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DIR EN GREY—PHALARIS (2022)

DIR EN GREY—PHALARIS. Come Listen to the Bellow of the Bull!

  • DIR EN GREY, Firewall Div., Free Will, Metal, Review, Sony Music
Come, come to the temple. Come and join the spectacle. Can you feel the heat? Do you smell the charred flesh? Let’s listen bellow of the bull! Oh peeps, a review that starts like this can only be about DIR EN GREY, right? On occasion of the DIR EN GREY European tour in spring and their 25th major debut anniversary, we take the time this year to dare a deep insight into their albums. So, if you’re new to the fandom or you’re an oldie with the desire to wallow in nostalgia, then these lines are for you.
To be honest, after so much time has passed since the release of some albums, it’s hard to call this a review. Probably the term portrait would be more appropriate. But we get bogged down in details. As you can probably tell from the first few lines, this article is dedicated to DIR EN GREY’s latest album, PHALARIS. With this deep dive, we will look at how the album fits into DIR EN GREY’s career, what aesthetics and images it works with, and, of course, how it sounds. Let’s go!
The World we still live in

PHALARIS is DIR EN GREY’s eleventh studio album and marks the most recent album today. It was released on the 15th of June, 2022, via Firewall Div. and follows The Insulated World from 2018. The work on PHALARIS began right after finishing the prior album. In several interviews, the members stated that they did not have a particular concept in mind at first. But vocalist Kyo stated that he wanted to create some longer tracks and that he gave himself the task of trying something new.[1]

The band composed and produced the album while the global pandemic situation made it impossible to play live. So, the members of DIR EN GREY weren’t able to meet for a while. According to drummer Shinya, there was even a time they didn’t talk to each other—not because they had conflicts, but because of the distance.[2] In 2021 they got back together and said, “Let’s do this!” The concept of PHALARIS first emerged when they created a selection of songs for the emerging album.

The recordings for the new album started at very short notice in the beginning of 2022. In March, the last song was recorded—approximately three months before the planned release. The visual and aesthetic concept of the album was worked out before and during the recordings.[3] But what is it about?

The Imaginary of Phalaris
Phalaris’ Brazen Bull (Renaissance Copperplate)
Phalaris’ Brazen Bull (Renaissance Copperplate) (source: Wikipedia)
The visual concept of PHALARIS revolves around the ›Brazen Bull‹, a torture and execution device in Ancient Greece, designed and built by the craftsman Perilaus, following the order of the tyrant Phalaris. The bull was made of bronze in the shape and size of a real bull, completely hollow, and with a door on its side. The idea was to lock criminals inside the bull, set a fire beneath it, and let the condemned cruelly simmer inside. According to the legend, a complex apparatus converted to screams of the condemned into a bull’s bellow.

This work of horror was commissioned by Phalaris, the tyrant of Acragas, today’s Agrigento, in Sicily, Italy. Several Greek historians, such as Aristotle, reported that Phalaris was a cruel and violent tyrant.

After Perilaus finished the Brazen Bull, Phalaris commanded Perilaus to enter the horrific device and scream, so Phalaris could hear if his crying converted to a bull bellow. Perilaus had no choice but to follow his commander’s orders. As Perilaus climbed into the bull, Phalaris ordered the door to be closed and a fire to be lit under the bull. »As thanks for his fantastic work, the artist was to be granted the privilege of playing the first piece on his device,« as the legends tell.

The sadistic reign of Phalaris lasted about sixteen years until he was killed by an insurrection. It’s said that the Brazen Bull was thrown into the sea.

According to an interview, Kyo researched many torture methods, and the Brazen Bull was the method he would like to suffer the least.[1] Furthermore, he believes that the public display of this torture encouraged the viewers to no longer hide the worst in themselves. This aspect supports the lyrical theme of the album PHALARIS, which holds a view on the world instead of a reflecting personal view.
In this sense, DIR EN GREY continued with the lyrical theme of The Insulated World, which also dips into a worldview instead of a personal topic. This concept motivated the band to change their sound at least, while the lyrical theme remains.
DIR EN GREY artist photo 2023
DIR EN GREY artist photo 2023
The Sound of the Brazen Bull
Loyal die-hard DIR EN GREY fans will have noticed that PHALARIS has the least number of tracks of all the albums. According to an interview, guitarist Kaoru stated they wanted to create a deep, strong, and condensed album. The album with the essence of DIR EN GREY, so people could hear it ten years after its release, and say, this is still modern DIR EN GREY.[3] Let’s look and see if they have succeeded.
They indeed created a condensed compound of 25 years of DIR EN GREY. The album offers a mix of the stripped-down beauty from ARCHE (2014), complex structures from Uroboros (2008) and Dum Spiro Spero (2011), and the love of experimentation with a glimpse of world music from MACABRE (2000). But the album is not just a mix of old albums. It is the product of a long development, with a high degree of complexity and creativity. The memories of old albums only shine through behind the new scores, giving only hints of nostalgia and consistency while offering a very present definition of DIR EN GREY.
In the following lines, we are focussing on a selection of songs from PHALARIS, that gives you a deeper insight into the overall work.

