The NEW Dir en grey thread

[Susan]

Agitated Screams and Maggots:

I have no idea what he's saying. I'm not sure if I really care because this is the first time a Diru song has sounded like pure, monotonous NOISE to me. Kyo doesn't even sing in this song...

In other news, I've realized that Clever Sleazoid has really grown on me. And I finally listened to Ryoujoku no Ame, and I like. Ha.

I'm really starting to wonder their next album will sound like. :/

 

[Miz]

@Elec: I don't think he's trying to be poetic anymore. I actually understand why one would want to be offensive. Look at Manson. He doesn't want people to be pleased by that line. It should be clear by now, even through the music, that he's going for a vinegar approach rather than honey.

When it comes down to it, what's the difference when he says it in two different ways-- even from the same self-perspective? Before it may have been tearjerking or downright creepy, but if he says it now, but in a more.. brutal way, it's only a change that goes with the music. Can you even picture him trying to sound clever and 'pretty' over this stuff?

@Everyone who said stuff about him not singing: How in the world would you work in some clean vocals without sounding like you have ADD? >_> Face it, it's a metal song, Kyo's doing metal vocals. They're not a VK band. Remember that for the rest of their career. Side note: He 'sings' the words "I'll rape your daughter". It may not be crooning, but what more do you want out of a band who sounds more like Converge than Luna Sea?

@Susan: Listen to it a couple times. I didn't really understand the song either the first time. I heard no structure. You have to.. listen to something other than Kyo in order to really hear that there's more than just noise.

@Halvorc: You forgot about grandchildren! And.. "I WILL FUCK YOUR ANCESTORS' SKELETONS!!!!"

 

[Haku]

I like ASoM, but... I agree about missing the vocal melody. o_o I think I actually miss lyrics too.

Why do I sense something symbolic of death? like, not from the song meaning, but the aura of where the band is heading...

 

[Susan]

I'm not saying that the music is all noise. I guess when I first listened to it, I was kind of in a state of shock. You can't understand Kyo, period; Which I "get," sure. It's a metal song (I think?). He's doing his scary metal voice. But he sounds so strained and it's very grating. There's good screaming and there's bad screaming. This leans towards bad, imo. But I'm not a very good judge. I just know that I don't like it, and I can't see him doing this very often, so that's what I said I was worried about the sound of the new album. If there's more songs like ASOM, I think I'd be really dissapointed.

But after a few listens, ASOM's music is decent, if not good. Although it sounds... odd. I don;t normally listen to metal, you see (which is why I'm no good to judge Kyo's screaming). I'm not even sure if you call this metal or death metal or whatever... I like Diru and some other bands like them, but I'm no expert or "connoisseur" of music like some of the other members of this forum. I just think that the music doesn't quite match with Kyo's... noise, or "agitated screaming" I guess.

I like most of their stuff from kisou to Withering to Death. I REALLY like Withering to Death and Vulgar. Earlier stuff turns me off a bit, and their newer stuff is kind of just... moving towards an extreme I'm not used to. I don't listen to Diru "because they're Dir en grey." I LIKE them. I do LIKE this kind of music sometimes. I judge it on a band to band, and song to song, basis. But...

Call me stupid, but Agitated Screams of Maggots was a nice try but isn't really very.... good? :/ For diru, that is. I really could just be ignorant of something going on there that's vital to the "enjoyment" of this song, though...

 

[rizumu]

The only part I don't like is when he's screaming "Shout The Joy"...waaay too strained. I love the riffs and drumming leading into "It's the Black Flag, motherfucker!" That part is so great.

I just got my tickets for the Wiltern.

 

[Miz]

I don't think Diru's gonna please you much anymore if you don't like metal. Sure, there's gonna be the soft songs here and there, but as they go on, they get more and more frequent, and Kyo strains less and less. (Admit it, he sounded SO forced in Myaku and Mask and whatnot! Even Kigan for that matter.)

As for a tip: Remember, death metal = grunts and incedibly fast drums. usually about gore and well, death and such.

Diru = high vocals (By metal standards), mid-paced music (By metal standards), weak subject matter (By metal standards), and no blastbeats.

Dir en grey can't be classified in any sub-sub-subcatagory, because their sound is constantly changing, even from song to song. A tr00 death or black metal band will not stray from their roots unless they are that fearless.

