Dir En Grey

Average Blasphemy

BY Keith CarmanPublished Feb 22, 2010

Comprised of 13 videos culled from the likes of 2008's Uroboros and 2007's The Marrow Of A Bone, Average Blasphemy finds Japanese art-rock quartet Dir En Grey embracing the extremities of cinematic oddity and progressive, cumulative rock. An interesting visual cacophony, ranging from CGI to colour-treated footage, still shots and animation, is better than most feature films and musically, the band are as odd as ever, melding cock rock, grindcore, ethnic crooning and pop into one overwhelming experience. Value-wise, Average Blasphemy is catered to, and will please, diehard fans, doubling-up on some tracks such as "Vinushka," offered in both its ten-minute and shorter versions, as well as the restricted version of "Agitated Screams Of Maggots," but the unwitting probably won't care. Moreover, it's a bit thin on extra material. Some sort of discography, biography or anything more than half-hour clips culled from the making of these videos would do better to honour their 13 years and seven albums, as opposed to this afterthought.
(The End)

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