A sensational three Japanese bands were visiting Metaltown this year, and as we had to pick, due to time, we went with the safe card Dir En Grey, as we had seen them before and knew of their capabilities.
Still, I was taken aback by the sheer force and vitality of their performance, which wasn’t to be taken lightly as it was exactly this capacity which made us like them in the first place.

The crowd was rather large for the day, and it wasn’t to be mistaken who were mostly filling up the front; when Kyo (vocals) shed his shirt a short way into the set, female voices filled the air with the form of lust you would expect at a Robbie Williams concert!
But Dir En Grey had so much more than a couple of abs to offer; their sound was really good (if you ignore the fact that there was no vocal sound in the start), the music was a good mix of tenderness and aggression, and as mentioned before, the performance was very dynamic (damn that Toshiya, bassist, can jump around!) and superb.

Now, I know some, maybe even many, people watching this show does so under the impression that anything hailing from Japan is directly translated to greatness (started by the growing trend of manga and anime import), as evident by the many girls in pseudo gothic cosplay outfits which are so popular within this group of people.
I have always found it absurd, silly even, to like a product (in this case the band) solely based on a certain demographic link, be it genre or nativity or whatever, and feel that judging the individual from his/hers/their personal achievement is much more fair and honest.
Having said that, I do admit that Dir En Grey most certainly can hold their own. I have not yet delved fully into their music, but as artists as a whole I feel they are worthy contenders to the biggest names of the genre.