(Eng.) DIR EN GREY - PHALARIS booklet track by track commentary

> Notes before reading:

➤Source: Booklet of DIR EN GREY’s album “PHALARIS”(2022), comments from members on each song.

➤I translated the content into Chinese in July 2022, and the English version was translated in May 2023. (*) are my own thoughts or additions.

➤Kyo added “ね (ne)” at the end of almost every line, which indicates a tone of voice that’s difficult to understand and translate through words.

➤Toshiya commented on each song almost exclusively in terms of its lyrics. So it may be a bit confusing to read.

➤Repost and share are welcome.🙌 Please feel free to correct me if you spot any mistake or any confusing parts.😊

——————————————————

{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}

Disc1

01. Schadenfreude

Kyo：It’s long.

Kaoru：It was September 2020 when I created the demos for a slow-tempo song and a fast-paced song at the same time. I think we decided to pre-produce the fast-paced song and rejected the slow-tempo song. After that, I tried to keep the galloping feeling of the song, but I couldn’t get a good feeling for it and time passed. In 2021, we started talking about having a long song, so I struggled to make the song longer, but it didn’t take shape well. In the spring of 2021, when I was struggling with the idea, I remembered the existence of a slow-tempo song I had created around the same time, so I decided to put in the taste of that song and started a major remodeling. Since the song had been rejected, I kept the rhythm, changed the riffs and worked on it as hard as I could. When the band members heard the demo, they decided to go with this style, but again, it didn’t turn out well. The longer the song gets, the more I want to add waves of development, but it just didn’t feel exciting enough. At that time, one of the members suggested to me that I should try to make the whole piece more intense. And so the great adventure began again. It was really hard to finish at this point in time, but it turned out well. Please enjoy the wave of fury that is revealed from the first song.

Die：As the first song in the album, it is a symbol of “PHALARIS”.

Toshiya：The door to “PHALARIS” opens from this song. The entrance to the dazzling labyrinth, fumbling the way to hell.

Shinya：This song is packed with super difficult drum phrases from the first track on the album. I personally like the phrases in 4:30 because they seem mature.

02. 朧 (Oboro)

Kyo：It’s dark.

Kaoru：I created this song with the expectation that it would be in a good position on the album, but since it was to be a single, I kept it rather simple. I thought about changing it a lot for the album, but decided to leave it as is.

Die：The moment “Schadenfreude” passes and the sound of this intro rings, my spine is chilling.

Toshiya：Here, beg and pray for forgiveness.

Shinya：At first I couldn’t remember the complicated drum beat of A-Melo (Verse) at all, but I’ve played it at Live many times, so I’m pretty used to it. It’s medium speed, but the drum is very delicate.

03. The Perfume of Sins

Kyo：It’s fast.

Kaoru：When I first started working on the demo, I wanted to make a dark and impactful song like before. I thought about trying the fast rhythm of “tsuta tsuta” that haven’t seen for a long time, and it turned out to be such a clang song.

Die：From the ground-crawling guitar riffs to the super-fast beat, it’s thrilling.

Toshiya：Let’s drown in the scintillation.

Shinya：The fastest phrase in the album comes out. Even if it’s 0.01 seconds, it’s so fast that you can’t see it anymore, and it takes a lot of concentration, so it’s going to be hard even at live.

04. 13

Kyo：It’s the 4th song.

Kaoru：This song was created around the same time as “Oboro,” and I thought the development after the chorus connecting to Die’s solo turned out to be a nice touch.

Die：DIR EN GREY-style emotional.

Toshiya：At the end of the stairs.

Shinya：The song is melodious and easy to listen to, but the drums are strangely complicated. It ends without a normal beat from beginning to end.

05. 現、忘我を喰らう (Utsutsu, Bouga wo Kurau)

Kyo：I’m trying to sing in an interesting way.

Kaoru：The song came out quite a while ago, but we started working on it towards the end. It is a song with strong character, and I think everyone will like it.

Die：Irregular rhythms and monophonic guitar riffs. Unique ambiance.

Toshiya：Dancing the rondo of life.

Shinya：It is a song with a special rhythm pattern full of rest marks. This song ends without a normal beat. It seems that it is very difficult to get used to the body.

06. 落ちた事のある空 (Ochita Koto no Aru Sora)

Kyo：Hope it doesn’t fall off again.

Kaoru：Actually, we produced this song for a commission case. So, we have put our own style in full throttle. By the way, that case seems to have been lost.

