Violent Rain
Wait! Let me borrow that time machine! I must of missed when Diru became stopped doing music. What do they do now? I doubt Kyo is a plumber or a pro basketball player. I definatly can't see Die playing Baseball. And is Shinya doing his sheep herding?
TRASH
Re-hashed, re-made, re-used, re-abused crap. I've seen bands with 3 members and a drum machine that have more soul and originality. I guess there truly is something to be said for people who really want to get "there" and the people who feel they've already reached "there" and are on easy street. I prefer "indies" bands who haven't made it big, as you can actually hear the struggle and love and effort they put into each of their songs. Once you're on easy street, who cares if you put your whole into each song. You're just making money, right?
In the last few years, Dir en grey has probably made 3 or 4 songs that have actually distinguished themselves outside of the rest of the sloppy albums, and some of those songs are not even singles.
I wish I had the things we said 2 years ago. We had done in depth discussion of the progression of Dir en grey and through their albums.
Missa was their indies album. A lot of their songs sounded similar, and had the same beats and lines in maybe a different key, but you could hear a difference than what they have now. They did the music for them and for their fans. There was love in the music, they loved what they were making and knew they could make it big.
They were picked up by YOSHIKI for their Gauze singles and there was an immediate change in their music, but not for the worse. There was progression and innovation. Gauze was released and it was a fan's dream. Every song was different and had it's own life and being within the songs. I remember thinking only 2 songs had a similar feel to them, and for an 11 song album (Adam and Eve do not count as songs) that is incredible.
Macabre was another progression and experimentation in a newer and darker sounding music. They started to incorporate more punk-rock into the songs. Many fans yield this album to be "the best" as it showed the most creativity and musical talent overall.
Kisou was where the decline started. Every one of Dir en grey's singles had made it into the top 10 of countdowns. Some of the songs on Kisou started to blur and sound the same, however there were very distinguishable songs within it.
Obscure is where a lot of the sound changed. They went towards the popular flow of music (which is why Dir en grey is arguably considered a "pop" band, when considering the true meaning of the term). They leaned more towards a lot of thrash and the songs on the album, while some were distinct, many started to blur.
Saku came out, and someone said it best when they stated that Saku was nothing more than "Obscure II." The song had remarkable similarities, style, sound, refrain. Everything just felt the same. The same shock value was instilled, but after Obscure had been lost with the originality.
Withering to death... I can honestly say that the only songs I can remember off that CD are the singles - if even that. The songs blurred and I felt myself horribly bored with the CD. There was no more original feel. No more soul. No more effort. It sounded like the band had a deadline and a need for a paycheck.
The marrow of a bone gave me hope. I was weary due to Agitated screams of maggots, as the song felt like the band had drug their instruments across a table as Kyo strangled a sick cat, and the PV was there only to distract that there was even a song going on. But I found the first track of Marrow on radio.blog, and was instilled with hope. Perhaps they aren't all bad. Tho, after sitting down one day with the full CD, I found myself sorely disappointed. Two of the tracks stood out from the CD. Everything else was "Same old Same old." Even ASOM seemed to have blended in the CD, and 3/4th's of the way through the song I realized that I had heard it before.
The band is full of talented members who are only staying together because it's safe. Which seems to be the opposite of what Dir en grey tries to pose as. I honestly believe that the band would do well to go their separate ways and make music that they actually cared about. Dir en grey is a job. It's a way to make money. Push out the songs, get the pay check.
Its bad when you bring someone to a concert, who is not familiar with their music, and the first thing out of their mouths when you leave the auditorium is, "Wow, they looked
bored."
I laughed, and told him that is what I've been saying for 2 years now.
I've seen the difference between bands that are having fun with their music, and people that just put an act on. The energies are much different.
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