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MetalBite Review by Alexi on 1/28/2005

From their inception through their last record, Damage Done, Dark Tranquillity has proven throughout their entire career that not all melodic death metal from Sweden has to sound the same. Dark Tranquillity has blazed a path untouched by the melodic death metal movement. If this band were scaling a mountain, Everest would pose no threat.

Although Character is fundamentally a melodic death metal album, it does have elements of power metal and European speed metal. Essentially, Character is a continuation of Damage Done. Both albums convey dark images painted by lyrical mastermind Mikael Stanne. Stanne’s harsh raspy vocals give set him apart from most melodic singers today and his lyrical creativity and vocal approach sound the best they have ever sounded.

Character can be described in three words: melodic, epic, and fast. What sets it apart from Damage Done is the speed. Character is a very fast album. Anders Jivarp does a superb job of speeding the album up with effective use of double time drums and double bass. Jivarp’s performance on Character is probably the best I have ever heard from him. Bassist Michael Nicklasson does an outstanding job of backing the guitars and playing along with the bass drum, making each kick of the bass drum sound impaling. Guitar virtuosos Niklas Sundin and Martin Henriksson prove that they are not only able to lay down amazing guitar melodies, but also that they can thrash and pound just as hard as they did on Skydancer. The role of keyboardist Martin Brändström is elevated; each track features a great amount of synthesizers and keyboards. We're not talking about what you would expect in a Children of Bodom song, but rather the keyboards provide ambiance and mood to each track and fill up any empty space. The track “Lost To Apathy” is a perfect example of this.

The composition of this album is nearly flawless. Each song has a build up and a moody chorus (whether it be heavy or not) and an extremely well thought out instrumental. Each instrument is recorded in purity and the potential of each musician is highly eveident. Additionally, unlike the production on Damage Done, the production on Character is less clean, but in no way dirty. Gothenburg’s legendary Studio Fredman has once again worked its magic as the production enhances the band’s vision of making a heavy record.

Character is the sum of all the best pieces of Dark Tranquillity’s past albums. Each track shines with elements from every Dark Tranquillity release: the speed from the band’s roots in European thrash, the melodic and epic feel from Haven and other mid-career releases, and the keyboards of Projector, Haven, and Damage Done. Character is the ultimate and definitive melodic death metal album for the new millennium.

Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 10

Rating: 9.6 out of 10

Submitted by William on 2/1/2005

Thank god for Dark Tranquility! With At the Gates long gone and the once brilliant In Flames' decline into malcore mediocrity its refreshing for us old Gothenburg-metal faithful to be rewarded with an album like "Character." It's the patented DT sound again with some new quirks and fresh ideas. Anyone who loved Damage Done will love this too. Best album of 2005 so far...

Submitted by Cy on 2/13/2005

Meh..Thats about all I can say about this CD after 3 spins, and I think I am done. After 3 listens, only track 3 and 5 I could 'remember'. The speed is very prevelent, but it really feels rushed, incomplete, filler'ish. I dont get this record, I mean obviously they are trying to go the Gallery way. It is definately harder/faster, but mundane as well. Gone are the catchy melodies replaced by opeth'ish type of middles that just seemed to lack continuity. I can listen to Damage Done from track 1 to 8 before I feel like "ok fillers are coming...", but this CD i am thoroughly disappointed. Considering they had 3 years to put this out, why does it feel so 'rushed' to me? Not rushed as in fast, but rather I sensed incompleteness. Musicianship is still there, vocals sound same as damage, drums/guitars much faster but overall left me going "ok i gotta hear this again, wtf was up with that!", and after i did that 3 times, I realized that the best thing to do would be to burn track 3 and 5 and replace Soil's Figure#5 with this one on the top of my heap of 3 listens. My ratings, with Projector I would say bout 8, Damage Done, 9.5. This one about a 6, just personally I am really disappointed.

