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May 17, 2012 |
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DIR EN GREY - The Marrow Of A Bone
Sony BMG (2007) |
8/10 |
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01. Conceived Sorrow
02. Lie Buried With A Vengeance
03. The Fatal Believer
04. Agitated Screams Of Maggots
05. Grief
06. Ryoujoku No Ame
07. Disabled Complexes
08. Rotting Root
09. Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai Ni Hohoemi
10. The Pledge
11. Repetition Of Hatred
12. The Deeper Vileness
13. Clever Sleazoid
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It's a wonder DIR EN GREY was ever signed in the U.S., let alone on a major label like Sony. Not that the band is bad, far from it, but their sound is so bizarre you'd think the American music industry would have no idea what do with them.
First is the matter of the band's geographic origin. Rather than hailing from some desolate Norwegian fjord, the sovereign Metal nation of Sweden, or even the swamps of Florida as their sound suggests, DIR EN GREY come to us from the Land of the Rising Sun. While Japan has always been a fertile ground for Metal fandom, it's been less successful in offering quality, noteworthy contributions to the genre.
Thankfully, DIR EN GREY doesn't sound like any Metal band from Japan so far. In fact, they're almost impossible to describe. The closest comparison would be OPETH meeting Japanese composer Yoko Kanno, but even that fails to fully capture the band's unique genre and culture defying music.
Ditching most of the accessibility of 2005's "Withered To Death", "The Marrow Of A Bone" possesses a schizophrenic quality not heard since RAM-ZET. Most of the album is firmly rooted in Death Metal, but Marrow runs the gamut from SLIPKNOT "Nu Grind", to Black Metal, to PARADISE LOST style Gothic Doom, to beautiful, haunting J-Rock ballads. There's also the RAMMSTEIN factor - most of the songs are delivered in the band's native Japanese and the language barrier actually strengthens the songs, contributing to the sense of alienation and horror.
Despite obvious talent, vocalist Kyo remains the make or break point of this band. An Asian hybrid of David Bowie, Anders Fridén, and Dani Filth, his voice flips between beautiful, piercing, gravelly, harsh, and irritating with alarming ease.
Given the breakneck pace at which DIR EN GREY shift styles, you wouldn't expect the album to gel as well as it does. Yet it works in spite of itself, owing mostly to the solid writing and sense of genuine artistry that carries from start to finish. The result could be the soundtrack to some gritty, ultramodern Japanese horror movie; or maybe "Cowboy Bebop" as written by Clive Barker.
Don't expect to get this one on the first spin. In covering this many ends of the spectrum, "The Marrow Of A Bone" is the very definition of a grower. But if there's one thing the Japanese are good at, it's building a sense of atmosphere…even if part of that atmosphere is the psychopath waiting to bash your head in with a sledgehammer.
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