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Launched in February 1997 as a visual kei band, Dir En Grey expanded both its sound and image over the decades that followed, earning more than 30 Top 10 hits on the Japanese charts with a marketable blend of progressive heavy metal and melodic alt-rock. Bandmates Kaoru, Kyo, Die, Shinya, Toshiya made their debut with the Missa EP in 1997, then cracked the Top for the first time with the non-album single "-I'll-" in 1998. The full-length album Gauze followed in 1999, with all five of the album's singles — "Akuro no Oka," "Yurameki," "-Zan-," "Cage," and "Yokan" — enjoying Top 10 success in Japan. Dir En Grey enjoyed similar success throughout the following two decades, reaching Number 4 with 2000's Macabre, Number 3 with 2002's Kisō, Number 6 with 2003's Vulgar, and Number 8 with 2005's Withering to Death. Withering to Death also marked the band's first album to be released in America, Europe, and South Korea, with the single "Clever Sleazoid" subsequently reaching Number 15 in Finland. The band's international success increased with the release of 2007's The Marrow of a Bone, 2080's Uroboros, 2011's Dum Spiro Spero, and 2014's Arche, all of which charted within the Top 10 in Japan. Meanwhile, Dir En Grey earned the highest-charting single of the band's career with "Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami," which reached Number 2 in Japan in 2009. Although the band's prolific output of material began slow down during the latter half of the 2010s and beyond, Dir En Grey remained a commercial juggernaut in Japan, reaching Number 5 in 2022 with Phalaris and its lead single, "Oboro."
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