Submitted by OneNut on 2/22/2005

This cd is not bad, its not great as the professional reviewer put it but its not that bad either. Several times you will be telling yourself "ok I heard that in damage done, and that too, oh and that too". It is basically a faster, harder, lessmelodic Damage. Expectations were high for a followup and I dont think they lived up to the billing. Something is different about Stanne's vocals too, and I cant seem to figure out what that might be. So-so Cd, it would be a decent debut cd from a band, but for such hardhitters I can see how this can come off as disappointing to some. Hey even if their guitarist has run out of catchy ideas, he can stil make a living doing cover art lol.

Submitted by Chor on 3/23/2005

That was the worst professional review of a cd I have ever read. Dude you are so way off on this. I have a feeling that if Dark Tranq crapped on a platter you would love it. This is trash man. Maybe it has 3 decent tunes, but were those 3 tunes not on their last cd? All melodic ideas are lost, and Stanne's vocals are just not cutting it. I wish he would pull a bit off from Projector and sing once in a while. His choruses on the last cd were actually decent without the singing, but on this one he could have used some melodic overtones. All riffs sound like Soilwork ripoff type. "Faster does not equal better" I am no pro reviewer, but please to all Dark Tranq fans, avoid this cd. Download a few songs and you will be listening to their previous cd just with worse production.

Submitted by Nottingham on 3/25/2005

This album suks. I was singing old Iron Maiden songs during it. THe dual guitrs are total maiden ripoffs. Borrowed cd from friend cos I love Damage, but after 5 songs my hear sorta started to hurt. Same chuga chuga rhythm as fast as they can go. Very average for a band of such high magnitude

Submitted by Alexi on 4/14/2005

Chor:

My whole emphasis is on the fact that this is NOT melody that you hear with In Flames and the other Gothenberg bands. This is very different, it has been different since the very early days of Dark Tranquillity. It is the style of Dark Tranquillity that has always set them apart from their contemporaries. They never made an album like In Flames or Soilwork. Speaking of Soilwork, i have no idea where you got the comparison of Character and anything Soilwork has done in the last 3 or 4 years. Soilwork has not done anything fast since Chainheart Machine, or if you want to talk about the first four tracks of Character, Steelbath Suicide.

You can bash this review all you want, I really don't care. But if you are going to try and make a case against it, for your sake and for the sake of other readers of MetalBite, please make your arguments COHERENT and somewhat intellectual. Ranting and bitching will get you no where past getting a baby bottle or some formula from a baby sitter you had while you were two.

Submitted by Chor on 4/15/2005

Alexi,
Point well taken, but you have to take into consideration the melody. Isn't that what gothenburg music is based on? I didn't think it was speedmetal that you were reviewing. You do need to check out Portrait of Pred by Soilwork. See how they can have melody WITH speed. People can only take so much of the blastbeats. This is basically all Iron Maiden dual guitar riffs sped up. Oh and as far as the babybottle comment, I did get a chuckle out of it. 249 people gave this junk an average of 7.6, guess we are all noobs but you are THE MAN!!! lol. pretty Coherent eh?

Submitted by Pedro on 4/17/2005

This album is just great, it has melody and it has speed, and is another example of what Soilwork will never achieve. Soilwork is not bad, but they had never managed to do what Dark Tranquillity and even In Flames have done.

This Album features some of the best songs the band has ever done, and in my opinion is the best Dark Tranquillity album just below The Gallery. Dark Tranquillity is the best swedish metal band right now and with this release they prove it once again.

Submitted by Alexi on 4/28/2005

Chor:

Once again, Dark Tranquillity never used the same melodies that you hear in old In Flames (ie Lunar Strain-Whoracle) and they didn't start with Character. As i stated in my review, Dark Tranquillity are NOT the Gothenberg sound, rather they have been pushing it beyond its bounds since the beginning of their career. Since Century Media is pushing this record harder then they did with Haven or Damage Done, people who may not have been exposed to Dark Tranquillity, but have heard Soilwork and In Flames before will be able to note that Dark Tranquillity are doing more then the Gothenberg sound. I am sure they Dark Tranquillity could go and play stuff like The Jester Race, but they don't need to, they have their own style they have been developing for over fifteen years. As for your comment on the avg rating of Character being 7.8, here are some legitimate counterpoints to that, written by people i respect. Once again, each review of this album will be differen just because no two people share the same perspective, just as you and i don't.

