刹那
刹那 is unique among the four songs for two reasons: It has no known working title in the form of 新曲 (Shinkyoku) and a number, and it is the only one to have been reworked and properly recorded in a studio setting. It was also performed the earliest of the four songs, with its first known performance taking place on May 31, 1997. Its last known performance before being heavily reworked was on September 15 that year. By October 28, the song was performed with a new structure, but retained its original title, as seen on that day's setlist and in its live report, both published in SHOXX #59 (January 1998). Sometime between October 1997 and January 1998, the reworking would lead to the song being renamed to Unknown…Despair…a Lost. This new song title was first used in SHOXX #62 (April 1998) on the setlist for January 14, 1998.
In Bandやろうぜ (July 1998), Kaoru reiterates that Unknown…Despair…a Lost is the remade version of a song that previously existed. This was confirmed years later by Shinya in the MINERVA -THE UNRAVELING- photobook, published in 2013. In 2020, Kaoru used the setlist of the June 14, 1997 live with this song on it as a t-shirt design. This marks the first known time the song was publicly recognised by a band member since their indies days, aside from Shinya's aforementioned explanation in 2013. In June 2023, Shinya took to Twitter to clarify that 新曲6 was not the working title for 刹那 and instead a completely different song.
You can listen to the May 31, 1997, performance of the song here.
Trivia
- As mentioned before, Dir En Grey began performing the Unknown…Despair…a Lost version of this song beginning with the live on October 28, 1997. The 刹那 version was last performed on September 15, 1997, making it the Dir En Grey song that hasn't been performed for the longest time.
- The studio song that holds this record is 霧と繭, which was last performed on October 30, 1997. Incidentally, this was also the last live at which 刹那 was performed with this title.