DIARY OF DREAMS is a band not only artistic in music but also in designing their outputs. Unpacking the limited edition and running over the pages of the booklet of their newest record entitled Nekrolog 43 is a real pleasure. CD is integrated into the booklet, which comes as a hardback, again extremely dark and disturbing illustrated and photographed, with prologue and epilogue texts, quotes and the lyrics, fraught with pain, desperation and death, but also with much sarcasm and grievousness. And though, these lyrics again hold many lines of poetry, which probably appear thousandfold quoted by melancholic souls. Hauntingly beautiful, hauntingly sad.
What the booklet promises gets much more conveyed by the music. DIARY OF DREAMS’ music is still complex, likewise dark as disturbing, but quieter, less harsh maybe. Accents on guitar and piano have changed, while all the many little sound details and finesses find its way more subtle and cryptically into your aural canals. And so Nekrolog 43 still remains to be thrilling and offers new aspects and little discoveries even after the 30th run.
The only one track sung in German language is the opener and title-track Nekrolog 43 (an obituary), a song that immediately fills my eyes with tears, as the closer The Valley does too. Second track is the first single The Plague that perfectly fills the dancefloors. It’s quite a break to the opener and I have to confess, I don’t like this song that much (fancies too much with future pop), but on the other hand, this song is the first its refrain gets stuck in my head. Hmm… With Son Of A Thief and the mesmerizing Tears Of Joy two gems of the White Room follow. That’s the kind of songs I love DIARY OF DREAMS for ;) Again a gross break comes up with UnWanted, a song that oddly sounds strange, like written ages ago and not technically adjusted with the new production. I let this song pass by and fall deep into Matching Lives. Another outstanding piece of music and another highlight on Nekrolog 43. Afterwards my ears turn away. Neither Remedy Child nor Malice keeps my attention attracted. The Darkest Of All Hours does and the acid-tongued Congratulations, which can be almost taken as a lyrical apology. Hypo)cryptic(al and AlLone only work for the moment, once finished they blur in my head too.
On a euphoric opening, disenchantment follows. Of course, Nekrolog 43 is again an exceptional piece of music, full of emotions, subtle, sophisticated, brought to perfections and probably reflects all images, ideas and visions of Adrian Hates to the tiniest detail. But, as on earlier releases too, it remains a stale taste of stagnation. Proven trademarks elaborated in nuances, but nothing new or different offering. And once more I wonder: what’s coming next? Especially, since the Nigredo-trilogy is finished now.