Out via Accession Records on April 26 is the brand new Diary Of Dreams album “Under a timeless Spell”. “Under a timeless Spell” was recorded with a full philharmonic orchestra and offers 9 classic Diary of Dreams tracks in a completely new acoustic guise, realized with the Leipzig Philharmonic.

The album will be out on CD and also as a white and black splatters vinyl in a limited and numbered edition of 1000 copies. The CD comes in a first edition fold-out digipak.

Tracks:

1. Malum
2. She and her Darkness
3. The Valley
4. Hiding Rivers
5. The Plague
6. Hell in Eden
7. Butterfly:Dance!
8. Traumtänzer
9. The Colors of Grey
10. The Secret

About Diary of Dreams

Diary of Dreams is a German darkwave band formed in the late 80s by lead singer and founding member Adrian Hates. The project’s debut album, “Cholymelan”, was released in 1994 through Dion Fortune label. Following the initial success, Adrian Hates established Accession Records, his own music label, to further the project’s releases. “End of Flowers”, the project’s second album, came out in 1996, delving deeper into the darkwave genre. This was followed by “Bird Without Wings” in 1997 and the more experimental “Psychoma?” in 1998.

The subsequent releases, “One of 18 Angels” and “Freak Perfume” (alongside its companion EP “PaniK Manifesto”), saw a shift towards integrating electronic rhythms. 2004’s “Nigredo”, was a concept album influenced by a mythology crafted by the band, and signaled a return to more nuanced and sparse compositions, albeit with elements of their dance-oriented sound.

Seeveral other albums followed. “Elegies in Darkness” was released on March 14, 2014 and saw Hates drawing inspiration from German expressionism (1909-1935) and the concept of “the beauty of ugliness”, both in lyrics and artwork.

Diary of Dreams albums and EPs

• Cholymelan (1994)
• End of Flowers (1996)
• Bird Without Wings (1997)
• Psychoma? (1998)
• One of 18 Angels (2000)
• Freak Perfume (2002)
• PaniK Manifesto (2002) – EP/mini-album
• Nigredo (2004)
• Menschfeind (2005) – EP/mini-album
• Nekrolog 43 (2007)
• (if) (2009)
• Ego:X (2011)
• Elegies in Darkness (2014)
• Grau im Licht (2015)
• Hell in Eden (2017)
• Melancholin (2023)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

Referring to the events that unfolded globally, 2023 has again been a bloody, terrible year. Music continues to be a true therapy for soothing pain and suffering, though it seems to have a diminishing impact on the ongoing horror. Therefore, I’m once again wrapping up the year with a personal selection of my very own ‘best of’ albums.

Throughout the year, over 700 productions were selected, and 450 reviews were conducted. Some productions were declined because the style of music didn’t fit, others weren’t reviewed for not being ‘good enough’, while a final portion of reviews will be postponed to early 2024. I am immensely grateful to all the labels, bands, and promoters for considering my work, and I look forward to collaborating again in 2024.

I extend my deepest gratitude and thanks to Rich Bova (NEIKKA RPM), who has been reading, correcting, and improving the reviews for many years. Without Rich, these reviews would not exist. I also want to thank Bernard Van Isacker, chief editor of Side-Line Music Magazine, for our ongoing, successful collaboration. Last but not least, I thank my lovely wife, Katja, for giving me the time and freedom to pursue my passion.

However…

Looking ahead to 2024, I’ve been scaling back my activities for a few years and plan to reduce them further. Having started with my first reviews and interviews back in 1991, I feel the end drawing near. My aim is to reach 2025, but nothing is certain. I’ve grown a bit tired and disillusioned with how things are evolving.

That’s why I want to express a big ‘F*** you’ to so-called ‘artists’ and label owners who fail to realize or appreciate the work I do in creating reviews and preparing interviews to spotlight them. Guys, I do this for free and in my free time! The attitude and lack of respect shown by some – fortunately a very few – is very, very sad. But, I’m afraid it reflects the world we live in. Behind a genius artist doesn’t always stand a great person. It’s odd realizing that the ‘biggest’ and long-established artists in this scene are often the most accessible.

