 
The masters of J-Rock Dir En Grey are back with
their 8th studio album that is not for the faint
of heart. The band has been venturing into the
darker side of their music in a much heavier style
on the past couple of releases; “Dum Spiro
Spero” however goes beyond the boundaries
of past releases and pushes their sound to a whole
new level.
First single “Hageshisa To, Kono Mune No
Naka De Karamitsuita Shakunetsu No Yami”
was released way back in December 2009 and was
an extremely heavy beast of a metal track. They’ve
definitely become more of a metal band now and
are drifting away from their J-Rock ways but not
completely. The screaming vocals ranged from deep
aggressive car wreck sounding to extremely high
pitched almost like you would imagine a murder
victim; the music is a lot heavier, more like
a song you would expect from the likes of Bring
Me The Horizon except a lot less shit.
2 more singles were released this year prior to
the album release, “Different Sense”
and “Lotus”. “Different Sense”
is like “Hageshisa To, Kono Mune No Naka
De Karamitsuita Shakunetsu No Yami” because
it is extremely heavy and the vocal range is astronomical,
but this song had a slight supernatural feel which
is almost impossible to describe, just the way
overlaid sections entwine gives off a surreal
feeling. They toned it back a bit with “Lotus”,
the bass is a big part of the song with light
distorted guitars following; definitely mellow
in comparison to the others and definitely a song
that is more relevant to old school Dir En Grey
fans.
Whilst listening to “Shitataru Mourou”
I could not help but think of my buddies in Forever
Never because that bassy guitar tone is something
those guys are the masters of; obviously that’s
where the comparison ends because then the overlaid
clean guitars and the alternating sinister vocals
completely take over the show, this darker side
and not essentially completely heavy new approach
I absolutely adore because it’s so creepy
and gives off a certain sensation that can alter
a person’s mood. “Diabolos”,
““Yokusou Ni Dreambox” Aruiwa
Seijuku No Rinen To Tsumetai Ame” and “Akatsuki”
are other perfect examples of this approach being
effectively used, there are many throughout the
album but these are definitely the standout tracks.
If the heavy side to the album is what you’re
after then obviously after“Hageshisa To,
Kono Mune No Naka De Karamitsuita Shakunetsu No
Yami” and “Different Sense”
there is still more fierce metal tracks waiting
to bash your brains out. “Decaying Crow”
is definitely one of those, it will rip your face
clean off with face paced, aggressive, bouncy,
progressive precision; “Amon” can
also be thrown into the list of names that pack
a punch. If you buy the limited edition version
of the album then there is a bonus track called
“Rasetsukoku” which is a brain blast
as well, thick and chunky riffs with some tremendous
vocal work once again. The other bonus track is
“Amon (Symphonic Version)”which is
just exactly what it says in the title; the track
“Amon” but played together with a
full orchestra, its such a strange song because
it starts off really gentle but then as the song
kicks in it becomes a very strange feeling track
but I’d highly recommend it.
All in all I think this albums perfect due to
the fact being I am a huge metal head that recently
has been all into originality and things that
are quite different, this album ticks all my boxes
and is one I shall definitely have an obsession
with for a while. A lot of fans however including
a few I know will be in uproar about this though
as they aren’t really big fans of metal
and much prefect Dir En Grey’s original
J-Rock style. Definitely a controversial release
so but I think that this will definitely push
them further into stardom within the metal scene.
5/5
Review by James Webb
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