#phy

The album was originally planned for release in the summer 2025.

For all the demos that were composed, Kyo had added vocal melodies for them. This isn't usual for Dir en grey, but he felt that his vocal tracks would help the rest of the band get a better idea of the demos' potential.

Shinya reiterated that Kyo's vocal melodies are the first thing to be concretely recorded on songs, then it's Shinya's drums and the rest of the instruments. Since the date for the recording of the drums was set in advance, Shinya came up with most of the final melodies at the last minute, so he congratulated himself for what he produced in such tight time constraints.

This time around, rather than developing "plot points" in the songs like they would have done in previous albums, Dir en grey consciously decided to let things end or to strip them bare instead. Toshiya is aware that listeners might be disappointed by this, but they also want to resonate with themselves. Toshiya felt anxious about the new album, because he finds it strange himself and realizes that a lot of people might think: "I don't get it" upon the first listen.

Kaoru had noticed that he preferred songs where he could enjoy "space" more during live shows, as opposed to songs crammed with several elements. He literally looked at the audio wavelengths while composing songs to make sure that each member had their own peaks, to highlight their individuality more.

Kaoru retouches all of the songs, except if he realizes that the original composer had a clear intention with one of them. Meanwhile, nobody re-arranges his songs. It takes him longer to arrange his own songs, to fit the idea that he has in mind, but other members' songs have more colour, so he finds them easier to work with.

To Shinya, it didn't matter which song was selected, whether he composed it or not [although he felt frustrated in the past that his songs weren't chosen]. He wouldn't push for one to be selected over others. Also, it takes him little time to come up with the phrases for each song, as long as he knows which parts have vocals or not.

The members find out about the lyrics basically at the same time as the fans, when the booklet is released. They don't know what Kyo is singing while they work on the recordings.

When they record the backup vocals, they still stand side-by-side. They find out what the lyrics they are supposed to sing are right before the recording session, but they basically just try to replicate the example that Kyo recorded, after listening to it once.

In the past, songs were selected to go onto the album with demo tracks that didn't involve vocal melodies yet, so this time Kaoru got the impression that Kyo was really involved or inspired by the demos since he added melodies on all of them.

Toshiya was conscious of looking at the band from a broader perspective while composing, erasing his self-expression by the same token. Doing that allowed his bass to bring cohesion to the group.

What was different about Die's approach to composition this time around is that he asked Kyo to add a vocal melody to his demos earlier than before. That helped him take the draft back home, work on the arrangements more, maybe even fiddle with where certain vocal parts were located, and produce something better to then suggest to the band as a whole.

The band did talk about writing a long song, but the idea was abandoned along the way.

The title "Mortal Downer" was chosen to reflect what Kyo realized about Dir en grey's live performances: they are able to create a unique heavy and gloomy atmosphere, so it was emphasized with this album. Shinya's initial thought on the new title was: "Aah, this time it's just two words."