(*I wonder what kind of commission case it is. 🤔)

Die：Melodies intertwined with dizzying guitar riffs. Dense.

Toshiya：Eagerly waiting for the tomorrow that will never come.

Shinya：The drums were rather complicated, but the songs so far are so intense that it sounds simple now. I’ve played this song many times in live performances, and the groove is perfect.

07. 盲愛に処す (Mouai ni Shosu)

Kyo：Mouai-san.

Kaoru：It’s all about imagining what it feels like to move the atmosphere. I think this is the last song in the album that we started working on. It might have been finished early.

Die：The hooky rhythm is pleasant.

Toshiya：This place is everything.

Shinya：The drums are busy with many phrases involving toms. I have to create a syncopated groove, so I divide my head into two parts and play while thinking about each part separately.

08. 響 (Hibiki)

Kyo：It’s emo.

Kaoru：This song was created from a demo we had in the past, just as the album songs were almost ready to be released. Die-kun made an unique arrangement of the song.

Die：The feeling of being saved by the light at the end.

Toshiya：Stand in silence in front of the empty shells.

Shinya：The drums are played in a strange way from the beginning to the end. If you listen only to the drums, it will probably make no sense.

09. Eddie

Kyo：It’s fast.

Kaoru：It started out as a light-hearted song, but we thought it could be taken to a more violent level. The tempo was sped up and the riffs were roughed up to make it a raging song. I am looking forward to the live performance

Die：I didn’t expect to end up with such a hard core from that prototype.

Toshiya：Covered in shit.

Shinya：It’s just fast. It starts with momentum, moves forward with momentum, and when I notice it, it’s already over. The drums are just like before, full of guts.

10. 御伽 (Otogi)

Kyo：It’s otogi ↑, not otogi ↓, right?

Kaoru：It reminds me a little of the old days, but I think it’s a type of song that never existed before. There may be a lot of such songs in this album. This is a song that feels good to play.

Die：The guitar riffs and melodies with open strings are beautiful.

Toshiya：Show love with the tip of my numb fingers.

Shinya：It’s a song filled with my own drum phrases. I personally like the part of 1:47, where I use the high-hat and the ride cymbal to create a semiquaver rhythm.

11. カムイ (Kamuy)

Kyo：The sound is beautiful.

Kaoru：This song was even more difficult than “Schadenfreude”. I created this song with the idea that it would be the one to take over after the departure of "Oboro” as a single. It’s a song with new parts and a strong DIR EN GREY feel.

Die：The moment when the heavy guitar riff instantly erases the sad sound of the acoustic guitar.

Toshiya：The door to “PHALARIS” closes with this song. Today I step on worthless bugs again, I am the same human being.

Shinya：This song is also full of my own drum phrases. My personal favorites are the toms at 2:47 and the snare drum phrases at 5:43.

Disc2

01. mazohyst of decadence

Kyo：It’s dark. Burning with jealousy.

Kaoru：I think we rearranged it when we used to play it at a live show, and newly arranged it to the latest version. I played the sitar again since the recording of this song at that time, but it was only used in a very small part of the song.

Die：Heavier and deeper.

Toshiya：When the Ubume cries.

(*Ubume (產女，うぶめ) is a Japanese Youkai, which is transformed from the obsession of a woman who died in childbirth.)

Shinya：The structure of the song has changed rather a lot from the original, so I thought of the drums again with a new feeling based on the previous phrases.

02. ain't afraid to die

Kyo：If I sing it in 2022, it will be like this.

Kaoru：I wondered what it would be like if we did it now without messing with it too much, so I just went along with it. The solo part was a little bit calculated because I couldn’t show the roughness at that time. I played the solo many times, but that’s a secret between us.

Die：I still remember when we finished part of the song and slept together during the pre-production.

Toshiya：For the last time this year.

Shinya：I completely recreated the phrases from those days. Even listening to it now, I quite like the drum phrases.

(END)

—————————————————

※You can also read English translations on Tumblr

※Chinese Translation (My Blogger) 👉【中譯】DIR EN GREY - PHALARIS booklet track by track commentary

Repost and share are welcome, please make sure to credit or leave a message down below.👐  Feel free to correct me or discuss.  (I'll be editing the content from time to time, so please use the link instead of pasting it directly :){alertWarning}

#diru  #translation  #phalaris  #English post