Style: Melodic death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: A phenomenal mix of aggression, melody, atmosphere, and excellent pacing
Thoughts: I was skeptical of Dark Tranquillity after they added a keyboard player to the mix. I thought that they would lose a bit of the edge they had on the early albums. Projector and Haven only reinforced my fears. While Projector had decent songs, they were no where near the quality that I had come to expect from the band. Haven showed some improvement in the song writing, but the intensity was gone... for good it seemed.
Damage Done brought me back into having some hope for the band. I did not like Mikael's vocal shift on the album, but the song writing was a huge step up... even with a keyboard player. Then came Character... and I was happy.
Fiction is the direct continuation of Character. It has the incredibly intensity, the severe emotional impact on me, and most importantly the songwriting is incredible. Mikael's vocals have also returned to his trademark growl from The Gallery and The Mind's I. In short this and Character are a huge return to form.
Fiction in particular seems more like a refinement of the sound that the band found on Character. Somehow the band has managed to capture the magic of the early albums but with an updated and modern sound. I can't stress how much I love this album, it's right up there with the first three. It has the same level of song writing, but with a whole new instrument added into the mix.
The guitars often venture into true death metal territory with the intensity (listen to the main riff of Blind at Heart and tell me that's not death metal), and the keyboards add that extra layer to the music that gives it the extra little touch to bring it from excellent to masterful.
The band has truly learned how to play together on this album. The melody will dance between the guitars, the keyboards and even the vocals from time to time. Each one of them treat it with the utmost respect and the results are obvious. There is emotion here that has not been heard since Hedon, and there is intensity that hasn't been heard since The Gallery. Other bands need to take note, this is how you return to form.
Written July 21st 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment