DEAR DIARY — Dear Diary (review)

DEAR DIARY — Dear Diary album cover Album · 2010 · Glam Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Stephen
"They should have picked a better name for the band!", that's what crossed my mind when I first heard this band. Hailing from Chicago, Dear Diary claimed to have a similar sound to the likes of Harem Scarem, House of Lords, and Hardline, while I don't generally have any objection to that, I found that Dear Diary is slightly inferior in terms of musicianship and songwriting skill.

The first three tracks are absolute killers. "I Wanna Know" possessed an uplifting rhythm in a fast-paced tempo, Schafer/Panos delivered an outstanding solos, a nice start. "Momma Said" nods more to the commercial side, brewed with a catchy and hot chorus. "Slow Down" applied the same formula and generated an effective outcome. But after that, it all went downhill. "Tangueray Tina" has the groove as found in early Lynch Mob, but turned out to be a decent track in the end. "One Step Closer" started well but the lazy and sleepy singing ruined the mood of the song.

"Dream In Colors" and "Plain To See" are filler ballads while "She Danced For Me" is probably the worst of the bunch. "Red Rose Burn" and "Shiny Like Bubble Glass" are still acceptable, but this album is obviously hanging tight only on the first three tracks.

If you like melodic hard rock/later-day glam, Dear Diary won't disappoint. Most of the songs were written back in the days so the composition is very 80s with no modern influence at all. The production is a bit sloppy but far from horrible sounding. As a club-hopping and local bar band, Dear Diary's quality deserved a thumb up. Though this album will be much better if there are several more killer tracks, Dear Diary's debut still stand out better than many other average glam bands that lumped the scene in the late 80s.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 3 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 4 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed