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Artist News
Dir En Grey raise questions over handling of Japanese tsunami
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 3 August 2011
With their new album ‘Dum Spiro Spero’ out this week, Japanese metallers Dir En Grey have published an open letter regarding how the ethos behind their latest LP was inspired and affected by the natural disasters that struck their country in March of this year.
The band reveal they were in Tokyo working on the album, the title of which translates as ‘While I Breathe, I Hope’, when the initial earthquake hit on 11 Mar. In particular, their letter draws attention to the Japanese government’s official statements (or lack thereof) addressing concerns over radiation levels in the aftermath of the catastrophe.
In the letter, they say: “The safety regulations for safe levels of radiation exposure keep getting increased higher and higher, yet the only official announcement is that ‘there is no effect on health’. We can no longer tell whether we are a democratic nation. Unless you are careful with your words, you will be taken down with significant force. At this point we do not have the ability to truly find out what is occurring in our own country”.
“However, we want to know the truth”, they later write. “People are able to overcome huge obstacles and problems if they know the truth”.
Read the full letter here.
