They've added two members! Karyu from D'espairsRay - which I am excited about - and Giru from Vidoll - which I have... absolutely no opinion on what-so-ever...
That reminds me. I haven't listened to Angelo since their first single, and that was fou ...no.... five years ago. Jiminy.
Nothing personal, Angelo. You had the foundation of a band I'd like. I mean... you had my three favorite members from Pierrot. I see not fault in that. I'm just lazy. And when you haven't even changed enough to get your own page on Wikipedia, then I just lose track of you. Sorry.
But now I'm going to have to pay closer attention to you because you've gone and snatched up the guitarist of one of my other favorite bands that met its demise earlier this year. And currently, I'm only following two artists somewhat religiously, so I guess you'll give me something to do while Dir en grey runs around Europe and I wait for October to get here for that one guy named Miyavi or something like that. I've got five years worth of discography to catch up on now. Thanks. You're making me do something I like to do.
You should be ashamed!
That is, until the next shiny object gets dangled in front of my face. Then I'll probably just forget about you again.
Second post in and I'm already turning predictable. You're going to learn and learn fast that I love this band. However, I swear to you that they won't be my only topic. They'll just show up a lot.
Either way, it's not my fault that Dum Spiro Spero has more than one disc to it that are worth noting. Since disc 2 is more of a grab bag of tracks, I'm going to cover each individually instead of as a whole like I did with the first one. There's logic behind this, just go with it.
Rasetsukoku
It's been such a long time since I listened to this song that I had to go back and re-listen to the original. In the last two years, I've become less sentimental about their old stuff. I rarely listen to it anymore. I'm not sure why that is. When Uroboros was released, I sat down and decided to re-introduce myself to what Dir en grey once was, so I listened to all seven albums back to back. I wanted to stab a pencil through my brain when I was done. That could have something to do with it...
But that's something I'll save for another day. Maybe. If I feel like it.
Back on topic: Rasetsukoku's remake doesn't surprise me. It's like when they redid Zan, I suddenly realized "Oh wait! That's what it was suppose to sound like!" Unlike Zan, Rasetsukoku wasn't ever this weird track that stuck out like vampire at a mid-day pool party. When you put it up against the other tracks on the album like myaku, [KR] Cube, and Berry, it's in pretty good company.I'm pretty sure they could get away with remaking all of MACABRE without many problems (Can you imagine Shinya playing a redone version of Macabre? Because I want to...). It serves as this odd reminder that they've been headed in this direction musically for awhile and we never should have been surprised to begin with.
Amon (Symphonic Ver.)
So Amon's the one they added violins to? I've been wondering which track it was for weeks (remember: been listening to this in my car). I've always enjoyed when they do symphonic or unplugged versions of their songs, but I'm not sure if the contrasts the "symphony" provides is welcome or not. It rides this weird line of sounding a little cool or really hokey. It certainly adds.... flavor. I just don't know what kind. How I feel about this song just seems to change on an hourly basis.
Ruten no Tou (Unplugged Ver.)
Remember when I said I enjoy unplugged versions? I enjoy this. Not as much as I enjoyed some of their past ones, but I do enjoy it. I don't flip flop over this as much as I do Amon, but compared to let's say... the unplugged version of Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai ni Hohoemi, this one comes up a little short. Part of what I like so much about Rutenno Tou is it's weird teetering between being quite beautiful and almost uplifting in parts to burying itself into usual Dir en grey chaos to the point it's almost a little unsettling. Stripping it away to leave just Kyo and a piano, it almost loses it's effect. The piano provides almost unnecessary polish to the emotion, and it can't quite rip apart the serenity of the chorus the same way.
Diabolos (Demo 2010, Short Ver.)
So... it's essentially the same as the album version, just half the length. It's Dir en grey - fun sized.
"Akatsuki (Demo 2010)"
It's a little different, but the song in itself is hard to keep in my head, so I can't remember it enough to actually compare the two. I think the one on the album might have more actual words.
So that's where the second disc ends... oh wait. No it's not. That's where the second disc would usually end, but Dum Spiro Spero is different from the last two albums in the fact that it keeps going to the point its almost the length of the actual album. With what, you ask?
Everyone, I would like to re-introduce you to Dir en grey remixes.
Remember the last time they did this?
The burning... it's still there.
Actually, the last time they featured a remix was on Drain Away, but that doesn't really help matters much. Those remixes were pretty bad too.
Oh, and Wikipedia tells me which band member did what remix. The horrible feeling in my stomach... it won't go away.
The Blossoming Beelzebub (Remix) - by Kaoru
I've been trying to figure out what joke to go with on this one since I first heard it. The instrumental isn't necessarily horrible. It's got this "I'm locked in a malfunctioning escape pod and am about to be swallowed by the abyss of space" kind of vibe going with it. It occasionally trips over itself, but it almost kind of adds to the whole feel.
And then you have Kyo's voice.
I can't decide if this escape pod is filled with water now, just for the danger of it or if Kyo's voice has been eaten by a midi player. Remember when the internet was new and all you could download without taking an entire month were those small little midi files that were scattered everywhere? And every so often, there would be a converting error where your computer didn't quite have the same sounds as whoever made this and so the missing instrument got replaced with one of the many godawful reverbs that would blare in and ruin everything?
