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Dark Tranquillity
Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void

01. Shadow In Our Blood
02. Dream Oblivion
03. The Fatalist
04. In My Absence
05. The Grandest Accusation
06. At The Point Of Ignition
07. Her Silent Language
08. Arkhangelsk
09. I Am The Void
10. Surface The Infinite
11. Iridium

The quality of Dark Tranquillity albums over the past decade have dipped steadily from the superb (2002‘s ‘Damage Done’) to the generally solid (’Character’) and the decidedly mixed (most recent effort ‘Fiction’), so it’s nice to see things take a firm turn for the better with the curiously named ‘We Are The Void’. The Gothenburg heavyweights’ ninth studio album swims into far heavier waters than its immediate predecessors, and the result is a record much more at home with the likes of ‘The Mind’s I’ and 1995’s essential, genre-defining ‘The Gallery’ than more recent melodious efforts.

There are inevitably hooks still splattered all over ‘We Are The Void’ like mould on cheese, but they are subtly interweaved with the more brutal moments on the album, such as the piano-led ‘The Fatalist’ or album highlight ‘Arkhangelsk’, which turns in such a sprawling and sumptuously doomy performance that it almost undermines the more conventional death metal stylings of the title track. It’s a joy to see Dark Tranquillity return to their roots without sounding remotely contrived, and with albums like these in tow, few could doubt that the Swedes are still dominating their peers from great heights.

Reviewed by Merlin Alderslade
‘We Are The Void’ is out now on Century Media
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