Dir en grey are a Visual Kei band who went major in 1997. Consisting of Kyo on vocals, Kaoru and Die on guitar, Toshiya on bass and Shinya on drums, the band were to become an overnight sensation.
Originally their style was Visual Kei, daunting, feminine, yet dangerous. Later, they settled down on a vaguely Visual style, but much less of the feminism.
They released their first album Missa shortly after, and then went on to release Gauze, Macabre and Kisou. These albums had a strong visual theme to them, and although it is easy to see the progression of the band's psyche across the tracks, they were still a settled style.
The shockwaves came in 2002, with Dir en Grey releasing "six UGLY", six 'ugly' tracks of American styled music, but still with the faint undetones of Dir en Grey's delightful vocal lines in the choruses and bridges. Dir en Grey's next album, Vulgar was to be released in September 2003, with the lead track, Obscure, heading back towards the original style.
Despite no longer being so Visual, Dir en Grey enjoy to surprise and shock - moving from hard tracks like Pink Killer and Filth, to rock ballads such as Mushi or 24ko Cylinder, and then onto tracks such as Mr.NEWSMAN with profound lyrics, but a heart wrenching vocal bridge, or Umbrella with it's catchy chorus.