Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Dir en Grey - The Unraveling

This is a bit late, because this mini-album was released back in April, but have been so busy that I haven´t been able to write about it before now. First off, the contents of the Order-Only Deluxe edition:

DISC 1 : CD
01. Unraveling
02. KARMA
03. KASUMI
04. KARASU
05. Bottom of the death valley
06. Unknown.Despair.Lost
07. THE FINAL

DISC 2 : CD
01. MACABRE
02. Unraveling (Unplugged Ver.)
03. THE FINAL (Unplugged Ver.)

DISC 3 : DVD
01. RINKAKU (Shot In One Take)
02. Kiri To Mayu (Shot In One Take)
03. Shitataru Mourou [LIVE]
  *Live Take at TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FORUM HALL A on December 25, 2012
04. Juuyoku [LIVE]
  *Live Take at TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FORUM HALL A on December 25, 2012
05. INTERVIEW ON THE UNRAVELING
06. THE UNRAVELING (Scenes From Recording)


So as everyone can see, this edition consists of 2 CDs and 1 DVD, and one larger booklet containing the lyrics for all the songs both in Japanese and English, which I think was a really nice touch, and a fancy box to hold everything. For most places you had to order this some months before the release to ensure that you´d get a copy, because it´s a strictly limited edition, but as soon as I saw the tracklist back when they released the information, I was sold. For me, this released felt like a renewal of some of their old songs, that in themselves never really opened up to me in their original form so was very much looking forward to it, before even getting into the unplugged versions of Unraveling and THE FINAL.
I´ve always loved the unplugged versions of the songs Dir en Grey have made, completely changing the songs into something completely different, and most times very touching. As to what comes to the songs themselves, I really like the re-makes. They feel fresh and new, making up a new image for the new Dir en Grey. I read around the time of the release that a review of this album, and the writer thought of this as a nod towards the bands old fans, that might not be that much into their newer albums, and also because they really don´t play all that many old songs anymore, having stated that once they close a door, they won´t open it again. So this is a nice way of taking up their old songs again.
As to what comes to the unplugged versions on this album, I feel that I´m completely mesmerized by them, because they´ve yet again managed to make and create something wonderful. The dark atmospheres in the unplugged version of Unraveling, and the balladlike THE FINAL. At first I was surprised how little they changed THE FINAL, but I see that it wasn´t necessary to do much with it because it´s such a beloved song. And I´ve seen many calling and unplugged version of THE FINAL a Disney song, but for all it´s worth, I really enjoy it. It´s for me one of those touching moments that you don´t get all that much with Dir en Grey. Kyo´s voice works wonders in these kinds of slow songs, and I love him to pieces for it.
The DVD shows the band in full action, the two first songs being studio lives, so to speak, and then 2 songs from their Christmas Day live from last year, which I was very eager to hear because we haven´t had all that much live material of old songs being sung after Kyo´s surgery. Sadly the interviews don´t have any subtitles so there isn´t much a non-japanese speaker can understand from them, but for those who understand them, I´m sure appreciate them very much, and it´s yet again nice to see some clips from the recording process of the band.
Overall I really like this release, and think every Dir en Grey fan should give this a listen, even if they haven´t been into the band´s late escapedes. This release would probably also serve well for a new face to this band´s music, because it´s very versatile all-in-all. Now off to hoping for another tour of Europe where the band would come to Finland again so that I´d have a chance of seeing them live again~