Audience Killer Loop: Dir En Grey

Dir En Grey

Oh man. Where do I even start with these guys? Lets start with the obvious. They are unclassifiable. At best I could say that they are Avant Garde Metal. Essentially they use a loose template of metal and build everything else from there. Metal is the canvas but it is not the palette. These guys have been around since 1997 and have kept the same line up ever since. They originally started out as a Visual Kei band, but have since morphed into this Slipknot/Korn/Rammstein band that we can hear today. With downtuned guitars, slapping bass, hip hop rhythm and industrial sensibilities. They were originally born from the ashes of a rock band called La:Sadie's, but for whatever reason they disbanded. Or rather the then bassist left, but the rest decided to hire a new bassist and forge ahead under a new name, thank goodness. As I mentioned before, they've managed to keep the same line up ever since which is no mean feat, and you can really hear that in the latest album Arche. Which is quite possibly their best album yet. If only because it also comes across as the most focussed of their albums. Which also completely defies Angry Metal Guy's Law of Diminishing Records.

 I first became aware of them due to their phenomenal album Uroboros. An album that for me was the album of the year of 2008 just about dislodging Opeth's Watershed. I had never heard anything quite like them up to that point. Uroboros has got what I consider to the be best album intro. Every they release something I let out a little noise of celebration. They are possibly the biggest musical phenomenon to be exported from Japan and by all accounts they are the biggest metal band in Japan since X-Japan. Which shouldn't be too surprising since X-Japan overlord Yoshiki helped to launch their career and 'hide' was a major influence on Kaoru guitar playing. The other remarkable thing about them is that they managed to do all of that without having to sing in English. The only other metal band that has managed international success using their mother tongue is of course Rammstein.

Visual Kei era

So they went through a stage of Visual Kei playing slightly more alternative rock, more akin to Jane's Addiction. But seemingly completely shed that image by the time they released Withering To Death.  It feels a bit like they went through the same epiphany as Sepultura did when Korn released their brilliant debut album (Yes, it is brilliant). Withering to Death, is cut from the same mould as Korn's debut album, it's full of jagged edges, slight hip-hop bass lines, off kilter rhythms and maniac vocal stylings. The main difference being is that Kyo actually knows how to sing in tune, as well as flex his vocal chords into the suffering of every victim in the nine hells as described by Dante. All those usual pop influences have been swapped for something rawer, more energetic, avant garde and more personal. They are one of those bands that have managed to transcend any kind of genrefication. At best they would fall in Extreme Metal genre. They go from nu-metal to metalcore to progressive metal with the occasional dipping into pop. Amongst all the madness and surreal violence you get from them you also get nice little piano ditties like 'Shinsou'. Or they take a jazz foundation and turn it into some brutal like 'Asunaki Koufuku, Koenaki Asu'. Funking it out in 'Stuck Man'.

Kyo with blood on
face and chest

Now some of the puzzling things about this band is that some of the song titles are in English. But none of the lyrics are so that can get a bit confusing. Not that it actually detracts from the music. Kyo does apparently write extremely good lyrics. It's just that I can't be bothered to read the translations of them because they way I think of his vocals is that it's just another musical instrument. Talking about instruments. I can understand why Kyo gets as much attention as he does, I mean he completely and utterly outdoes Mike Patton in terms of vocal ability, but the rest of the band... Just wow, they are all individually amazing. On the bass front Toshiya seems to have taken some lessons from Jason Newsted, in the sense that the bass isn't just there to fill out some kind of void. But to be an active part of the songs without being the centrepiece. Though songs like 'Phenomenon'  and 'Bottom Of The Death Valley' do put the bass front and centre to great effect. Both the bass player and the drummer, Shinya, provide excellent foundation that let Kyo, Die and Kaoru let their respective talents loose onto the listeners ear canal. The guitar riffing is great, but what is really special is the guitar noodling that comes in to surround the main riffs. Always subtle and never in the way, all seem to enhance the listeners experience. The sense of melody that they imbue is just out of this world. Often it feels like the songs are just about to descend into a gigantic mess, but it never happens. 

By all accounts their live shows are something to behold. Prior to Uroboros Kyo used to, frequently and apparently, self harm whilst on stage. Due to his singing he's been hospitalized several times, couple of times because of oedema of the lyranx and vocal nodule dysphonia. Oh and partially deaf in his left ear. The man does suffer a lot for his art and from all the videos I have seen he squeezes every single emotion into his performance. As demonstrated in this video taken from their Tabula Rasa tour.



