Tonight I’ve decided to post the first of a few different rants from my friend, Brian. We often discuss music and sports via e-mail, along with the usual conversations about Life, The Universe, and Everything.
Before we get to the review, here’s some background. Dark Tranquillity is a melodic death metal band hailing from the death metal capital of the world, Gothenburg, Sweden. Soon they are releasing their 8th studio album, Fiction, and like many other albums, it has leaked onto the net.
And now, for Brian’s take on this album:
I’ve tried hard to like it, but it’s the same exact thing as their last 3 cds. I’ve listened to it 3 times in the past week, and nobody home. I’m just not getting it. This band couldn’t write a hook if their lives depended on it. They are the masters of forgettable songs, I can listen to these songs 50 times in a row and not remember anything about them.
They just play it way too safe for me. They really need to mix it up and try and expand on their sound. They are the opposite of a sell out thats for certain. You know exactly what you are going to get with a Dark Tranqullity record. I feel exhausted after listening to them, 60+ minutes of music that I have tried my best to ‘get’ but I just don’t. Maybe Im getting old, but there has to be some hook to a song. Something has to make me want to come back.
For some reason, I really want to like that band. I keep buying their cds, I keep hoping their songs will click, but they just never do. At some point, I have to accept the fact that they are a boring heavy metal band. Nice guys, true to their art, hard working,etc, but at the end of the day, boring. Too much work for me. I shouldn’t have to work to like something when there is music like Blackfield II out that knocks you on your ass from the very first note.
The Gallery, The Minds I, Projector, they all had hooks, all of sudden they released Haven and it was all over, since that cd, every song has sounded exactly the same.
And there you have it. Thanks Brian!
By ThrashBeast April 4, 2007 - 8:49 am
The fact that you dug Blackfield II and not any modern DT album made me think you are a lazy listener (I know Blackfield II ccould be grasped at the very first listen, but there are tons of excellent melodies in recent DT albums).
Try The New Build, Lost to Apathy, Final Resistance, Focus Shift… all are catchy-as-hell.
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