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Review Summary: Another stellar record from one of the flagcarriers of the Swedish Melodic Death Metal scene, it comes across as the perfect mix of all the elements they have introduced on previous outings. Sweden seems to harbour a lot of great metal bands that seem to get praised uniquely for their efforts to modernise metal subgenres. Inevitably you have come across Opeth on this site, which is being hailed as really, the next big thing in metal. In Flames despite going downhill lately have with their music spawned a new genre of metal in the US called metalcore. At The Gates were the true founders of what is nowadays called the Gothenburg metal scene. The band is now defunct, and with Opeth playing a completely different style and In Flames treading waters outside Gothenburg boundaries, it is up to the last band that made the style famous to become the flagcarrier for a truly original and innovative style of music.
Dark Tranquillity have never been confronted with accusations of sellouts, mainly because their musical experimentations while varied and diverse never were focused on raking in the bucks. This band has stuck true to their guns and their strengths, whatever happened, and have been uniquely rewarded with praise for the consistently high level of the discography these Swedes have put out, without compromising for the sake of money. With each new release they broke the fences of their genre, tested and tried what would work and some songs led to failures and other led to huge successes (the aggressive Character is an example of this.) Dark Tranquillity's unique formula has been honed over the years, and on their latest album, Fiction, it has come ridiculously close to perfection.
What this band does is amalgamate elements of different types of music to create their own unique hybrid of what most accurately could be termed "electronically influenced melodic death metal." The drums and basic guitar riffs have the breakneck intensity, speed and vigour death metal is famous for, and Mikael Stanne's bark is completely tailored to suit all your death metal needs to boot. But this band is so much more. There are Iron Maiden-esque twin guitar harmonies to be found on many of the songs here, such as "Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)" or "Misery's Crown."
The band also continues to experiment with electronic sounds in the background, somewhat reminiscent of power metallers Machine Supremacy, but never intrusive or dominant; Brandstom's piano and electronic tingling is subtle and underlining the direction the guitars take. Again, Terminus is a great example of the success: the intro electronics subtly harmonise and accompany the brutal, crushing riffs, giving the song just that special accent which prevents it from sounding dull and bland, and lending just that ultimate succulent touch of melody and accessibility, while by no means losing the ferocity.
Mr. Stanne's short-lived flirt with clean vocals also makes a couple of cameos on this album. Misery's Crown's verses are sung entirely with clean vocals, emphasizing this song's focus on melody and songwriting ratherthan aggression. The song may therefore come across as rather subdued for the band, but rest assured; it is by no means a sappy ballad. It is just a little slower and more melodic than the rest of the album, which provides a very welcome breather from all the frenzied music going on in some other parts of the album. In the closing track those clean vocals shortly contrast with the guest appearance of a female vocalist, a done-to-death cliche sort of thing, but DT pull it off without sounding overly stupid or melodramatic. Again, every change they make is subtle rather than pronounced. It also shows that despite Mikael Stanne's not overly impressive range, he still gets the most out of his voice without sounding monotonous or repetitive.
Moreover, the same goes for the rhythm section. There are subtle moments when the bass steps to the forefront (the opening moments of album opener Nothing To No One spring to mind), and the drums stay within death metal boundaries, but without overdosing on blast beats. Jivarp knows when to use the standard death metal drumming techniques, and when to switch to other patterns more suitable for the song in question. Every part of this is delicately and finely crafted with careful attention to detail, but never sounding overproduced or glossy.
All in all Fiction is again the album we expect from Dark Tranquillity in terms of class, musicianship and songwriting. Without straying from the core elements of their sound or succumbing to the lure of money the band has come up with a nigh-perfect slab of their brand of Swedish metal, a mix of everything they have done before now coming together in one forty-five minute package of good old heavy metal. This comes the closest to this band's crowning achievements, and is destined to make a lot of best of lists this year. I know it certainly makes mine, and I salute the band for their dedication to their profession. If you enjoy good music(ianship), Dark Tranquillity should be the first priority on your check-out list. Amazing.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Awesome review, i'm voting now.
