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Alright guys, so if you read my last album review, I said that I maybe would listen to A Different Life again just to see if it was better than The Art of Creating Confusing Spirits. I mean, I didn't actually relisten to the album, but I though about it and I kinda listened to the songs just to remember lol. Whatever I'm bored, so let's go I guess. Also I'm reviewing the lead single too why not. Also I know more about this one, so I'll explain more about the songs.
A Different Life review
1. Screenface
The first track, starts pretty calm, it will stay like that, right? Right? WRONG. Around like 40 seconds the track reveals it's truest form, noisy, angry, screamy, it shocks you basically saying "this album it's not going to be easy lol, fuck you". The lyrics already start talking about identity, a theme frequent in this album. There's like a part I think around 3 minutes it calms kinda down, probably the best part in the song. In general, the best opener they did for an album until now. 10/10, without any doubt.
2. Definition Power
This one still talks about identity and those stuff, but not in a way like Screenface, this one, in my bad rapid interpretation, it talks about like being the same as the rest of the other people ig and not having like a personality, reminds me of Child of Entertainment, yeah, these two songs really criticize society (omg that stupid Joker meme is getting in my head ugh). Musically, it doesn't jumpscare you, it's pretty easy listening eletronic track, maybe for the clubs, I could see people playing that in those goth clubs. 9.5/10
3. Why
Just a mention, this track is the first track on this album, and in general that was co-written (according to the credits) by Felix Marc, even though he was already a member like 7 years before, this is the first one where he actually writes something. Anyways, this song is also another eletronic song, kinda melodic ig. I like how the drums goes into the left ear and the right one, I like when a song kinda plays with the stereo channels yk, this playing is used in this album in some other songs (especially 10.000 Meter Waves). 9/10
4. Burning Out
Honestly, I don't really know about the lyrics I didn't like tried to interpret yet, but musically, it's also more melodic, kinda nice, maybe a little forgetable. Also random thing, I remember I was watching a video (I think it was a video by Holy Kool-Aid), I forgot what was about, and there was a movie scene, and that scene was used has a sample in this song, the only thing I remember was that it was an 80s movie ig. 9/10
5. Synthesize Me
The lead single, and most popular Diorama song, and honestly, my favourite one, like, all time (hides my 1359 scrobbles lol). Ok, so, the song was made for the clubs, pretty eletronic, also the shortest on the album, it's a pretty catchy song that in my interpretation, uses the concept of synthesis as like a metaphor for like maybe a robot or something, as the song (and the album lyrics and booklet) mentions kinda heavly on machinery and that stuff. Talking more on the lyrics, the desire of having a different life where the person could change their decisions and be more normal ig (maybe an interpretation of the "no stunted interations") (it kinda goes into the concept of Definition Power) and but you know, you can't just reboot your life as a different person, so the person just goes into self-harm, probably as an coping mechanism or something, I could see that, but atleast on this song, they don't do it, they just stares "at the blade". Talking about the music part, as a mention, I really like as how he uses echo on the voice, it's kinda addicting (and attractive). Another mention, this is the first time they enter the music video world, this one mv is pretty simple: it's a black and white video of like 3 recordings of Torben like screaming and doing faces to the lyrics, and honestly, it kinda goes hard. 12/10, with no doubts, no paranoia (haha I'm so funny)
6. Protected World
Alright, I talked way too much about the last song too much lol. Anyways, this one, idk why, this one song, especially gives me those vibes, like you know, I don't really know how to explain, the only thing I can give as an example, the Timekeeper Cookie (yes I was a cookie run fan, pretty dark times) and her aesthetic. Whatever, the lyrics personificates objects and the person suffers the effects. Instrumentally, another eletronic track, powerful drums. I don't know what to talk anymore lol, another 9/10
7. 10.000 Meter Waves
Peak song, the first calm song, still pretty eletronic. As I mentioned in Why, this is another song that plays with the stereo channels with like a glass thing? I don't know how to explain lol, I'm not so informed in the instruments lol. Anyways, I really like the vibe of the song, it's so nice, feels like I'm in a beach at in a winter night, probably on the last days of the Earth, like the song talks about destruction, like I remember another review said that this song is about climate change, makes sense I guess. Still talking about the lyrics, I personally love the line "When I listen to myself / I only hear minor chords", like I view this line as, the person thoughts and emotions are all negative, like in Western culture (I mean, more in the European music culture, as you know, Diorama is a German band, so Europe) the minor scale is considered negative and most of those depressive songs are in the minor scale. Talking about the song a little bit more, I like the whispering, it's so good, omg help me. 12/10, my 4th fav Diorama song, maybe a 3rd ig idk and also one of my comfort songs too.