<blahblahmetalreferences>It's just a shame though, that death metal has been bastardized to the point where the term is so loosely used, and nobody can tell what it is anymore or recognize it. There are so many bands who claim to be death metal but truly aren't, so people who AREN'T stuck up about their metal get puzzled by the people who want to be the elitist types classify the wrong bands there, so people are led to believe that anything with no clean vocals and a ton of screaming is death metal. Bah!</blahblahmetalreferences>

But back on the Diru topic.. I have a feeling they shoulda changed their name. With how they feel right now, and how people are reacting.. it would have been a gooooood idea.

Btw... Susan, no offense, but I'm curious as to who's screaming you like. It'd help me understand what you mean by 'good screaming and bad' My personal favorite isn't Kyo, suprisingly. It's Takayuki of The Piass.

 

[DementedThingie]

I could do without the censoring but... the ASoM PV gets wonderful kudos from me. I LOVE the animation.

 

[Edgey]

Though there was too much censoring (mtv version I saw, go figure *shrugs* ) it's a pretty cool PV
Rather perverse in it's imagery but it's still rather cool

 

[Susan]

Btw... Susan, no offense, but I'm curious as to who's screaming you like. It'd help me understand what you mean by 'good screaming and bad' My personal favorite isn't Kyo, suprisingly. It's Takayuki of The Piass.

That's a good question. I'll let you know when I find someone? Okya, so maybe I'm a bit partial to Hizumi's... nosie. And I don't mind Takayki. The Piass aren't often on my playlist lately, though. That's just a mood thing. I've got a couple Deathgaze songs on here that I enjoy on occasion, and some Joker. And recently I've been checking out Screw. (but my new Gazette purchases sidetracked that) That's just Japanese stuff, though. I used to listen to Pantera years ago. Recently my brother introduced to stuff like Children of Bodom and Arech Enemy, but I haven't really had a chance to check them out.

Now, it's that I dislike metal. I just don't really listen to it very often... maybe because I'm not really familar wiht very many metal bands, and don't really understand it. I don't mean what the vocalist is singing/screaming or whatever. I mean, THE MUSIC. The genre. I don't get... it... My younger brother listens to it. He also likes Gackt, and Mucc, and others. So lately I haven't really been able to understand HIM. Or maybe it's because I don't really know what to look for...

I was exaggerating. Trying to hard to sound like I know what the hell I'm talking about when I said "there's good screaming and there's bad screaming." I didn't mean to offend you Miz, if I did, by acting like some kind of know-it-all. I'm guilty as charged! I freely and openly admit that I know nothing about metal... although I'd like to learn. And I often try to sound more knowledgeable than I a ctually am. It's a baaaad habit.

But I'm pretty sure about one thing (correct me PLEASE if I'm wrong!), but a good vocalist wouldn't actually "scream" but instead make NOISE. It's something that I learned recently froma voice instructor (not mine, someone else's), that good vocalists don't scream all the time, that would be horrendous. They just add a throaty noise to their voice. It's hard for me to explain, but that's how I understand it. Oh I'm usre there's some actual screaming going on, but not all the time.

So what it boils down to is that I've heard some pretty good noise. It sounds weird to say "pleasant" noise. But That's the thing. Kyo's "noise" actually ounds like really loud, grating SCREAMING. It sounds so strained and I can't keep listening to the song because it bothers me. But it's not that I can't listen to metal in general, you see? It's just this one song. I've heard Kyo's screaming before, and he's also sounded BETTER. I think he still can sound better too.

I like what I like when I like it, and I was just saying that I don't like this, but I like Diru. I'll keep listening to them, But I'm worried that Kyo's straining (or what seems like it to me) will tak away from an otherwise good album.

I hope this spleel made some sense. I'm such a random babbling idiot sometimes. :/

edit: in retropsect, this entire post sounds kind of stupid. I think I'm just going to keep my diru fandom to myself from now on. It's so hard contributing when there are much better fans than I. :/

 

[Sousuke]

Here we go again.

 

[rizumu]

I like the girl turning into the witch/fairy thing and squishing the guy at the end. That made me like the cover. xD But umm, yeah. Wow. Some video. Kyo has managed to disturb even me.

Oh, does anyone know what magazines Deg even appears in anymore? I'd be really interested to read some interviews on Agitated Screams.

 

[Pierrot]

his point WAS to piss you off and he pretty much won.

So his point was to shock his fans? When did he tell you that?

And while Kyo sounds sarcastic

How can you analyze his voice and his writting in a language foreign to him? You can easily misinterpret because of those factors.

