D'espairsRay - World Tour 2010 “Human-clad Monsters” FINAL13/04/2011
A couple of years ago was a dark time for me and my celebration of D'espairsRay, and by "dark time" I mean I just didn't like them. Since hearing [Coll:set] in 2006, none of the subsequent releases - albums or singles - did anything at all for me. Friends continued to follow them and would insist on playing me new material, but all to no avail. That was until I conceded to watch their 2008 Spiral Staircase #15 Final DVD, when I realised that for anything lacking on CD they completely make up for it onstage.
This was undone upon watching the Human-Clad Monsters Final.
It's a good DVD, don't get me wrong. The show opens with a fantastically well-led round of 13 -Thirteen- which comes off as a perfect cross between a My Chemical Romance show and an military march, and further down the line the already emotionally charged duo of CROSSED ARROWS and SCREEN are performed with enough intensity to raise goosebumps. "Forbidden" in the encore will always be a fan favourite, and the upbeat combo of Angeldust and MIЯROR is a great way to close an encore (don't forget to keep watching for a surprise track at the end)
What's missing is anything at all personal, or ironically anything remotely human. One of my biggest issues is down to the massive layering in the band's music in general. It's great to have eight guitar tracks and two drum tracks in any given song guys, but what are you going to look like when you can only play one guitar onstage? The same occurs with backing vocals, where I find it quite mystifying how Karyu and Zero can provide vocals identical to Hizumi's. You're just left with a slight feeling of detachment - yes, these four very talented gentlemen are onstage, playing a tour final in front of thousands of fans - except that they aren't playing a half of what is prescribed. Similarly there is no interaction between band members on stage, and short of a few high-fives at the end there is nothing between the band and the crowd either. Again, just a sense of detachment. For all the 2D front though it has to be said that Hizumi's vocals - when actually performed - are absolutely spot on, and are definitely a very big plus-point for the band.
D'espairsRay are good, this can't be denied, and having seen them in the past both live and on previous DVDs I can definitely agree that onstage they are possibly even better than they are on CD. It's just a shame that their normal spark of devillish mischief is missing from this particular release. Worth watching if you get the opportunity, but I wouldn't suggest going out of your way for it. Re-watch the Spiral Staircase if you're missing the goodness.
★★☆☆☆
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