Dir En Gray

Withering To Death

[3/5] Now five albums old, Dir en grey have been one of Japan’s bigger rock bands for nearly a decade, with a glam sense of style and a postmodern tendency to jump giddily between genres. Frontman Kyo sings like he has an iPod full of HIM and Cradle Of Filth tunes, alternating from undead growls to swelling romantic harmonies while his bandmates pile on the erratic riffs and haphazard keyboard stabs. Even with lyrics handy, it’s usually unclear whether he’s using English or Japanese–a sudden outburst of gibberish in “Kodoku Ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku,” for example, isn’t so much surprising as hilarious. Still, like much of this album, the groove monster “Jesus Christ R ’N R” is easy to mock, but harder to get out of your head.
(WARCON) D.X. Ferris