Last Page of the Diary
I will admit I’m not the kindest soul amongst music writers. Even when writing about bands that I would rank amongst my all-time top five, I don’t pull punches when an album, or even part of an album, proves to be a disappointment. But despite a clear disconnect from whatever it was they were doing on those mid-to-late 10s albums, I can’t finish without reaffirming what a profound affect this band has had on my listening habits.
Some of my stories relate to their live shows. My first discovery of them at the first Flag Promotions Gotham event, where I became an instant convert. Getting so drunk waiting for their show in the same place 4 years later that I gave up trying to prepare a review of the thing and just sung along incredibly loudly. Even the way they headlined the final Gotham in 2011, brining this long-running series of one-day fests to a mighty close with a suitably climatic rendition of “Kindrom”. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen them in Germany all that much – two cut-down shows in the M’era Luna hangar is all I’ve managed, but that was enough to convince me that They Are A Big Thing Over There.
But there’s more personal moments. Walking home from a difficult night out in times of crisis with the chorus from “Chemicals” in my head, keeping my time and keeping me on the path and off the road. The way a short-term fling that threw me off-balance in 2010, and the words to “AmoK” better summed how I felt than anything I could write. And then once I was over it, “Ex-ile” became the soundtrack to my mental machinations instead. Or there’s the fact that I can’t walk through a misty forest in autumn without auralising most of the ‘Cholymelan’ album.
And then there was the time when I was trying to learn soft synths during a lonely evening during Lockdown Mk1, but was such a broken man by that point that all I could manage was a one-fingered rendition of “Colorblind” on e-piano. And having come to terms with those feelings, songs like “The Curse” and “The Plague” are now more appropriate ways of describing that beast inside my head.
That’s the real story here.
Oh, you just came here for a playlist, right? Ok then…..
Top xx Lists
One day I’m going to link this to Spotify or something. But having bought the albums one at a time from Resurrection Records way-back-then, why make life so easy?
Selected Diary Entries
I’m not doing rankings for this bit like I usually do – the songs are in order of release. But I’ve known fans of this band who only like certain types of song. So for the picky listeners out there:
- Big Doomy Epics: Stimulation, But The Wind Was Stronger, Methusalem, Rumours About Angels, Darker, Trauma:A, The Wedding, Mein Werk aus Zement
- Dance In Shadows (or German basements): Butterfly:Dance!, Chemicals, The Curse, AmoK, PaniK?, Soul Stripper, King Of Nowhere, The Luxury of Insanity, Endless Nights, the Fatalist
- Play Some Goth: False Affection False Creation, Victimized, A Fool To Blame, Retaliation, Ex-ile, UnWanted?, Undividable
- Show Me Your Teeth: Mankind, Giftraum, Kindrom, UnMensch, MenschFeind, The Plague, Malice, Sinferno, Viva la bestia
- The Complicated Section: End of Flowers, never’Freeze, People Watcher, Psycho-Logic, Son of a Thief, The Colours of Grey, Echo In Me, A Dark Embrace
- The Tear-Jerkers: Flood of Tears, Colorblind, Traumtänzer, She and Her Darkness, AmoK (piano version from aLive or Anatomy of Silence)
I haven’t covered the side projects here, but there’s only one album apiece by .com/Kill and Coma Alliance to cover, so they may appear here in the future. Worth mentioning that occasional Diary of Dreams member Torben Wendt is better known for his own band Diorama. If you like the more electronic aspect of the Diary of Dreams sound, you should check them out if you haven’t already. They’re usually next to one another wherever their CDs are sold, anyway.
Terminates Here Personal Choice
But because I like all the above, I’m finishing with one big list.
- Chemicals
- AmoK
- Kindrom
- Colorblind
- Rumours About Angels
- Butterfly:Dance!
- The Plague
- The Curse
- Ex-ile
- People Watcher
- Darker
- O’Brother Sleep
- Mankind
- Stimulation
- The Colours of Grey
- Malice
- Retaliation
- King of Nowhere
- Flood of Tears
- Undividable
- Giftraum
- UnMensch
- The Luxury of Insanity
- The Wedding
- Soul Stripper
- She
- MenschFiend
- Methusalem
- Traumtänzer
- PaniK?
- Winter Souls
- Traum:A
- Endless Nights
- UnWanted?
- No-Body Left To Blame
- But The Wind Was Stronger
- the Fatalist
- Bird Without Wings II
- The Game
- Holier Than Thou Approach
- Bird Without Wings
- End Of Flowers
- Victimized
- False Affection, False Creation
- Son of a Thief
- At The Border Of My Nation
- She And Her Darkness
- Viva la bestia
- Psycho-Logic
- Never’Freeze
That is the end – of flowers, and of this write-up. Back to Articles.