Writing reviews remains highly subjective and a source of discussion. Remember, it’s always the reviewer’s perception. I assure you, I always strive to substantiate my reviews as best as possible. A review is subjective but must be honest!

Like every year, I’ve selected the best albums of the year 2023. This ‘TOP 25’ encompasses various styles like EBM, Dark-Electro, IDM, Synth-Pop, Ethereal, Dark-Ambient, Industrial, Ritual, Cinematic, Gothic, Post-Punk, Cold/Dark-Wave, Dark-Techno, and a few related genres. It’s always an exciting yet challenging task.

This ‘TOP 25’ is based on the promotional material I received, excluding compilations, ‘best of’ productions, EPs, and singles. So, here’s my ‘TOP 25’ from 2023, and don’t forget to share it with your friends…

Stéphane Froidcoeur (for Inferno Sound Diaries/Side-Line Reviews)

Top 25 albums of the year 2023

1. CERULEAN VEINS “Black” Cold Transmission Music
2. LIEBKNECHT “Fabrikat” Ant-Zen
3. FRONTIER GUARDS “Colony” Aliens Production
4. SOPOR AETERNUS & THE ENSEMBLE OF SHADOWS “Alone At Sam’s – An Evening With…” Apocalyptic Vision / Trisol
5. WAVESHARD “Waveshard” Corvus Records
6. THE EMPATH “Black Hole” Audiophob
7. VNV NATION “Electric Sun” Metropolis Records
8. EFF DST “Incarnate” Ant-Zen
9. ENZO KREFT “XL” Enzo Kreft
10. DELEYAMAN “The Sudbury Inn” TTO Records
11. GIRLS UNDER GLASS “Backdraft” Dependent Records
12. ALIEN VAMPIRES “Return Me To Hell” Alfa Matrix
13. SUN’S SPECTRUM “The Silence After The Fall” Cold Transmission Music
14. DANIEL MYER “Hingab” Sonic Groove
15. SHROUDS “Shrouds” Hands
16. DIARY OF DREAMS “Melancholin” Accession Records
17. MONO INC “Ravenblack” NoCut / SPV
18. ROME “Gates Of Europe” Trisol
19. OHNE NOMEN “The S-Witch” Cold Transmission Music
20. THE SEVEN WHORES OF THE APOCALYPSE “All Through The Waste” Scanner / Dark Dimensions
21. SPANKTHENUN “The Bunker Tapes Vol.3” SpankTheNun
22. BLACKCARBURNING “Watching Sleepers” COP International
23. GOD BODY DISCONNECT “The Weight Of Regression” Cryo Chamber
24. MILDREDA “Blue-Devilled” Dependent Records
25. PASCAL SAVY “Simulacra” Cyclic Law

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

State Of The Union, the electronic industrial band hailing from Los Angeles (California), is back with their latest single and video release, “Purgatory”.

“Purgatory” is a song that explores the topic of suicide. The band’s frontman Johann Sebastian explains it as follows: “As human beings, we go through the “ups” and “downs”. Some of us have a harder time than others dealing with these emotions. Some of us can even get to the brink of suicide because we want to make it end as fast as we can. In esoteric belief, a person who commits suicide disrupts their karmic flow and goes to a timeless place where one second could feel like a million years! This is very hard to comprehend within our own minds. To experience something like that, we have to have an out-of-body experience and travel to a very low-frequency dimension known as purgatory. In some religions, purgatory is known as the place where spirits go to pay for their sins and burn karma before they move on to their next life experience. All in all, we will never know unless we go there. That’s why it is better to keep making powerful electronic music that makes club-goers dance their nights away to songs like “Purgatory”.”

“Purgatory” is available on all major digital platforms including Bandcamp, you can check it out below.

