Dark Tranquillity

[Frostaudn]

Strange there isnt't a DT topic yet... Anyways, I'm pretty sure most of you will know them as co-founder of melodic deatmetal, together with In Flames and At the Gates. In my opinion this is one of the best melodic deathmetal bands, and almost every album was really great, from Skydancer to Fiction. Only We Are the Void was quite boring imo. What are your thoughts of Dark Tranquillity?

[-chop-]

They are alright. I used to listen to em a lot back in the days. Not so much anymore.

[ReturntoCarthage]

Confusing them with the shit Swedish death metal scene is obscene, the guys in Dark tranquility are better musicians than the hacks of Entombed, Utumno, Gorement, Unleashed, or any of those barbarian two chord hacks could ever be. From their aesthetic presentation to the melding of Maiden melodies with the inferior craft of Swedish death metal, DT was a force in their early days along with Eucharist, At the Gates, and Eucharist. The Mind's I and the Gallery are two of the best pieces of Swedish melodic death metal, combining thrash elements with beautiful hooks and classically inspired instrumentals and riffcraft. The band really was just something else along with other sordid examples Tiamat, Pan.thy.monium, Crystal Age, and Carbonized of bands that could prosper in a scene that was largely mediocre. Fortunately, for DT they've lived long enough with successful albums even in their latter era (Character) to prove that innovation triumphs over shit and mediocrity (Unleashed, Entombed).

[BlutAusNerd]

Their first 3 albums are definitely their best, but they have had some good newer releases as well. I've seen them live 3 times and always put on a great show, and were among the first extreme metal bands that I got into, so they're definitely meant a great deal to me over the years. Their early works were not only some of the most influential, but also the best melodic death metal, as they easily trump the likes of In Flames, At the Gates (Slaughter of the Soul is their melodic death metal album), and Carcass's Heartwork.

[Iceni]

We Are The Void wasn't boring, not all of it. If I remember, Projector was a bit odd since it featured clean vocals. Didn't really like it too much. I don't like their first three albums, but I know why. I just don't care for the style too much on the Gallery, it seems a bit thin and raw. I liked Mind's I more, but it reminded me too much of Opeth. The appeal is obvious, but I find the sound on their later albums much more appealing. Without keyboards it always sounds to me like something's a bit lacking from their music.

[Frostaudn]

We Are The Void wasn't boring' date=' not all of it. If I remember, Projector was a bit odd since it featured clean vocals. Didn't really like it too much.[/quote'] The only songs I really liked of We Are the Void were Her Silent Language, Arkhangelsk and Iridium. And I also enjoyed Zero Distance, which is actually a great song. Not that the other songs aren't bad, but it doesn't give me the same feeling as their other albums did. I can listen to all their albums endless, don't know how many times I listened to Character and Fiction, but most of the time after I listen to We Are the Void, I just want to put some other songs up. And I don't have that with their other albums.

[Frostaudn]

Their first 3 albums are definitely their best' date=' but they have had some good newer releases as well. I've seen them live 3 times and always put on a great show, and were among the first extreme metal bands that I got into, so they're definitely meant a great deal to me over the years. Their early works were not only some of the most influential, but also the best melodic death metal, as they easily trump the likes of In Flames, At the Gates (Slaughter of the Soul is their melodic death metal album), and Carcass's Heartwork.[/quote'] Skydancer and The Gallery are magic! And the Mind's I is really awesome to, especially Insanity's Crescendo.

[Iceni]

The only songs I really liked of We Are the Void were Her Silent Language' date=' Arkhangelsk and Iridium. And I also enjoyed Zero Distance, which is actually a great song.[/quote'] Those are exactly the songs I didn't like. I think that the new release will probably have more of those kinds of songs, so chances are you'll be happier than I when it comes out in May.

[Frostaudn]

Forgot to mention that I also like Surface the Infinite. But yeah, I think actually the same about the new album, but I hope it will be something like Character. That chance is not big, however.

[BlutAusNerd]

We Are The Void wasn't boring, not all of it. If I remember, Projector was a bit odd since it featured clean vocals. Didn't really like it too much. I don't like their first three albums, but I know why. I just don't care for the style too much on the Gallery, it seems a bit thin and raw. I liked Mind's I more, but it reminded me too much of Opeth. The appeal is obvious, but I find the sound on their later albums much more appealing. Without keyboards it always sounds to me like something's a bit lacking from their music.

