Many moons ago a now-absent AUKN forum-goer sent me an mp3 of the Dir en Grey album track Garbage. I was hooked on their sound from that point on, soon realising they’re one of the most innovative hard rock acts that the Land of the Rising Sun has to offer. I use the term ‘hard rock’ quite tentatively though because while Diru consider themselves to be an experimental metal band and have their roots in the visual kei movement they purposefully avoid pigeonholing themselves in those neat little boxes that the contemporary music industry is so fond of. They instead pride themselves on creating a dark, heavy and uncompromising sound and opting to express themselves through the music itself, rather than their image.

After working back from Withering to Death and their Western breakthrough LP Vulgar I was mildly disappointed with The Marrow of a Bone. It was abrasive, powerful and carried a brutal sincerity that begged to be taken seriously (I have a real problem these days with taking heavy metal seriously…put it down to old age or something) but it felt like they had gone too far in their embracing of their European and Stateside peers. I respect their drive to evolve but it didn’t exploit the full range of their musicianship and influences; 2008′s Uroboros, which takes its name from a mythical concept of re-creation and unity, remedies this by drawing from their past works while creating something new and really quite exciting.