State of the Union made their debut in 2002 with the album “Black City Lights” on Accession Records, a label founded by Adrian Hates. With the follow-up releases from 2004, State of the Union switched to WTII Records, and to Infacted Recordings for the European market . In 2004 the second album “Inpendum” was released . The debut album was re-recorded and produced in 2005 as “Black City Lights V.2”. In 2008 the third album “Evol Love Industry” was released .

After the single “Dancing in the Dark” in 2010 and a four-year break, the fourth album “My Time Away” saw the light of day in 2014. Another four years later, in 2018, the fifth album “Indupop” was ready.

Here’s the video for the band’s latest single.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

The synthpop/industrial band Distorted Reality is back with an all new single, “I Can’t Imagine”. “I Can’t Imagine” addresses the idea of being in a relationship with someone for a long time while realizing the relationship is essentially over. No one wants to make the scary move of ending it. It’s a difficult and heartbreaking split because you both still love each other. In this case, however, love is not enough.

“I Can’t Imagine” is available on all major digital platforms including Bandcamp.

Below you can see a video for the new single.

Distorted Reality was formed by Martha A. Hoffmann from Miami, USA and Christian Kobusch from Berlin, Germany, the creator of musical project Berlin Banter. Martha is the lead singer of Deep Red, the American Electro-Goth formation. Deep Red was touring in support of Project Pitchfork when a chance meeting between Marttha and Christian happened at a tour stop in Germany, Martha and Christian began to discuss their ideas.

Subsequently, Distorted Reality was formed after the two kept in touch over the course of a year during which, a collection of songs were created. Distorted Reality’s debut album “The Fine Line Between Love and Hate” was produced together with Bruno Kramm (Das Ich) and released on May 17, 2002 on Accession Records and re-released on the American record label Nilaihah Records. The North American version contained additional remixes by Assemblage 23, Forma Tadre, cut.rate.box and Null Device.

In 2004/2005 Martha and Christian worked on their second album “Daydreams and Nightmares” together with Andreas Meyer (Forma Tadre, Newt). Artists like Bruno Kramm, Daniel Myer (Haujobb), In Strict Confidence, Dust of Basement and Chris L. (Agonoize) contributed remixes to this album.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, the band decided to put out a new single (performed live), “I Knew it Was Wrong”, in January 2021. 2022 then saw another collaboration with Solitary Experiments where Martha was part of a special bonus CD, “La Voix de La Femme”, with her interpretation of their song “I am”. Most recently, Christian and Berlin Banter collaborated on a single with Tricky.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Out via the German label Accession Records on December 9th is Diorama’s remix album “Fast Advance Fast Reverse”. The remix compilation acts as an encore to their “Tiny missing Fragments” album from 2020.

The result is a fusion of third party remixes and Diorama’s own edits, covering a wide range of styles, from fragile piano and guitar sounds to harsh industrial techno. The album holds 9 mixes by such acts as Broken Spencer, CHRCTRS, Faderhead, Zoodrake and Mental Discipline.

The electro pop band Diorama was founded in 1996, as the musical project of singer, Torben Wendt.

Tracks:

1. Horizons (Remix By Zoodrake)
2. Gasoline (Guitar Edit By Diorama)
3. Iisland (Remix By Faderhead)
4. Patchwork (Piano Edit By Diorama)
5. Dark Pitch (Remix By Chrctrs)
6. Iisland (Lush Edit By Diorama)
7. Gasoline (Remix By Mental Discipline)
8. Horizons (Chilled Edit By Diorama)
9. Iisland (Remix By Broken Spencer)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Future-Pop, Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Twenty years ago Assemblage 23 released the successful opus “Failure”. Today this legendary album by Tom Shear got a new mix and mastering plus an extra disc featuring remixes.

Content: “Failure” has to be considered as an album that was originally released in the early years of Future-Pop. I know Tom Shear doesn’t care that much attention about the label of his music, but he was often linked with VNV Nation, Neuroticfish and co. With some recoil this album was a hard-banging Pop format, a kind of evil Electro-Pop sound infused with Industrial components, but still melodic and ultra danceable.

