Origin : Sweden
Genre : Melodic Death Metal
Release : 2010
Album downloads only available to members
Album Info / Review
**Dark Tranquillity – *We Are The Void* (2019)**
From the moment the opening snare erupts on “Revolutionary Age,” the album feels like a return to the band’s mid‑century roots, yet it keeps a distinctly modern sheen that’s unmistakably 2019. The mix is tight and spacious; the dual guitars carve out layers that feel both aggressive and melodic, a signature for Dark Tranquillity that never seems to go stale. The underlying piano and synth drones linger in the background, creating that cavernous “void” feel that underpins the entire record.
**Sound**
The sonic palette lands exactly where melodic death metal should land: an undercurrent of raw blast‑drumming threaded with slick, harmonized guitar leads. The album’s production quality is music‑industry polished—crisp, clear, and polished without sounding over‑stretched. One can hear the subtle hints of a string–section‑styled arrangement in tracks like “No Sunrise.” Vocals fluctuate between growls and clean passages, with the same melodic precision that defined their older work, augmented by clean choral refrains that tether the heaviness to a more cinematic gospel‑scar flow.
**Atmosphere**
We Are The Void feels like a sonic hospital that’s physically brutal but keeps an almost clinical, quiet‑in‑the‑dark–tone. The title track’s eerie, ambience‑heavy intro introduces a sense that they’re scanning through an empty cosmos, building a narrative that starts with a voice over the desert wind before unleashing a full band assault. The spacing between the tracks never feels haphazard; it’s been curated to lead the listener from one emotional plane to the other – from throat‑burning riffs to serene atmosphere. Lyrically, the band speaks about apathy, desensitization and the emptiness that the modern world is awestruck with. Bands fail to answer these topics, but Dark Tranquillity is a psychedelic lab of intangible metaphysics.
**Riffs**
The riffs are both intricate and kaleidoscopic. You get that doubled, palm‑muted intro, that pressable synth swirl, and you hear the ghost of a roaring lock on the bass for every glitch. Melodic passages like the one from “Pathomorphosis” are constructed around a minor scale that allows head‑banging but is still unmistakably beautiful. There’s a mastery at timing that loops around a 6/8 grading, giving the album an unrelenting rhythmic heat that’s both intense and mobile.
**Production**
One of the album’s biggest wins is the clarity of the production. The recording is balanced; nothing is over‑loud, so it’s manageable to riff pushing is visible. The mix leaves some space for the synth drones and electronics that punctuate the mountainous riff structures. Jeremy “Jacy” Lovett on drums seemed detached from the melody, but the pacing of each track is always anchored. The guitars are a tactile way of broadcasting from the mid‑field throughout the entire band. Sarah’s voice remains melodic, supported by a reconstructive backing track that keeps the sound from solving itself into a dissonant nightmare.
**Overall Impression**
The gist? A well‑constructed, pretty, and contradictory album, where each hook is polished enough to make the listener freeze for even a fractional second of description. Dark Tranquillity remains a pillar of the Swedish melodic death metal. The album is a portal to their past mastery and creative aptitudes, while it evinces that their archive is still capable of giving us fresh, meaningful elements for the 2020s. It’s a total package, and if you haven’t yet, it should definitely play on your playlist.
