Review Summary: The charismatic god-killer
Following their magnum opus UROBOROS were three long years of anticipation for the band’s next move. Would they call back to their early days, or push further into the dynamic prog-death stylings of the previous album? Along came Dum Spiro Spero, a logical progression from the iconic sound introduced with UROBOROS with a greater emphasis on the death metal aspects of that release. In typical Dir En Grey fashion, Dum Spiro Spero is a dark and fully engrossing listen, the spiritual aspects have been played up greatly here, conjuring images of ritualistic practices, as well as the progressive metal stylings that have only been touched on previously. Every song here is filled with breakdowns and Kyo’s most vicious vocals to date.
Groovy doom metal guitars permeate this release more than ever, working as connective tissue between the heavier and slower paced tracks. Namely the 10 minute epic Diabolos which is primal and dark, with some truly desolate ambient notes. The doom-y riffs go perfectly with this track’s mostly slower pace and the devastating growls by the frontman. While in some ways this album is a rumination on UROBOROS, essentially taking those same ideas and making them darker, heavier, it lacks a lot of the depth of that album. It seems this album’s focus is more on being heavy than anything else, and at first this isn’t an inherent problem because it still features a heavy dose of atmosphere and experimentation with some remarkable writing and musicianship. It can just outstay its welcome a bit with a massive 76 minute runtime.
Songs like Different Sense and Decayed Crow are blistering and absolutely brutal, and it’s quite impressive what the band pulls off when they focus on this style. Mixed in are moments of sheer brilliance where songs reach climax, and the clean vocal melodies carry the listener through a wide range of emotions before the songs explode in a symphony of violence. Kyo belts more efficiently than ever before, and plays with some truly strange and unique vocal ideas. The guitars go through prog-y solos, death metal riffs, and metalcore fare. This album’s tracks are packed more tightly than UROBOROS, it’s more focused in its style, but the pacing and eclecticism of the album overall make it a less engaging listen compared to its counterparts.
While Dum Spiro Spero is an album that may seem disappointing at first, but after numerous listens it starts to sink its teeth in. This isn’t a great starting point for the band, but it’s definitely not their worst offering. In fact this is a fantastic album, this thing is pumped with some of the band’s best songs:Yokusou Ni Dreambox, Lotus, and Ruten No Tou, all of which play to the full effect of the band’s strengths.
Dum Spiro Spero is an album which solidifies Dir En Grey as a titan within their perspective genre and culture, defined by an almost impossible to nail down style. A band being this creatively consistent is almost unheard of, and it’s a fantastic feat to witness.
