Character

Kinda underrated - heavy - if you like heavier music this band is definitely worth a listen

Though I am a fan of both DT's older and newer music, many of the older bands have lost their luster over the years. This is not true with Dark Tranquillity.They still have the talent to chug with the best of them.On Character (an interesting precursor to Fiction, both musically and in title), the backing keyboard interlaced with heavy riffing and Mikael Stanne's otherworldly growling provide a potent mixture perfect for melodic death metal. Dark Tranquillity is simply the best in the Genre, and that includes bands such as The Haunted, Soilwork, In Flames, and even At the Gates.Not a single track from Character gets boring or repetetive. This is an album even casual metalheads would mind listening to back to back to back. Each song includes a differently layered melody, and yet each song is packed with Stanne's distinctive growl.Each musician in DT knows what they are doing and perform to perfection. In short, Character is the type of album more melodic death metal-ers should aspire to create.If you like melodeath, pick this album up. You will not be disappointed. Character gets 4.95/5 stars.

Finally the new Dark Tranquillity disc! It has been a long time coming, and it has been well worth the wait. Dark Tranquillity deliver their trademarked brew of harmonically complex melodic death metal on "Character". They take a few steps back at the same time they take a few forward. The electronic elements are more fluidly integrated than ever before. The guitars are way up front in the mix, and they are beautifully heavy. The riffing is tight and melodic. All as one would expect; however, blast beats show up a few times. The vocals are more harsh than maybe they've ever been.Really my only gripes, and they aren't very major ones are that, there are fewer clean interludes to offest the heavyness and that a lot of the songs are right around the same tempo.The lyrics are really well done, better I think than on "Damage Done". They flow better, and fit together better, conceptually.If this isn't their best album yet, I'd be hard pressed to pick a better one.

I bought Character based on other reviews from Amazon, and I'm glad that I did. This is my 2nd Dark Tranquility album (my 1st was Skydancer) and I think it's great. It has music similar to In Flames and vocals similar to Arch Enemy. I was looking for more melodic death metal to add to my music library, so this was a very nice choice. Maybe I would have given it 5 stars if I hadn't already owned all of the In Flames albums first. They are one of my favorite bands and Dark Tranquility have that same Gothenburg sound that I love. I also found out that Anders Friden, the lead singer of In Flames, sang on Dark Tranquility's first album- Skydancer (another 4 star album in my opinion). So, if you enjoy Swedish death metal with some electronic elements, then get this album... you won't regret it.

Oh, god, I love this album. It is sooo smooth, all the way through. So romantic. I had the pleasure of meeting Dark Tranquillity when they opened for Opeth and at the time never really listened to their sounds (because I hated the song Monochromatic Stains and really was only there for Opeth because of Morningrise album)....and...Dark Tranquillity's style, in person!, even meets the vibe of this album. Cold, urban (yes, I said urban) feel to this album. Floating...You can listen to it over and over. The feelings that generate from this album is a...hmm...triumphant sad? Very romantic sound in the end. Dark sky and starlit escape!Excellent night driving music...You will be wrapped up!

I got this album a while back and didn't really listen to it much. I've recently rediscovered the cd and I can't verbally express how much I'm in love with this cd. This is the quintessential "MELODIC" death metal. So many of the songs have great riffs that are heavy but not so much dark, just heavy. Favorites are Lost to Apathy, One Thought, Am I 1?, Senses Tied, My Negation. The blend of keyboard and guitar parts is beyond words. Its so disappointing how the uneducated world throws all metal into one pot. Melodic death metal is incredible.

good . 4 stars

Two awesome songs "Senses Tide" and "The Endless Feed". The rest of the cd is good. This is my first Dark Tranquillity CD, and I intend to buy more based on this album.

