Dark Tranquillity - New Album "Endtime Signals" out 2024-08-16

[mindd]

The sound guy told the bassist "fuck you in particular" in the first half of the show. Their guitar stand-in guy is so funny though, he was smiling almost the whole show, looked like he was having the absolute best time of his life.

 

[mindd]

Oh man, what the fuck, I was late for the stream so I was watching just now and those fucks at Arte made the video private while I was watching it and it kicked me out lol, missed the last three songs.

Stanne was looking like he's about to cry after Not Nothing when everyone started clapping and cheering loud as hell, wholesome metal festival moment.

Reinholdz is such a fucking yeti, he just looks huge with a guitar.

Still not quite sold on the new drums guy, although he does the job.

 

[Xpyro125]

My fucking headphones died earlier today and new ones won’t come in until Tuesday, so I can’t comment on the production.

1. Shivers and Voids- Pretty good, but rather safe, solid 8 to start on
2. Unforgivable- Quite like this one, have the whole time, solid 8.5, but I feel it wearing me down with each listen
3. Neuronal Fire- Quite enjoying this one, I’d say it’s an 9, I’m looking forward to listening to this one with headphones later on
4. Not Nothing- Good spot on the album to introduce clean vocals, but I just like it since something about the cleans don’t jive with the rest of the song— I’d say it’s a 7.5
5. Drowned Out Voices- Incredibly fascinating in comparison to the other songs, fucking love the guitars and drums in the chorus, though I’m glad it gets past the chugging part of the heaviness quickly; the change-up to a mellow, clean part is perfectly placed in the song to make sure it doesn’t get stale, though I’m not huge on the key change— Definitely a 9
6. One of Us Is Gone- Opens up interestingly (Not sure what it reminds me of), there’s a rather cinematic gothic feel to this one that I quite like, it’s rather reminiscent of Auctioned— I don’t really feel like it’s as replayable as the other songs, but it’s either a 9-9.5 to me, I’ll have to figure out which I feel later on
7. The Last Imagination- I like the placement of the song after One of Us, it’s a good song, I’d say 7.5
8. Enforced Perspective- Good song, though like TLI, I think there’s too much of a feeling of “yeah, I’ve heard this already” that at least fares better when listening to it on its own especially since it’s short, I’d call it a 7.5-8
9. Our Disconnect- Love the bass leading the intro, love the drums, it’s got a nice groove leading into the song, though it becomes like TLI and Enforced Perspective with the “I’ve heard this already” feeling— It’s still pretty good, but it’s an 8 to me
10. Wayward Eyes- There’s something really soulful with the lead melody here, particularly with the clean chorus being one of Stanne’s best clean choruses, there’s something that feels like that little overlap of post-hardcore and gothic rock/metal put through a melodeath filter, and it’s a 10/10 to me, easily my favorite track on the album (I really thought it would’ve been Drowned Out Voices or One of Us)
11. A Bleaker Sun- Even on my shitty laptop speakers, I feel the punchiness and power of the production here with the heaviness, and I love that, though I feel like it just needs a little bit more to stand out, I’d give it an 8, though I could see the argument for a 7.5
12. False Reflection- A desolate and lonely kind of spacey intro, works wonders here, tons of emotion here with a soulful kind of gothic metal here (It kind of reminds me of Fandigo by Callejon), Stanne’s cleans really pull it all together in a fantastic way, easy 9.5
Overall- 8.5 on the dot

It definitely gives up quite a bit of melodeath and progressivism in exchange for enhancing the Gothenburg sound with soul, emotion, phenomenal solos, and gothic melodies that has been sorely needed for Dark Tranquillity to me. Even as someone who rather likes Construct, this is the first DT album where I really feel the emotion since Fiction. In a way, it feels like Moment crawled so this album could run, as it feels surprisingly distinct from previous modern DT albums, for better or for worse depending on who you are. For me, this is what I’ve been craving from modern Dark Tranquillity, especially since this is the very encapsulation of everything that was missing from Foregone.
Edit: It’s also a small thing, but I think the order of the tracks is exactly what it should be and exactly what I expect it to be. I often find that a lot of albums aren’t as meticulous with that as they should be, but the natural cohesiveness and “correctness” just feels rather nice, and I think that’s worth noting.

