DARK TRANQUILLITY — Character (review)

DARK TRANQUILLITY — Character album cover Album · 2005 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
Character is the 7th full-length studio album by Swedish melodeath act Dark Tranquillity. The album was released in January 2005 by Century Media Records.

The music on Character is keyboard heavy melodic death metal. Dark Tranquillity is one of the most influential bands on the melodic Swedish death metal scene and with the music on Character they prove exactly why that is. After having experimented with all sorts of styles and elements on many of the preceeding albums the band returned to a more straight forward melodic death metal style on Damage Done (2002). The band have improved and honed their craft in the years between Damage Done and Character and therefore the latter stands as an even stronger album compared to the former. The songs are all high quality compositions and several of them even features memorable hooks that will stick in your head long after the album has finished. But it´s not an album with outstanding tracks. The level of consistancy is honourable but it´s also a minor complaint as the songs sound a bit too much the same. Melodic guitars and epic keyboards, a strong but not very distinct rythm section and Mikael Stanne´s raspy death metal vocals are featured in every song on the album. It´s a bit of a shame really, as I think the album would have prospered from more variation.

The production is professional and polished. A bit too polished if you ask me, but this is a genre trademark and I´m sure the fans won´t complain.

Character is a very good album by Dark Tranquillity though and a 3.5 star rating is deserved. When I get the urge to listen to melodic Swedish death metal, this is one of the albums I put on.
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