Having never released a weak or uninspired album since 1995 (The Gallery), Dark Tranquillity comes back with another melodic metal masterpiece in 2005's `Character'.`Character' is in a way a back to the roots album for the band. The speed of their first three albums comes back to the songwriting together with Stanne's higher pitched death metal vocals. The album grabs the listener from the first seconds and never let's go. Fast drum speeds, with the inclusion of lot's of double bass and blast beats, melodic-sharp-heavy and thrashy guitar riffs, several guitar leads and solos, some memorable bass lines and screaming vocals, characterize the whole direction of this album.There are some really shinny tracks to be found on `Character'. "The New Build" is the perfect album opener. After a few drum fills a fast blast beat backed by heavy yet melodic riffing give way to Stanne's screaming vocals. The song maintains its fast pace throughout with fast and slower sharp guitar riffs succeeding one another. "Lost To Apathy" is certainly the most catchy track to be found here. While being fast and aggressive it is greatly enriched by infectious melodic riffing, some remarkable death vocals and an amazing chorus followed by melodic guitar tapping. "Mind Matters" is also another catchy tune with a very melodic, bouncy type, intro guitar riff. My favorite track though is "Dry Run". Sharp riffing, varying drumming with sparse double drum fills provide the backbone for Stanne's most memorable vocal performance in the album. Keys on the other hand elevate the track to another atmospheric dimension throughout the chorus. But the best part comes in the 2:10 minute mark were sharp riffs heard from one speaker at a time are enriched with nice guitar leads, great cymbal work and low tone almost whispering vocals. All this is followed by a section with double base drumming, backing keys, power metal like guitar leads, succeeded by the albums best, longest and most varying guitar solo. This is the best track by far in my opinion.But besides those tracks mentioned above, the rest kind of fall short. `Character' definitely has its weaknesses, although hardcore death metal fans and Dark Tranquillity fans will never admit to it. Due to the fast pace of almost all tracks and the sharp guitar riffing, which sound very similar in some instances, the album sounds kind of monotonous. On the other hand, there are some truly amazing songs (the ones mentioned above) succeeded by considerably weaker ones and that isn't a good thing. The last flaw lies with Stanne's vocals delivery. Although I believe that the guy is the most outstanding vocalist in the genre, he doesn't impress me on this release. For some reason he doesn't sing so deep and heavy as on the two previous albums (Damage Done, Haven) he rather follows the approach of the vocals he used in 'The Gallery' and 'The Minds I', which is a higher death-black vocal delivery. Admitably his voice doesn't sound so great nor unique in that short of pitch, he should have tried to blend the two techniques together...Someone may argue that the faults I'm mentioning are nit picking, in a way, or personal preferences. Well for me they count a great deal and hold back `Character' from being better than `Damage Done'. Nevertheless Dark Tranquillity should be applauded for making a back to the roots, heavier, faster and rawer album and thus keeping the tradition of altering their sound on every release. All the faults of this album will be diminished and perfected on their next release `Fiction', but this is another review...(This edition contains some medium quality live videos and a truly great video clip of 'Lost To Apathy')

Per chi li ha visti nascere "musicalmente" parland, questo è un pallido esempio di ciò che furono, ma comunque sono indiscutibilmente i DT! E nemmeno i piu' moderni. Forse per questo ancora riesco ad ascoltare questo album con discreto piacere. Da avere per i collezionisti. Per i curiosi, prego accomodarsi a procurarsi i primi due album, sopratutto. STAY METAL!

Dark Tranquillity wollten wohl, nach dem sie mit dem Vorgänger "Damage Done" zu ihren Wurzeln, eben dem Melodischen Death Metal, zurückgekehrt sind, auf Nummer sicher gehen, und haben wieder einen soliden Nachfolger geschmiedet, aber ohne das vorangegangene Album zu kopieren.Es wird gleich zu Beginn mit so schnellen und aggressiven Songs wie "The New Build" oder "Through Smudged Lenses" losgedonnert, die mit mitreißendem Riffing überzeugen. Dann wird einem allerdings wieder eine Verschnaufpause gegönnt, in den folgenden Stücken hat man das Tempo deutlich gedrosselt. Daran ändert sich auch nichts so schnell, keines der folgenden Lieder erreicht wieder die Geschwindigkeit oder den Druck der ersten beiden. Das ist aber auch nicht weiter schlimm, da Dark Tranquillity hier auch im mitteren Geschwindigkeitsspektrum zeigen, was sie können. Bei "Lost to Apathy" zeigt man allerdings wieder, dass man auch schneller kann, wenn auch nur in Teilen des Songs. Ebenso bei "One Thought". Ab hier gibt es bis auf "Senses Tied" nur noch ruhigere Stücke zu hören, was nicht unbedingt jedem gefällt. Mich überzeugen sie allerdings eher wegen dem Songwriting nicht so besonders. Dafür weiß mich der ruhige Endsong des Albums zu begeistern, die Hookline, die darin vorkommt, beißt sich in meinem Ohr fest.Die Produktion passt im Prinzip wie die Faust aufs Auge: Die Instrumente sowie die Stimme von Frontgrowler Mikael klingen so, wie sie es sollen, einzig die Drums klingen im Vergleich zum Rest ein wenig schlapp. Sonst gibt des am Sound nichts zu kritisieren, er klingt nicht zu aufdringlich oder gepusht.Dass Dark Tranquillity immer noch gute Songideen haben, hat man hiermit wieder gezeigt. Es reicht meiner Meinung nach nicht, um an den Vorgänger ranzukommen, aber erheblich schlechter ist man deswegen nicht. Wenngleich es auch Schwächen in der zweiten Hälfte des Albums gibt, der Gesamteindruck ist doch recht solide. 7,5 von 10 Punkten.

Neben Amon Amarth und Soilwork ist Dark Tranquillity eine der bekanntesten Bands des schwedischen Melodic Death.Ruhig geht es bei dieser Musikrichtung aber eher selten zu, besonders auf diesem Album. Es überwiegen die Death Metal Anteile, aber auch das Melodische kommt nicht zu kurz, besonders auf der zweiten Hälfte des Albums. Dieser Gegensatz macht gerade den besonderen Reiz dieses Musikstils aus. Der Gesang besteht nur aus Death Metal Growls, Klargesang ist auf diesem Album nicht vorhanden, anders als z.B. auf Projector oder Construct.Auf der umfangreichen Live-CD überwiegen Stücke des Albums Damage Done, der Rest ist auf die Alben The Gallery, The Mind's I, Projector und Haven verteilt. Man erhält so einen guten Überblick über das Schaffen dieser interessanten Band.

Awesome Album! A definite Must have!