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Dark Tranquillity: Construct

07/06/14 || The Duff

It is with much pain in my heart to say that Dark Tranquillity seem to have dropped off the metal radar, my own included. Their last record, “We Are the Void”, has not received many plays despite it being a good record, the fanboy in me screaming ‘formidable’, a sturdy mix of “Character” and “Projector” and yet another development akin to the leap they made from “Character” to “Fiction” – for some reason, the record also received very little exposure (but an unfavorable review here and thereabouts) despite the plaudits rained down on its predecessor, “Fiction”.

Well, here we are two years on from “We Are the Void”, and the Depeche Mode fanboyism is dripping off of “Construct”, an album with definite trademark DT elements but otherwise another evolution for the band if not so bullheaded, this era showing yet more experimentation with keyboards (nearing recent Katatonia terrain) and pushing the clean vocals even further. The final product is a mix of “Projector”, “Fiction” with the stripped down feel of “Haven”, and a fair deal of cheese, the melodies don’t scream Gothenburg, but rather an eerie, industrial-Gothic style that may be rejected by some, by others familiar with “Haven” embraced as not that much of a departure.

The best descriptor for DT to the non-initiated is rousing, a lot of these tracks are four-minute anthems about the human struggle, betrayal, loss, overcoming the obstacles, I’ve always found Mikael Stanne’s lyrics strongly poetic, metaphorical, emotional but he is also limited by his vocabulary of course – ‘apathy’, for example, is a word that has certainly cropped up on past DT albums. Vocally he is as strong as ever, although his dark croons have rarely fit so well as on “Projector”, I think the most glaring inadequacy of “We Are the Void” where the band seemed to be struggling for ideas.

Thankfully then here they work a little better for the gloomier music baring less of the residual fury of their Gothenburg melodeath roots – if anyone is unfamiliar with the albums I’ve listed, we are talking a lot of keyboards, sparing guitars but interesting, moody melodies, raspy vocals that speak of pain, DESPAYUR! But then this record is not for anyone other than the hard-set fan – as any In Flames, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, Metallica fan might tell you, there is little point in pursuing all of these bands at once in a world with new Disgorge, so you gotta pick one and stick with it if you want your annual dose of melo-cheese (my money’s on Soilwork given the strength of “The Living Infinite”).

Even to those unacquainted with DT you are better skipping this and starting from the beginning, this band has evolved drastically from its early masterworks “The Gallery” and “The Mind’s I”. For whatever you might think better or for worse all of Dark Tranquillity’s albums have at least several great things to offer, be it an addition of clean vocals or a return to their thrashier, grittier roots or an improved use of keys, but it is best first to get a feel for their youthful piss and vinegar days, more virtuosic.

In shortest, there is nothing here that I can see improves on the band’s prior nine full-lengths, they remain as ever an amazing band.

7,5

Information
Released: 2013
Label: Century Media
Website: www.darktranquillity.com
Band
Mikael Stanne: vocals, lyrics
Niklas Sundin: guitars
Martin Henriksson: guitars, bass
Martin Brändström: keyboards
Anders Jivarp: drums

Tracklist
01. For Broken Words
02. The Science of Noise
03. Uniformity
04. The Silence in Between
05. Apathetic
06. What Only You Know
07. Endtime Hearts
08. State of Trust
09. Weight of the End
10. None Becoming

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