Album of the Week #21: Fiction - Dark Tranquillity
This is Album of the Week #22 ~ This week's album is Dark Tranquillity - Fiction
Year of Release: 2006
Genre(s): Melodic Death Metal
Country: Sweden
Length: 46 minutes
RYM | Listen!
Excerpt from MetalReviews:
Dark Tranquillity stand as one of the few Gothenburg bands who have remained true to their roots throughout their careers, and it’s a welcome thing to know that such bands still exist and are putting out quality material without sounding the least bit stale or tired. On Fiction, Dark Tranquillity handles multiple strands of melody and atmosphere with a master’s touch, crafting something that easily stands against accusations of stagnancy in the genre. Simply put – this is one of the good ones.
Discussion points:
Have you heard this artist/album before? Is this your first time hearing?
Do you enjoy this genre? Is this an album you would have chosen?
Does this album remind you of something you've heard before?
What were the album's strengths or weaknesses?
Was there a standout track for you?
How did you hear the album? Where were you? What was your setup?
--
A fantastic album by an amazing band.
DT's sound can be divided into a few eras. From "Skydancer" to "The Mind's I" is their early, Gothenburg-sound defining era. "Projector" was a brief experimental phase before trying to revert with "Haven". Then with "Damage Done" to "Character" and "Fiction" we have a more mature, revitalized sound that in my opinion are the top albums in DT's discography. (we won't talk about "We Are the Void" to "Moment" as their modern era)
Standout Tracks:
Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive) - solid all the way around.
Misery's Crown - great callback to "Projector" with Stanne's clean vocals.
Focus Shift - a better hit single than Lost to Apathy from "Character".
The Mundane and the Magic - check out the live version
Honestly Stanne is such a great vocalist, that even his mom DT stuff sounds fantastic, such as his side bands and the stuff that he did for the game Metal: Hellsinger. Which I usually refer to Mikael Stanne and friends because he sings most of the songs.
But I do agree with that those tracks are just really great songs, to just listen to.
Construct is also a very experimental Album. According to Stanne, it's one of the band's favorites. And I must agree, I think it's just amazing. I understand that not everyone likes Moment, but what's your problem with We Are The Void? I find it pretty solid.
I agree with your standout tracks but I would also like to add Empty Me.
Dark Tranquillity is one of my all-time favorite bands. Hell, even my username is derived from one of their songs. Fiction is one of those albums that does not feature a single bad or mediocre song and is absolutely worth listening to.
I'll have to give this a listen, as it's been damn near about 20-years since I've listened to Dark Tranquility, but they were an absolute favorite of mine in the early 2000's. I kind of stopped listening to them right after Character and started moving into Black Metal and Thrash quite a bit more, as I felt like ideas in Melodic Death Metal were kind of petering out, while we had new stuff in the Black Metal scene like Suicidal Depressive, Atmospheric and the like, then 2005-2010 is right around when the classic Thrash revival was just beginning, which was a very exciting time.
But I've been going back periodically and reappraising bands I stopped listening to a long time ago, so thanks for reminding me of Dark Tranquility.
This was my first toe dip into Melodic Death Metal, and as someone that struggles to get into traditional metal, but enjoys the more dense sounds of Death/Black Metal, I thought this struck a nice balance, and took the edge off any 'cheese'. There's definitely cheese here - and while I might have scoffed at the spacey piano and plucky synths five years ago, but I think they've come back round to having their own charm, and they're used pretty tastefully.
The second track in particular had some really neat sections that stood out where they kept playing with the timbre of the guitar, and the piano melody sounded like it could have come right out of a Eurodance track.
The last few tracks take a bit of a left turn, dropping the gnarled vocals and even introducing a new vocalist at times, which for me fell a little out of place. I like gnarled vocals, but I realize that's usually because it obfuscates the metal lyrics, which usually bring me right out of it.
An aside! I realized I've messed up the numbers of these albums of the week (at some point during the haze of starting work in January), so this should be #22 - I'll put things back on track next week.