I am a little surprised why they haven't got as much of a recognition in Europe(Or maybe just in the UK) because these guys are one of the best bands out there right now. Pumping out quality album after quality album. And their evolution from Visual Kei band to what they are now has been fascinating.

Top 15 played Artists from 2013-2014

Well it's been just over a year since I first published a similar list. This is done using my Last.FM profile. The list has changed quite a bit, but that is probably because I have started using Last.FM more in order to keep track on what I have been listening to. Well enjoy.

1. The Dear Hunter
2. SepticFlesh
3. Joe Hisaishi
4. Samael
5. Rammstein
6. HAM
7. Antonio Vivaldi
8. Queensryche
9. Marillion
10. Bruce Dickinson
11. Long Distance Calling
12. Iron Maiden
13. Fjoergyn
14. David Bowie
15. Devin Townsend

Rammstein: No birds are singing anymore

I have already talked a little about Rammstein in my New German Hardness post but here I want to go into a little more detail. I was 15 years old when I first listened to Rammstein. The debut album Herzeleid to be precise. I had been spending part of that summer in Reykjavik where two of my brothers and dad(for clarification no my parents are not divorced, he was just on a business venture that didn't go so well in the end) were living. This album came at a rather intense time in my life, but I'm not going on some spiel about how it save my life. It didn't that was something completely different. My brother had borrowed this album from a friend of his and played it in the living room. I was fairly quickly completely taken to them. I can't remember if I copied the CD onto a tape(yes a tape) or not. But nonetheless I had found a new musical love in my life. Though what it was I couldn't really put my finger on. They sang in German, the guitar riffs were fairly plain, no guitar solo's(well actually one, Weisses Fleisch and the title song) and the album cover itself was a little bit suspect. But it was crushing in sound and breadth. Yes there's absolutely nothing original about it, but if I wanted originality I would have stuck to listening to Einstürzende Neubauten, whilst wearing my figmented skinny jeans and sipping red wine. But I'm thankfully not a hipster and I can like both Rammstein and Einstürzende Neubauten. And drink my beer.

But no, they were industrial, and as I said before crushing and quite frankly fun to listen to. There was nothing like them around, at least not in my music-o-sphere. The closest thing would be an Icelandic band called HAM. But they had quit many many years previous to that. Primal force that just pulverises you with direct sophisticated and precise musical attacks. That is what Rammstein was about. And singing in German, which was pretty unheard of, well except for in Germany of course... and Austria. But, no, what I mean is that it was unusual to hear a band NOT singing in English. Which also meant that if you didn't understand what was being sung you could use your imagination a lot more with the music, and the vocals became for as yet another instrument. Talking about vocals, Till Lindemann has got one of the best baritone vocal tones I know off. I have no idea what he is singing most of the time, but the emotions he carries are immense and intense. Generally just the one tone, one frequency that he uses, but for example when he wants to sing a ballad like Seemann he has your full attention. Oh and the use of the bass on that song is just brilliant. But yeah Till also writes all the lyrics, and when you actually get them translated you can see that he is a brilliant wordsmith, he's even published a few poetry books alongside his Rammstein career. But with that voice you can easily hear a Sergeant wading into battle on top of a horse with an enemy head in one hand and a sword raised to the air in the other.

Where Herzeleid really really succeeds is in the simplicity of, well everything, but when you start listening a bit more deeply you start noticing these little bits added in the background that make the song really really good. It's in the background where Flake shines. With some interesting samples and well played and well layered keyboards. Listen to Wollt Ihr Das Bett Flammen Sehen, and you get little samples from the classic game Doom. The start of Heirate Mich is also a good song to show Flake's prowess, he even manages to get in a bit of Hammond Organ in there.

Kruspe and Landers do provide the meat of the material. With their relentless riffing throughout every song. They tend to not deviate a great deal from the blueprint, and usually keep to one riff per song. The thing is though that their riffs are good enough to hold up those songs. Doom Schneider is of course the man who keeps this industrial beast in sync with his relentless near-computerised rhythmic beats. Every piece from every member seems to provide a little detail that makes the big picture. Without one, it would all fall to pieces. And the picture would never be finished.