8. Sands
So, the first half of the album has passed you know. So this song kinda sounds pretty calm in the start, the phrase "Don't believe the people" repeats some times. Ngl, this first part feels pretty nostalgic, maybe a weird fake nostalgia, because I don't remember listening to a song similar to it. Anyways, the song, similar to Screenface, gets noisy too, and now it keeps repeating the phrase "Who's screaming and shouting?", as on the other album review, I like when songs have noisy moments (yeah, that's probably why I fucking listen to shit like Emperor Slug (no, I'm not talking about the version with Torben and Klangstabil, I'm talking the original one) by Fragment King with a smile in the face). At the end of the song, you can hear glass breaking and the song calms down at the end. Valid crashout /silly 10/10
9. Exit the Grey
My first Diorama song and also the second song that Felix wrote too. Pretty easy listening eletronic club song too, also another catchy song, too bad this album had only 1 mv, it would be interesting a mv for this one. I think the lyrics talk about maybe introversion, which I kinda relate to it (lol yeah, online I almost talk to everyone, in real life it's pretty different lol, yeah I got the combo of being introverted + shy, and I mostly just like to talk about my interests, that's why most of this blogs entries mentions things I really like (aka Diorama), yeah, god help me). Honestly, a pretty good introdaction to their music. 10/10
10. Kein Mord
I don't know any German, so don't expect me talk about the lyrics. Yeah, another eletronic song, you can see they really broke their early Pale days influences, you know. Idk what I'll talk about more, because I can't understand the lyrics. 9.5/10
11. No Tears
The album is ending, and now, most of the songs are ballads and slow songs. This one, is no different lol. This one has like a noise (idk how to explain) that really sounds it's scrathing your head ig. I don't really thought about the lyrics, but whatever. A quick mention, on the chorus, idk how to explain, but on the back vocals, you can listen to I think it's like rolling the consonants idk, I'm not a linguist, it's a nice detail. 9/10
12. Blessed
Another ballad, this one features melty whispering vocals, (god damm, it's sooo good, yeah, I also simp his voice, I just really love like whispering in general though) and wholesome lyrics. I kinda have two intrepretations: the first one it's just a metaphor of Jesus, makes sense, but the song doesn't really mention it, it's kinda vague, so the other intrepretation is maybe talking about the person's soulmate or something. Probably the first one, cause the hidden track, ends with a sample of a woman talking about praising the lord and that stuff. Whatever, it's so nice, probably one of their most positive songs. The other comfort song from this album. 10/10
13. Colder
The last song listed on the album (on the physical version), the last song written by Felix on the album, a song to kill the mood (if you listen to their stuff on shuffle especially, like when your spotify free doesn't have more free skips and your now stuck in this depressing song). Honestly, this is just another The Convience of Being Absent, I can barely listen to it without having a feeling of jumping of a window, even if I just read the lyrics. The worse, I really like the instrumental, pretty winter sounding, honestly I want an instrumental version, just not to feel the guilt of the lyrics, ugh. I don't hate the song, nor the lyrics, it's just pretty depressing for me, so I barely listen to it. 8/10
14. A Different Life
The hidding track on the cd, on spotify it's just listed as another song, this is a pretty good closer. It starts (and ends) with a sample of a woman talking about how people only smoke and drink and she thanks god for having a mother that made her Christian, and also on the last part, on that same woman, she's just asking to the people to praise the lord. But this song has more things to talk about, so, I think the second verse (the first sang by Torben), it talks about the past, like a bad childhood, and it kinda blames the parents (random fact, on one of the interviews, I think it was a interview, I think it was talking about Tiny Missing Fragments, Torben mentions that I believe that his father died when he was 3 years old) on their education. The chorus it's pretty catchy though, it keeps repeating "Get out of here / This is a different life", probably goes to, you know the "I need to start again / I need to make it different" line on Synthesize Me. The third verse, I don't really understand like the first lines, but I think it kinda goes to the suicide route on the "Preparing for the overdose" (bro, I swear I'm starting to think about this is like a epilogue of Synthesize Me or idk Erase Me, I think makes more sense connecting after Erase Me). After the chorus repeats, the song changes, but not like Screenface or Sands, it goes calm, and you can listen to a smooth like "ooooh" and whispering, it talks I guess about how they where born again and like how it feels the same, I honestly, I think the person is hallucinating those events. And it ends, as you know, with that woman talking yeah yeah. 11/10
(holy shit, this review has almost 2k words omg and I still didn't talked about the single)
Fuck it, it's been like 4 hours just writting this (holy shit), anyways a pretty solid album, 10/10, maybe I'll consider as a 2nd place honestly.
