The Dark Unspoken - Diode In Your Head?

The Dark Unspoken was founded by Darkun in 1997 and has influences stretching from the 1980's to the2000's. Originally started as a solo project, The Dark Unspoken now also has a guitarist and a drummer (both ex-NCOR), and has grown into a band. The album 'Diode In Your Head?' was their third album released in 2010 on the Echozone label, consisting of 12 tracks.

The simple but effective melody of "Angels In The Summerrain", brings to mind a combination of futurepop, blended with electro and EBM and just a hint of synthpop. I cannot disagree with what has been written several times before that the beats are very much Funker Vogt inspired. Darkun's vocals are particularly suited to this dark and heavy track.

"Buried In Wonderland" is a dark melancholic and beautiful track with lyrics to match. Very melodic, dark and romantic, this time the synthpop sounds are much more prominent. The vocals also blend very well into the mix. "One Day" very much continues the consistency in terms of quality in all aspects of this album so far. The vocals on the track being really clear.

"Diode In Your Head?" has some very nice slow piano music at the beginning building up into another standard track. A good melody once again. My only criticism is that the vocals don't seem to blend so well on this track, a production problem. What is also becoming apparent is the strong similarity between tracks. "Abandon Thrill" has a more metal sound, and also I find now after a good start not all tracks are of the same quality.

"Won't Sell Your Will", I think could have been a good track if it wasn't spoiled by the use of a vocoder, the vocals becoming incoherent and taking all harmony from the words. Trying to ignore the vocals, musically I find it quite beautiful and anthemic. Very futurepop sounding and club friendly. "Abnormis", contains some great drum beats with excellent shouting vocals. I think this could have been a real hit as it's a great dance track.

"Ich Mache Die Maschinen" begins with some nice samples and contains some great beats, again having a feel dance feel. Great use of vocal samples throughout, this is a real quality track for me as was "Abnormis".

"Growling Paintree", I can only really describe as a filler track. Whereas "Painful Heaven", gives us once again something a little different. A very catchy track, quite 1980s sounding, but it doesn't sound old and has style. For me once again a good dance track and one to sing-a-long too, it's just nice and not at all painful.

Musically I like the track "Wild Life" but suddenly we once again seem to have a little problem with the vocals but not as much in some other tracks. Very melodic and good to dance to, would also be good to shout along too, if I could understand it. We complete the album, with the instrumental track "Decisions", undoubtedly there are some to be made, but this adds little or nothing to the album.

Conclusion:
Not a very original album but still The Dark Unspoken prove that they can write some good music and lyrics. Contains some club floor fillers and very catchy tunes. If you like electro, futurepop or synthpop this album is worth checking out. As I have stated unfortunately there are some mixing and production problems which make it hard for me to pick highlights from within the album. I will however choose "Abnormis" for its club qualities and excellent vocals, followed by "Ich Mache Die Maschinen" with it's great beats and samples. In the main they do what they do well and better than many more well known bands, and if they are happy with what they do I suggest they keep doing it. I was going to say that I am really unsure where you can go from here. But this release is nearly two years old and what I can tell you is that I believe the band are still going strong, doing some good stuff live and I think another album is not so far away. Jun 08 2012