You shouldn't be too upset over Kyo's lyrics, not if you think about what all these teenagers are singing without thinking about it. *examples above*

I'm more upset about all these teenagers who sing about raping and know about it than the idiotic masses who sing rap and don't understand what they're saying.

 

[Sousuke]

I have a feeling they shoulda changed their name. With how they feel right now, and how people are reacting.. it would have been a gooooood idea.

Got to agree with you on this. Weren't they thinking about changing their name after they released kisou or something? I'm not sure I remember reading that but oh well. I think they knew it would be a shock but they don't seem to care.

 

[IIID]

I have a feeling they shoulda changed their name. With how they feel right now, and how people are reacting.. it would have been a gooooood idea.

Got to agree with you on this. Weren't they thinking about changing their name after they released kisou or something? I'm not sure I remember reading that but oh well. I think they knew it would be a shock but they don't seem to care.

Eh, I'm thankful they didn't. I think that would've been silly, actually. They're still the same band, they've simply evolved.

 

[Miz]

his point WAS to piss you off and he pretty much won.

So his point was to shock his fans? When did he tell you that?

And while Kyo sounds sarcastic

How can you analyze his voice and his writting in a language foreign to him? You can easily misinterpret because of those factors.

You shouldn't be too upset over Kyo's lyrics, not if you think about what all these teenagers are singing without thinking about it. *examples above*

I'm more upset about all these teenagers who sing about raping and know about it than the idiotic masses who sing rap and don't understand what they're saying.

1. But yet every fansite says he does, then bitches when he actually does it.

2. He DOES. It doesn't matter what the language is. Is he some kind of illiterate idiot who doesn't know English to save his life?

3. Both are equally bad. Kyo isn't a teenager either so that's irrelavent anyway.

@Susan: Screaming isn't meant to be an art, from what I know. It seems to be more of a way of expressing oneself. I really don't think you could sing or do the throaty stuff to that kind of music.

Really, though, I'm getting tired of people praising Hizumi's screaming. To tell the truth, I'd say it sounds crackly and dry. I think it's how often someone screams that makes people determine how good they are. What a shame. There are many good screamers out there, including Kyo. He makes sounds I can't even imagine myself doing, because it's really hard. There's also Pest from Gorgoroth, and their current vocalist, Gaahl. Screaming all the time isn't bad by any means. It's not prim and proper, but it's not meant to be.

 

[Susan]

Thanks Miz. I think I'll listen to ASOM again later and think about a bit more. Maybe that's what I'm missing in the appreciation of screaming. Thinking of it as art, and appreciating it as something I simply cannot do. Hmmm.

 

[navate]

Really, though, I'm getting tired of people praising Hizumi's screaming. To tell the truth, I'd say it sounds crackly and dry.

Dude, it's a matter of opinion. You really need to back off. If you don't like Hizumi's screaming but like Kyo's, that's fine, but realize that other people are perfectly in their right to think differently. You've been so confrontational this past week. Take it down a notch, okay?

 

[Miz]

Sorry about that. The whole Diru fans thing just makes my head explode with the constant near-heckling they get. I'm considering a post-break for a while just to let the bitter taste of this release blow over.

 

[evespikey]

But back on the Diru topic.. I have a feeling they shoulda changed their name. With how they feel right now, and how people are reacting.. it would have been a gooooood idea.

Yeah, I think this too. Their sound is so dramatically different there are people who hate their old and like their new stuff, and people who like the old and hate the new...and both call themselves Dir en grey fans. When really, the fans don't have much in common.

But with regards to screaming, Miz, have you heard D'espairs Ray live? Hizumi was amazing. Really. Nothing compared to Kyo's latest lives. But like Navate says, it's opinion in the end so ^^;

 

[Harlequin]

So I just got my copy of ASoM, and after fixing some food, eating it, then browsing the internet a bit, I gave it a listen...

And I'm happy. I love it, actually, and it's upstaged even Saku, which was my favorite heavy song from them. I love the music playing in the background, and am pleased with Kyo's screaming. This is definitely a song I can lose myself in, be it live or on my playlist. With the release of CS, RnA, and ASoM, I'm hugely anticipating this next album.

As for the live tracks, I can listen to Spilled Milk and Obscure, but all in all I'm just not a fan of live tracks.

As for this screamer conversation, as much as I like both Kyo and Hizumi, neither are my favorites. I find myself quite partial to Riku from Phantsmagoria. Even if I despise them for their releases.