Construct

Dark Tranquility. Construct. I had multiple coronaries listening to this album. It's everything and more that you could expect from the Gothenburg metallers. Masters of the Gothenburg melodeath metal sound, Dark Tranquility from Gothenburg, Sweden, released their tenth studio album, 'Construct', via Century Media on the 27th of May. 'Construct' brings out the more dramatic side of the band on a uch larger scale than is normal of Dark Tranquility, a welcome change from their usual riffy, thrashy, aggressiveness. 

Stanne and Co. have always been considered as one of the pioneers of the melodeath scene, specifically, Gothenburg, and they certainly stand out! I've been waiting for this album with much anticipation and it beat my expectations to a large extent. Before the release, the band did say that this album was more experimental, and indeed, you may not instantaneously identify that it is DT given the fact that there is a less aggressive element, not as fast paced as is the signature of the Swedes, and 'melodic' is the key factor throughout this album, which, in my opinion, is a nice change when listening to this band. Every song sort of sinks into you, and doesn't just melt your face off and blow past your head. That said, there is a lot more emotion that is emanating in 'Construct' and I absolutely love it! But despite this, they still manage to maintain their usual sound, edgy, thrashy and just downright metal. I will say this before going into anything else, that it's all fine to compare the various albums and make a well-informed analysis, but then when doing that, you fail to appreciate what's right in front of you. Much criticism, as I've seen, has been for the more restrained and comparatively subtle approach that DT have put into their music of 'Construct'. But that's the beauty of change.

Kicking off with 'For Broken Words', this is a typical Dark Tranquility song , starting with gushy whispers, featuring the haunting keyboard tunes we all know and love and some fancy bass segments by Henriksson. This was the first song off the album that the band debuted and said that it was "one of the heaviest and most brooding tracks from 'Construct'...". A little mellow compared to what you'd expect from a DT track but this song sets of a dark and emotional mood of sorts for the rest of the album. 'The Science Of Noise', with it's fancy guitar solos is bloody powerful and one of my favourites.

"Bending to out will.
Dreaming into our form.
Shaping into our image.
The Science Of Noise.

You cannot go wrong with lyrics like that. I assure you. A proper death metal track if I've ever heard one.

Mikael Stanne's clean vocal talents are portrayed strongly in, 'Uniformity', 'What Only You Know', and 'State Of Trust' and these tracks are definitely 'Construct's strong points. The transition in 'Uniformity', with what starts out as a slow-paced beautiful symphonic piece, turns into an absolute brutalizer. 'What only you know', is another personal favourite, goosebump-inducing, groovy riffs, gothic and really catchy yet melodic. The constant switch from clean vocals to signature Stanne gruff death growls with the melodies in the background is such a treat to your aural senses. 'What Only You Know' is one of the stronger tracks, with a sudden peaceful pause, beautiful piano that persists in the middle. Stanne's vocals just linger and take you into a whole other world, far far away from reality before bringing you back down with some slamming drum beats and the heaviness of the guitars. 'The Silence In Between' is also a brilliant track starting off on a very soft, mellow note and building up gradually into again, what I'd label a typical DT song, with the strong, edgy vocals and melodic hooks, 'Apathetic' is mad, and everytime I listen to it, I get goosebumps when Stanne half whispers half growls "sometimes I feel".

'Endtime Hearts'. Mother of all DT songs. This monster of a track definitely stands out among all the others in the album, with it's typical Dark Tranquility sounds, this song is definitely my first pick, 'bouncy and direct' as the band described it, with a good, fun pace and although giving off a dark feeling, it's an absolute eargasm for new listeners and us DT fanatics.

'Weight Of The End' proves that Dark Tranquility aren't not as predictable as they're made out to be. As the song started, it ended up being something I didn't expect it to be, not some thing I can explain very well but I' sure you'll know what I mean when you listen to it. The chorus although simple, is catchy and meaningful. Two lines in particular that really got me, was, 'We must be the shield and not the sword". Simple? Definitely. But it's all the simple things in life that we take for granted and eventually end up regretting. In other words, or what I've understood from those two beautiful lines, (and with regard to the rest of the song) is that despite the sheer brutality of the outside world, the pressure and the fear that we face, we must never attack, but instead defend and protect. Bad things do happen, but handling them in the subtlest way possible is the answer to the troubles we face.

The final track on 'Construct', 'None Becoming', honestly got me in a trance and made me feel like I was the lead in a horror flick. Right from the very beginning, where the song opens with long-drawn pace, symphonic piano ( or keyboard? ), slow paced drums and a haunting melody, this track, which I found very similar to 'Iridium' off DT's 'We Are The Void', does confirm that 'Construct' has many things in similar with the former, although more atmospheric than the usual punchiness you'd hear. 'Immemorial', the bonus track is heavy but again, lacks that usual aggression. A good track nonetheless!

'Construct' is definitely, by far, one of Dark tranquility's most melodic albums and is experimental in the sense that the focus has been placed on more the 'melodic' than the 'death'. But this does give the death element even more significance. This album is certainly what you could call a continuation to the previous album, 'We Are The Void', with a very similar sound, it seems to be an extension. As mentioned, 'None Becoming' sounding akin to the track 'Iridium', and 'State Of Trust' to that of 'Her Silent Language' is proof of this extension from 'We Are The Void'. This album does come close to touching the peak of awesomeness but falls back a little as some tracks do seem like they're missing something, such as 'Apathetic'. There are points during the album where you expect to hear something else, although I'm not quite sure I can point out what that 'something' is. 'Construct' kind of floats between mellow and brutal, not actually going into the extremities of either and I guess that's what I was looking for. Something more extreme, be it a softer Dark Tranquility or just sheer brutality. Or it's probably just the obvious difference of this album from their older work. Like I said, comparing this one to the likes of 'Projector', 'Damage Done' and 'Fiction', will definitely make you feel like this isn't the best of DT's abilities. But again, in all honesty, it's easy to sit and criticize, especially change, and I love the new approach to 'Construct', it is definitely something any melodic death metal fan should listen to, without any bias, with it's beautiful melody, simple yet powerful lyrics, and the well structured transitions in pace and tempos in songs. 

I'd definitely recommend buying this album. Give it a listen, you will not be bored!=) 

8.5/10