Review Summary: Great, overrated and nowhere near their best album.
Of all the album titles that Dark Tranquillity has chosen over the years,
Character seems to be the most fitting. Unless you count
Exposures: In Retrospect and Denial (which doesn’t seem like it should count, being a split B-sides and live set) nothing else really sums up the sound of these co-founders of the melodic death metal genre. To my knowledge, Dark Tranquillity remains one of a kind in their genre, making their death metal melodic not with guitars, but with atmospheric electronics (and sometimes piano). Since "character" can be defined as "the quality of being individual", it would be a perfect title if it were the band’s definitive post-
The Gallery album. Sadly, the problem is that it isn’t.
Before we get to what’s wrong with
Character, an examination of its strengths is certainly necessary. As always, every member of the band puts in a strong performance. Guitarists Niklas Sundin and Martin Henriksson fill each song to the brim with fantastic riffs and other parts that rarely get old. There are also a couple solos, showing that this veteran guitar duo is still going strong and hasn’t lost any of their chops.
Their rhythm section is also quite strong, and although the bass is fairly hard to hear, it’s contribution is significant enough to be mentioned. Drummer Anders Jivarpis also a bit underrated, as his rolls, fills and blast beats are significantly better than average throughout the album. The electronics master Martin Brandstorm might just be the most talented member, contributing synths and samples that subtly complement what the rest of the band is playing. Last but certainly not least, Mikael Stanne’s harsh vocals are almost always fantastic, despite him having suffered audible damage to his voice. (We’ll get to that later)
Sadly, that’s where most of the positives end. Like most releases by the band, Character suffers from a strong sense of monotony, although before it was never really a problem. With the exception of the slightly slower “My Negation” and the vocal sample intro on “The Endless Feed”, there’s nothing that really distinguishes any of the songs from each other (besides how good they are, of course). Only 2 or 3 of the songs feel like they have the energy or knockout quality that we’ve come to expect (and gladly receive) from the band before and since.
(This is certainly one area where
Fiction is triumphant, because “Inside the Particle Storm”, “Misery’s Crown”, and “The Mundane and the Magic” are certainly different from each other song on the album.)
If there’s one thing the band hasn’t quite learned how to do more than once in a row, it’s close their albums on a high note.
Haven and
Damage Done both have weak closing tracks, and
Character is no exception. “My Negation” just feels too long and drawn out, plodding along at a mid-tempo pace and ending with a two-minute instrumental section. The instrumental section is fine, but doesn’t do much to help a song that simply can't hold the listener’s attention that well.
It seems inevitable that no matter how well one trains their voice to take the strain of screaming, it’s going to eventually suffer damage. I guess that Stanne’s voice must have been damaged not too long after
Damage Done (somewhat ironic, eh?), because in the three years between it and
Character a noticeable rasp has made its way into the man’s scream. He's still quite good, but listening to the previous albums you can’t help but think how the dip in vocal quality slightly brings down the music.
Despite the quite noticeable flaws that permeate
Character, it’s still a pretty good album. After all, this is a band that constantly puts out 4’s and up, so it would take a bucketload of problems to make it a 3 or less. Is it a great album that’s worth your time and money? Yes. Is it one of the band’s best? No.
Recommended tracks:
Through Smudged Lenses
The Endless Feed
Lost to Apathy
One Thought