I don't hear any similarities to Opeth at all. Projector does have a lot of clean vocals, and despite them not being all that well performed, I still thought it was a good album. The album immediately following it, Haven, was terrible however. It sounded more like a goth rock album with out of place harsh vocals, was way too poppy and shallow in song construction, and is easily the worst thing they've done IMO. After that, they picked back up with some typical sounding melodeath with Damage Done, Character, and Fiction, all of which were good and made good use of keyboards and modern sounds. I'm with Yobo on We Are the Void, Arkhangelsk was a great song, one of the darkest they've done in some time, but the album is terribly uneven. I'm hoping they'll bounce back, and they have in the past so it's not outside of the realm of possibilities, but I'm not sure what their future recordings will sound like.

[RelentlessOblivion]

I only have Damage Done but I quite like it, think I have an idea of the albums DT released I won't like so I can avoid those when I expand on what I currently have of theirs

[Cambo]

DT is one of my favourite bands, and I go through periods of listening to a lot of them, then cycling between other bands I like. Favourite songs are Dry Run (love the guitar work), Monochromatic Stains (wish the quality was better. Mastering?), The Mundane & The Magic, pretty much all of The Gallery, Haven and The Sun Fired Blanks. I recently revisited The Gallery on a long bus ride, and it blew my mind again.

[Iceni]

I like a lot of Fiction: 'Blind At Heart' and 'Terminus' stand out as some of the most memorable tracks. We Are The Void had 'The Fatalist', which I thought showcased the band's keyboard style very well. I also love 'Hours Passed in Exile' and 'White Noise/Black Silence' is my favorite song by them.

[RelentlessOblivion]

good choices from Damage Done Iceman, Hours Passed In Exile is my favourite DT song

[Frostaudn]

First song online from Construct:

Don't know what to think about it. It sounds like the Dark Tranquillity as we know, but I miss something.

[Iceni]

First song online from Construct:

Don't know what to think about it. It sounds like the Dark Tranquillity as we know, but I miss something.

This doesn't sound like Dark Tranquillity. It sounds like Mikael Stanne doing a guest appearance on a bonus track from the latest Katatonia album. Perhaps this is a bit more like Mind's I, but it still seems pretty mild for Dark Tranquillity. The amount of acoustic and otherwise subdued instrumentation in this song was pretty substantial. I've heard a little bit more from Construct that sounds much more like the DT I enjoy, so hopefully this is the odd one out.

[BlutAusNerd]

Yeah, I can't say that I really liked it. The quieter parts reminded me of Projector a bit, so that wasn't bad, but the "heavier" parts were just chugging on the same note with no variation. Have they really lost their sense of imagination that much that they can't even change notes? The production seemed kind of distant and not too clear, but that could just be the upload, hopefully it sounds a bit better. I don't know, I would probably need to hear a few songs that are better than that one to make me consider buying it.

[Iceni]

The production seemed kind of distant and not too clear' date=' but that could just be the upload, hopefully it sounds a bit better.[/quote'] I agree! I tried turning it up and it didn't work. Still kind of boring. But yeah, I noticed small elements of what they had before in We Are The Void, but not the good ones. But like I said, I heard some other stuff from the album and it sounded good. I hope they'll adopt the Equilibrium approach and just release basically the same album every few years, because honestly I've yet to get tired of them. As long as Equilibrium keep making memorable, epic and melodic music, I don't really care if they don't break new ground. Though it's fun when they do. Unbeseigt was amazing.

[deathstorm]

they are a great band

[Frostaudn]

Opinions on the new track, The Science of Noise? Still quite boring imo. To much like We Are the Void. The solo is nice though.

[Iceni]

Opinions on the new track, The Science of Noise? Still quite boring imo. To much like We Are the Void. The solo is nice though.

Well, I like it. It's nothing groundbreaking or spectacular but it's about par for Dark Tranquillity. I'd still buy it.

[Metal-Bleed]

Good choice, my favorite Dark Tranquillity song is Punish My Heaven. Insomnium are amazing also, in face I prefer them to Dark Tranquillity. Above the Weeping World is a superb album.

[Iceni]

I heard a little bit more from DT recently and it sounds interesting, a little bit more subdued and subtle but by no means bad. I don't remember the name of the track off hand but it did mark a certain stylistic pivot on the band's part. It's annoying, I thought that the album would be out two days ago but it wasn't.

[RelentlessOblivion]

liked what I've heard of Construct I'll be buying it at some point but probably not soon. I don't like to buy new albums as soon as they come out because I always get excited about new releases and I hate being disappointed when they don't live up to my expectations

[Iceni]

I'll wait till I can hear the whole thing on YouTube. I usually don't buy anything unless I have that as the guiding metric to help me in the first place.