The following year when Sehnsucht was released their popularity exploded! Especially due to the songs Du Hast and Stripped. Even though Stripped wasn't on Sehnsucht. But now I was part of a crowd, rather than a group of one. Which to me was a bit of a novelty at the time. Sehnsucht has a slightly more raw sound to it than Herzeleid, it is probably my least favourite album by Rammstein. But that is not to say that I don't like it. It's got brilliant tunes on there like Tier, Klavier and Engel.

Now the pinnacle of their career. The piece that they will never be able to top is Mutter. This is where their bombasticity became Epic. This is still my favourite album by them. Here they are sophisticated, direct and brutal in their attack, with re-inforcements from Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg. Individually the songs are all very good and very strong, but with the orchestral addition that power just becomes overwhelming and envelopes the listener, takes them by the scruff of the neck and pounds the enjoyment into the earholes. From the German marching Links 2 3 4 to loneliness of the title song to the obscure sexuality of Zwitter(this song is also the only one I can think of that makes great use of the outro, which is an aspect of songs that I generally hate with a fucking passion) and the abandonment of Spieluhr. This album is the crown jewel of Rammstein's career.

Now, I'm not saying that the stuff that came out after Mutter are not worth listening to. Reise, Reise and Rosenrot are both very good and are to some extent fairly major departures from the sound that they created in the first three albums. Now Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da, is probably their best album since Mutter, and they are obviously having time of their lifes on that album. Their gleeful poking at porn and shock rock is the perfect example of that.

I remember seeing them playing in Iceland during the Mutter tour and it has to be said that it is probably still the best concert I've ever been to. It would have been that if only Rammstein had played but no, it was also the time when HAM decided to re-unite. But only after lots and lots of peer pressure from the Icelandic nation, which never would have happened if the guitar player of HAM hadn't said that they would only reunite if Rammstein came to Iceland. They had it all, the pyrotechnics(though not as much as it was a closed environment), Flake on a dingy, Flake the Subservient and Till the Master. It was not so much a concert but more of an experience, with all the theatrics that was on show. The band came on like robots, or possibly humans without a soul and Doctor Flake flicked the switch that put the spark back into them.  And they rocked.

Music doesn't have to be super complex or obscure or original. Some times it helps, but the main thing is if the music is enjoyable. Whenever I want to have a little headslamming session these guys are perfect, when ever I just want the hairs at the back of my neck to rise these guys are perfect, whenever I feel like a run or just want to work out a little bit these guys I perfect.

Rammstein - A mass grave,
Rammstein - no escape!
Rammstein - no bird sings ... more
Rammstein - and the sun is shining.

Glorious surprises, Disillusion comes out with Gloria.

One of my favourite albums of all time is Back To The Times of Splendor by Disillusion. I still pull that album out regularly to listen to, 6 songs spanning nearly 57 minutes of eternal beauty. I bought my copy in 2004, and I was captivated. But also perplexed as to why they didn't get the press that they deserved! Here's a band that shits out an instant classic first time trying and barely a whimper was registered in the metal press. And I could not wait for a sequel. Which never came. But never mind, they did publish another album called Gloria in 2006.

What an absolute off the wall straight from the left field that was. And I loved it. Most people didn't. Most people wanted 'Back to the Times of Splendor II'. But with 'Gloria' Disillusion were showing their progressive side, which for some reason seemed to irk people. There were shouts of sell-outs going of course, but you can't really be a sell-out if you are not delivering what people want.

So what happened. Welll, what seems to have happened is that Andy Schmidt, nee Vurtox,  got sick and tired of playing BTtToS live over and over again. And having the stress of trying to find a backing band and preferably a small orchestra as well. Probably wanted to play something slightly simpler. More hard hitting in some ways, and rest his larynx!

Andy uses on this album mostly, baritone singing, bass singing, occasionally he'll a sort of melodic spoken word or pure spoken word and only couple of times will he break and use his death rattle. I loved his vocals on BTtToS but he really does come into his own on Gloria. His vocal performance on here is simply glorious. The overtly German pronunciation of some words that has sometimes distracted me in the previous album and the EP's released before that.  I might be putting a lot compliments onto him, but the man deserves it. Though of course I don't really want to take away from the rest of the band, the drummer Jens Maluschka does fantastic job as well if only in keeping up with Andy's vision. The fills and the rhythm are just right every time and always interesting as well. Just listen to this song:



Though where Gloria really wins is how unusually built it is. It weaves, breaks and turns in all sorts of directions, but those weaves, breaks and turns are never unnecessary and most importantly never for show, well maybe a little but it never feels like it. I hesitate even calling this album Metal, because there is so much else going on but no other label really fits, and with metal being THE most diverse genre going it is probably the only label that fits. The closest would be industrial metal, some people will probably complain(and did) about how similar Andy sounds like Till, but the proof is in the listening. And while I love Rammstein, they haven't put out an album that sounds as interesting as this one. Yes in one song "The Hole We Are In" starts out as blackish Death metal song, but then just towards the end swerves into sort of lounge-ish dance song.

