Review Summary: “Love me to the marrow of my bones...”
In 2007 Dir En Grey released what is easily their most vicious and primal effort THE MARROW OF A BONE. Their Visual Kei roots had almost entirely withered away with a crushing Western influenced sound. Of course Withering To Death was a step in this direction, but here Dir En Grey is unhinged and at their absolute ugliest. THE MARROW OF A BONE may not be as fine-tuned and progressive as UROBOROS, but it makes up for it with a greater sense of digestibility. The songs are far more straight forward metalcore fare, focusing on tight and predictable structures along with their usual chilling melodies and occasional Alt-metal nuances.
Like with most other Dir En Grey releases, the vocalist Kylo shines the most here. This is the album where he started to become a different beast entirely. His whistle-like shrieks are spine tingling, his harsh vocals sounding like his throat is being torn apart, all juxtaposed with an impressive range and variety of clean vocals. This album utilizes a really great and impactful ‘gritty’ vocal style like on the closing track CLEVER SLEAZOID, and the chilling NAMAMEKASHIKI ANSOKU... which helps the album to feel fresh throughout. Most of this album is fairly consistent, with a great balance between tracks like the fan favorite AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS and LIE BURIED WITH A VENGEANCE which are blistering and chaotic, and somber tracks like THE PLEDGE and the brilliant opener CONCEIVED SORROW.
While this album is a generally great listen with tons of standout tracks and moments, DISABLED COMPLEX is one of the band’s worst tracks, and REPETITION OF HATRED is ironically a bit too repetitive, forgettable, and doesn’t offer anything exciting to the album’s pallet.
THE MARROW OF A BONE is a great moment in the band’s career that birthed their now iconic style, and features some of their most infectious and aggressive work. It’s not perfect, but it’s close.
Best tracks:
-THE PLEDGE
-NAMAMEKASHIKI ANSOKU, TAMERAI NI HOHOEMI
-THE FATAL BELIEVER
-CONCIEVED SORROW
-AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS
