Dir en grey is a rock band from Japan that truly defies any genre classification. Their music ranges from Hardcore to heavy rock, techno and sometimes hip-hop beats. Giving this band a truly original sound.

Each song in unique whether it’s a ballad like ‘The Final’ or a death metal single such as ‘Greif’ Dir en grey’s music will always have an impact.

So much of an impact in fact they have already flooded your area. The buzz on them grew when they packed a show in Texas and sold out shows in both New York and Los Angeles.

Without the help of advertisement or releasing an album in America Dir en grey had the tickets sold out in minutes. It was just their devoted fans patiently waiting to finally see them in the states.

Since the three city showcase tour in 2006, they’ve released 2 albums in the U.S. ‘Withering to Death’ (named one of the Top 10 hard Rock and Metal albums of 2006) by Amazon.com and ‘The Marrow of a Bone’.

‘Withering to Death’ album track ‘Saku’ was named the #1 video of 2006 by MTV and was featured in MTV2s Headbanger’s Ball.

Dir en grey has also participated in events such as ‘The Family Values Tour’ with American artists such as Korn and Flyleaf. Headlined their American Tour ‘Inward Scream’ and also opened for ‘Deftones’ last month right here at the Rainbow Ballroom.

Some of you might have already seen them perform. But due to lack of advertisement you may not really know who they are. Dir en grey started their career in 1997. They released three singles at once. Which was very uncommon. All three reached the Top Ten. Now Dir en grey has seven albums.

They also began their career as a “Visual Kei” band Visual Kei is a movement in Japanese popular culture that used unusual, sometimes flamboyant looks. This usually involves striking make-up, unusual hair styles and elaborate costumes. That image later changed.

They’ve kept their band’s lineup for ten years (which is very rare for bands to say in the U.S.) The band’s vocalist is Kyo, the guitarists are Kaoru and Die, Toshiya is on bass and Shinya is on drums.

Kyo has a voice that has truly broken the language barrier. ‘Deftones’ fans were blown away when they saw the large group of Dir en grey’s fans singing along with the music regardless if Kyo was singing completely in Japanese.

The Los Angeles Times wrote “Kyo is a staggering vocalist.” They added “he has stockpiled an extreme range of vocal inflections, from a guttural mutter to a tonsil-ripping scream where no effects are needed.” (2/21/07)

Which brings me to my next point. Dir en grey isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Harsh lyrics, vivid and often graphic music videos, aggressive and bloody self-mutilation displays onstage might turn a few heads in the other direction.

But they’ve been successful regardless. According to an interview by The British Broadcasting Corporation, (BBC) Dir en grey actually “strive to shock with gory images and lyrics.” And the bands lyricist Kyo “Stretches for the most extreme imagery.”

But they have won over countless fans throughout the world and are currently touring Europe and were chosen by Linkin Park to open for them in Linkin park’s Japan Tour. The ‘DOZING GREEN’ Europe tour has begun and the new ‘DOZING GREEN’ single will be released October 24th.

In the BBC interview Dir en grey left a message for “Lovers of eardrum splitting, headache inducing, filth fetish, death metal rockers everywhere.” And the message is “If you don’t mind getting eggs thrown at you, or covered in my blood, we’d love to come and see us play.”