Dark Tranquillity - Fiction
- Thread starter Tom Strutton
- Start date
challenge_everything
Active Member
yeahThis album is spectacularly ordinary. It sounds like the reject tracks from the Character album. Everything, from the sound to the album art, is exactly the same but lacking in memorable songwriting. I love everything DT has ever done, even their uneven Projector and Haven albums have some character (no pun intended), diversity and memorable moments, but this is a massive snooze-fest from start to finish.
The riffing is uninspired, the keyboards sound the same on every song, the vocal melodies are unimaginative etc etc etc. 'Inside the Particle Storm' is the only interesting development, but even that song sounds like something Insomnium could do better. Even the 'death ballad' that DT usually do so well (ie 'Lethe', 'Insanity's Crescendo', 'My Negation') is terrible - 'The Mundane and the Magic' is, well, a lot more mundane than magic. The end of a great career.
Hellgate
Put your keys in your Ass
hibernal_dream
A Mind Forever Voyaging
There seems to be a disagreement among those who liked Character, and those who didn't but still like Fiction. There doesn't seem to be anyone who likes both. I think they're both great, though I personally favour Character for its impeccable writing and found Fiction a little bland. Both are extremely solid and comparing them with In Flames is just not right. Also, what's with all the praise for Inside the Particle Storm? It's quite predictable and my least favorite.
I found this album good for the most part. Terminus is definitely one of my favorite DT songs, only let down was the unneeded female vocals in 'The Mundane and the Magic', that was a let down :/. It's not that female vocals are bad either, (Mors Principium Est's Pure was an awesome song with chick vocals). After Listening to Fiction a few times I started listening to Character again, and I developed more of an appreciation for that album, personality I think it was better. In my opinion though Fiction was quite nice, and Stanne still brings it.
Hatebreeder
Pizzicato Heartstrings
This album is really no better than average; it is a good album from a seasoned melodeath band, but DT have not reinvented themselves at all and they are starting to become stale (see Slayer). There is really no reason to purchase this if you already own their classics The Gallery and The Mind's I (unless you're a die-hard fan).
hibernal_dream
A Mind Forever Voyaging
Why in the fuck must they reinvent themselves? It's what, their 8th full-length? Being a solid, non-sellout release is more than enough for me.
^^^ Exactly. You can fault Fiction for not having very high aspirations, but you can't fault the songwriting or integrity on display. The first two tracks are exceptional examples of imaginative, solid songwriting, and the rest of the album is very solid too. And the production value is fucking magnificent - listen to it on a really good system or expensive headphones to get the most out of this album.
circus_brimstone
Forest: Sold Out
Kenneth R.
Cináed
loveMikael
Challenge the Universe
i don't think this three album is all sound the same.
you could say damage done and character are basiclly the same(of couse,they are not).character is faster and agressiver than another album.i'd like the midtemple of the damage done,and it's full of melody.
in fiction ,the form of song writing maybe like Hours Passed In Exile(a song from damage done),and it took over the tough riffs from character.
two words describe this new album-powerful and melodic.
it is definately the best 2007 melodic death metal album .and it is still one of my best album in 2007.
combustion07
Weed and Metal baby!
I don't understand why the quality of an album must be judged on the bands previous releases. If you're that badly ADD that a band has to reinvent themselves every release, take some pills! I thought it was a great album, just like all the previous ones from Projector onwards. I'd probably love the early ones if they had decent production too.
In my opinion it's their best work, and an album against which all metal should be measured. The band has been extraordinarily consistent for 10 years now and has hardly released any bad songs since Projector, but this time they seem to have perfected everything they have worked on for their entire career. There isn't a single song here that is anything less than mesmerizingly beautiful, and at least half are instant classics ("Nothing to No One," "The Lesser Faith," "Blind at Heart," "Icipher," "The Mundane and the Magic"). This also has the best production of all their albums.
This CD has hardly left my CD player since it came out almost 4 months ago now. If anything better comes out in 2007, I will probably have to jump into a cactus patch, eat my hat, or do something else appropriately demonstrative of my utter astonishment--but somehow I doubt I'll need to do that. Rarely have I heard any band release an album so consistently excellent from first minute to the last.
This CD has hardly left my CD player since it came out almost 4 months ago now. If anything better comes out in 2007, I will probably have to jump into a cactus patch, eat my hat, or do something else appropriately demonstrative of my utter astonishment--but somehow I doubt I'll need to do that. Rarely have I heard any band release an album so consistently excellent from first minute to the last.
Fiction is an amazing album, it showcases more musical maturity from DT which is great news but on the other hand, I think it should have had more parts with clean vocals because the two songs with clean vocals (Misery's Crown and The Mundane and the Magic) show that Mikael Stanne is constantly improving with his singing voice. That's me, I don't know how other would feel about this, some people disagree with having clean vocals in death metal in the first place but some bands make it sound good, some make it not. Perspectives.
Actually, I am one of those people who agree with you. I find that the two tracks with clean vocals are two of the most memoriable on the album, not to say that the rest of the album doesn't kick ass. I hope they further experiment with this kind of thing in the future.
kingcarcas
Member
