GAUZE by DIR EN GREY

Gauze is the first studio album released by Dir En Grey on July 28, 1999. It is the band's first full-length record. Five tracks were produced by X Japan co-founder Yoshiki Hayashi, all of which had been previously released as singles. The album was originally released on July 28, 1999 as a standard version with a thick CD case, 36-page booklet with the CD reading surface painted red, through East West Japan. An initial limited version was released on the same day, including a translucent red sleeve with a cloud pattern, 12-page picture booklet, a 36-page lyrics booklet, and the red painted CD in a maxi-CD single case for a sticker price of ¥3,059 ($27.7). The album was later re-issued as standard version only, with a silver disc on October 31, 2001, through Free-Will. Although live performances of songs from this album have been extremely rare since 2003, the album still contains some of the band's most popular songs like "Cage" and "Yokan". The lyrics booklet features two pages for each song; one features the lyrics, while the facing page features a picture and a small poem or verse, as a companion piece.