Then there are two instrumental songs one of the called Lava which always makes me envision flying over Iceland and seeing two separate volcano's going off in between grassland and black deserts. Maybe the reason I imagine flying is because of the previous instrumental called Aerophobic. Both of these tracks are very bass heavy and often it sounds like they've thrown away the guitars and replaced them with basses.

So as I said previously no it isn't 'Back To The Times of Splendor: In search for more money' that everyone was hoping for (me included) but it is a brilliant album completely blew away any misconceptions (mine included) about these guys and proves that they are quintessential progressive musicians. But the only problem is that this album was released in 2006, and nothing has been heard or seen since of these guys. Which makes me a very very sad blogger.

Mother Country Music Loving

Most of my blogs have been about bands from other countries(from my point of view), so I thought it was time to write a little about some bands that come from my country of birth. There are few bands so I'll try to be brief on each. I've already talked about Kontinuum in a different blog, so I'll skim over them. And Solstafir unfortunately isn't my bag, except two songs maybe.

First in line is HAM. This band is legendary in Iceland. They started in the late 80's and quite after a couple of albums in the 90's. just as they quit they participated in songwriting and acting in what is now legendary movie in Iceland, called Sodoma Reykjavik. They didn't reunite until Rammstein came to Iceland to play 2001. During their downtime their reputation grew, and grew and grew. The best way to describe their music is possibly as Classic Heavy Metal with dash of Blackness. They had two singers the ruff and gruff Ottarr(Who is now a city councillor in Reykjavik) and the mighty majestic bassy Sigurjón, these two guys wrote most if not all of the music, acting as sort of an Icelandic Lennon/McCartney couple. As far as I can see they recorded two albums that were never released, one live album and one studio cut off album. Until they reunited of course. Since 2001 they've released a live album and one studio album. The studio album was called 'Svik, Harmur og Dauði'(Betrayal, Harm and Death). And what an album it is. Already a classic. It is just so, so very very good, and rocky, and expansive... and... and... well I don't know any more words that fit the album.



XIII has been my favourite Icelandic band. Ever. Since my friend played me a track called Nowhere, from their phenomenal record Serpentyne. What most people in the world call Six Degrees of Seperation in Iceland we call it Throw the Stone Next Door and We'll Know him. The main guy, and for some time the only guy, Hallur Ingólfson used to drum for HAM for some time, but then decided to branch out with his own project along with composing music for the National Theater and various movies in Iceland. The first album Salt, was very Gothic, akin to Type O Negative, just not as tongue in cheek. From there they played slightly more rocky, Soundgarden-y even in Serpentyne, with it's Grade A artistic case and booklet. Both of these albums are fairly simple, with no overtly progressive sounds or anything like that. Then Hallur decided to go all NIN-industrial on us and out came Magnifico Nova.  An album I love, for all it's faults and quibbles. Hallur Ingólfsson went around construction sites and suchlike in Reykjavik recording the sounds that he came across there and incorporated them brilliantly into the album, with songs like Wishbone, Daisy Chain and Miracle Sun being the perfect examples. He even attempts the high notes on Wishbone, and wrote one of my favourite love songs in the form of Amorica. Briefly the band name was changed to Th1rte3n, thankfully that only lasted this one album, because the publishing company XIIIbis wanted to make them more sellable. Then it all went quiet. So very very quiet....

...Then all of the sudden I heard rumblings of a reunion, just to play in Eistnaflug. Even an album. Which came... sort of... in the form of a Best Of... plus an EP, called Black Box. Seems like Hallur has become all grown up, and decided to play all out Rock Songs. There's even a recreation of Wishbone with out the industrial bits.



