Macabre (album)

Macabre
Studio album by Dir En Grey
Released	September 20, 2000
Recorded	Warner Studio, Studio Greenbird, WestSide Studio
Genre	Progressive metal, experimental metal, alternative metal, hard rock
Length	72:57
Language	Japanese, English, Russian
Label	Firewall Div./SMEJ
Producer	Dir En Grey Tatsuya Sakamoto (Track 2) Hoppy Kamiyama (Track 7)
Dir En Grey chronology
Gauze (1999) Macabre (2000) Kai (2001)
Singles from Macabre
"Myaku" Released: February 16, 2000 "[KR]cube" Released: June 7, 2000 "Taiyou no Ao" Released: July 26, 2000

Macabre (stylized MACABRE) is the second studio album released by Dir En Grey on September 20, 2000. It is the band's first record to be released in collaboration of Free-Will's Firewall sub-division and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The album features Russian imagery: the artwork contains Cyrillic; "Deity" is sung in Russian; and the song "Rasetsukoku" translates to "Man-eating devil country", which was the Chinese name for Russia during the Qing Dynasty. The original print of Macabre featured an etched, tinted jewel case with 5 wooden beads placed within the spine. The album proper, like Gauze, included two booklets: one with the lyrics, and the other featuring a related image and poem.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Kyo. 

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Deity"	Dir En Grey	4:15
2.	"Myaku" (脈; "Pulse")	Dir En Grey	4:05
3.	"Wake" (理由; "Reason")	Die	5:12
4.	"egnirys cimredopyh +) An Injection"	Toshiya	5:16
5.	"Hydra"	Kaoru	5:41
6.	"Hotarubi" (蛍火; "Light of a firefly")	Shinya	6:06
7.	"[KR]cube"	Dir En Grey	4:09
8.	"Berry"	Kaoru	4:20
9.	"Macabre -Sanagi no Yume wa Ageha no Hane-" (MACABRE —揚羽ノ羽三ノ夢ハ二蛹一—; see notes)	Kaoru	10:49
10.	"Audrey"	Die	4:33
11.	"Rasetsukoku" (羅刹国; see above)	Dir En Grey	3:35
12.	"Zakuro" (ザクロ; "Pomegranate")	Kaoru	8:37
13.	"Taiyō no Ao" (太陽の碧; "Blue sun")	Kaoru	6:19

Notes

• Deity is the Russian word for children. The accompanying image in the lyric book is of a pregnant woman's stomach. The melody for "Deity" appears to be derived from a portion of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5.
• "理由" officially romanizes as "riyũ", yet is transliterated in this case by the band as "wake"; both "wake" ("訳") and riyũ ("理由") can translate as reason, however "riyũ" is more akin to a motive, whereas "wake" is more akin to rational thought.
• "egnirys cimredopyh" is hypodermic syringe spelled backwards; it was spelled in this manner to pass the censorship board in Japan.
• "蛍火" romanizes as both "Hotarubi" and "Keika". Both translate as "light of the firefly".
• When read left to right, "Macabre"'s subtitle "揚羽ノ羽ノ夢ハ蛹" transliterates as "Ageha no hane no yume wa sanagi", or "The Swallowtail's Wings' Dream is the Chrysalis". However, the title contains numbered furigana above it, which suggests that the title is to be read as "Sanagi no yume wa ageha no hane", or "The Chrysalis' Dream is the Swallowtail's Wings".
• "Taiyou no Ao" uses kanji meaning "midori" (green). However "ao", the word for blue, can also mean green. So the translation could be either Green, Blue, or Jade Sun.
• A rearrangement of the track "Hydra" appears on their 2007 single "Dozing Green" as a B-side.
• A re-recording of the track "Rasetsukoku" appears as a bonus track on their 2011 album Dum Spiro Spero.

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
2000	Oricon	4

Personnel

• Dir En Grey – producer
• Kyo – vocals, lyricist
• Kaoru – guitar
• Die – guitar
• Toshiya – bass guitar
• Shinya – drums

• Hoppy Kamiyama – producer
• Chieko Kinbara – violin (Hotarubi)
• Hiroshi "Dynamite Tommy" Tomioka – executive producer
• Koji Yoda – art director
• Hidemi Ogata – cover art