Ranking
1. Synthesize Me
2. 10.000 Meter Waves
3. A Different Life
4. Screenface
5. Blessed
6. Sands
7. Exit The Grey
8. Definition Power
9. Kein Mord
10. Why
11. Burning Out
12. No Tears
13. Protected World
14. Colder
(I'm writing this part on my fucking phone so it's gonna be more harder, my laptop fucking died lol)
Alright, here's the second part of this blog:
Synthesize Me (the single) review
1. & 2. Synthesize Me (Single & Extended Versions)
So, these two versions are pretty similar as the original one, so I'll just put them together. The single one is just the original with like more 20 seconds, the only differences is that it starts with a little noise and says something in the lines of "Hack my soul (?) and set me off" instead of going directly to "Start the play", after the first chorus, it doesn't have that drum part idk how to explain and it ends again saying "start the play". The extended one, it's kinda more similar on the intro to the original one, but it's extended for like 1 minute and something, between the first chorus and third verse there's an instrumental break, which I love it, goes so fucking hard, and it has an extra chorus too. 12/10
3. Erase Me
The first b-side on the single, and honestly, it's so addictive god damm, it's so fucking good for no reason. Honestly, this song is basically a Synthesize Me part 2 lyric wise, but this one just goes directly into the suicide theme you know. Musically, pretty eletronic, ready for the clubs, it also kinda feels dramatic I think. This one also has a mv and it's also made with 5 euros and a beer, it's pretty simple, it's just him walking on an abandoned house with shitty editing, I'll give it a discount because it was 2007, they're basically an indie band (I mean if I remember Accession is an indie record label), it was posted on early youtube. Anyways, top 6, a 11/10
4. Synthesize Me (Piano Version)
Alright, now things calm down a bit and you can listen more of the melancholy of those lyrics, the desire of synthesis and yada yada yada, this one just skips the chorus and goes to the third verse you can hear some other instruments joining, the song is getting pretty intense and when you hear "No doubts, no paranoia", the fucking song just explodes, as like, the person got a mental breakdown or something. Pretty beautiful honestly, I love that part, you can still hear the piano too, there's some parts I think I listen to "I'm only" in the background and there's a part that the screams goes kinda wobbly I guess that how you describe it, and at the end of that part there's a female voice saying something I don't understand. And the song ends with the chorus and the piano playing alone again. God damm, this song combines their piano ballads with noisy stuff and I just can't find a reason to hate it. Absolute cinema 11/10
5. Synthesize Me (Dada Version)
This version is pretty minimal, it's pretty just the sound of the synthesizers, like they took the title seriously, and also they put a voice changer or just a filter to sound robotic, ngl I hated this version when I first listened to it, but now, I like it, not the best one, but I can see this interpretation. This one ends with a German phrase that translating said something in the lines of "The war (?) of human and machine ends in a tie". 8/10
6. Truth And Movement
The second b-side, it's also a pretty eletronic song too, the lyrics talk about torture instead of self-harm and destruction too (if it was any better). In my interpretation it's like about a toxic relationship and the person it's manipulated to like what the other one is doing to them and they basically becomes dependent of the other person. The instrumental is pretty dramatic. 9.5/10
7. The Rational Anthem
The last song of this single and, honestly, it's just another Screenface (instrumentally). It starts kinda calm, the lowered voice tone, the low instruments and after repeating the verse, you hear a shout of him saying "CUT OUT!" and the song changes rapidly to this noisy song, and after some time he repeats the lyrics he said at the start and sometimes he shouts again "Cut out". After some time, there's a part where he's just basically saying "This is perfect" repeatedly, the lyrics of this song are pretty short, I think it has like 13 unique words and 6 different verses. And again it goes shouting "Cut out" and after some time it just repeats the start and after it, it ends again, with "This is perfect". The lyrics I think they talk about like to stop worrying about the negative parts of life ig. Yeah, it's pretty good fuck it 10/10
A pretty solid single, very good, god damm pretty addicting, I would recommend if you liked the album. 10/10
Ranking (again):
1. Synthesize Me (Single & Extended Versions)
2. Erase Me
3. Synthesize Me (Piano Version)
4. The Rational Anthem
5. Truth And Movement
6. Synthesize Me (Dada Version)
Holy shit, here goes 6 hours of my life. I don't care that it's too long, shut the fuck up.
Byeeee
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