Diorama's debut album, entitled “Pale” is made up of beautiful darkwave with an acoustic feel, and it's still one of my favorite albums in the genre. Each release after this has altered their sound to sound more like the sister project “Diary of Dreams”, and that change continues on “Amaroid”, their fourth studio album.

The album contains thirteen tracks of “Diary of Dreams” sounding darkwave. Don’t get me wrong, sounding like “Diary of Dreams” is probably a good thing, since they are a huge selling act, but still, I feel that a lot of the nerve and the uniqueness that Diorama had on “Pale” is gone. The tracks range between faster ones, which will probably be played on dance floors worldwide, to slower tracks suited for moments of peace and quiet.

The quality of the tracks are high, and I don’t think that anybody buying this release will feel let down, it's just too bad that nothing really sticks. There are two tracks that I feel aren’t up to par with the rest of them, and they are “The Girls”, a song about sleeping with two girls. The whole concept feels like it's been used to death within the goth/darkwave genre and it just feels boring. The second track that I feel is below average is “Random Starlight”, that just reeks of Alphaville. As I have said before, inspiration is great, but when you are an established act such as Diorama these type of outright thefts is uncalled for.

Wrapping it up, if you like the direction “Diorama” has been heading, or if you are a fan of “Diary of Dreams”, then this album won’t disappoint you. It is a safe buy for anybody into darkwave, it just saddens me since I know that Diorama can deliver so much more.

5/10

text: Carl Cedergren