I was expecting some great albums in 2012. But I was absolutely not expecting a new Dir en grey CD a mere five months after Dum Spiro Spero. You could make the argument that Uroboros Remasted & Expanded is not actually new, and that is fair. It is a re-release of the 2008 album Uroboros. But it’s those extra two words in the title that really matter.

There are enough changes here to warrant a look from listeners who already own the original.

Remastered

The moment the album begins you can hear the qualitative difference from the original. The opening instrumental ‘Sa Bir’ is longer, more diverse, and has an even more exotic ambiance surrounding it. Every song on the album receives similar modification. Most are not elongated, but they are universally more crisp in their sound, particularly with respect to vocals. Some songs on the original slurred together vocals by Kyo and supporting vocals by Die, Toshiya, and Kaoru into a gutteral torrent. The remastered versions have surgically pulled these elements apart and balanced them in a way that affords them each an individual impact instead of a group sucker-punch.

The net result of all this cleaning and scrubbing of noise is that the remastered album now sounds even more experimental than the original.

Expanded

The version of ‘Glass Skin’ featured this time is the Japanese language version, originally a bonus track on the American release. Now it simply replaces the original. When Kyo uses English in songs it is often unintelligible in my opinion, so I find this replacement to be a welcome change. The same is true for ‘Dozing Green’; the English version is gone.

Two new tracks appear, stretching the original track list from thirteen to fifteen. In between ‘Ware, Yami Tote…’ and ‘Bugaboo’ are the songs ‘Hydra—666’, with significant vocal clean-up, and then ‘Bugaboo Respira’, a modification of the A Capella lead-in to ‘Bugaboo’ that originally appeared on the Japanese vinyl edition of Uroboros. This is the most unclean track on the album in terms of recording quality; you can actually hear Kyo tapping on something. The raw, unfiltered sound provides an interesting thematic turning point. However, the remastered quality of ‘Bugaboo’, which immediately follows, sounds too sharp for the transition to come across smoothly. The bump in quality between the two tracks feels like an unfortunate hiccup.

Overall

Uroboros Remastered & Expanded is exactly what it claims to be. The remastering effects are blatantly noticeable, all creating a more refined and less chaotic result. While there was little wrong with Uroboros to begin with, this album shows that there is clearly room for improvement. The addition of two extra songs and Japanese versions of what were originally songs with English lyrics is more than welcome. They both provide what is likely new material for many listeners while also enhancing the cohesive feeling of the entire album. Now Uroboros really just sounds like one long, sixty-six minute track.

People who already own Uroboros should not overlook the Remastered & Expanded version. There is a thorough amount of modifications and editing that warrants another purchase in my opinion. Let’s be clear, it is not a remix album by any stretch. Instead it is a better version of what was already a fantastic album.

How could that not be a great thing?