Dark Tranquillity - Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Gothenburg Metal / whatever the damn purist Arcturus wants to call it
can't find a picture, so you'll have to do without one of those, but I figure that you can find one if you like.
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
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Melodic Death Metal / Gothenburg Metal / whatever the damn purist Arcturus wants to call it
can't find a picture, so you'll have to do without one of those, but I figure that you can find one if you like.
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