The first song of the album, Schadenfreude, was the last track the band recorded. Kaoru stated that this song wraps up the whole sound of PHALARIS. Shinya and bassist Toshiya each mentioned in different interviews, that Schadenfreude was the most complicated song for them to play.
The shortened sheet music was still 14 pages long. Together with the last song on the album, Kamuy [カムイ], Schadenfreude is the longest track on the album.

Both songs have a playtime of over nine minutes. You can hear a constant deep bass line in Schadenfreude, which emphasizes the harshness and depth of this song. So indeed, this song would also fit in the tracklist of Dum Spiro Spero. In contrast, Kamuy which follows a more melodious pattern, gives us more MACABRE (2000) vibes. But both songs are still way more developed than the past songs and we guess, Kyo was content, that the album contains two long tracks.

The second track we dip into is The Perfume of Sins, which is graced a music video and was published a few weeks before the album’s release. According to an interview with Shinya, this is one of the fastest songs from the entire DIR EN GREY discography regarding the drumming. It indeed shows elements such as blast beats that are known to be used in Black Metal songs.

Furthermore, it’s a song that Kyo rejected to sing where he would commonly sing. DIR EN GREY aimed to create a menacing atmosphere by not using Kyo’s voice as they did in The Insulated World. Their approach is attacking the lyrical themes with the melody instead of words. For instance, through the heavily distorted guitar tremolo which forms the bridge, and rough blended strings in the background.

In contrast, he tried new singing techniques in Mouai ni Shosu [盲愛に処す] and Otogi [御伽]. According to an interview, it was a try-and-error approach to find the right sound and to avoid conveying the impression of a joke.[1] Mouai ni Shosu sounds like an Enka-infused Hardcore song, while Otogi is an opulent Metal ballad with the vibe of ritual chanting. They differ from each other, but are both very unconventional—for DIR EN GREY terms—and unique.
Following Otogi, the last song on the record is the second long-track Kamuy. Kamuy is a word of the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan. The word means something like a god or divine being. Otogi and Kamuy give the album a melodious and complex end. Lyrically, they seem to talk about the development of a being, cutting off humanity, and embracing a more divine form.
In Conclusione
DIR EN GREY—PHALARIS (2022)
DIR EN GREY—PHALARIS (2022)

PHALARIS
2022.06.15 Firewall Div. / Sony Music Japan

01. Schadenfreude
02. Oboro [朧]
03. The Perfume of Sins
04. 13
05. Utsutsu, Bouga o Kurau
[現、忘我を喰らう]
06. Ochita Koto no Aru Sora
[落ちた事のある空]
07. Mouai ni Shosu [盲愛に処す]
08. Hibiki [響]

In conclusion, that’s the paradox of PHALARIS. It sounds like a modern and complex DIR EN GREY album, with a huge recognizable development in 25 years of a band. But it also has many reminiscences of older works. It combines the new DIR EN GREY with the old one in the most satisfying way.
In my opinion, they succeeded in creating a deep, strong, and condensed album that offers the essence of DIR EN GREY. When someone new would ask me, “with which album should I begin to dip into DIR EN GREY?” before the release of PHALARIS I would have been quite uncertain. Because the band went through so many changes, it was always hard to say which album represents them the best. Would it be the harshness and complexity of Uroboros and Dum Spiro Spero, the impulsiveness of ARCHE or Withering to Death, or the stripped-down beauty of MACABRE and KISOU [鬼葬]?
But now, after PHALARIS, I would choose just it. It’s a condensed and versatile album that chooses to convey nearly all sides of DIR EN GREY. It’s a great album for beginners. But for veterans, I have the feeling, that it might not become their favorite, because it hasn’t the same depth as older albums addressing a certain lyrical theme with which existing fans fell for the band in the first place.
At last, it’s quite amusing how well it fits. In the process of simmering, food cooks in its own fluids. Like to poor souls that simmered in the Brazen Bull, the album PHALARIS was cooked by the essence of DIR EN GREY, and that’s how it sounds. The bellow of the bull is the condensed sound of DIR EN GREY. Regarding the statement, that they didn’t follow any concept while composing the album’s music, it works out pretty well, don’t you think?

_________
[1] PHY vol.21, Higuchi Yasuyuki (author), kyotaku (translation), June 2022
[2] Rhythm & Drums Magazine, interview with drummer Shinya, 2022.07.26
[3] Tokyo Sports, interview with guitarist Kaoru, 2022.06.29

Picture of Phillip Jacob

Phillip Jacob

Phillip is just a prey of madness who spends his time with writing, media design, and lecturing storytelling. He got spellbound by DIR EN GREY in 2007 and is since doomed to consume music excessively to this very day.