The Diomedes – DIOMEDES (Album Review)

A raw intensity permeates DIOMEDES, the sophomore album from London-based three-piece ectropunk outfit The Diomedes. This intensity manifests in high-octane drum patterns, expansive guitars, wide-ranging synths, and soaring vocal performances, demonstrating the band’s celestial ambitions. Comprised of members Mark Champion on vocals, guitars, and synths; David Myers on drums; and George Harris on lead guitar and backing vocals, The Diomedes sound more like a thirty-piece than a three-piece, actively seeking ways to expand their delicately robust sound across the stereo field.

The guts of DIOMEDES were recorded over a week in a rented rehearsal room in Leyton, with the band taking on production duties themselves. As a result, the sonics do not possess the warmth or sheen of an expensive studio. The hi-hats are a wave of sharp high-end, and the kick drum is often a dull thud. Drums are usually the most challenging instrument to self-record, particularly in an acoustically questionable rehearsal room and mixed into dense musical arrangements. Thankfully, Myers’ reliable drumming style blends into the canvas of sound while moving things forward.

The short instrumental introduction, “Maw,” features dramatic piano lines playing out around soundscaping electronics. It’s a breezy listen that prepares the audience for an album of whirlwind energy. The synthetic punk aesthetic of “Ruins” serves as a narrative frame for the album: “If you want to know what’s coming / Step right this way / Roll up, roll up.” What’s charming about this album is its insistence on spinning epic tales through parables. Lyrics such as “An escapee loose in the land of impossible / Barriers breached onto the streets of gold” give cues to the listener’s imagination. Likewise, “Laughing Fireworks” features the cryptic lyrics “Through five layers of brick hangs the switch to the promised land,” alongside music that wouldn’t be out of place on the dance floor of the Starship Enterprise.

Sometimes, The Diomedes sound over-excited and uninterested in reining in their frenetic energy. “Voices of the Avalanche” and “These Walls, They Are Warning Signs” whiz by in a blur, avoiding comprehension at all costs. There are more intimate moments as well. Midway through the album, “The Turn” is more touching than the surrounding songs. At under two minutes, it entices with balladic songwriting, devoid of percussion, and features sustained keys, playful piano lines, and yearning lyrics (“For something to disappear / It had to first be there”). This moment of candid emotion precedes the post-industrial crush of “A Sudden Jolt,” with its repeatable chorus and melodic verses bookended by straightforward metal riffing and soloing.

Meanwhile, “Tales, Beware” serves unswerving falsetto vocal lines with a bravado attitude, underpinned by face-melting guitar work. Electronic and rock elements combine deftly in the album highlight, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” a sweeping and surrealistic number that feels comprehensive.

Admirably, DIOMEDES plays as one long track, evidencing a well-thought-out mapping. This style of sequencing contributes to the album’s thematic weight, though the theme may not be immediately clear. According to the press release, the album can be interpreted as representing “the corrosive nature of hope and the essential requirement for doublethink when there isn’t really ever a plan.” It is not the most explicit explanation, but that is to be expected for music that is respectably vague.

“Node” is a more experimental cut, with its haunted-house organs setting a disturbing scene before Champion interjects with heartfelt expressions of nihilistic thought: “Still craving a reckoning? It will make no difference anyway.” This short piece bleeds into “The Hardest Day,” a coolly detached number that moves forward like a steam engine toward its fully fleshed-out crescendos. “The Other Side of the Mirror” closes apocalyptically, with the final note on the album being a heavenly synth swell, hinting at the beauty at the end of a struggle.

DIOMEDES by The Diomedes is a novelistic collection of spiritually searching songs fueled by a concoction of emotive synthetic rock and cinematic space-opera ambition. At over one hour in length, the album demands invested attention. The return on this investment does not always pay off, especially when the group becomes too free with their form, cramming long and obtuse lyrics into auditorily disjointed arrangements. However, the album also frequently delivers with its imaginative world-building and more direct, guitar-driven movements. The Diomedes are not concerned with placating you here on Earth but with transporting you to the ethereal plane through their supercharged and confident allegorical work.

★★★