Dir en grey- Agitated Screams of Maggots
Track 1- Agitated Screams of Maggots
I'm going to start off by saying I like it very much, and then explain why. The first impression that I got when I first heard this was 'wow, this is Really Metal!' And it is. Now, to me, Dir en grey are a metal band. The music (JUST the music here, not the lyrics, look, personalitites, etc.) are very like western metal. They are. Put Agitated Screams of Maggots next to My Ruin's Blasphemous Girl and they have similar...thickness in their style and attract the same audiences/croud. I know people are either screaming how OMGAMERICAN Diru have become, or else x-c043 Diru fans are fervently defending every move they make to the death and denying any Korn influences, but what those fans have to realize is that Diru wants to be metal. They want to play in America and be known all over the world. There's a saying that if you take on America you take on the world, and that's what Diru is doing. They chose to tour with Korn, didn't they? Kaoru listens to soft-rock Nickelback. These people are just some of the guy's musical influences.
That said, there are some very interesting technical bits to this song. The whole things reminds me of CLEVER SLEAZOID in that it's heavy as fuck but you do get a rhythm of sorts. Screaming can be tuneful, no matter what the stuck-up middle classes say (lolz I am one).
I love the dual guitar at the beginning of this song, the riffs are really strong and create something to hold onto throughout the song.
As for the vocals...they're not bad. Kyo's vocals are lacking, we all know that. He can't sing like he used to, but now that doesn't seem to matter because he wants to scream. And it works, he can do it well. I think he's always been able to.
This song also reminds me of Saku very much, listen closely to from about 2.17-2.40. It's very Saku. But I dug that song, so it's no matter.
Track 1- Kodoku ni shisu, yue ni Kodoku [LIVE]
Let me start of by saying I hate live tracks on singles on principle, just because they're used as filler. And Dir en grey's live recordings have been incresingly shit recently. I was lenient on Kyo until I heard D'espairs Ray live on Saturday, and Hizumi fucking blew me away. He sounded as smooth and polished as he does on CD. Compared...yeah. Kyo doesn't. But Kyo's vocals are always interesting, at least, and that keeps me gripped. Also, some of the songs he records simply can't be sung (screamed), he's forced to miss lines out.
I was pretty pleased with these lives, overall. Kodoku... was pretty good. My first thought when I heard Kyo's vocals at the beginning was 'he sounds like a man'. What I mean by that is he's starting to sound like he knows where he is- a 30 year old hardcore fucker in a metal band. And I like it.
Toshiya stands out around 2.15 in this song, his bass is so rich and soulful, I think it should be used more.
Track 3- Spilled Milk
I thought this was a good live track. But maybe that's because it's mostly screaming and that's what Kyo does best these days. The guitars on this one annoy me, and they always have. =/ They're too together, there's no layers, just Kaoru and Die pumping the same couple of notes over and over. Apart from around 1.15, I like the rhythm there. This reminded me of the lives from Clever Sleazoid.
Another thing I like about the fact that Kyo doesn't always sing parts of the song is that you get to hear the instrumentals, and that's always interesting. It's curious to hear the rhythm underneath the screams, it helps me for one, appreciate the song more.
As always, I loved the end to this song. And the funky twist at the end was very cool! +10 for that!
Track 4- Obscure
Not bad. Kyo pulls of his falsetto, as I find he always does, and the ending to this is particularly lovely- his voice wobbles a bit like an opera. There are some painful moments such as 2.32, but the random screams he puts in are quite nice and vicious. Something else I've noticed- sometimes, depending on what he sings, Kyo can make the song sound like a completely different song. That's what I mean by Dir en grey being unpredictable.
Overall: 3/5.
Worth listening to, but I have the feeling that it's just because it's Dir en grey...
A metal track to headbang to.