Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [article] Shape-shifing Japanese rockers Dir en grey bring blood-stained agony

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"I haven't seen a band with that much intensity in a long time." That's what Korn frontman Jonathan Davis had to say last summer about his Family Values tourmates Dir en grey, a versatile quasi-metal Japanese band that has met with baffling success in Europe and, more recently, the United States. In February, when Dir en grey embarked on its first headlining U.S. tour, shows in several cities sold out quickly. Before that, Davis, the members of Dir en grey, metal tabloids, and newspapers reported audiences singing along to the band's music in Japanese.

Dir en grey reportedly was greeted with the same familiarity in Europe. Strangely, though, the band had no distribution in either Europe or the States until 2005. In other words, its records were barely available enough to account for widespread awareness of the music. To make matters more confusing, the lyrics to the band's second American release (and sixth overall), the just-released The Marrow of a Bone, are printed in gray ink on black paper, making them virtually impossible to read.

But the point is moot: The awareness is there. And if fans don't know the words per se, they know them phonetically. That means that as Dir en grey returns to the U.S. to open for Deftones, the expectations around the band have probably shifted from pleasant surprise and puzzlement to a concerted desire to maximize success. Considering that the past two heavy bands out of Japan to be groomed for U.S. stardom, Loudness and EZO, were pushed on us during the hair-metal era and failed miserably, the pressure must be compounding on Dir en grey.

If this is a concern within the band, then guitarist and principal songwriter Kaoru isn't letting on.

Read it: Shape-shifing Japanese rockers Dir en grey bring blood-stained agony