How did you discover Dir en grey ?
I am sure that I shared this story before, but it was a guy I trusted on a message board who posted a link and wrote something like: "You all have to listen to this, it's so good!" I was curious and thought: "Why not?" and it turned out to be an mp3 download of Dir en grey's THE FINAL. I loved it instantly of course, as the sounds, arrangements and the singing were like nothing I had ever heard before. Then I think it was a trip down YouTube and Limewire before I could purchase the albums and singles by myself, since I was definitely not an adult at the time.
Very curious about everyone else: how did it happen for you guys?
I think I was around 15-ish and had recently discovered visual kei via The Gazette. I was watching their video for "Sentimental na Onigokko", which I thought was super cool with all its hacking and coughing and foaming at the mouth. There was a comment that said something like "This reminds me of "ZAN" by Dir en grey", so I searched that up on Youtube and it was love. It was so "edgy" and really fun to blast as loud as possible, but I also found it catchy and campy and fun. Their pre-the new millenium feeling is so nostalgic to me. I've come to enjoy most everything up to Withering to Death and then some hits after. As for these days, I like Sukekiyo's direction more, musically. I guess I became very taken with Kyo. . . I see so much of myself and my struggles reflected in him and his work and it feels intimate somehow. So I think about him a lot even now, seven years later. And still love "ZAN"!
