Diorama (album) - Response

Response

Diorama received a score of 71% on review aggregator Metacritic, based on nine reviews. Australian radio station Triple J listeners voted the album number one on their Top 10 Albums of 2002, while Triple J staff Rosie Beaton and Gaby Brown placed it third and fifth respectively.

Music magazine Rolling Stone gave Diorama three out of five stars. Reviewer Mark Kemp praised Silverchair's development, saying that the band had developed a strong, independent musical ability, in contrast to their heavily influenced debut album, Frogstomp. Kemp spoke highly of the "heavy orchestration, unpredictable melodic shifts and a whimsical pop sensibility", also noting Parks' arrangements gave the music "more breadth and depth". He argued that the album's strength centred around Johns' confidence, resulting in high quality on "World Upon Your Shoulders", "Tuna in the Brine", and "After All These Years". However, "Without You" saw Silverchair slip into "old habits", according to Kemp, and contained an "MTV-approved hook".

Bradley Torreano, of review website Allmusic, gave Diorama four stars, labeling it an AMG Album Pick. He began by noting that Silverchair's improvement from the Frogstomp era was impressive, and that Diorama saw the band "finally growing into their own skin." Bottrill's production was praised, and the result likened to Big Country and U2, while Johns showcased "his rich voice and shockingly catchy tunes with a gusto missing from their earlier albums". Torreano's criticism was reserved for two songs on the album; he described the apparent Goo-Goo Dolls influences on "Without You" as "an unwelcome twist", and felt that on "One Way Mule", the band reverted "back to their grunge sound".

James Jam, of music magazine NME, was critical of Diorama, calling it "over-produced Aussie rock". Jam compared Silverchair to Bryan Adams in their attempt to "venture boldly into exciting new musical landscapes". "Tuna in the Brine" was "grossly pretentious and overblown", while he saw the album as a whole as inoffensive, especially in comparison to the band's past post-grunge. According to Jam, the band were not trying to make a mature musical statement with the album, but rather to "impress their parents".

Nikki Tranter of pop-music website PopMatters called the album mature, praising everything from the cover art to the "finely crafted pop melodies". Tranter praised Diorama for standing out in the "very similar" Australian music scene. The majority of songs on the album were rated highly; she thought "The Greatest View" was a stand-out with "orchestral twangs", and "After All These Years" had "sweeping horns, introspective lyrics and soft, haunting vocals".

Rob O'Connor of Yahoo!'s music website gave Diorama a positive review, agreeing that the band had matured greatly since their early high school releases. The pop songs on the album, "Luv Your Life" and "Too Much Of Not Enough", were said to "glide", and O'Connor praised Johns for "whisper his lyrics with grace and subtlety" where in the past he would "shout in angst", drawing comparisons to Elliott Smith. His main critique of the album was that it still contained some "obligatory 'grunge' efforts"; he felt eliminating those would allow the band to reach its full potential.