If the denial we put in our heads from the half of Fiction that was awesome was enough to retain high hopes for the new record, Dark Tranquillity has finally entered the point of redundancy and proved most of us wrong. We Are The Void, bluntly and regrettably, pretty much lacks most everything that made every single past release enjoyable, this being strong lyrics (which make a handful of appearances), atmosphere with purpose, and the uncanny ability to write basic songs that are still awesome. Haven showed the band had faults, but was excusable since they were still experimenting. Damage Done through Fiction brought them back to a familiar yet re-polished style, and, most evident on Fiction (Blind At Heart, Terminus), still presented all too similar riffing patterns and cliché mistakes for a veteran band, but once again had enough awesome material to excuse it (Inside The Particle Storm, The Mundane And The Magic). We Are The Void is just another melodic death metal record with no redemption or
character.
Usually I would say that “this just isn’t something I enjoy”, but honestly this is just purely poor. It pains me to say this, considering I adore most everything else they’ve done, but after multiple listens of trying to find something worth hearing, all I find is the same thing I heard the past 3 records. One may throw on the opening track and confront this point due to the Eastern influence, but after Dream Oblivion, The Fatalist, In My Absence, and so on, it’s almost indisputable that the songs are mechanical, and don’t convey the impression of passionate songwriting. The keyboards rarely have their own identity as a separate instrument since most of the time they play something similar to the guitar line, which is something too many bands do today, especially in doom and black metal. Keyboards can be done well, the idea is not
fiction, but it's as if they lost their
sense of purpose on this. Also, the intro to Surface The Infinite sounding identical to Machine Head by Bush is
damage done by itself; maybe it’s time for Niklas to step up to the writing table for the next record to produce something off the wall, but what will help the band as a whole is to do what they’ve done in the past and explore new ways of composition. It's as if their songwriting has been afflicted with a
terminal spirit disease This is only the first time Dark Tranquillity made a full-on misstep, so it wouldn’t be fair to write them off. They will, however, need a new
route to remain relevant today.
To continue elaborating on this would lead the review to redundancy, so the positives would have to include Arkhangelsk, which is actually pretty awesome compared to the songs that precede it, as well as the closer, Iridium. Arkhangelsk has this really dark atmosphere and deters from the standard song format, making it a very refreshing track, and Iridium has this great metallic tone that doesn’t really resemble anything else they’ve done before, which is obviously noteworthy on this record, but even so gets a little old after the first half of the track.
At the end of the day, Dark Tranquillity will just have to be one of the less spectacular parts of their 9 album
gallery.Contentment with a sound is the
root of all evil, and the band are going to start
burning bridges if they keep it up. They’ve been around for over 20 years though, so they’re entitled to make a mistake, and if they’re legitimately pleased with this release, then kudos, but hopefully they regain inspiration to write a different record next time…or they might be nearing
a closer end.
