DARK TRANQUILLITY - Construct

The new album by Swedish outfit Dark Tranquillity is titled “Construct” and comes in the wake of the departure of bassist Daniel Antonsson, who had himself taken over from Mikael Nicklasson (who left for family reasons in 2008). His role is now taken up by one of the band's founders, Martin Henriksson, who still also handles rhythm guitar, thus returning to bass duties after 1999.

The album marks an almost sudden recap of the band's career. Perhaps also in response to the poverty of ideas on the previous record, “We Are The Void”, and to the tendency to settle into common fundamentals over the last decade of full-lengths, the Swedes decide to dust off and reshuffle various attitudes explored throughout their career. The ones that stand out most are without doubt those drawn from their mid-career records, namely “Projector” and, in part, “Haven”, from which certain gothic and melodic touches emerge more prominently than ever in the songwriting, partly in the atmospheric soundscapes crafted with the instruments and in the more subdued digressions. However, there isn't the constant recourse to the clean vocals of the former or the electronics of the latter, which instead remain complements to a record fundamentally still tied to the usual guitar-bass-drums trinity. Brandstrom's touch is nevertheless evident in several arrangements, very much geared towards immediacy, especially in terms of structure.

The record also borrows something from the early albums, especially in its first half, where we find plenty of fast, biting ideas reminiscent of their early style (though without veering into the grandeur of “The Gallery”, their most acclaimed record from 1995, opting instead for a darker, at times more measured approach).

This apparent return to the past sounds, paradoxically, much fresher, more original and more creative, given that the fusion of the two souls works without a false note and brings far more ideas and variety than “We Are The Void”, as well as representing a reversal of the stylistic trend that had progressively taken hold over the band's last few albums.

"Construct" revitalizes the Dark Tranquillity sound by bringing together new ideas, riffs and melodic interplay, never sounding flat but if anything more inspired than it might first appear. However, part of the audience, in the immediate aftermath of the album's release, was somewhat disappointed by its "slowed-down" approach, perceived as not very engaging. The album indeed lacks hits and anthemic peaks, coming off as disappointing from this point of view compared to albums like "Fiction" (mannered, but packed with engaging tracks) or "Damage Done" (overflowing with impactful, gripping melodies).

By contrast, "Construct" proves to be sturdy and well written. It retains the quality of a compact, cohesive unicum, rarely slipping into compositionally lackluster moments.

The first part of the album tends to be closer to the particular, personal brand of melodic death metal that Dark Tranquillity introduced on their early albums, renewing it with small electronic flourishes and favoring a more immediate, atmospheric approach over the elegant guitar interplay and duels one could sometimes encounter in the past.

The opening "For Broken Words" is an update and modernization of those stylistic traits, with buzzing riffs and dark atmospheres harking back to the first two albums, aided by melancholic clean arpeggios that wouldn't have sounded out of place on "The Mind's I" (1997), and small mid-tempo digressions that loosely echo the calmer interludes of "Haven" (though with less electronics, which still dots the arrangements as the icing on the cake).

The moods are fairly dark, and it's clear the Swedes are playing more on atmosphere than impact (though not forgoing cutting riffs and driving drums); choosing a track like this as the opener rather than something far more unleashed immediately shows their hand.

"The Science Of Noise" continues along these lines, turning into a genuine dive into the past, blending thrashy riffs à la "Character" (2005) with buzzing guitars in the style of "Skydancer" (1993), especially from the midpoint onward. The atmosphere is dark and at times alienating, except for the highly melodic tapping of the solo.

Now for the first single, "Uniformity", driven mainly by pleasant melodic keyboards and dark-wave atmospheres, culminating in a power-ballad that this time harks back to "Projector", but with a more cavernous attitude broken up by Stanne's clean vocals in the bittersweet chorus. A contrast also generated by some magmatic, spectral riffs in the pre-chorus. It will surely prove a controversial track, since listeners more attached to harder metal might find it off-putting.

The following "The Silence in Between" opens by recalling Amorphis a bit too closely, before turning into a catchy meeting point between the fast, aggressive drive of early Dark Tranquillity and some melodic guitar structures closer to "Haven".

"Apathetic" sounds in every respect like it's straight off "The Mind's I", indeed the songwriting is the same, complete with a thrashy opening attack over distorted chords. It sounds a bit too familiar, but as a track it's fairly fast and impactful.

The second part of the album is instead the more "gothic" one, both in terms of the atmospheric/electronic backdrop and the guitar compositions, which skillfully combine melody, darkness and aggression even in the more predictable and somewhat mannered moments, drawing on the meticulous care the band put into the arrangements.

Now for the other more controversial track, "What Only You Know", a highly melodic piece with relatively soft, gothic-tinged riffs, intense romantic melodies, an irresistible chorus with a melancholic aftertaste, and subdued interludes where the guitars fade away to make room again for clean vocals and supporting melodic arpeggios. The compositional style emerges directly from "Haven", but as always with less electronics than on the 2000 album; it's an emotional track that purists of the band's harder side might not warm to, or that might turn out to be the melodic gem of the album.

"Endtime Hearts" blends the melodic digressions of "Haven" with more aggressive parts, coming across as very catchy but less gripping and emotional than the previous track, at times even sounding like a derivative of Nordic melodic goth bands. The intense solo nonetheless saves it from feeling somewhat flat.

One of the best songs is certainly "State Of Trust", which opens with an unsettling riff before evolving into an intriguing blend of hazy, melancholic dark-wave, blazing goth-metal and light touches of electronics that sound a bit predictable but amplify the atmosphere. Particularly effective is the contrast between Stanne's clean-voiced refrains and the choruses where his clean vocals mix with an aggressive growl/scream, before everything dissolves into a hazy electro-goth passage carried by vocal lines delightfully poised between pop and dark in the interlude past the halfway point.

By contrast, "Weight Of The End" is much more guitar-driven, with groovy open-string riffs (already seen in places on "Fiction"), vaguely industrial-tinged parts, once again the buzzing riffs underpinning the chorus that echo the start of the album, and fine melodic touches that smack slightly of academicism but add a touch of class.

"None Becoming" is, finally, the customary closing track that emphasizes melancholy, effects-laden textures and sonic grandeur, bringing out some of the album's most effective sonic ideas while maintaining throughout an unsettling undercurrent sense of closure.

Right from the start, a special edition is also available with two bonus tracks: the scorching "Immemorial" is an effective goth piece that especially highlights the leading melodies (closer to the darker melodic-death-metal tradition of the mid-'90s), the hidden acoustic guitar, and the solo; and the instrumental "Photon Dreams", decadent and hallucinogenic in flavor, if a touch monotonous.

All in all, a well-written, admirably arranged record with several very interesting melodic ideas. Dark Tranquillity have been on the scene for many years and know their craft (though that's only natural). They've rarely disappointed, carrying on a career that's always been above average. Construct probably won't fully satisfy those looking for a collection of driving hits, but we see it as a welcome shift in tone compared to the risk of fossilizing on the coordinates of their previous albums, which on "We Are the Void" had sounded genuinely flat and monotonous.

When will we get an album with clean vocals only, just to test the results?

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09/11/2013