Review by SilentScream213 for Dir En Grey - Vulgar (2003)

This was the album that shot Dir en Grey to the semi-mainstream, thanks in large part to the music video for “Obscure,” which is, to this day, one of the most bizarre, graphic, and disturbing music videos ever made. It makes Tool music videos look tame and normal.

But let’s talk about the music. For an album with 15 tracks and a certain amount of eclecticism that includes influences from Hardcore Punk, Avant-Garde Metal, Gothic, and J-Rock, Vulgar is a surprisingly consistent record. Kind of a blessing and a curse of this album is that pretty much every song features some dissonant, aggressive or avant-garde parts as well as more melodic and accessible sections. Depending on which you prefer, it essentially evens out with every song being at least good and listenable, while none of them truly reach masterpiece status. But by and large, most of these songs are great.

Despite the album title, only a couple songs here are explicitly vulgar. Many of the songs, even the renowned “Obscure,” use poetic, symbolic imagery that paints a surreal picture. I was impressed with the lyricism on display here, and can only imagine it reads even better untranslated. Kyo’s unhinged vocals and writing were my favorite part of the record.

Sure it could benefit from some trimming, but I think the wild eclecticism works in the album’s favor. The “weaker” songs are songs I can easily see being some people’s favorite tracks depending on their taste – the album has a little bit of everything here, although every song is steeped in Dir en Grey’s graphic, bizarre style like a tea bag of rotten pomegranate.