The Marrow of a Bone
| The Marrow of a Bone | ||||
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| Studio album by Dir En Grey | ||||
| Released | February 7, 2007 (see release history) |
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| Recorded | December 2005 – January 2007, various locations | |||
| Length | 50:05 (disc one) 13:20 (disc two) |
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| Language | Japanese, English | |||
| Label | Firewall Div./SMEJ | |||
| Producer | Dir En Grey | |||
| Dir En Grey chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Marrow of a Bone | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   |
| Allmusic | |
| Billboard.com | (favorable) |
| Metal Hammer |   |
| MusicOMH | |
The Marrow of a Bone (stylized THE MARROW OF A BONE) is the sixth studio album by Japanese metal band Dir En Grey, released on February 7, 2007 in Japan, and in the United States (20 February), Germany (2 March), France (6 March), and the United Kingdom (7 May) in the following months. In total, the album was released in eleven countries. The band was touring North America at the time of the album's release in both Japan and the United States. In March 2007, The Marrow of a Bone reached number 21 on Billboard's "Top Independent Albums" chart.
The album was released in Japan with two editions. The regular edition is a single disc packaged in a traditional jewel case, and a limited edition was released with two discs, one being the main album, and the second an "unplugged" album. The European and American releases were all single editions. The main disc with the thirteen featured tracks were included. The initial pressing of the album's American edition was affected by a misprint. Warcon Records has announced that corrected booklets will be printed, however, specific details have yet to be released. Later pressings feature a correctly printed booklet with a fully visible logo. The cover image is taken from the Dmitri Baltermants photograph "Grief".
A promotional site, in both Japanese and English, was launched prior to the album's release, containing video clips and samples of several songs, information about the album, hosted on the band's official web page. A second promotional site was launched shortly after the release, only accessible with a password included in the Japanese release. Both sites posted information about "premium live" shows, available to those who purchased the album and registered with their product barcode. Footage from the first show was featured on the fan club DVD, In Weal or Woe.
The Marrow of a Bone is, like most other Dir En Grey albums, self-produced. Work began on the album as early as 2005, while the majority of songs were written while touring throughout 2006 between shows in Japan, Europe, and America during the Family Values Tour. The band members noted that touring in the United States on a major festival tour influenced and inspired them in the production process, and several songs, including "Lie Buried with a Vengeance", "Agitated Screams of Maggots", and "The Pledge". Guitarist Kaoru has said about the production process, "...some of it went really well, but some of it went really badly." The entirety of the album's final recording was completed following their 2006 tour in December, with only the month of January to finalize production to meet the February release date. Even though the formal process was rapid, it has been described as their cleanest production and heaviest album to date. The production on the supporting singles and the album showed a noted difference, with two of the singles, "Ryoujoku no Ame" and "Clever Sleazoid", being rerecorded entirely for the album, as Dir En Grey hired a new sound engineer. "Ryoujoku no Ame" received a strong change instrumentally, as well as removing the falsetto vocals.
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