Not so obscure J-Metal

For those of you who might not be aware, it is sometimes a point of mine to listen to foreign music. Sadly, I'm not as indulgent in this pursuit as I would like to be - most of my 'foreign' comes from Japan. I've dabbled in French, German, Korean... but only dabbled. I do firmly believe in a diverse musical palette, however. I think other countries of course have a lot to offer... they have thriving music scenes of their own, that we're not a part of. Even if you can't understand the language, the music will be just as beautiful, especially if it's electronic. Metal's kind of big for this though, so I suppose I listen to some foreign bands. Not nearly enough. I remember I had a liking for French pop one time when I heard it... anyway, it always irks me when someone says they have a diverse musical palette, and have never heard anything outside of their country of origin. Or when people claim they listen to German music, and then cite Rammstein as a key band. Ugh. Of course, everyone listens to J-music of some degree... anyway, enough on that.

Way back in the day when I first started to get into music, I happened upon a lot of J-Rock. That's exactly what it sounds like... Japanese rock music. It can very in intensities... I've mentioned one of my favorite bands, Glay, before... so today, now that I've gotten some more of artists I vaguely remember, I thought I'd take that Japanese in a different direction...

Today's song of the day is Kodoku Ni Shisu Yueri Kodaku by Japanese rock/metal band Dir en grey. Yes, their name is not supposed to be capitalized in the latter half. Japanese people do weird things with capitalization... This is off their 2005 album Withering Death (apparently they have cliche' metal names in other countries too), and let me say... if I was listening to these guys at that time, this would have been a top contender for album of 2005. Well, one of, anyway. It's one of those groupings of tracks that contains nothing bad - you could just sit and listen to the whole album, and have a condensed appreciation for the entire thing. Therefore, it was difficult to pick a particular track - the above nomination may have been partially at random. Megaupload link is here.

Dir en grey has gone in a lot of different directions since they first came about - and while they maintained a wholly 'dark metal' atittude, it's only in recent years that they've seemingly discovered what that means. While not as industrial tinged as, say, D'espairsRay, they've got a very heavy sound. Growling vocals (which are delightful on this album) are interspersed with high-pitched male singing, creating a very unique sound - at least in the scope that North American listeners will recognize it. This track in particular is just.. well, there's nothing I can say about it that I can't say about the album as a whole. The pounding background and death vocals are just intoxicating - and the mellow, almost choral segments in between are just as delightful. There's a grungy, pinched riff the song is based off, and it's also wonderful. Really, this song might be the best on the album. I highly reccomend this band's later albums - earlier stuff was still good, but not in as much the same style. If you like this band, also, check out girugamesh... yes, again the capitalization thing. A friend turned me on to them, and they're a pretty good and heavy Japanese indie-metal band. Definitely worth a listen.

Over the next week or so, expect efforts on my own part to expose myself to a more musically diverse grouping of artists. Recent downloads indicate a trend in that direction, anyway. I'll give no overt previews, but for anyone interested... Chester Thompson. That's all I have to say.