I agree entirely with the last paragraph, and this is def my favorite Dark Tranquillity album now. Terminus and Blind at Heart are so awesome.
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/votes
Excellently done. I really need to check this out.
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Awesome band and review.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Well done review, but I think this album doesn't deserve this much credit. It's fun to listen to, sure, but it's nothing groundbreaking or new. It's just Character part 2.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
^^
While that may be true, i just feel that it's better overall than character. There is no bd song here, while i felt that the tracks "Am I 1" and "Senses Tied" were a bit lackluster compared to the rest of the tracks.
Of course, Lost to Apathy i would have to say is my favorite DT song still.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I prefer Character. The Endless Feed is just so insanely great.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
yeah, it's one of my favorites on the album
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Yeah Lost to Apathy is a classic metal song.
Man this album is good.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Excellent review. You perfectly described how I thought about this album!
One question, you talked about some of the Swedish bands changing their sound to rake in the bucks. Who? In Flames might have tried a bit of straight forward metal, but it was far from being popular and accesible.
I also find it funny how people talk about bands going out of their own styles to try new things and than get criticized for it (don't worry Jorn van Schaïk, your not guilty of this). Seriously, how many flag wavers do you want? I certainly wouldnt have liked the Gothenburg scene if there wasnt as much diversity as there is.
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I can understand it if the change sucks, like metallica, but bands like children of bodom definately do not deserve to be flamed for their change in style.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
^^
Yes, Bodom still kicks ass, and Hate Crew Deathroll is my favorite album by them.
Another band that i feel shoudlnt be flamed for a change in stlye is Avenged Sevenfold, no joke. I honestly enjoy COE the most out of their albums, and other than the singles and maybe burn it down, the album really isnt all that mainstream. I love that album, and A7X. Flame me if you must, but i really don't give a shit what you guys think.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
This album is 100 times better than Character in my opinion, I've listened to Character many many times but I could just never get into it much, the only songs i really enjoyed were "Lost To Apathy" and "One Thought".... the rest seemed a bit boring, making Character actually one of my least favorite DT albums, but this one is MUCH better, I love this CD, I could listen to it all day and never get bored. All the songs are amazing, hard to point out specific tracks.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
TErminus, Blind at Heart, and Misery's Crown are my three favorites, though Nothing to No One is very close.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
yeah this album is definitely amazing, but not as good as Character....mainly cuz lost to apathy is soo good
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
This album is pretty average tbh.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
One question, you talked about some of the Swedish bands changing their sound to rake in the bucks. Who? In Flames might have tried a bit of straight forward metal, but it was far from being popular and accesible.
I also find it funny how people talk about bands going out of their own styles to try new things and than get criticized for it (don't worry Jorn van Schaïk, your not guilty of this). Seriously, how many flag wavers do you want? I certainly wouldnt have liked the Gothenburg scene if there wasnt as much diversity as there is. They didn't really sell out imo but In Flames definitely took a more commercial route. At the Gates is not there anymore, Opeth... is a different style as I mentioned. Dark Tranquillity really is the flagcarrier for this movement imo having been there from day one.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I don't know if I would say IF haven't sold out. I mean, have you seen the music video for Touch of Red? It's reminds of a hip hop music video. I mean, maybe there's some hidden meaning behind the video and it doesn't mean what it seems to up front, but it was a pretty lame video.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I don't think one video is a sign of selling out personally, plus bands always exist to make money and it might not have been the band's idea... but definitely they took a route for their music that's completely beyond the Gothenburg scene.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Yea, but the lyrics and cover art on CC are both totally emo.
I just wish they would have stayed in touch with their Gothenburg style. They always managed to progress and change their sound while still being Gothenburg up until R2R. R2R stil had a lot of Gothenburg, but it showed them coming out of the Gothenburg sound. This Message Edited On 05.11.07
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Agreed Altmer, I will agree with you that In Flames took a commercial route. But that doesnt mean they made it like that to make it more accessible. Its good to see bands take a chance sometimes (for better or worse). Dark Tranquility simply just made Character part 2 (which actually worked out for them)!
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