Metal Exiles recently spoke with Die and Kaoru from Japan's DIR EN GREY about the band's new album, Dum Spiro Spero. An excerpt is available below:

Metal Exiles: The new record is sinister and you continue to evolve what you do. Do you ever worry about being pigeonholed in a particular sound?

Die: "When we create our music we do not have a set style or a genre even, we are not intending to have a goal in mind about our evolution it is something that ends up manifesting itself when the album is created. We put our entire soul into each song so the evolution runs parallel to our personal development. As we progress the evolution will continue."

Metal Exiles: You guys are amazing guitarists and with that being said how hard is it to orchestrate the music around Kyo’s flamboyant vocals?

Kaoru: "We have our riffs and rhythms writes words based on what we present him. The music always comes first but we arrange it together and depending on the wording or the style we change the rhythm or the riffs."

Metal Exiles: How hard is it for Kyo to come up with his own melodies or words against their music?

Die: "We have had the same way of making music since the beginning; riffs, ryhthm and then Kyo comes in and he writes. We wait until he finds the imagery and emotion that he wants to convey. He listens and connects/identifies with the sound and from there he starts writing. There could be a lot of waiting or none but we balance each other out so whether he makes it difficult or not he would be the only one to know. It is not a difficulty it is just the time to identify with the music."

Metal Exiles: For this album it seems like there is a lot of mental imagery. What were they trying to get out of their system?

Die: "Since the beginning we have always focused on the negativity people may have in their hearts, and that may show up as anger or sorrow or confusion. That has always been portrayed in the essence of our music. Our last album was very diverse, there were slower songs along with the rhythmic, faster songs but this time we have a constant style of music and with that consistency we wanted to branch out into stronger imagery and expression of our inner being. We do not know what the album will manifest itself into until we are done recording it."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Dir En Grey released Dum Spiro Spero two years and nine months after Uroboros, which garnered overwhelming support as the strongest and the maddest record resonating across the globe. There are 14 tracks, including 'Hageshisa To, Kono Mune No Naka De Karamitsuita Shakunetsu No Yami', 'Lotus', and 'Different Sense' as single-cut tracks on this album.

Dum Spiro Spero tracklisting:

'Kyoukotsu No Nari'

'The Blossoming Beelzebub'

'Different Sense'

'Amon'

'"Yokusou Ni Dreambox" Aruiwa Seijuku No Rinen To Tsumetai Ame'

'Juuyoku'

'Shitataru Mourou'

'Lotus'

'Diabolos'

'Akatsuki'

'Decayed Crow'

'Hageshisa To, Kono Mune No Naka De Karamitsuita Shakunetsu No Yami'

'Vanitas'

'Ruten No Tou'

Mixed by master metal engineer Tue Madsen (AUGUST BURNS RED, THE HAUNTED, SUICIDE SILENCE) and mastered by Alan Douches (HATEBREED, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, JOB FOR A COWBOY), 'Different Sense' comes ahead of Dum Spiro Spero. Check out the single artwork below.

For more info visit Direngrey.co.jp.