Dark Tranquillity’s “Character” Strong With Integrity @ 10 Years (2005-2015)

Artist: Dark Tranquillity
Title: “Character”
Label: Century Media Records
Release Date: 1/24/2005
Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Logo - Dark Tranquillity

I want to start this Music Milestone reflection by saying that 2015 is a big year for me personally because my PiercingMetal.com site will reach its tenth year online just before tax time in April and with that being the case I am paying a close level of scrutiny on many of the Metal albums that are reaching their own tenth year over these next few months. Now let’s get this underway and raise a couple of pairs of horns for the great Gothenburg Metal band Dark Tranquillity and their album “Character” which reaches its tenth year on this very day. The album was the bands seventh release and came to the fans care of Century Media Records (where they are still dishing out new and exciting material). When I first heard this I didn’t have too much of a background in this type of Metal because I was sheltering myself in the safety of bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden along with copious amounts of KISS. Fortunately getting some suggestions to focus on this kind of band and others of their type allowed for a greater personal musical growth and this is a practice I recommend to any fan that finds themselves content with three or four bands and nothing more. With “Character”, Dark Tranquillity reminded fans why they are such a legendary provider of the Gothenburg Metal sound and through it all, Mikael Stanne growls his points home. There are no clean vocals to be found on “Character” but with the intensity of the melodies behind Stanne’s rage I don’t think anyone will mind. This is as satisfying a listen at ten years that it was at one year. Before I reflect upon my favorite tunes from the album I wanted to stress how almost all of the members on this release (Stanne, Sundlin, Jivarp, Henriksson and Brandstrom) are still a part of the lineup in today’s music world with the exception of bassist Niklasson. I should also mention that when DT recently blew through town on tour only a few weeks ago there was NO bassist in the lineup and parts were done via keyboards. Perhaps they are not looking to replace him but if they are I suggest any readers with sufficient skill get their chops up and their resumes ready.

Track Listing:
1. New Build
2. Through Smudged Lenses
3. Out Of Nothing
4. Endless Feed
5. Lost To Apathy
6. Mind Matters
7. One Thought
8. Dry Run
9. Am I?
10. Senses Tied
11. My Negation

As I write this down I have to say that the tunes that still throttle my Metal senses are the same ones that did it when I first hear the album so many years ago. The first come via “Lost To Apathy” and “One Thought” and they’ve remained high in my brains database. I also found the opening track of “New Build” hitting me harder than it did back then and I guess that is a good thing and likely because I really dedicated my time to a lot more Metal of this kind once I started to dig more into artists like Dark Tranquillity. What are your favorite songs from this album and what about it sets it apart from others in your music collection. I would love to hear and have left the comments open for you to throw them our way. I’ll keep this one short and to the point and leave with thanks very much Dark Tranquillity for giving us such an exciting album that still inspires the circle pits at venues around the world. Be sure to catch Dark Tranquillity in concert if they come to your town, it’s an exhilarating experience and know that you can follow their adventures via their official website which is linked below and learn more finer details about this album via the official Wikipedia entry.

Official Website: www.DarkTranquillity.com
Official Album Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_%28album%29

There is not an expanded edition for this release yet but you can still order a copy if you need one via this handy link to Amazon.com with our recommendation.

One thought on “Dark Tranquillity’s “Character” Strong With Integrity @ 10 Years (2005-2015)”

  1. Awesome album. New Build and tied being probably my favorite tracks. I’m a, huge, fan of melodic death metal, and Dark Tranquillity are one of the best at, it. Saw them open up for Killswitch Engage some years back. They’re great live!! I got to meet the singer, he’s a real nice guy!

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