Dark Tranquility - We Are the Void..thoughts?

[skyrefuge]

Now... not so much. I think I'm getting bitter with my music lately though, so who knows?

Yeah, this is a bit of it for me. I'm not so much done with my music, as I am done with collecting everything from every band, so the new DT stuff, while it still may be very high-quality, just isn't interesting or unique enough to cross my very-restrictive threshold.

I remembered a website I'd seen a few years ago where some guy broke down and analyzed all the songs (riffs, time signatures, etc.) from 'The Gallery'. Even though 'The Gallery' *sounds* obviously technical and crazy and inventive to a non-musician like me, reading about all the layers and changes made it seem even more insane and impressive. I was going to post a link to that and say "SEEEEE, they don't do anything like that anymore, now it's just boring shit that *I* could describe!"

However, I was having trouble finding that website again. Instead, in my search, I came across this thread at their forum, doing the exact same analysis of their new album, surely by the same guy.

Browsing through that, I get the impression that while the new album might not be quite as complex or inventive as 'The Gallery', there's still an incredible amount of stuff going on. So perhaps it's just being done more subtly? Which could actually be *more* impressive than the gaudiness of 'The Gallery'?

On the other hand, if it simply *sounds* conventional to the untrained ear, then that underlying complexity is pretty useless. And this guy is obviously an extremely dedicated DT fan, so perhaps he'd be able to find creativity buried in anything they do.

For more reading, http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/dark-tranquillity/559322-new-dt-riffing.html is exactly the "DT's riffs are boring and lame and conventional" discussion we're having here, with a very well-informed counter-argument.

I probably misunderstood your initial statement about the first four albums: I initially read it as you saying that they were all different from each other and the band reinvented itself each time

No, you had it right, that's what I was thinking when I wrote it, but your response made me realize that your view was more correct, and it was the external factors that had skewed my view.

Neil

 

[skyrefuge]

Oy Vey!
It's 2010, and you guys are spending THIS much time analyzing a band like DT's work???? It will be a never ending cycle.

Oops, sorry for talking about music! We'll stop, I promise!

skyrefuge - I know you aim to score cool points whenever you can, but I seriously doubt you purchased Skydancer the day it came out

ha. Did not mean to imply that *I* was in that group of old farts. Good to know that you find me highly intelligent and stunningly good-looking though! Best I can claim is that I probably had 'The Gallery' and 'The Mind's I' by '97 or so...hopefully that's still good enough for at least 2 or 3 cool points. And to put my nerdily-recorded dates to good use, I can report that I finally got 'Skydancer' on 1999.07.03, three weeks before I got 'Projector' when it came out.

Neil

 

[Jasonic]

Neil,
Sorry, re-reading my post, I realize that it looked like I was taking a potshot at you, which I truly was not intending to do. It was more a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that anyone purchased SKYDANCER the date it was released, esp on this side of the pond.

I used to REALLY dig DT, esp the Gallery and Damage Done. They are a lot more unique than most in their scene. I just think they went down the same bland path as In Flames, though the music didn't deteriorate AS poorly as In Flames had.

 

[Pellaz]

The difference between the two style changes is that In Flames went from being awesome to garbage, while DT went from being awesome to slightly less awesome, but still better than most other bands.

+ 1

 

[raising_iron]

Wow - I must be in the miniority then. I really, really like Damage Done (maybe one of my favs from them) and really enjoyed Character and Fiction. At first I wasn't a huge fan of Void, but it is really starting to grow on me.

You can take this for what you want, but the reviews on Metal-Archives has the last 4 averaging a 78 where Damage is 87 (the second highest to Skydancer) and the lowest being Void at 60. This is based on 86 total DT reviews. Character and Fiction both ranked higher than The Gallery, The Mind's I (my least fav DT disc), Projector, and Haven. So I'm not sure I can agree when you say that "vast majority of fans" who consider their last 4 their worst, not only from the MA reviews, but Metal Observer also ranks the last 3 (not counting Void - not reviewed yet) in the high 8's, low 9's, and from my own personal opinion.

But I will agree with you that Void is probably not their best work, but I like it more than Mind's I.

I felt We Are The Void was just going thru the motions, but overall I agree with you about the later works, Damage Done thru Fiction is a stellar arc of material only matched by The Gallery from their earlier works. DT are my fave of the genre, and even their weaker moments are still above average.

 

[batmura]

Dark Tranquillity's last four discs would be considered their four worst by the vast majority of fans who have been with them since the beginning.

