Dark Tranquillity
Construct

”Construct” brings back memories of the late ’90s/early ’00s and is a great mixture of albums such like ‘‘Projector” and ‘‘Haven” in terms of compositions and atmosphere and the trio of ”Damage Done”, ”Character” and ”Fiction” in terms of sound. Some things of course remain as we left them, such as the incredible width of Mikael Stanne‘s voice. Add the marvellous lyrics he wrote once more and the great performance of all members and you get the feeling that this is a DT album which will remain in history as one of their most special sounding ones.

”For Broken Words” opens the album in a very progressive way, showing the fresh air blowing inside the band. Followed by ”The Science Of Noise” with the great guitars and the more up-tempo approach, the first impression of the album becomes a very strong one, especially if you add the first video ”Uniformity”, a haunting track which is also the longest of the album. Witness Stanne’s vocal changes from harsh to mellow and from emotional to furious and you’ll understand why the band is fortunate to have such a vocalist who always happens to be in great shape.

The next tracks that follow keep the album in a steady level and differ from melodic to raging, fast to slow, dark to more positive sounding and in general you’ll listen to all possible forms of Dark Tranquillity you’ve known in the past, but with a certain look into the future. There are no outbursts like ”The Gallery” or ”The Mind’s I’‘ era as many people would love to listen to, but the album flows quickly and pleasantly. Maybe its smaller duration compared to recent releases of the band helps a lot, as they wrote somehow shorter tracks this time, but quite flexible also.

Fans will love the duo of ”The Silence Inbetween” and ”Apathetic” which are a little faster, or tracks such as ”What Only You Know” and ”Endtime Hearts” which show that the band is in great mood and momentum. ”None Becoming” closes the album in a melancholic way but you get the feeling that the future is bright for them. I don’t know how the years passed by so quickly since I was fourteen and the band members around twenty four, but now that I’m thirty two and the band members almost forty, I realize that some things never change (except the rasta hair of Martin Henriksson who gave their place to a shaved head), simply some grow and others mature as a great sir once said…