Diabulus In Musica - Secrets

I want to say I love this album; I can’t. Sadly that will be the general tone of this review.

Having discovered them through Myspace some time ago I really looked forward to the release of Secrets. Nocturnal Flowers was an incredible song the first time I heard it – if a bit cheesy, but hey, I like Lunatica and Edenbrdige; cheese isn’t an issue for me.

What is an issue is that this band doesn’t seem to understand how to best utilise it’s components. They have live strings, and a choir. Something a lot of debuts really could do with, but never get. It opens with a small intro and then the starting track – Come to Paradise. It’s by far not a bad song, but it feels empty. The vocalist isn’t to be flawed...what is to be flawed is how lazy some of the song writing is. It feels like the band have gone “insert some synths there, just to pad it out” as the synths don’t really fit in until the harpsichord is played during the chorus.

That’s the saving grace of this band, choruses. It’s almost like this band is stuck somewhere between Epcia and Delain. A fate that Nemesea famously made with their album ‘Mana’ which sounded like an Epica clone...though I don’t think Diabulus in Musica have quite suffered as much to be called clones, they don’t really have their own identity.

One place I feel identity is beginning to emerge is on St. Michael's Nightmare. This song has a great opening and fantastic riff throughout. However, it does suffer from the same over-produced emptiness...the guitars are too clean and there is nothing in the background. Everything sounds a bit separated. To be honest, this band could do with some more orchestral work, as by the sounds of it, it could really help boost their music by giving it some melody and a generally more advanced sound.

Another band that they remind me of is Whyzdom...of course, Whyzdom’s debut album was incredible – but Diabulus seem to suffer a lack of identity...like a middle aged man who starts copying his friends, gets a younger boyfriend or girlfriend, buys a Range Rover, and then changes that all a week later with a new partner, new car, etc. It’s not till 3 minutes in to St. Michael's Nightmare that the band really start to shine. With – it’s not what it is, but it’s the phrase that came into my head – jazz piano and wonderful pseudo-operatic singing (trust me, people call it opera) over the top...

Lonely Soul is a beautiful ballad though. It’s the type of song I do expect to hear when I go into my coffee shop with students playing the piano however. It’s nothing amazingly original, and for some reason I don’t think the vocals particularly suite the song either...but this is probably an issue exclusive to myself. I think it could’ve been a beautiful instrumental track though.

Ishtar is one of the other stand out tracks though, and another sign of where the band can travel. It’s heavier than the rest of the album I feel, but it’s developed. The strings aren’t just supporting the guitars, they stand out and exaggerate the guitars actions and progressive the songs. Moreover, the female vocals compliment the higher-screeched vocals by being in her lower ranges...and this foreplay builds up to the orgasm of middle-eastern vocals at 1:12 or so...that really makes this song stand out.

It’s clear to see then, that this band has potential. But where does it leave us? They have potential but I felt a bit bored by this album. I don’t mean to offend the band. It’s clear there is a lot of thought on this...but I feel only half of the songs really had the bands identity...and it’s a mixed identity at that. Either way...it's still a good début.

6/10