 

[Xpyro125]

Also, Sundin has posted a breakdown of the artwork for the album. Interestingly, the album was supposed to be named "A Bleaker Sun" at some point. Wayward Eyes also has an artwork, looks like it is the fourth and final single.

Behance

Let’s fucking go, Wayward Eyes would make for such a great single.

So, I've just listened twice or thrice during work. I don't dislike the new songs (except for Neuronal Fire), but something feels a bit off with a lot of them.
I'm also not very much into the production on these (especially after listening to the punchier sounding Character this morning).

So far for me it's kinda like this, categories and songs inside categories are sorted from most liked at the top to the least at the bottom:

Great songs:
- Not Nothing
- One Of Us Is Gone
- False Reflection
- Shivers And Voids

Good songs:
- The Last Imagination
- A Bleaker Sun

Okay songs:
- Unforgivable
- Drowned Out Voices
- Enforced Perspective
- Wayward Eyes
- Our Disconnect

Don't like:
- Neuronal Fire

I’m curious as to what exactly put you off of Neuronal Fire— Particularly more than anything else on the album. If you said it for Enforced Perspective or Our Disconnect, I’d 100% get it, as they feel rather safe like TLI. In fact, I would say that that quarter of the album is a bit of a slump— A slump of 7.5s, which is great, but it thankfully makes for that with two of the best songs on the album afterwards.

 

[The Grayfox]

I think Neuronal Fire is one of my absolute favorites on this album honestly. The last minute or so is fucking fantastic. As somebody who didn't really enjoy Moment, I can say that this feels much more substantial as a whole. This one feels super dark and moody at times and that's when I love DT the most. One of Us Is Gone, Wayward Eyes, False Reflection, just really good stuff. I'm going to have to do a few more listens and break down what I love and maybe what I don't -- although on first listen, there wasn't much at all I didn't like. Whenever I thought something might be a bit bland or stale, there would be a great solo or keyboard part and it would be saved.

 

[DE4life]

I hope to get around to listening to the album today. My thoughts from listening to the song live were that Shivers, Unforgiveable and Neuronal Fire sounded nice. Not Nothing was fine too, but I'd already heard that one. TLI feels like a Moment leftover. Our Disconnect I need to listen to a bit more before deciding.

Speaking of the set, I have to say I was a bit disappointed that Gallery and TMI were completely omitted. They did a whistlestop tour of pretty much every other album (except WATV and Construct), but nothing pre-1999. Granted I don't expect them to play anything from Skydancer or Of Chaos and Eternal Night, but not even Punish My Heaven, Lethe or Zodijackyl Light? Pretty sure they could have dropped Our Disconnect, for example, but oh well.

Also interesting that WATV and Construct are the only albums totally ignored from post-1997. I get why, but when you see all other albums after TMI got at least one track played, it's maybe an indicator of where DT see those albums in terms of popularity or live suitability.

 

[drawntoblack]

I was halfway into writing a detailed song by song review, but there are very few great let alone spectacular moments on the album. Maybe its just the rushed first listen, let's see if it changes.

Also I can't shake the feeling that they are hiding a lot of mediocre parts by drenching them in reverb, everything sounds distant and not aggressive enough, like the people who wrote the music don't 100% believe in its quality. I miss when it was acceptable to have some balls in your guitar tone/overall presentation. Now everyone is above having fierce guitars in a metal band.

 

[DE4life]

Video for Wayward Eyes:

 

[The Grayfox]

I hope to get around to listening to the album today. My thoughts from listening to the song live were that Shivers, Unforgiveable and Neuronal Fire sounded nice. Not Nothing was fine too, but I'd already heard that one. TLI feels like a Moment leftover. Our Disconnect I need to listen to a bit more before deciding.

Speaking of the set, I have to say I was a bit disappointed that Gallery and TMI were completely omitted. They did a whistlestop tour of pretty much every other album (except WATV and Construct), but nothing pre-1999. Granted I don't expect them to play anything from Skydancer or Of Chaos and Eternal Night, but not even Punish My Heaven, Lethe or Zodijackyl Light? Pretty sure they could have dropped Our Disconnect, for example, but oh well.

