13/12/04

DARK TRANQUILLITY / CHARACTER

Sweden’s Dark Tranquillity almost totally invented the now familiar Gothenburg sound and are credited with creating Melodic Death Metal and this there latest CD is top notch, world class Metal.

Now I know that not everyone likes the Gothenburg sound that these guys create but where would In Flames, Hypocrisy or Soilwork be without it and you can’t argue with the fact that it is successful. The darker, hard edge is still there, as are the intelligent and interesting lyrics but the Melody helps to make the songs more listenable and when you hear "The New Build" kick in you cant say that it doesn’t Rock but it the extra touches that make them stand out from the rest, in particular the Keyboard touches, they don’t use the standard sounds that most Metal bands go for, they utilise sounds from all over the place, and it this un predictability that helps keep the interest for me personally.

This is a class CD no mistake and a fine start to 2005 and I am sure this will win the guys new fans and gain more respect from the existing ones, if you haven’t paid much attention to these guys before this is a very good place to start. Bet tracks include: "Lost To Apathy" (the first single), "The New Build", the enigmatic "The Endless Feed" and the masterful "Mind Matters".

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 48 mins + 11 TRACKS