Dir En Grey - Missa

  

Dir En Grey - Missa

Release Date - 7/25/1997

Country of Origin - Japan

Number of Tracks - 6

I’m just going to say it; Dir En Grey is my favorite band. Ever. Forever and ever. I highly doubt any band will ever beat them out for that position. The only other band which comes close is Buck-Tick, but even they fall to Dir En Grey. So I thought it would be fun to turn my reviewing eyes towards them and review all of their albums. Yeah, that’s right, all nine studio albums and their first two EPs (the third is basically a re-mix album and I tend not to review those). Obviously I’ll be reviewing my fan goggles here so that we can have reviews completely 100% fair. If something isn’t good I’m going to call it out. So with that said, on to the first review.

Released in 1997, Dir En Grey’s full debut effort was the EP titled Missa. While the band was previous known (without Toshiya) as La: Sadie’s, this marked their debut on recorded form and for most of the public (though mostly an independent/underground one) under the Dir En Grey banner. While I cannot find records at how well the release did, it is more than evident that this was the first shot into the visual kei and Japanese music scene that made it clear that the band was one to be acknowledged and followed, and showcases a lot of what was to come. The EP was later followed up by two singles (Jealous and -I’ll-) before their studio and mainstream debut in 1999’s Gauze.

Looking back at the record from the viewpoint of fans who are more use to the sound of the band from Withering to Death onward, Missa is a shock to the system and definitely an oddity. Personally it was one of the first releases I listened to along with Withering to Death, The Marrow of a Bone, and Gauze and I didn’t find it that weird. Sure it was the band at their earliest, but being into old school visual kei and having heard Gauze and the aforementioned singles made it to where Missa didn’t hit me as hard as it might for others. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to say right off the bat that it’s good. Is it bad? Not really. Just what it is it? Well let’s get into the EP and find out.

Track Listing

1. 霧と繭 (Kiri to Mayu)

2. ｢S｣

3. Erode

4. 蒼い月 (Aoi Tsuki)

5. Garden

6. 秒「」深 (Byou Shin)

When you think of Dir En Grey you think heavy and experimental in terms of sound. True they went full blown heavy metal in the mid 2000s but the experimentation wand originality was still there (save for Marrow of a Bone). It might come as a shock then when Missa sounds…generic. I know I just called Marrow pretty bland, but I can say though that each song is clearly Dir En Grey. Honestly if I didn’t know it was Diru beforehand I wouldn’t be able to tell. Actually I’m willing to say that unless you’ve listened to the album multiple times or seen their live shows from the time it would be easy to forget most of the tracks, and that really isn’t a good thing both in general and coming from a band in which the tracks ARE memorable. Now in all fairness to the EP a lot of visual kei sounded the same at the time. But does this mean that the EP’s sound is good? Well yes and no. On one hand everything is perfectly clear for the most part (sometimes it is a little hard to hear Karou and Die playing at the same time since it seems Karou is the more dominant of the recording, and thus the most audible) on the instrumentation. As for Kyo he’s okay, he is audible but this is very clear early in their career and Kyo’s skill as a vocalist isn’t that great. To be perfectly honest he sounds congested for quite a bit of the album. Really Missa is perfectly clear that it is a debut and early piece of work. All the songs sound like other 90s visual kei songs and in some cases on the album blend together to the almost sounding like the same song that just had a short break. Along with this the technical aspects are pretty average too, with the instrumentation sounding, well generic. Kyo’s voice is easily the most noticeable part of the album, but even that isn’t really good. It is still early in their tenure so I can kind of forgive it, but the early card really only gets you so far.

So what about the lyrics? Save for the sound of the songs the lyrics are usually the most memorable part of Diru’s musical arsenal and are some of the most poetic, heartbreaking, energy providing, and poignant one will find. Well dear Diru fan you’ll be happy to know that Kyo’s lyricism is here in full force. As usual Kyo’s lyrics are poetic and pack a punch to cut into your brain and invoke emotion. The album’s words lean quite a bit towards the more reticent and lost love side of things, with some songs speaking of using cyanide to be with a former love again, not caring for a person but being with them anyways, and some are just fun gothic little randomness. Even the more almost lulworthy gothic lyrics aren’t terrible, and in one case has some of the best sounding instrumentation on the track (to me at least). This is without a doubt an album that doesn’t pack the punch Kyo can usually give, but some instances hint at what was to come and can provide some nice deep lyrics while some are just gothically fun. You could argue those feed into the genericness, and I won’t lie they kinda do, but they’re almost to the point of being over the top that it is a little fun. Overall a mixed bag of lyrics, not Kyo’s best but not his worst.

Poe’s Favorites

｢S｣

Garden

Conflicted on how to grade the EP would be a bit of an understatement. On the one hand it is enjoyable to listen to as both a Dir En Grey record and as some old school visual kei. On the other hand it being so close in sound to various other recordings from the scene at the time doesn’t really make it stand out short of Kyo’s voice. As such it is a bit of a tough one to give a verdict to.

I guess in the end Missa being pretty average in itself sort of sets what the grade should be. In final, this isn’t a bad release, it’s just one that sort of blends in with all the other independent bands at the time. Short of knowing about it by being a fan of Dir En Grey, you may not even know it is Dir En Grey.

C

Dir En Grey in 1997