Also interesting that WATV and Construct are the only albums totally ignored from post-1997. I get why, but when you see all other albums after TMI got at least one track played, it's maybe an indicator of where DT see those albums in terms of popularity or live suitability.

I kind of feel like this was a special release day setlist, but maybe not. Yesterday they played Lethe. Zodijackyl Light hasn't been played in almost 15 years. I remember when it was a staple in their sets. They've played songs from Construct more recently though, just not during the summer festivals apparently. For instance, in Mexico earlier this year they played State of Trust and What Only You Know. WATV is one of my least favorite DT albums, so I'm not going to complain that they're not playing much from it recently

There's definitely some differing opinions on this new one. I don't put it up there with any of the classics or even something like Fiction, but I think its pretty damn good. I certainly enjoy it a lot more than WATV, Construct or Moment. I might put it in the same tier as Atoma, another album that I wouldn't say is up there with The Gallery or The Mind's I, but one that I still really enjoy.

 

[mindd]

I miss when it was acceptable to have some balls in your guitar tone/overall presentation. Now everyone is above having fierce guitars in a metal band.

Agree 100%.

Video for Wayward Eyes:

Music video budget cuts are real. All hail lord and saviour Ullaeus! At this point you can feed all of his music videos into a neural network and generate yourself a music video for whatever song you want, the output would be probably of the same quality.

Wayward Eyes is weird, I don't like the intro with that synth melody at all, it almost feels like Jordan Rudess sneezed on Martin a couple of times. On the contrary, I like the synth bridge before the last couple of chorus iterations a lot, Mikael's cleans sound very smooth and nice, almost soothing, on both the bridge and all the choruses, and so does the synth part in the bridge, kind of like later era Depeche Mode.

 

[mindd]

I’m curious as to what exactly put you off of Neuronal Fire— Particularly more than anything else on the album. If you said it for Enforced Perspective or Our Disconnect, I’d 100% get it, as they feel rather safe like TLI. In fact,

I might have been too harsh on Neuronal Fire. After listening a couple of times today, I like it more, but the melody in choruses is still not really my cup of tea and it kinda blends into a mush at times.

The last minute or so is fucking fantastic.

Yup, that part is great. I also like the bridge before the solo.

 

[DE4life]

I kind of feel like this was a special release day setlist, but maybe not. Yesterday they played Lethe. Zodijackyl Light hasn't been played in almost 15 years. I remember when it was a staple in their sets. They've played songs from Construct more recently though, just not during the summer festivals apparently. For instance, in Mexico earlier this year they played State of Trust and What Only You Know. WATV is one of my least favorite DT albums, so I'm not going to complain that they're not playing much from it recently

It for sure was a special set list for the album release, I think Mikael said at one point during the show they'd been planning it for months.

However, they definitely could have fit a Gallery song in there. If you want to play six new songs then ok, cool, but maybe swap out one of the two Fiction songs for a Gallery track? Just gives me IF vibes of failing to appreciate what is a seminal album in the MDM genre. Never mind.

Didn't realise Zodijackyl Light hadn't been played in so long. Sad. A bit like IF with Episode 666, until recently. TMI will for sure be the least appreciated DT album from a live perspective, if we ignore Skydancer. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been ten years since they played anything from it.

 

[mindd]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's been ten years since they played anything from it.

You're almost right, it has been 9 and a half years.

This was the last time, a weird show in 2015 where they played 6 songs off Gallery and TMI:

• Lethe
• Punish My Heaven
• Silence, and the Firmament Withdrew
• Constant
• Hedon
• Insanity's Crescendo

They've also played The Sun Fired Blanks that show for some reason.

 

[mindd]

I've always really liked Dreamlore Degenerate from TMI, they even brought it back for 2008-2009 tour, but then it got dropped again. Shame.
Was looking through setlists and noticed they had A Bolt of Blazing Gold, UnDo Control and To a Bitter Halt in Europe in 2013. Fun times.

 

[mindd]

False Reflection has been stuck in my head all morning. Such a nice mellow song. Co-written by Sundin, by the way.

