Diary Of Dreams – Melancholin (Album – Accession Records)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Nearly thirty years after the band’s official debut album the fans of Diary Of Dreams had to wait for more than five years to get a successor to the “Hell In Eden”-album.
Content: “Melancholin” takes off in a very bombastic and epic way which mainly comes through in the drums section. Quite progressively the work moves in between powerful songs driven by elevating choruses and the magic of female choirs and softer, delicate, and melancholic pieces. I even noticed a song which could perfectly be used for modern ballet. On top of it all Adrian Hates and his charismatic, deep, voice guides the listener throughout a dark but enlightening universe.
+ + + : It seems that it wasn’t easy to achieve this new opus but it for sure was worth waiting for it. Diary Of Dreams has probably released its most diversified piece of music but also its most accomplished production. The way the songs have been built up is absolutely genius; the choruses creating a sensation of climax while choirs passages empower this sensation. From heavy bombast to delicacy “Melancholin” reveals an impressive sound canvas where guitar and electronics melt together in a sonic intercourse. There’s also a very strong visual part emerging from “Welt Aus Porzellan” which is a song I perfectly figure for a modern ballet performance. On the opposite side there’s the very danceable “The Fatalist” which must become a new hit. Other great songs are “Beyond The Void”, “Gedeih & Verderb” featuring empowering guitar playing and the sensible “My Distant Light”.
– – – : The most dreamiest passages aren’t my personal favorites but I perfectly imagine it will be the best cuts for other listeners.
Conclusion: This work is a detailed, intelligent and artistic interpretation of melancholic Dark-Wave music.
Best songs: “The Fatalist”, “Beyond The Void”, “Gedeih & Verderb”, “Mein Werk Aus Zement”, “My Distant Light”, “Welt Aus Porzellan”, “The Secret”.
Rate: 9.
Artist: www.diaryofdreams.de / www.facebook.com/officialdiaryofdreams
Label: www.accession-records.de / www.facebook.com/accessionrecords
About Diary Of Dreams
Diary Of Dreams is a German darkwave project formed by Adrian Hates in 1989. The debut album “Cholymelan” appeared in 1994 on Dion Fortune and was reissued in 1999 on Accession Records, the label Hates founded in 1995.
Subsequent albums established a catalogue that includes “End of Flowers” (1996), “Bird Without Wings” (1997), “Psychoma?” (1998), “One of 18 Angels” (2000), “Freak Perfume” (2002) with companion EP “PaniK Manifesto” (2002), “Nigredo” (2004), “MenschFeind” (EP, 2005), “Nekrolog 43” (2007), “(if)” (2009), “Ego:X” (2011), “Elegies in Darkness” (2014), “Grau im Licht” (2015), and “Hell in Eden” (2017).
The project performs live with additional musicians; recent line-ups list Gaun:A, Dejan, Torben Wendt and Flex alongside Hates. Following “Melancholin”, reviewed here, the project released the orchestral set “Under a timeless spell” in 2024 and the mini-album “Dead End Dreams – Chapter 1” in 2025.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
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