Withering to Death.
| Withering to death. | ||||
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| Studio album by Dir en gray | ||||
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Publication |
March 9, 2005 (JP) |
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| Label (s) |
Free-Will (JP) Gan-Shin (EU) Warcon (US) |
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Format (s) |
CD + DVD (except Japan) |
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Experimental rock |
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Title (number) |
14th |
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running time |
51:22 |
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| occupation |
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Dir en gray |
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Studio (s) |
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Withering to death. is the fifth studio album by the Japanese J-rock band Dir en gray . Originally released in Japan on March 9, 2005 , it became the band's first album to be available in North America and Europe.
Emergence
After the release of the previous album Vulgar in 2003, further tours began, which continued into 2004. On March 3, 2004, the band's own fan club, A Knot, offered the Blitz 5 Days live DVD collection exclusively . The collection consists of 5 DVDs of live performances at Akasaka BLITZ in Minato (Tokyo) . The performances took place on five consecutive days in the summer of 2003. The selection of songs on each DVD (with the exception of the first) is taken from an album by the band, a few minutes of backstage material are also included. After the release of Blitz 5 Days , the recordings for the new album began, among other things, the single The Final was released on March 17th . After the two and a half month tour of Japan that followed, Saku followed in July . The live DVD tour 04 The Code of Vulgar [ism] was released in Japan on November 6, 2004, and includes the last two concerts of the tour, which were recorded at Zepp Tokyo.
On March 9th the time had come: After the art book THE MANIPULATED LIFE was available in early 2005 , Dir en Gray's 5th studio album was now in Japanese stores. It was the band's first album that was also available in Europe and North America. Before that, their music could only be obtained via imports or file sharing . The first pressings in Japan came with a tan cover and a red booklet, the normal version has a black cover and a purple booklet. The American and British releases contain an extra DVD that contains the music videos for Saku and The Final . Further additions are live recordings of Merciless Cult , Machiavellism and video material from Tour 04 The Code of Vulgarism . The French version contains the music video for Kodou , the German version that for Saku .
trip
On May 28, 2005 they gave their first appearance in Germany in the Columbiahalle in Berlin . According to official information, the concert was sold out within three days without being heavily promoted in the media. A total of 3500 visitors came to the concert. In addition to appearing in Berlin, the band also performed at Rock am Ring on June 3, 2005 and Rock im Park on June 4, 2005. This was followed by a concert in Paris on July 24, 2005 and an appearance at the Octopus Rock Festival in Belgium on July 29, 2005. After giving three concerts in the USA in March 2006 , Dir en gray performed again in Germany. On the one hand, they could be seen on May 27, 2006 in Berlin's Columbiahalle and then on May 28 in Cologne's E-Werk and shortly afterwards they performed again at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park. After the tour in Europe followed the one through Japan , from November 2005 they also took part in the 2005 International Taste Of Chaos Tour.
style
Allmusic describes the band's repertoire as a mixture of death metal , industrial dance-rock and 70s glam. Even more than its predecessor, the album has a dark heaviness, the ultra-dry production further emphasizes this atmosphere.
Heavy riffs in Merciless Cult and Garbage with aggressive growling and screaming are an example of this. The alternation between hard and soft, melodic vocal passages is not neglected on this album either. While C still provides variety with staccato-like drums, songs like Higeki wa Mabuta wo Oroshita Yasashiki Utsu and Itoshisa Ha Fuhai ni Tsuki have almost ballad-like, calm melodies and clear guitar playing.
Psychedelic screaming and screeching occur in Dead Tree , Beautiful Dirt , Saku and Kodoku ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku , and are crossed with melodic, sometimes high- pitched vocals, hard riffs and a few calm passages.
The rock-metal hybrid Jesus Christ R 'n R uses synthesizers and subdued growling at the beginning, radio influences can be heard. The second "hybrid" Spilled Milk even uses bells as background noise.
Rockiger are Machiavellism with fast riffs, Kodou and The Final are almost radio friendly.
reception
Allmusic writes, especially singer Kyo's falsetto screams would make the singer of The Darkness look bad. Withering to death. wouldn't bring anything new, neither lyrically nor musically. The song Clever Sleazoid is a nice example of the band's sound. The group would not win new fans with it, but those who like the band's style would also like this CD. IGN Entertainment says the album isn't a big musical leap, but could turn out to be a big geographic one if successful.
Track list
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The lyrics are all written by Kyo. As has been customary since the album Vulgar (2003), the composers of the individual songs are not named, but only given Dir en gray.
Track list CD:
- Merciless Cult - 2:55
- C - 3:30
- Saku (朔 -Saku-) - 2:57
- Kodoku ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku. (孤独 に 死 す 、 故 に 孤独。) - 3:25
- Itoshisa Ha Fuhai ni Tsuki (愛 し さ は 腐敗 に つ き) - 4:15
- Jesus Christ R 'n R - 4:00
- Garbage - 2:49
- Machiavellism - 3:16
- Dead Tree - 4:50
- The Final - 4:13
- Beautiful Dirt - 2:33
- Spilled Milk - 3:44
- Higeki wa Mabuta wo Oroshita Yasashiki Utsu (悲劇 は 目 蓋 を 下 ろ し し た 優 し き 鬱) - 5:08
- Kodou (鼓動) - 3:39
Bonus DVD:
North America and Great Britain:
- Merciless Cult (live)
- Final (PV)
- Machiavellism (live)
- Saku (PV)
- Tour04 the Code of Vulgar (ism) (live)
Germany:
- Saku (PV)
France:
- Kodou (PV)
Singles
The final
The record was in Japanese stores on March 22nd, 2004. Enclosed are three live recordings of songs from the Vulgar album, which were recorded during the Over the Vulgar Shudder tour .
Track list CD:
- The Final - 4:17
- Increase Blue (Live) - 3:39
- Red ... [em] (Live) - 5:05
- The IIID Empire (Live) - 3:14
Saku
The single Saku (朔 -Saku-) was released on July 14, 2004. Unusually, the theme song is in second place. The first song Machiavellism can be heard at the beginning of the Saku music video before the song begins. The third song GDS is a studio recording of the same song, which was previously used for the opening of the band's concerts.
Track list CD:
- Machiavellism - 3:12
- Saku (朔 -Saku-) - 2:58
- GDS - 7:46
Contributors
- Yoshinori Abe - co-producer
- Tatsuya Sakamoto - recording, mixing, mastering
- Dynamite Tommy - Executive Producer
- Koji Yoda - Art Director
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000345542
- ↑ http://www.jame-world.com/de/articles-1076-dir-en-grey-withering-to-death-.html
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000345542
- ↑ http://uk.music.ign.com/articles/697/697622p1.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from May 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from May 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
