Diary of Dreams

German darkwave outfit Diary of Dreams was conceived by classically trained guitarist and pianist Adrian Hates in Düsseldorf in 1989. After bringing in guitarist Alistair Kane, the band released their first album Cholymelan via the label Dion Fortune in 1994. The following year, Adrian Hates founded his own label Accession Records, on which all later Darkwave releases were issued. After releasing the albums End of Flowers (1996) and Bird Without Wings (1997), the band transitioned into a four-piece with guitarist Christian Berghoff and keyboardist [Os]mium joining for the 1998 LP Psychoma?. The following year, they re-issued Cholymelan along with a best-of collection, Moments of Bloom; the group's first domestically released album in the US. One of 18 Angels followed in 2000, with Christian Berghoff replaced by Torben Wendt on keyboard and vocals. The band briefly hired their first drummer, Ray:X, from 2002-2004 while another line-up reshuffle took place before the recording of the Nigredo LP in 2004 with Gaun:A stepping into Alistair Kane's shoes to join Adrian Hates in the studio. Tracks from the Nigredo tour were alter compiled on the Alive CD and the companion DVD Nine In Numbers. Alive shot to number two on the German Alternative Charts (DAC), also ranking at number 13 on the DAC Top 50 Albums of 2005. The band issued the Human Enemy and Menschfeind EPs in 2005 followed by the Nekrolog 43 album in November 2007. Their ninth album (if) arrived in 2009 and the 2010 best-of A Collection Of... the following year. Diary of Dreams continued to release albums consistently throughout the 2010s, getting a foothold on the German charts in 2011 with Ego:X (number 23), dropping the heavier-leaning 15th studio album Grau im Licht (2015) and the 2017 follow-up Hell in Eden. They returned in 2023 with their 17th album Melancholin.