The second disc features exactly the same tracklist, but all of the tracks have been remixed in chronological order by DTSR, Interface, Antiscion, Mari Kattman, Rotersand, Clan Of Xymox, The Gentry, Suicide Commando, Patrick Codenys and Assemblage 23.

+ + + : “Failure” remains a ‘great’ piece of music. The original magic of songs like “Naked”, “House On Fire”, “Disappoint”, “Divide” and “Awake” hasn’t really changed. It’s even a wonder to see how songs of twenty years old still have this effect. It simply reveals the talent and genius of Tom Shear who’s not only a great musician, but also an artist who is writing intelligent and touching lyrics. I think a band like Assemblage 23 brought us a different kind of Electro-Pop, miles away from the established standards and Depeche Mode-clones. “Failure” can be easily seen as a true reference in this genre.

Among the remixes there’re not only great names, but also a very diversified number of artists. It’s also cool to see Tom’s wife (cf. Mari Kattman) remixing one of the songs. My personal favorite is the most unknown project from the list; UK project Antiscion boosting “House On Fire”. Tom Shear did also a great job remixing “King Of Insects”, which sounds definitely better than the original version.

– – – : I’m not sure this remixed and remastered edition will have a similar effect and impact than 20 years ago, but it’s a homage to a great artist and an essential work in his career.

Conclusion: “Failure” has been brought back to life and it still sounds up to date!

Best songs: “House On Fire”, “Naked”, “Disappoint”, “Awake” + “House On Fire – Antiscion Remix”, “King Of Insects – Assemblage 23 Remix”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.assemblage23.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044546464584

Label: www.accession-records.de / www.facebook.com/accessionrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

(Photo by Assemblage 23) The leading industrial music distributor Audioglobe informs us that Accession Records is re-releasing its Assemblage 23 back catalog to coincide with the 20th Anniversary re-release of the band’s second album “Failure” as we reported yesterday. The 4 albums are “Addendum” (2001), “Defiance” (2002), “Meta” (2007) and “Bruise” (2012).

About Assemblage 23

Assemblage 23 is an American electro act based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1988 by Tom Shear who writes the music and lyrics and does the recording himself. Prior to starting Assemblage 23, Shear experimented with music under the name Man on a Stage, beginning in the early 1980s. Most of Shear’s music at this point was instrumental, as he lacked the confidence to sing. At the same time, Shear was also playing bass in a live band called the Advocates.

Assemblage 23 was officially born in 1988, after Shear experienced the industrial dance music played by an opening DJ for Depeche Mode. It took until 1998 for Assemblage 23 to attract the attention of record labels.

Shear signed a deal in 1999 with the Canadian label Gashed! for a full-length album (“Contempt”, released in November 1999). A second album, Failure, followed in March 2001 and was released by Gashed in North America and Accession Records in Europe.

The rest is history.

About Accession Records

Accession Records is a German independent record label created by Adrian Hates the frontman of the band Diary Of Dreams in 1995. Early in its existence, the label only released Diary Of Dreams albums, but in 1999 the label added other bands.

Here is a list of bands (that were) signed to the label: Angels of Venice, Assemblage 23, Claire Voyant, Cleaner, Diary of Dreams, Diorama, Distorted Reality, Lights of Euphoria, Nerve.Filter, Panzer AG, SITD, Faderhead, Build 23, Haujobb, Sinin, Human Decay, Painkillers, Clear Vision, Cyber axis, .com/kill, Coma Alliance, Spektralized, Painbastard, Audioscope, Belief, Cut.Rate.Box, Plastic, Silence, Psyche.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

DIORAMA was set up in 1996 by Torben Wendt. The German dark-Wave project got rapidly signed to Accession Records. Felix Marx joined the band in 2000. All over the years there were a few changes in the line-up, but Torben Wendt and Felix Marc became inseparable. DIORAMA this year released the tenth full length album in the band’s discography. The new work fills a gap of four years, but still sounds as a new beginning. The band defines “Tiny Missing Fragments” as ‘glitch beats, complex loops and atmospheric density’. The work became one of their most accomplished- and maybe best works to date. I talked about it all with Torben Wendt.  

