So yesterday I received my bundle of Dir En Grey's latest album "Dum Spiro Spero". Which is Latin for "While I breath, I hope". This bundle came with the deluxe edition of the CD including two bonus tracks with an english lyric book. It also included a t-shirt, the whole album on two vinyl records *I got this for novelty's sake*, a signed poster and lastly a digital download of the album for my mp3 player. The cover of this album is probably my favorite Dir En Grey cover yet. It features a bamboo forest with a god like statue in the center.
So as I mentioned in my earlier post. I found this album to be their heaviest, darkest, most atmospheric album yet. Yet because of this. I also believe that this is their most coherent album yet. As it all flows very nicely. Kyo's vocals are very well done in this album, and have evolved quite a bit. Beautiful cleans, screeching banshee screams, and demonic guttural growls. The guitar work done by Kaoru, and Die is mindbogglingly heavy even for Dir En Grey. It's also a nice surprise that this album features a couple of great guitar solos done by Kaoru. Toshiya's bass work is also extremely heavy, and Shinya's drums sound better than ever. The sound of this album is very dark, and can almost be described as maniacal. Sometimes I even felt that some songs like "Decayed Crow" for instance had a border line blackened death metal sound. While other songs like "Vanitas" worked beautifully with Kyo's clean vocals. There are three singles on this album while "Different Sense" has remained unchanged. "Lotus" has a slightly different sound. The biggest change is done on the single "Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami". As it sounds as if it has been rerecorded. It's a lot darker sounding, and the clean vocals sound slightly different. As I got the deluxe edition I got two bonus tracks. "Rasetsukoku" a re-recording of a song from "Macabre". This song has a very arena rock sound, and adds a lot to the album. Then there is the symphonic version of "Amon". While the normal version is a nice heavy metal song. The symphonic version is head over heels one of my favorite tracks on the album. It adds so much to the song, and I would love to see Dir En Grey experiment with symphonic metal in the future. As this was a wonderful endeavor.
I adore this album, and I'm proud to be an owner of it. My favorite tracks on this album are "Lotus", The Symphonic version of "Amon", "Yokusou Ni Dreambox" Aruiwa Seijuku No Rinen To Tsumetai Ame", and "Decayed Crow". I give this the most highest recommendation I can, and I demand you BUY IT! I've come to conclusion that this is my favorite Dir En Grey album yet. Overtaking "Withering to Death". I would just like to thank Dir En Grey for making another album, and when they come back to America. I will surely fight to see them live.
