Intricacy, musicality, craftsmanship, and nuance are words that, back in 1989, were hardly ever used to describe
death metal -- a style so extreme, so ferocious, so intent on annoying parents at any cost that it seemed destined to self-destruct. But
Dark Tranquillity and their expansive colleagues in Gothenburg, Sweden, refused to believe that
death metal could not be musical, nuanced, and melodic, and that outlook continues to define them on
Fiction. This rewarding CD was recorded in 2006 and released in 2007, the year that marked
Dark Tranquillity's 18th anniversary. Perhaps 18 years isn't all that long compared to
the Rolling Stones celebrating their 45th anniversary in 2007; nonetheless, 18 is an impressive number when one recalls all the naysayers who, in the late '80s, thought
death metal would be long gone by the 21st century. But
Dark Tranquillity not only survived -- they continued to provide highly consistent discs such as
Fiction, which, like many of their previous releases, achieves a healthy, coherent, natural-sounding balance of the melodic and the extreme. Melodic
death metal is the album's orientation, but there are other influences as well, including
black metal (lead singer
Mikael Stanne's sinister rasp vocals have a lot of
black metal appeal on
Fiction),
alternative metal, darkwave, and
goth. In fact, the darkwave-drenched
"Misery's Crown" (which finds
Stanne providing mostly clean vocals) is really more
goth metal than
death metal; it's a gem that would not be out of place on a
My Dying Bride album -- and for that matter,
the Cruexshadows would probably have an easy time covering the song if they toned down its metal aspects. Not that
Dark Tranquillity need to tone anything down;
Fiction is excellent the way it is, and it's great to see these Swedes very much on top of their game after many years in the
death metal trenches. ~ Alex Henderson
