Hello!
Please post you positive(Or negative) thoughts on DIR EN GREY's latest single, 『LOTUS』.
If you have negative thoughts on the single, please do not troll, and give an informed opinion. The longer the reply, the more I appreciate it.. Thankyou! smile

Here are my thoughts:
This single seems to be very aware of DIR EN GREY's past, to me, Lotus resembles previous era's of themselves, on top of that, the OBSCURE remake is a direct link to Vulgar, with a contemporary twist of the modern DIR EN GREY.

My thoughts on each individual song:
Lotus is a diverse song. On one side, it's very clean and mellow. On the other, it's heavy and snappy. DIR EN GREY makes the transition between these two sides very rapidly, but throughout the song it maintains the feeling of a ballad. I like this song. Would I say It's my favourite single? Definantely not. Compared to their previous singles, Hageshia, and Glass Skin, this is a little bit of a dissapointment. Of course I do not compare them, as DIR EN GREY are a constant changing band. And as a stand alone song, it's actually very enjoyable.
I do not think their next album will sound anything like this song. DIR EN GREY themselves have said that it won't bear a resemblence to their next album in many interviews. And that's fine. Glass Skin didn't exactly sum up UROBOROS. Overall, this songs very nice. I like the fact they included Synth's and Piano in it; much like their Withering To Death era.

The OBSCURE remake has had ALOT of criticism which is a shame, personally. I think it's great, it expresses just how timeless DIR EN GREY, and OBSCURE are. Considering it's one of their most played songs, and had changed over the years. I thought it deserved a rebirth. It's much darker the original, and kinda reminds me of the ZAN remake. Kyo has modified the vocals for this ALOT. In some of the verses, he's completely erased his own contribution to the song. and in the first verse he speaks more so then sings (which I really like.) In the chorus, he sings an octave lower, which alot of people dislike, and I can understand why. However, you have to keep in mind that after Hageshisa, and Lotus, which rely on extremely High vocals in the chorus, this would somewhat feel generic if Kyo stuck to the original octave. The guitars are more palm muted then before. Which I like, I feel they would sound gut trembling live. Die has also lowered the octave in the verse, I'm not too sure wether I like it or not yet. The bass is expressed with alot of slapping, and doesn't differ alot from the original. I'm no drummer, but the drums don't sound alot different to me. Except for the fact that the tempo is quicker then the original. Overall, this is my favourite song from the single, and I feel it's designed ideally for the live performance, and as someone who's seen them live.. I feel that will be when this song truely shines.

[p.s for those who have the limited edition:
I like the performances of all these songs, but I am ECSTATIC that they played Milk again, they played it to perfection, I feel Dir en grey have mastered all their old era's and to them it's simplicity now]