Blabbermouth.com: 8/10
Pivotalrage.com: 5/5 or 10/10
Metal-Rules magazine: 4.5/5 or 9/10
Lords of Metal magazine: 97/100

need I go on?

Submitted by Grey Wolf on 5/6/2005

To Chor who thinks he knows all but metal. Kill that fucking ego, and shut your fucking hole. Alexi understands what metal is and can be.

Submitted by rattle on 5/13/2005

chor: i read your "previews" but i still dont understand what you dont like about this album. Maybe because its like dmg done. This is not a real point. I think you should put it down and make us understand why are you so negative to this album

Submitted by Chor on 5/24/2005

Holy chit, Alexi, I appreciate that you actually get back to people that have a complaint. Shows that you got nutz man. And you seem to have much support from readers as well, and I resepect that too. No one seemed to understand my complaint. Perhaps my ears are more funked up that lots of others, but to me, this cd is a repetitive mess of a badly produced, glorified iron maiden cd. His vocals are just not listenable for me, compared to his last cd. I own projector and damage done and i loved the transition from cd's, this one takes it a bit too far? Perhaps the joke is on me because they went further than i thought they would? I just dont know, I cant seem to listen to this cd without skipping all but track 3 and 5. This again is solely my opinion and obviously the board feels different. I wont bother posting all the 5/10 reviews that this cd got, which i am sure i can find if i surf the net.

Submitted by Disruptor on 6/6/2005

I'll admit, until this CD found its way into my hands I had never heard Dark Tranquillity. I love In Flames and Soilwork, their early and middle stuff is some of the best music I've ever heard, and I'd heard the name Dark Tranquillity. As soon as this disc went in and "The New Build" started pumping out I was floored. Not since "Clayman" or "Master of Puppets" have I heard an album so close to perfection. Track after track just completely knocked me out - maybe all you negative reviewers aren't listening to this loud enough? Turn this bitch up to 11, preferably with some headphones, and *really* listen to it. As a musician myself, I can hear all of these subtle little nuances and interesting things that DT has done with this album, and the success of the record is the perfect mix of all the little things that are happening. Not to mention the clear and understandable growlings of Mikael, the dueling guitars of Niklas and Martin (BTW, to the dude who kept thinking Iron Maiden - Why? I don't hear it at all!), and most importantly the tag team of Michael and Anders on bass and drums. When there is a guitar harmony or keyboard section, you can hear the two of them intertwining their parts so effectively it makes my heard hurt. Some really standout tracks in my mind are "The New Build," "Lost to Apathy," "Am I 1?", and mostly "Through Smudged Lenses."
After this CD nearly made me change my boxers I went out and got 'Damage Done' and 'Haven' to try and compare them, and I found it very difficult. DD is basically a prelude to Character - listen to "Monochromatic Stains" and then listen to "Lost to Apathy" and tell me they're not long lost twins. There are some real gems on 'Haven,' too, like "Feast of Burden" and "Fabric," but I don't think anything compares to Character. Obviously, this is only my opinion and if anyone wants to flame me feel free, but all I'm saying is give it a chance with maximum volume and an open mind.

Submitted by Arthur on 12/20/2006

I just can't believe the negative reviews i have been reading here. Anyway, this album delivers the goods when your into pure melodic gothenburg sound. Dark Tranquility is now my best and favorite on this category once held by in flames. The riffs have intensified.. and has this driving character and power like back when these scene bloomed with AT THE GATES. You think iam a dark tranquility fan for saying this? Nope i heard projector and haven before this and i was unimpressed by it but not saying that they suck, just didn't quite feel it yet. The retrospective album (Forgot the title) and this one made me realize the dark nature of Dark Tranquility, with a new understanding of them i will be revisiting the aforementioned albums that i didnt quite like of them. Alexis knows what he is saying.. and charon is understandbly doesn't know The Gothenburg Sound when it hits him. Must have been a fan of the new in flames and soil work.

Rating: 10