(Picture credits by Thomas Wuhrer / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Tiny Missing Fragments” is your tenth full length album! This is more than an accomplishment, but does it have a special significance to you? And how do you perceive this new album in DIORAMA’s discography?

Torben: It doesn’t matter at all if it’s album number 10, 8 or 69. It took us 24 years to get to this point and if there is any reason at all to celebrate (well, ok, there is always one :-)) then it’s the fact that we’re still around, alive, energized, at ease with what we do.

We perceive the album as a turning point in our discography. It repositions our sound, it adds another dimension in terms of playing field to our core building blocks, which have been the same forever. Melancholy, poetry, lightness, obscure nihilistic romanticism.

Q: When did you start writing the new album and can you tell us the different stages you’d to go through to achieve “Tiny Missing Fragments”?

Torben: We started out a couple of months after the last album “Zero Soldier Army” was published. The stages we went through depend a bit from the particularity of the song. For some songs like “Avatars” or “Horizons”, we started out with programming beats, designing soundscapes and then afterwards we added melodies and vocal parts on top. Other tracks like “The Minimum” or “Sensation” were evolving as a whole, meaning the songwriting went hand in hand with the arrangement basically in one big step. Over 3-4 years the songs were slowly taking shape, we enhanced the productions by adding more love and details to them, including the acoustic drum and guitar parts, complemented the lyrics and at some point in Spring 2020 we made the final recordings, finished the productions and handed the stuff over to the Mastering studio.

Q: I experienced “Tiny Missing Fragments” as one of your most diversified works to date; an album filled with melancholia, bombast and yet refined, sometimes minimal and globally speaking more ‘electronic’. What are your thoughts about this opus and was there a kind of guiding line and/or specific criteria you handled?

Torben: The guideline was that we had to feel comfortable with what we were doing. I’m not saying that was a completely new goal, rather a newfound one maybe. But the older you get the smaller the amount of expectable album releases becomes, which makes every step you take increasingly important. So I really felt the urge to build a monument to ourselves that would depict us as authentically and uncompromisingly as possible.

Q: The lyrics have been always an essential element in DIORAMA’ work and it’s not that different about “Tiny Missing Fragments” featuring a deeply psychological exposure. What’s hiding behind the lyrics and in, which way are they a kind of mirror reflecting own experiences and thoughts?

Torben: They are very much a mirror. Ever since I was young I’ve been writing poems and short prosaic texts to get certain things worked up, to document certain ideas. The diorama lyrics come from the same source. They don’t need to objectively make sense or describe a particular topic coherently. I’m trying to convey feelings, broaden the thought horizon, capture the essence of things that are impossible to express by ‘normal’ means.

Q: Torben and Felix, you’re now working together for 20 years, right? What makes the chemistry between you both? And how do you perceive each other as musicians?

Torben: The most important chemical aspect is that we’re accepting each other just the way we are. Together we’ve learned this business of music production from scratch and we’ll always know where we come from. 1 Atari, 1 Keyboard, 10.000 nonsensical ideas. The biggest strength I would certify for Felix -apart from his capabilities as a producer -is his keen sense of earworms. The ability to write songs that are instantly catchy without being banal.

Q: Because of the pandemic I noticed artists are taking care to do ‘other’ and/or ‘different’ things like live streams, extra remixes, reworking old material, collaborative productions, cover versions, clips ao. What do you think about this situation and what are you actually busy with? How do you see things evolving?

Torben: The Corona circumstances clearly affected our planning. Without the pandemic, we would have released the album a couple of months earlier and we would have started touring this October/November. However, in the absence of concerts and concert preparations we could allow more time for finishing the album worthily and preparing our promotional activities. Also, we collected a number of remixes that will be released shortly.

What do we predict for the upcoming months? On the artist/event market, the dry spell will continue and gradually get better with the growing distribution of vaccination. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is long. And winding.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Dark-Popk, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Diorama is now active for twenty four years and this new opus is the band’s tenth album. The songs were written and recorded over the past four years. Torben Wendt and Felix Marc both remain the artistic force and creative spirit of the band completed by Zura Nakamura playing guitar and drummer Markus ‘Marquess’.

Content: Defining this album as Electro-Pop would be wrong, but it has been always difficult to define Diorama’s sound! The new album doesn’t sound that different and yet I get the feeling there’s a clear evolution towards something ‘new’. The songs for sure have something ‘poppy’ because of the carrying and elevating choruses. It also has this typical taste of melancholia, which we are also used to hearing when listening to Electro-pop, but Diorama always has had something of their own. That’s exactly what this new opus illustrates. It’s all about the sound treatments and the distance they take with the copyists of 80s synth-pop. The songs are filled with emotions, refined with delicate arrangements, sometimes accomplished with minimalism –which is probably one of the innovating aspects and once again carried by the charisma of their singer Torben Wendt.

+ + + : Everyone has to make up its mind to say if this album is Diorama’s best one or not, but it definitely is my favorite one. Diorama strikes back with ‘new’ –or refreshed ideas, which are mainly coming through in the impressive and explicit Electronic sound treatments, but still in a subtle, Minimalistic taste running through a few cuts. The album also is diversified and that’s an exciting element, but also because this formation feels comfortable dealing with different angles of Electronic music sometimes reinforced by guitar playing. From the well-crafted opening song “Avatars” carried by an elevating chorus to the more Funky “Patchwork” to the Minimalism of “Horizons” to the beautiful melancholia showed at “Gasoline” to the danceable “Charles De Gaulle” to the somewhat bombastic “iisland” to an emotional final part featuring “Sensation”, “Minimum” and “Orbitalia” this work takes you in its grip from start till the end.

– – – : There’s only one song that left me unmoved and that’s “Dark Pitch”, which is more a kind of break.

Conclusion: Diorama has always been a creative and artistic ambassador of the Electro-underground scene, but “Tiny Missing Fragments” also reveals a band striving for innovation and walking on new paths.

Best songs: “Avatars”, “iisland”, “Patchwork”, “The Minimum”, “Charles De Gaulle”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.diorama-music.com / www.facebook.com/dioramawastaken

Label: www.accession-records.de / www.facebook.com/accessionrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Out on Accession Records by end of next month is “Tiny missing Fragments”, the 10th studio album of the darkwwave act Diorama. On their new album, Diorama decided to dump the ‘classic’ electro arrangements and go for – and we quote – “glitch beats, complex loops and atmospheric density”.

The album was recorded and produced single-handedly by Torben Wendt and Felix Marc. The album release will be accompanied by a number of digital singles and video material.

10 albums in 24 years

Diorama was founded in 1996 as a musical project of Torben Wendt. His music was soon picked up by Adrian Hates of Diary of Dreams, who together with Rainer Assmann (Daf/ Fad Gadget) helped recording a debut-album “Pale” in 1999.

In 2000, Felix Marc joined Diorama as a keyboard player, co-producer and backing vocalist. The second album “Her Liquid Arms” was released in April 2001. The second album was followed by club-oriented single “Device” later that year. Bassist Bernard Le Sigue joined the band the following year, and together with Torben and Felix saw the release of the third album, named “The Art of Creating Confusing Spirits” in October 2002.

After a long break and another addition to the band’s line-up (guitar player Sash Fiddler joining in 2003), the fourth album “Amaroid” was released in April 2005. In October 2005, Diorama released two more albums: a re-release of their first album “Pale”, with three new songs (“Don’t Be There”, “You and Ice” and “Crop of Illusions”); and “Re-Pale” – a collection of new versions of earlier songs, remixes and some previously unreleased songs.

