Review Summary: Somewhat of a dissapointment, The Marrow of a Bone still has some killer tracks, they're just surrounded by the bland filler.
I was going to start this off by telling you all about Dir en grey. Who they are, where they come from, and their prior success, if any. I realized, though, that if you're reading this review you already know that, so I won’t bore you. The bottom line is they're a Japanese band who is starting to break into Europe and North America. How are they achieving it? They're completely changing their sound.
I was looking forward to this album for so long. Their previous effort, Withering to Death, was somewhat of a disappointment to me. It had some killer tracks but a lot of it felt filler to me, but still, it was a worthwhile listen. A good, enjoyable album. Then I heard the Clever Sleazoid single, which I loved. This gave me some form of hope that their next album would be better; it'd be another Vulgar, Kisou or Macabre. The next single to be released a few months down the line, Ryoujoku no Ame, reinforced this hope. The next single released, Agitated Screams of Maggots made me incredibly nervous. I hated it, and I need to know if the rest of the album would be like it, or the previous two singles. So when I heard of a leak quite some time back, I pounced on it and immediately started listening. I enjoyed it at first, though I remember being somewhat disappointed. Almost a year later and what have I concluded? It's definitely a disappointment.
The album opens with Conceived Sorrow, which I have to say, is undeniably brilliant. This could very well be one Dir en grey's best songs. It's moody, dark, with some nice melodic guitar playing in the verses, an interesting bass line and fantastic vocals. The intro and verse slowly build intensity until the song just explodes into a distorted chorus, which sounds fantastic. This song really is good, and it gives off great vibes for the rest of the album. Sadly, the next 3 tracks pretty much kill those vibes. Lie Buried with a Vengeance is just so bland and dull; it's just typical nu metal style riffs with some horrible vocals. The chorus to the song is again rather boring, though at least he's stopped sounding like an asthmatic on their death bed and is singing. Fatal Believer follows is the next track, and whilst it isn't bad, it's nothing special. It's hardly even notable, really. It's just sort of there, trudging out bland riffs with the occasional neat sounding guitar. Like I said, it isn't bad, it just isn't good. Sadly, I can only wish to say that about Agitated Screams of Maggots. Its riffs are pretty much awful, over distorted and muddy annoyances. The vocals are the worst I've ever heard from Kyo, and apparently it's sung in English. I really, really can't tell. I've read the lyrics over and over and tried to find one part of it that sounds English and I just can't.
So, four tracks in and I have a headache. This isn't going well. There's a slight glimmer of hope in the next track, Grief, however. The intro sounds very cool, and the main riff, whilst again being overly heavy at least has some of the Dir en grey's trademark guitar work, Kaoru and Die's relationship showing once again. The vocals are, again, annoying. Kyo has such a good sounding voice, why does he ruin that with this new approach to screaming? Even his vocals in -saku- were much better than his vocals here. The next track, however, changes things. It's a slightly revamped version of the previously mentioned single, Ryoujoku no Ame, and it's even better than before. The guitars sound so interesting and unique, playing off one another in a more traditional Dir en grey fashion. The rhythm section is as tight as ever, with interesting bass lines locking in with some solid drumming. Kyo's real voice returns, too, with his singing sounding slightly weaker compared to the bands earlier days, but still great. This is a fantastic track, and quite possibly the best effort on the album. It's followed up by a rather deceiving track, Disabled Complexes. It starts off very jazzy, with a groovy bass line, some very cool clean guitar work, and fantastic drumming. The vocals then kick in, which are also fantastic at the start, but out of nowhere it bursts into another bland, heavy riff. This annoys me, as I really enjoy the intro to this song. It had so much potential and it just seems wasted on what becomes a very average sounding song.
We're half way through the album now, and I'm not very pleased. Only 2 tracks have really stood out, with the rest having too many faults to be truly enjoyable. It starts to fight back round about now; however, with Rotting Root showing us they can make metal work. It's still not brilliant, or even great, but it is a good song. It's enjoyable, and it's not what I'd consider a "filler track". The next track is definitely what keeps me interested in the album, however. It's called Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai ni Hohoemi. For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to refer to it as "long named song". Long Named Song is, in one word, amazing. Its flamenco guitar work is fantastic, and it’s got a nice rhythm section as per usual with fantastic vocals. The whole song seems to slowly build up, the entire time sounding epic. The song climaxes with an explosive, distorted take on the main chord progression, and some great sounding vocals. They're somewhat shouted, but they work here, very well.
Following on from the fantastic Long Named Song is The Pledge, an interesting mixture of the newer, heavier side to Dir en grey and their previous works. It sounds like something straight from Kisou, which isn't a bad thing at all. It's different to the rest of the album, yet very much the same, too. As you can see, it's hard to put to words, but I can definitely say I do like the song. The next track is Repetition of Hatred, and whilst not as good as the The Pledge, I'd say it's on par with Rotting Root as an enjoyable song. The next song however, is a lot worse. It's just another boring boring boring Dir en grey metal song with absolutely nothing special about it. The only interesting part of the song is the clean guitar riff over the chorus, which is fairly atmospheric. Beyond that, it's a dull, uninteresting, and overall mediocre (at best) track. There's now only one track left, and although we've had a few diamonds, it's mostly a plethora of rough. Can the album's original single be a good enough closer to make it worthwhile? Well, sort of. The new, revamped Clever Sleazoid is still good. Very good, even. But it doesn't sound as good as the original, in my opinion. It sounds thinner and weaker than the original version. Especially the vocals. It's still a great track, it proves Dir en grey can do metal in their own style if they really try, I just think they shouldn't have really changed the song.
In conclusion, the album is a let down. It's definitely their worst release thus far, and that's mostly because they wanted to make it their most appealing. Tracks like Long Named Song, Ryoujoku no Ame and Conceived Sorrow show us that they can still make fantastic, original music. Tracks like Rotting Root, The Pledge and especially Clever Sleazoid show us they can make metal work in their own, unique way. If they try. And that's the biggest problem with the other 7 tracks of the album. They didn't try. They wrote bland metal tracks that will appeal to Western listeners in a hope to break into the market. With their recent North American tour, it's evident that they did. I'm just hoping they'll use that breakthrough as a way to show us all what they can actually do, rather than disappointing older fans by continuing to release albums like this. I've given this a 3 out of 5 purely for the 6 songs I liked, and possibly a dash of fanboyism. Let’s just hope they do better next time.
