I already own Glass Casket’s first release We Have Gathered Here Today… and when I saw this new record called Desperate Man’s Diary was out, I was keen to get my hands on it. Their mix of hardcore, (thrash/death) metal and mathcore still works perfectly for me!

To be honest I had to learn to listen to this record. The first time I listened to it I was rather disappointed actually, but this feeling slowly faded away as I listened to it more and more. By now I think it’s a brilliant album with many interesting hooks, destroying riffs, weird solos, a lot of variety and some excellent songwriting. Desperate Man’s Diary certainly gets me going!

 

I must definitely point out how amazing this album starts out. After a sensitive guitar intro called ‘Phenomenon’ the intense killer track ‘Too Scared To Live’ kicks in. This track contains everything this band has to offer, from some slight mathcore, to a lot of hardcore and metalcore (the first breakdown in it really tickles my pickle), and to top it off we are treated to a Killswitch Engage-like thrash riff somewhere near the end. Entertaining from start to end, and so is the rest of the album.

 

If you have the previous effort you can buy this album blindly, just like I did. The only thing I really had to get used to in the beginning is vocalist Adam Cody’s more brutal grunt-like voice that pops op more often than you realize at first. Believe me, this is a release that keeps you entertained for quite a while. I like it better than Dustie Waring (guitar) and Blake Richardson’s (drums) other band Between The Buried And Me, but that’s just a matter of taste I guess. Check it out!