The song 'False Reflection' is a song that Niklas wrote because he's constantly writing. He's usually, 'Yeah, I have all this material. If you want to use it, you can.' We took some of the stuff that we really liked from his material and made a song from it. I didn't show it to him at first. After a few demos, we sent it to him: 'Is this what you had in mind?' He said, 'Not really, but you nailed it.' It's like one of those things where you take an idea and transform it into something else."

 

[ThePhobiac]

Only halfway through, but I am quite pleasantly surprised. There is definitely that feeling of late-career DT "safeness", but there's quite a bit of variety in the compositions that keeps everything pretty interesting. It reminds me a little bit of Atoma in that way.

What the mix lacks in harshness and energy it makes up for in balance and clarity. I think it turned out well.

 

[Xpyro125]

So it’s been stated that One of Us Is Gone is a tribute to Fredrik Johansson, who was one of the guitarists for The Gallery through Projector, and of which the title is the first line of their post declaring his passing in 2022. That’s actually really nice, I dunno.

Additionally, False Reflection used one of Sundin’s guitar compositions, which he stated that he had a bunch that the band were free to use since he does a ton of writing— That’s pretty cool too. The song didn’t turn out the way he expected at all, but it was a pleasant surprise in that regard

 

[DE4life]

Not ready to give ratings yet, but I'd tentatively slot it just below Projector and just above Moment in my overall album rankings for DT.

Damage Done
Skydancer/Of Chaos and Eternal Night
The Gallery
Fiction
Character
Atoma
The Mind's I
Projector
Endtime Signals
Moment
Haven
Construct
We Are the Void

It looks low in the list but everything from DD - Moment is minimum 7/10, so it doesn't reflect badly on the album to be in that range.

 

[ThePhobiac]

I think Wayward Eyes is the highlight for me so far. It feels like the logical conclusion of what Clearing Skies was hinting at. Stanne's vocals give the chorus a pop sensibility that I think really takes the song to a different level. Was also impressed with Shivers and Voids, Drowned Out Voices, The Last Imagination, and Our Disconnect.

 

[Xpyro125]

So it’s been stated that One of Us Is Gone is a tribute to Fredrik Johansson, who was one of the guitarists for The Gallery through Projector, and of which the title is the first line of their post declaring his passing in 2022. That’s actually really nice, I dunno.

Additionally, False Reflection used one of Sundin’s guitar compositions, which he stated that he had a bunch that the band were free to use since he does a ton of writing— That’s pretty cool too. The song didn’t turn out the way he expected at all, but it was a pleasant surprise in that regard

I forgot to mention that One of Us Is Gone features Johannes Bergion (A New Dawn, Themes and Variations) on cello plus two violinists.

Not ready to give ratings yet, but I'd tentatively slot it just below Projector and just above Moment in my overall album rankings for DT.

Damage Done
Skydancer/Of Chaos and Eternal Night
The Gallery
Fiction
Character
Atoma
The Mind's I
Projector
Endtime Signals
Moment
Haven
Construct
We Are the Void

It looks low in the list but everything from DD - Moment is minimum 7/10, so it doesn't reflect badly on the album to be in that range.

Just ranking albums I’ve listened to in full, this would be my list:

Damage Done (2002)
Fiction (2007) / Endtime Signals (2024); not sure yet but will do some relistening to determine that
Haven (2000)
Construct (2013), interchangeable with Atoma
Atoma (2016)
Skydancer (1994)
Moment (2020)
We Are the Void (2010)

I enjoyed The Gallery quite a bit, though I didn’t finish it, and it’s been a long while since I listened to it.

I’ve loved what I’ve listened to from Projector so far, it’ll likely be just above or just below Haven when I finish it.

Character’s probably gonna end up around Moment if it doesn’t get better soon, I’ve only felt probably two songs so far.

I think Wayward Eyes is the highlight for me so far. It feels like the logical conclusion of what Clearing Skies was hinting at. Stanne's vocals give the chorus a pop sensibility that I think really takes the song to a different level. Was also impressed with Shivers and Voids, Drowned Out Voices, The Last Imagination, and Our Disconnect.

Wayward Eyes has a massive Time Out of Place feel to the chorus melody, which is great to me because I fucking love that song.