The seventh son of the pioneering Gothenburg metallers arrived some weeks ago. My initial impressions were something like "another good DT album, but still the same old DT". Like, one thumb up. Okay, I've always picked up a new DT album when it has hit the shelves, and never was I really disappointed. But I seriously gotta stop believing, that a new album will dethrone the band's decade-old classic 'The Gallery' (1995).

Okay, I cleansed myself of the huge expectations and started to listen to the album instead. DT sound vigorous and angrier than for some platters, at least since 'The Mind's I' (1997). 'Character' has a live vibe. It's in-yer-face affair and that fills some of the gaps created by at times lacklustre songwriting, clearly heard on 'One Thought' (okay, its solo part rules!) and 'Senses Tied' which aren't able to surprise even a single bit. I see "Gothenburg metal" as an alloy of thrash and death metal fundamentally, then stacked with loads of melody, so that it mutates into something different again. The present trend pop does not, luckily, raise its ugly head here. On 'Character', the band have revisited their own history from 1995 to 2002, which of course is a big source. There is not every trick utilized here, e.g. the clean vocals are missing again. The guitar work includes 'The Gallery' style stuff, which I absolutely want to hear more, but also some straight "rock" stuff. The band hit their fastest here, I believe, but fluently changing the pace throughout the album. 'Character' has two sides on it: It can be viciously angry, but also enchantingly inviting, so it is very well balanced indeed. The album's benign characteristic is its way to open up quite slowly, thanks to its quite curvy song material.

One can expect a lot of riffs and fantastic memorable leads. At times the guitars are surprisingly ripping. The drumming is pounding and full of nice tricks. Synths aren't as sweet any more, which is a good thing in my ears. Now there's more electro stuff, but also good old piano and such. The synths have slightly smaller part on 'Character' when compared to a few older albums, but it's more planned. Generally, it can be heard, that the band had joy recording the album. The Fredrik Nordström production is, above all, organic. Human touch is left intact, even though the sound is clean. Good balancing between instruments is the icing over it. Vocals are more or less brutal dry throat abuse, definitely individual. Plus for the comprehensible pronunciation despite the inhuman vocal style. The lyrics are usually very personal and I'm not one to comment them, except to say that they are well written.

Something about the packaging and extras, then. The digipak looks fantastic with its chaotic, futuristic art and embossed cardboard. Booklet's cover art soothes my eyes, thanks to its dystopia theme. The booklet's other art is surprisingly good as it's done with a computer. Someone can still conjure up some fine computer art, thankfully. The digipak version's extras includes multimedia videos. 'Lost to Apathy' video clip is usual stuff, showing the band playing the song, but there's nice stuff towards the end which I don't want to reveal. Four live pieces have bad picture quality, thanks to the compression (face features can't be discerned). The sound's okay.

'Damage Done' (2002) showed that there was still life in the band. During the recording of 'Character', Dark Tranquillity had some extra energy, which is finely utilized, except making the album a tad too long. 'Character' is modern and therefore it lacks the mysteriousness of 'The Gallery'. However, if the band have meant something good to you in the past, why not try 'Character'?

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/05/2005 10:19