Released by: Dust on the Tracks Records
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: Metal/Alternative
Links: http://www.diariesofahero.com
Line Up:
Carlo Del Favero – Vocals / Guitar
Jonathan Weeks – Guitar
Matteo Bevilaqua – Bass / Backing Vocals
Leonard Berisha – Drums
Track List:
1. Intro
2. Solitude
3. Manimal
4. J5
5. Throne
6. Scarwhores
7. High School Funeral
8. Get Away
9. Victims Of Chaos
10. Neruda
11. Brother
Diaries Of A Hero are an impressive new British metalcore outfit featuring the talents of vocalist / guitarist Carlo Del Favero, lead guitarist Jonathan Weeks, Matteo Bevilaqua on bass / backing vocals and Leonard Berisha on drums. Those of you who like to get into gigs early instead of propping up the nearest bar may have caught them opening proceedings on Motorheads 2012 European tour with Anthrax. Since then they’ve been locked away in a Croatian studio, laboring to produce this, their debut album.
Now, I must confess that they are not the type of thing that this writer usually listens to. However if they are good enough for Lemmy and Scott Ian, they should be good enough for any metalhead. The staccato guitars slowly fade in, followed by a sublimely melancholic picked melody over a widescreen musical landscape of the type that U2 have occupied in the latter part of their career, and then… Solitude shockingly and from out of nowhere attacks the listener like rabid dog. If ever there was a powerful introduction, a statement of intent, then this is it. In the space of a few short seconds, Diaries Of A Hero set out their agenda, perfectly summing up what’s to follow over the next ten tracks. Emotive, angry, energetic, melodic, pulsing and punishing are just a few of the adjectives that leap to mind when trying to describe the barrage that hits you. It is indeed an onslaught, but a tightly constructed one. Musically it’s stunning. Expertly phrased and delivered guitar solos fall over start-stop rhythms. Skipping Manimal which was strangely missing from this reviewer’s copy, the perfectly paced second song proper J5 arrives in quick succession, an antidote to the pent up anger of the first track. It’s still angry, but a more measured rage. By now it’s clear that the band are a technically precise machine, with multi-layered vocals, one minute melodic, the next screaming, but no less pointed. Throne is more of the same, with some modern-progressive style precision in the instrumental passages that prove just what a tight unit the band are. With Del Favero screaming for his life over the verses Scarwhores proves one thing; damn but this guy is angry. And there’s little let-up. Highschool Funeral is as gnarly and unsettling as its title suggests, and Get Away continues the pummeling. Victims of Chaos is a real showcase for the drumming talents of Berisha, his double bass beating a tour de force that’s skillfully executed. Neruda coming towards the end of the album eases off the gas just a little, with a welcome breather arriving in the haunting echoes of the middle section before the final assault. The set closes with the epic Brother. It fades out in suitably widescreen fashion, a coda that reminds you just where you came in in the first place.
The headline? A gleamingly polished production, superb musicianship and a killer performance from each and every member on an album that does not leave wanting. Remove any preconceptions you night have. This is a band to watch.
Written by Eamon O’Neill
Ratings Eamon 8/10