At the end of 2006, Bernard Le Sigue left the band. On 23 February 2007, a new single was released: “Synthesize Me”, a prelude for the next album, which was released 4 weeks later: “A Different Life”. “Cubed” was their seventh studio album (released on 19 March 2010).

2 more albums followed: “Even the Devil Doesn’t Care” (2013) and “Zero Soldier Army” (2016).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Genre/Influences: Dark electro-wave, dark wave-pop.

Background/Info: Coma Alliance resulted from the common efforts between Adrian Hates (Diary Of Dreams and Accession Records owner) and Torben Wendt (Diorama). I think we can say that both musicians share a common music interest, which already resulted in 2016 in a first joint tour with mutual guest appearances. “Weapon Of Choice” goes a step further delivering the first album from both artists.

Content: Adrian Hates’ unique timbre of voice clearly brings us back to Diary Of Dreams while the arrangements and sound some treatments from Torben Wendt reminds Diorama songs. So in the end this album becomes a kind of fusion between two artists and their respective bands. Notice by the Zura Nakamura (Diorama) played the guitar on this album as well. Bombast and refinement have been merged together. You’ll find a similar fusion between electronics and guitar. The songs reflect melancholia, but still this sweet and somewhat anguishing reverie, which feels a bit like a muse for both artists.

+ + + : If you like Diary Of Dreams you probably also like Diorama so imagine getting the main protagonists together and you gone like Coma Alliance. The album reflects a dark and dreamy side. Heavy sound treatments and subtle arrangements feel a bit like a sonic Yin and Yang. You can feel the songs progressively growing on you till reaching an ultimate point of ecstasy.

– – – : The sound formula doesn’t really sound innovative and the sound formula even becomes a little bit repetitive after a while. It doesn’t take a way there a few cool songs featured at the album, but I can’t give you one potential hit.

Conclusion: Coma Alliance is a project that had to see the daylight; I think it was written in the stars and their “Weapon Of Choice” will for sure find multiple adherents. If you like dark and dreamy song this album will bring you enjoyment.

Best songs: “Starfruit”, “Trembler”, “Finsta”, “Sepia”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/comaalliance

Label: www.accession–records.de /www.facebook.com/accessionrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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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On November 16th Accession Records will release the debut album “Weapon of Choice” by Coma Alliance, the joint venture of the wave/electro artists Adrian Hates (Diary of Dreams) and Torben Wendt (Diorama).

For a first impression I also recommend the video of the song “Royd”.

Coma Alliance has its stylistic roots firmly embedded in the dark alternative scene but has been complemented by trip hop and minimal electro elements. They first went on tour under the Coma Alliance moniker in 2016, at the time still devised as independent shows of either Diary of Dreams and Diorama with mutual guest appearances. In January 2019 Coma Alliance will play 7 German and 2 Russian cities – as 1 band with 1 joint stage show.

During the show the duo will present both new interpretations of well-known classic pieces of both their bands as well as songs from Coma Alliance’s upcoming debut album.

Coma Alliance on tour (Special guest In Strict Confidence)

• 11.01.2019 Oberhausen, Kulttempel
• 12.01.2019 Hamburg, Markthalle
• 17.01.2019 Frankfurt, Batschkapp
• 18.01.2019 Stuttgart, im Wizemannµ
• 19.01.2019 München, Backstage
• 25.01.2019 Berlin, Huxleys Neue Welt
• 26.01.2019 Dresden, Reithalle
• 15.02.2019 St. Petersburg (RUS), Aurora Concert Hall *
• 16.02.2019 Moskau (RUS), Club Theater *

* Without In Strict Confidence

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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Genre/Influences: Electronic dark-wave, dark wave-pop.

Background/Info: The last year released album “Grau Im Licht” was a (new) successful work for Diary Of Dreams. This album is a live double disc that has been recorded during the “Grau im Licht”-tour at live shows in Hamburg, Leipzig and Berlin. That was exactly one year ago now while the band is already on tour right now.

