Reappearing with a completely different lineup and image -- at least if the bare-chested, sunglasses wearing new members in the promo photos were any indication -- on
Glow the Essence finally start trying to reach a bit more beyond the all-too-obvious rut they were in on their earlier albums. Trying isn't always the same as succeeding, though. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about Diener's vocals now is that while he has a clean, fine delivery reminiscent of many Scandinavian pop-rock acts, there's something in him which is never, ever going to let
Robert Smith go. Similarly, his guitar playing, somewhere, somehow, always will have just that right combination of minor-key poppiness, post-psych exploration, and gothy shade that
Cure fans will always hold dear to their hearts -- when done by
the Cure. Songs like "Right or Wrong" do sound really wonderful -- as always, the frustrating thing about
the Essence is that Diener's evident skills go towards such derivative material. The fact that two songs -- "Only for You" and "Out of Grace" -- are re-recordings of earlier
Essence tunes with minimal differences doesn't help in the slightest. The band as a whole happily aim a bit more broadly, with new member Mark adding some almost funky breaks on Hammond organ without sounding too out of place in the songs overall. Part of the attendant problem, though, is that some of this stretching ends up a bit cheesy, verging on soft rock with a slightly murkier edge. Diener himself has to answer for some of this -- it's his guitar almost sounding like a electric solo power-ballad break at times on "Gone," and his lyrics reading "Baby don't leave, I'll go crazy tonight!" It's not a complete loss -- at other points his fretwork sounds truly wrenching, and Mark's keyboards add an appropriately hushed, churchy tone -- but it could be better.