“Critic’s Choice Essay – DIR EN GREY” by John Dang

Carrying the weight of one of Japan’s most well-known rock bands, metal band DIR EN

GREY has been active for nearly 16 years since their inception in 1997, having successfully established an international fan base spanning from America to Europe altogether. Consisting of five members, Kyo (vocals), Kaoru (lead guitar), DIE (rhythm guitar), Toshiya (bassist), and

Shinya (drummer), the band’s original concept laid within the visual kei movement, a popular subculture among Japanese musicians which focused on excessive make-up, flamboyant hairstyles, and gothic and punk inspired outfits, often leaving the impression of androgyny.

However, through constantly incorporating their change as a band into their music and image,

DIR EN GREY has transitioned away from the visual kei movement after their third album,

VULGAR. As a result, in an effort to stay unique to their sound, DIR EN GREY is now considered an experimental metal band due to the different sound each album produces, which could also represent their desire to pursue their idea of expression. Centering their ideals around concepts such as “suicide is the proof of living” and “inward scream”, DIR EN GREY takes what would otherwise be negative ideas and translates them into music.

Upon listening to their music or watching one of their promotional videos (the Japanese term for music video) for the first time, it would not be surprising for one to regard DIR EN

GREY as vulgar, obscene, or disturbing. Although the band’s concept revolves around grotesque themes, their music can be described as a desire to ascertain a certain truth, often delving into the boundaries of one’s negativity to invoke self-realization or awareness in relation to the band’s message. A great example of this concept would be “Obscure,” one of DIR EN GREY’s most popular and controversial songs to date, which was released in the album VULGAR in 2003.

While the song itself carries elements of experimental metal and nu metal, the PV (promotional

video) is filled with an abundant number of morbid symbols, including four geishas crowding around a large metal penis with a baby’s head, the dismemberment of a woman’s limbs as she lay across an operating table, and a woman plucking a baby’s head from a branch only to devour it. However, if one were to analyze the symbolism found within the PV as well as the lyrics written for the song, one would find that “Obscure” is actually addressing the issue of abortion in

Japan, along with their perspective of how Japanese people view abortion. Although the delivery could be considered extreme, the controversy that it caused as well as the attention it brought indicates that DIR EN GREY, similar to many artists, was able to communicate their intended message through their music. Although seemingly senseless at a first glance, their music indeed holds depth beyond the superficial level of an exaggerated, grotesque form of metal.

Beyond incorporating their message within their songs, DIR EN GREY also carries the extremity of their ideas to the stage. Expanding the idea of self-expression through focusing on one’s negativity, Kyo, the vocalist of the band, would often perform to his physical limits which upon observation could be interpreted as releasing or giving free expression to his emotions, or venting. For instance, after having successfully achieved touring worldwide, DIR EN GREY toured alongside headliner Korn with eight other bands in the Family Values Tour across the

United States in 2006.

In the YouTube video “DIR EN GREY – LIVE AT ‘FAMILY VALUES’ TOUR”, which shows a clip of the tour split into two different performances with a time skip in between, the band’s stage intensity is showcased, offering a very conflicting perspective between message and method of expression. During the performance of the first song, “Kodoku ni Shisu, Yue ni

Kodoku,” Kyo performed the act of self-mutilation on stage, specifically fish hooking, in order to decorate his face with blood while he continued to scream lyrics consisting of the themes of

loneliness and hopelessness. With an additional wound across his torso, Kyo screams the lyrics of “The III D. Empire” in the second part of the video without restraint, clearly overexerting his vocal cords yet paying no mind to the potential repercussions. With one foot on the iron stand, leg shaking with a mix of anxiety and excitement, Kyo continues to scream nearly insensibly even as he falls to the ground, and ends the performance by forcefully detaching the stand only to throw it at the drummer’s stage.

At the very core, DIR EN GREY’s music is ultimately of the metal genre, which in some subcultures of metal emphasizes letting loose and catering to self-destructive tendencies.

Through combining the concept of DIR EN GREY’s focus on those negative emotions and then translating it back into music, a form of communication that seeks to relate to its listener, it enables us to give these unlabeled and often unspoken emotions purpose, whether you understand it at the level of self-mutilation, screaming, poetry, or another form of art. DIR EN

GREY’s music gives the concept of freedom of speech another dimension by empowering the listener to allow the weight of one’s burden to speak, through understanding DIR EN GREY’s own method of voice, which beyond the chaotic screams merely whispers, “This is me.”

Works Cited

“DIR EN GREY – LIVE AT ‘FAMILY VALUES’ TOUR.” YouTube. Mar. 2007. Web. 4 Feb

2013.

“Dir en grey – Obscure [[UNCUT]].” YouTube. Jan. 2006. Web. 4 Feb 2013.

DIR EN GREY. “Obscure.” Vulgar. Firewall Div./SMEJ, Gan-Shin, 2003. CD.