Now every country needs their own version of Isis and Neurosis. The Icelandic version is Momentum. This band came as a very very pleasant surprise, as they started of as a rather bland, generic Black Metal band(like Solstafir come to think of it), working into a Progressive Metal Band(like Solstafir, though to be fair any band that works for a long time in the Black Metal field will eventually turn progressive... unless your Mayhem) and into this Post Metal(Unlike Solstafir, saved by the bell). On their album Fixation, at Rest they made this rich textured post metal a la Isis, Neurosis and Cult of Luna. What really does set Momentum apart from other Post Metal bands, besides sounding very original is their use of three singers... sometimes five. And the drummer, sounds like an octopus on LSD. There's this wall of sound with the heavy use of downtuned guitars, with a dark underbelly of the rhythm section. Red Silence is a perfect example of this. If there is such thing as the perfect soundtrack for a beached whale exploding, then Momentum have written it.

So there we have it, a very small dissection of the Icelandic Music Scene. There are more, and I will write about them next time.




PS
It's not that I dislike Solstafir particularly, it's just that I've never really got into them except for their track Love is The Devil.

New German Hardness

Hmmm. Tanz Metal or as it is also know Neue Deutsche Härte. Is a rather bland genre, for the most part though some absolute gems of course can be found. The thing with this kind of music is that it is generally written to be played in places with low-ceilings, low-lights, high-humidity, high-alcoholic environments. And knowing this I still keep on going back to it.

The most famous example of Neue Deutsche Härte is of course Rammstein. Now I LOVE Rammstein, and that includes the albums Rosenrot and Reise, Reise. I still remember listening to the first album as a teenager with my brother, after a friend had recommended to him. But those two albums don't strictly speaking fall under the banner of Neue Deutsche Härte the first three albums do though with Mutter being the masterpiece. That is another album I keep on going back to, it is an absolute joy to listen to. From the orchestral leanings of Mein Herz Brennt, to the army rhythm of Links 2 3 4, the heartfelt and heartbreak off Spieluhr and the magical riff on Zwitter. Rammstein as a band are also built for the stage, huge members with huge personalities and huge stage-shows. Their concert in Iceland is still one of the highlight of my life!

There are other bands who seemed to live well enough off playing Neue Deutsche Härte, there is Oomph, Hanzel und Gretyl, Eisbrecher, Megaherz and [Die!]. The first three are, for my taste, a bit too polished, bit too calculated. And the all have singers that sport the mid-range baritone like Till Lindemann. Which is usually not a bad thing, but even Till has started mixing up with his vocal style.

Now Megaherz started out as more like an alternative rock/metal band with slight dance/techno leanings. The first album was definitely like that, then they decided, for better or worse, to follow in Rammsteins footsteps with the next four albums. The difference being between them and the competition (Bar Rammstein of course) was that they knew how to play their instruments and weren't too afraid of mixing it up. Gott Sein is probably still the best song to come out the whole Neue Deutsche Härte scene. Then the singer, Alexx Wesselsky, quit because he found that Megaherz weren't danceable enough and formed Eisbrecher, who while are quite danceable are also fairly unlistenable! In his place they poached a singer called Matthias Elsholz from a band called Twelve After Elf(Yes it is a horrible band name), boy could he sing and not only in the mid-baritone note either this man is a Heavy Metal singer with full right to the capital letters I put in there. With him they released their best album, 5, which is easily on par with Rammstein's Mutter. I was at the time really really looking forward to the following album, but then Matthias quit. Whoomph, vanished. And that dream was kaputt. And instead they hired another mid-range baritone who doesn't stray too much above or below that, and who resembles Alexx a bit too much for my liking, named Lex(Even his name seriously!?) Wohnhass. And since released two albums that sound sterile, mathematically rhythmic and polished. And I lost interest, at least I have 5 and et al.

Recently I went through a bit of a Tanz Metal phase on Spotify and came across a band called [Die!] and their album 'Still'. Who apart from daft name and name design(I mean what is meant to mean? "THE!" Common!! Makes it nearly impossible to find them on Facebook or anywhere else on the internet) sounds absolutely brutal, in tanz metal terms anyway. With Matthias at the helm! Fuck YES!!!  If they keep on releasing stuff of this quality they will hopefully get far. A singer with that quality vocal range and talent deserves to go far and possible further then that.

If there is any justice that is.

Note: Come to find out later on that Matthias Elsholz has left [Die!]. Damn.