If you go to the official DT forum, you'll see that one of their last four CDs is the favourite album of 90% of the posters there. I have yet to meet a DT fan who hates Damage Done, Character, or even Haven.

 

[pyramazekeyboardist]

The difference between the two style changes is that In Flames went from being awesome to garbage, while DT went from being awesome to slightly less awesome, but still better than most other bands.

Ditto that my brother. I couldn't have said it any better.

 

[tenebre]

I feel that We are the Void is their best work to date. I do like all their albums quite a bit. I don't see the hate logic outside of "their first albums were better" syndrome.

They worked on WATV for a year solid so the "going through the motions" argument doesn't really make sense. They are a band that certainly has not fell prey to any kind of sellout choices in their music and have kept producing quality stuff.

 

[General Zod]

So I decided to revisit both the new Dark Tranquillity and check out the new Soilwork.

Suffice it to say, the new Soilwork is eight flavors of awful. I didn't even recognize Speed's vocals until half way through the second song. It's ironic... a bunch of crappy American bands took a chunk of what was going on in Sweden, and did their own, awful, watered-down thing with it. And almost as if to get even, Soilwork, one of the forerunners of Sweden's melodic Death Metal sound, decided to give up their own version, co-opt the American version, and make it even shittier. Congrats.

The new Dark Tranquillity has impressed me. Perhaps this was due to low expectations, after the lackluster Character and Fiction. I really appreciate the use of electronics and Mikael's clean vocals on this disc. In another ironic twist, Dark Tranquillity seem completely reluctant to use clean vocals, despite Stanne's awesome and unique voice. In Flames, despite Ander's uncanny Elmer Fudd-like sound, are insistent on using clean vocals. Odd.

 

[BenMech]

So I decided to revisit both the new Dark Tranquillity and check out the new Soilwork.

Suffice it to say, the new Soilwork is eight flavors of awful. I didn't even recognize Speed's vocals until half way through the second song. It's ironic... a bunch of crappy American bands took a chunk of what was going on in Sweden, and did their own, awful, watered-down thing with it. And almost as if to get even, Soilwork, one of the forerunners of Sweden's melodic Death Metal sound, decided to give up their own version, co-opt the American version, and make it even shittier. Congrats.

The new Dark Tranquillity has impressed me. Perhaps this was due to low expectations, after the lackluster Character and Fiction. I really appreciate the use of electronics and Mikael's clean vocals on this disc. In another ironic twist, Dark Tranquillity seem completely reluctant to use clean vocals, despite Stanne's awesome and unique voice. In Flames, despite Ander's uncanny Elmer Fudd-like sound, are insistent on using clean vocals. Odd.

Are you selling a newspaper? I would like to subscribe. I have the nearly exact same thoughts.

Character and Fiction and WAtv aren't lackluster, so much that they are treading water in deeper depths. They do nothing wrong ever, but they don't change course to something more interesting, if more risky, and that may be their overall riskfail. They deliver to our high expectations without rising above them.

The same cannot be said of In Flames or Soilwork.

There used to be more bands in that style. Someday they'll come back.

 

[TribunalRecords]

i am late to this.

here is my input, however valid it may be.

IN FLAMES stole the "electronics" of their sound from DT
IN FLAMES decided to add singing when DT went more melodic.

i love IN FLAMES early stuff, but they have only taken too much from the DT sound. DT were truly the innovators and pushing the Swedish death metal sound to new heights. Soilwork did bring new levels of speed on their first two albums which was awesome too.

DT was basically done after Damage Done. the material after that is decent, but like everyone has said it's running the same course as before not bringing anything new to the table. we have plenty of better material to spin before listening to new stuff. WATV is pretty boring, when comparing it to Damage Done and before.

 

[General Zod]

Are you selling a newspaper? I would like to subscribe. I have the nearly exact same thoughts.

It's more like a tri-daily postcard.

Character and Fiction and WAtv aren't lackluster, so much that they are treading water in deeper depths. They do nothing wrong ever, but they don't change course to something more interesting, if more risky, and that may be their overall riskfail. They deliver to our high expectations without rising above them.

Your description may be more apt. With respect to Character and Fiction, they just feel dull to me. There seems to be a lack of great songwriting and imagination.

 

[ratanda]

I think it's just ok. Of their post-Projector era it's not nearly as good as Haven or Damage Done.

 

[Pellaz]

I think it's just ok. Of their post-Projector era it's not nearly as good as Haven or Damage Done.

+1