Dark Tranquillity
Atoma
(Century Media)
Sweden’s Dark Tranquillity have returned with yet another strong offering in Atoma. Though these guys have been going strong since their ’93 debut Skydancer, this eleventh album only sees them stronger than ever. They’ve only gotten better since their unexpected watershed moment in We Are The Void and both this album and Construct seem to pave over that little mishap in a fashion that almost makes me wonder if the aforementioned recording ever really existed at all. Removing it from the equation, I could say that Dark Tranquillity are one of the few bands that I feel has never really made a bad album and Atoma seems to cement that quite well. If there’s any record I could compare it to, it would be that of ‘05’s Character to which it almost feels like a sequel. Character hit very hard when it first appeared on the scene and I still remember all of the heavy promotion it was getting, especially when it’s video single (“Lost To Apathy“) appeared quite a bit on the television (back when they still played heavy metal videos on the television) and worked as my first real introduction to the band. From there, I simply went backwards.
Atoma has a very similar structure to Character, with it’s much heavier and chunkier numbers, these quickly filling with synths and Mikael Stanne’s hefty scowls. Much of the record follows this formula and although it “is” a bit formulaic, it is their formula, after all. Perhaps it is easiest to say that Atoma feels like a more beefed-up version of Character with steroid-filled song structures, occasional clean vocal moments and even some solos here and there. I like to hear the band reaching out of the box here and there, which gives fans a much more intricate side of the act and allows the chance for surprise. Sometimes the record takes us out into far realms, possibly that of space or on the surface of some small moon in which Stanne broods a little. “Atoma” and “Proof Of Life” both seem to bring in some rather brooding moments, while cuts like album opener “Encircled” and “When The World Screams” feel ferocious, even a bit evil within the nature of riffing – I can’t say that I’ve ever heard the band quite so inspired by the chill of classic death metal as I have with the opener. That’s a much different shade for this act, one that I certainly hope is not a mere fluke, even though nothing even remotely like it ever appears again on the rest of the album.
I suppose that’s where my critique comes in though, as many of the songs – even the good ones, manage to really sit on the same level as others. Though there are some more layers to these pieces, a few of the tracks can sort of bleed into each other. You might have to listen to the disc a few times before you can truly gain an understanding of it, but it should definitely appeal to Dark Tranquillity fans regardless, who may hear certain things that I did not catch and will love a whole lot more. If we look at this disc in terms of musicality, it offers a much less electronic approach and a more metallic one in which less focus is placed on clean and colder climates, with more given to that of much warmer and harsher environments. I was definitely a bigger fan of Construct, but this near return to form certainly won’t be turned away easily. The band have delivered one of their heaviest moments in ages, so if you were looking for a little more kick from these guys, now is definitely the time to check them out. If you liked the single “Forward Momentum” then you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty more tracks just like it. Every once in a while, the Swedish frost giants come down from their caverns to show everyone that melodic death metal is not dead, like has happened once again. Someone needs to make up for the joke that In Flames has become, at any rate.
Purchase Atoma here: Physical | iTunes | Amazon