It's kind of like that.
"Yokusou ni Dreambox" Aruiwa Seijuku no Rinen to Tsumetai Ame (Remix) - by Toshiya
Okay, so this almost makes me want to take back all the jokes I made about Dir en grey remixes. Almost. If Wikipedia is to be trusted, then Toshiya's making up for the weird Luau-inspired hack job he did to Taiyou no Ao way back when. It doesn't feel so overridden with effects that the song is completely lost. It's actually got some good elements to it. It seems some of the most successful Dir en grey remixes have that same kind of clanking sound that makes me think of an industrial warehouse - and look what we have here - clanking sounds. And why are baby giggles so creepy?
Shitataru Mourou (Remix) - by Shinya
So... I should have guessed that this was done by Shinya, but since it doesn't sound like elevator music, I must have completely ignored the other signs. The rhythm of the song is really weird and sporadic, stumbling on itself like it's running down a steep hill with a lot of rocks. And instead of shoving Kyo into an underwater escape pod in space, he's now being smothered with a plastic bag behind giant, fast moving fan blades.
You should really be a bit more gentler to your vocalist, guys.
Akatsuki (Remix) - by Die
Wait... this song's shown up again? Really? How has this song creeped up on me three times and I've barely noticed it? And in all respects, I should probably be paying attention to it, because I feel like it might end up lying in wait in my bushes, ready to attack me with Kyo's eerie shifts between deep chanting to falsetto and then some weird level in between. The remix sounds like it's been ground up and shoved into a church organ that's inexplicably placed in the middle of an industrial park. And there's a circus. With really creepy clowns. That will eat you.
Decayed Crow (Remix) - by Kyo
So while Akatsuki is stalking me, this track is trying to be the uncommunicative boyfriend. "What are you doing?" "Where are you going?" "Did you just look at another woman?" "Why do you have that butcher knife?" "I thought you were right handed." "You don't tell me anything!"
And then there were bees?
And I can't explain any of it.
So why would I spend the extra money for an extra disc that was only okay in most respects?
I've got this on the DVD:
Between this and the studio shots for Vanitas. Totally worth it.
So I'm going to start this whole thing out by saying that Blogger has probably some of the most difficult coding to over ride that I've ever seen. And I use to sort through Livejournal over rides for giggles. So I had to do a little cheating to try to get it to work right... or at least close to right. It still won't quite do what I want, so I just tweaked so it wouldn't look horrible.
Now onto business!
'sup?
Dum Spiro Spero was released earlier this month - and I have it. Because I'm like that. I burned it for my car, and that is essentially where I've been listening to it. So for weeks, the album has been interrupted by my constant need to actually leave my car when I go places.
That's why I decided I'd actually sit down and listen to it straight and see if my opinion on it has changed on it.
Once it hit me that I'd hit the halfway mark without even noticing, I'm going to assume this isn't probably the case.
This is starting bad, so let me back up and say that I don't hate this album. There are no pitchforks or torches coming from my direction. I'm not going to get up on a soapbox and reminisce about the good old days when Dir en grey was in drag and could barely play their instruments. What I am going to say is that this is an unusual album and probably another one that I can barely remember the track names for.
It brings Vinushku to mind. It's as if they looked that track over said "Hey, we like this", just kept playing, and decided they might as well split each section up into tracks because it's now an album. It's got the same kind of bout of schizophrenia that I've learned to accept, just enough to keep all the tracks from bleeding into one another completely.
I've noticed a lot of my friends either don't like it or don't hate it. It's been a very wishy-washy "Eeeeh..." So I've come up with a theory as to why this is. Because that's what I do.
You remember when Vulgar first came out? Everyone loves that album now, but I didn't. I still really don't. As a whole, it wasn't that great. However, it does have some slap in the face amazing tracks on it that are quite memorable. I didn't like most of the songs but the ones I did like, I liked a lot. They can just keep re-releasing Shokubeni on however many singles they want, I'm perfectly fine with it. Hell, if they want to make an entire mini-album of just re-recorded tracks of Shokubeni on it, I will buy it. And I will listen to it forever. I can die happy because I've heard Red em... live and I am not going to exclude myself from the fans who go crazy whenever they hear even a hint of Obscure.
It's a formula that Dir en grey has learned to perfect. Even if the number of bad songs outweigh the good, if the good songs are so good you can actually forget the bad songs exist, you can trick people into thinking that you just made the best album in the entire world.
The problem is, since Dum Spiro Spero is conceptual and experimental and it plays like one extended Dir en grey song, there are less of those amazing songs to carry it into the memories of fans. The only songs I can pick out are the ones that were previously featured on singles, and I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to if I hadn't been listening to them for the past odd number of months.
So while all the songs might be just fine on their own, since they are all crammed onto an album and not paired with some memorable songs that you could shout the lyrics to at the top of your lungs, in the minds of the Dir en grey fan, the album falls short and just sinks to the bottom of their favorites list.
A couple of random thoughts:
Kyo's got this weird chanty thing to pair with his usual screeches. It's like Uroboros but turned up to 11.
I like the last two tracks together (what are they called? Vanitas and Ruten no Tou?). They're audio conjoined twins. I can't separate them and be happy about it.
The album cover doesn't make me want to stab myself in the eye with a pen.
