Dir En Grey
The Unraveling
Ok, it's been a while since I last posted - various things have got in the way, but now I'm back.
Dir En Grey are a band I've been sort-of aware of for a few years, but have never really listened to until now. Good timing, as it turns out, since they released a new album just over a month ago. And it's an interesting one. Now, I'm not a fan of clean singing in metal, since most metal lyrics are - there's no nice way to say this - shite. Fortunately, Dir En Grey's lyrics are all in Japanese, so I can enjoy the melodies and the singer's very pleasant voice without cringing at their attempts at poetry (tbf, I don't know what their lyrics are like, I'm just assuming here). There are some screams on this record, and a bit of very porcine grunting, but they don't dominate the record. That doesn't mean this isn't a heavy album though - opening track "The Unraveling" centers around a very hefty riff and some almost death metal-y passages pop up in places. The second track, "Karma," again starts with a nice, crushing guitar riff, and some lead playing that's vaguely reminiscent of "Heartwork"-era Carcass. From then on, it settles into a nice groove, and then the screams come in, mixed with clean vocals, which is a move I thought I hated until I heard this. There's also an interesting guitar solo - not my favourite moment on the album, sounds a bit cheesy to these ears, but fortunately it's very short. Then it's into a rather cringeworthy melodic third track that falls into all the traps that metal does when it tries to be sensitive.
Fourth track "Karasu" starts with an eighties-style synthy intro, with cheesy "atmospheric" lead guitar that sounds like Metallica at their most embarrassing. The singer's voice is probably supposed to sound tender and emotional, but the overall effect is that of reading a teenager's diary. I'm beginning to see why Kerrang! likes these guys so much. Fortunately, all that doesn't last too long before it's back into the crunchy riffs and genuinely brutal vocals - unfortunately, that part doesn't last too long either. After a few moments of awesomeness, it's back into full-on emo territory. The song switches between these two modes a few times - just enough to keep one listening - before settling into something that's halfway between the two. "Bottom of the Death Valley" begins with the same soft, feelings-wracked pish, but by this point it's difficult to care. The acoustic guitar intro to "Unknown.Despair.Lost" promises little, but then those big, heavy guitars come in and things start looking up. The song is somewhere between Rage Against the Machine and Slipknot (good Slipknot - as in, Iowa). There's a slightly cheesy chord progression in there that sounds like something a motivational speaker would play at the end of a speech, but all in all, this is a good song, and contains some of the most disgusting vocals I've heard in a while (that's a good thing). There's also a nice falsetto part. The final track, aptly titled "The Final," oscillates between the two poles of this record - exhilarating death metal on the one hand, Evanescence on the other.
Ultimately, this isn't an album I'd recommend. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, you can buy the good tracks and leave the rest.
Rating: 5/10
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