Content: Diary Of Dreams is a successful band and live formation and that’s what this album confirms. It’s not only because of their great live experience, but also because of the rather unique sound -which remains dark, melancholic and influenced by dark wave-pop influences and the charismatic vocals of their front man Adrian Hates. There’s only one Diary Of Dreams and there’s no single band that has ever reached their unique level, which made the band famous.

‘reLive” mainly features songs from the “Grau Im Licht”-album, but also tracks from the previous full length “Elegies In darkness”. This album starts with songs from these albums and is mainly characterized by ‘recent’ songs although you’ll find ‘older’ hits from the “Negredo”-period for example.

The album features 22 songs and many great moments where you can feel the fusion between the audience and the band. This work is filled with dark reverie and moments of bombast, but still with refined piano arrangements and passionate vocals. The concert ends in a true apotheosis during “King Of Nowhere” and “Kindrom”.

+ + + : I’ve always associated live albums with the fans of a band and that’s not that different for “reLive”. This is an album for Diary Of Dreams lovers, but it also is a fully enjoyable work for other music lovers. This work gives you a perfect summarize of this band’s great talent and especially the impressive live performance. The sound is simply phenomenal and mainly characterized by the impressive vocals of Adrian Hates. I often get the impression of hearing him sing as if in a studio.

– – – : A live album is perfect, but I would have preferred a DVD instead. It’s already 10 years ago now they released the DVD “Nine In Numbers”. Speaking for myself, I’m also missing a few ‘older’ hit songs.

Conclusion: “reLive” is a very successful album, which will for sure please all the fans that have supported their heroes for more than 20 years now.

Best songs: “Butterfly:Dance!”, “Kindrom”, “King Of Nowhere”, “Undividable”, “Malum”, “Sinferno”, “Soul Stripper”, “The Colors Of Grey”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.diaryofdreams.de / www.facebook.com/officialdiaryofdreams

Label: www.accession–records.de /www.facebook.com/accessionrecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM, body-pop.

Background/Info: Twelve years have passed since the “Gegen Den Strom”-album (2004) released on Accession Records. We got a couple of EP’s in the meantime, but “Traumatized” announced the comeback of Lights Of Euphoria. The line-up still consists of Jimmy Machon and Torben Schmidt while Thomas Gaarn joined in as a new member. “Traumatized” is the 7^th full length by the Danish-German combo.

Content: This album sounds a bit like a new start and the least I can say is that it was a long, but prolific break when it comes to speak about efficiency and sound creativity. “Traumatized” takes off a rather familiar way with body-pop music revealing vague Depeche Mode influences. Quite progressively the work becomes harder and even harsh and into pure EBM. The songs are well-crafted and meticulously elaborated. “Traumatized” reveals outstanding bass lines, aggressive sequences, raw sound treatments and Jimmy Machon singing with more rage and charisma than ever before.

Lights Of Euphoria remains faithful to some of their most familiar influences and I especially refer to the great melody lines. It sounds a bit old-styled and ‘poppy’ as well while totally matching with the harder essence of the production.

The album ends with a cover version of Depeche Mode’s “Stripped” featuring Soman. It’s an interesting cut as you rapidly recognize the original song, which has been adapted into the typical Soman-style.

+ + + : “Traumatized” is a fully successful album revealing all the maturity of the band, which mainly excels in the global sound research and treatments. The EBM influences have never been this strong and efficient. The global production –with a special mention for the vocals, is absolutely great. The song “Schwarze Sonne” which was previously released as EP title song (2012) is my personal favorite cut.

– – – : The pop ingredients referring to Depeche Mode as the debut song is not exactly the best element of the work.

Conclusion: It’s really weird what a break can do with artists, but not many bands are striking back with force and brilliance like Lights Of Euphoria did on “Traumatized”.

Best songs: “Schwarze Sonne”, “Under My Spell”, “Waiting”, “Book Of Lies”, “Questions”, “Stripped feat. Soman”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.facebook.com/lightsofeuphoria

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com