggressive album. But of course your opinion is just as valid.