DIARY OF DREAMS NEKROLOG 43 ALBUM ACCESSION, METROPOLIS RELEASE: NOVEMBER 6, 2007 REVIEW: OCTOBER 13, 2007

Fall is here, the leaves tumble down, the days grow shorter and colder... Diary of Dreams put out a new album. It is fitting. No other band out there makes it autumn quite like Adrian Hates' band does. People have expressed concern due to a lot of talk about a change coming with "Nekrolog 43" and yes there is some. All for the better. "Nigredo" was the end of an era, a capstone to the sound and style Diary of Dreams had spent their career carving out. The classic sound could no longer be improved upon.

Now we are treated to a much crisper, cleaner sounding Diary. This is not to say that they've gone pop. They've gone even further from the mainstream with this one. Building upon the sound their live album featured, Hates and company have opted to sound more like an actual band and less like purveyors of gloom who wallow in their excesses. "The Plague" has some impressive guitar work on it, especially during the second verse. Gaun A uses his axe expertly to shade the song while simultaneously driving this lead single further away from what you'd expect from Diary of Dreams. There is much more emphasis on texture and while some songs hearken back ("Congratulations") others like "Matching Dream" or "Son of a Thief" are new territory for our favoured German sons of dusk. Magnificent piano pervades throughout, the lights flickering with intensity.

Instead of spending time building up to grand crescendos, Diary of Dreams have become immediate. Urgent. They sound amazing on "Nekrolog 43"; the time spent making this record was wisely taken. I have to go back to the third track "Son of a Thief" as it has expert synthesis of the sort I did not think them capable of. The words to this one, my god, what has gone down Adrian. "Nekrolog 43" is an album that no fan of this band should be without.

PETER MARKS

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