Melodic Death Metal may sound like a contradiction in terms, but if you can appreciate that such a (sub)genre exists then you will enjoy the efforts of Sweden's Dark Tranquillity. Despite having recorded their debut in 1993 this is the first music I've heard by the band and it was a pleasant surprise to hear the unique stylings they bring to death metal.

The album kicks off with the thunderous drums of "The New Build" which is delivered at a cracking pace and has some neat melodic keyboard under the bridge. Next up is "Through Smudged Lenses" which combines tight riffing and various tempo changes with barked vocals and a melodic outro. Each track here shows that the band are aware of the perceived constraints of this style of music and that they are not afraid to experiment with different sounds to make the tracks more individual.

The one constant throughout the album is the vocal style of Mikael Stanne who mainly delivers his lyrics in a growling style that, whilst this is the norm for this style of music, does get a little wearing over the course of the whole cd. Aside from this the whole band display musicianship of the highest order and also show that they are not afraid to give keyboards a prominent role to give their music a different feel (especially the eastern flavoured melodies in "The Endless Feed" and the piano in "Dry Run" and "My Negation"), this experimentation is something that I applaud and deserves a wider audience so if you are only slightly interested in thrash/death metal I would recommend you check out Dark Tranquillity.

Let us know your views on 'Character'

Track List

The New Build
Through Smudged Lenses
Out Of Nothing
The Endless Feed
Lost To Apathy
Mind Matters
One Thought
Dry Run
Am I 1?
Senses Tied
My Negation

Line Up

Mikael Stanne-Vocals
Martin Henriksson-Guitars
Niklas Sundin-Guitars
Michael Niklasson-Bass
Anders Jivarp-Drums
Martin Brandstrom-Keyboards