Album Review
Title:  withering to death.
Artist:  Dir en grey
Release date:  March 9, 2005
www.ldirengrey.co.jp

    One year and almost six months later, Dir en grey has given us a new album that withers our doubting hearts with heavy riffs, crazed vocals and catchy tunes not heard since Kisou. Withering to death. is filled like an insane asylum, each song an illness that was locked away inside the band's mind until now.
    The first half of the album features songs spiraling up into a dervish of fast and heavy noise ("Merciless Cult",
"-saku-"), punctuated by moments of beautiful clarity where all the sounds come together and dance around Kyo's unique vocals ("Machiavellism", "Jesus Christ R'nR"). "Itoshisa wa fuhai ni tsuki" and "Higeki wa me futa wo oroshita yasashiki" sneak up like memories of sanity. Slow and sad, the first peters off like an unfinished thought, and the second continues to ring long after the song is over.
    The rest of the album follows the same route of fast and heavy tracks with a brief reprieve of softer songs that echoes the general disquietude and darkness of the album. Shades blacker than all of Deg's previous work, Withering to death. is a focused and festering album that will crawl into your ear and refuse to leave.