Dark Tranquility continues to cultivate trademark sound on Construct

Of all the virtues possessed by melodeath bands, a long shelf life isn't often one of them. For most bands it plays out one of two ways: either they stick to their guns and become derivative, or they discard their entire core philosophy in favor of jumping on trends, often burying the ideas that led them to prominence in the first place.

Swedish Gothenburg/melodeath godfathers Dark Tranquility have flirted with both outcomes at times, but they remain among the best of the bunch due to their dedication to a shared vision, and their consistency in executing it. Their 10th full length, Construct, doesn't change the blueprint much and generally consists of slower paced to mid tempo crunchers, but the band does their damage in enough ways to keep things varied and maintain your attention. One of the key themes is an expanded emphasis on the airy, atmospheric side of their sound. "Uniformity" is laden with excellent keyboard work from Martin Brändström and benefits from Mikael Stanne's impeccable baritone vocals. It lends of sense of stoic grandeur to the track, while sounding like their take on Katatonia's patented brand of atmospheric metal.

Speaking of which, "State of Trust" is dominated by clean vocals that very much capture the vibe championed by Katatonia frontman Jonas Renske, or perhaps Steven Wilson. It certainly stands out within their recent catalog. But of course, melodic metal has always been the band's forte, and yet again they do not disappoint. "The Science of Noise" boasts a downright catchy chorus which is followed up with some great winding melodic guitar passages; if this isn't the album's best track it's certainly one of the top two or three. "Endtime Hearts," with its twinkling keyboards and driving guitar passages, is reminiscent of Children of Bodom song, while "Weight of the End" boasts some of the album's best headbanging sections.

However, those looking for something fast and visceral would be advised to look elsewhere. "Apathetic" is one of the fastest and most aggressive songs the band has penned since 2005's ultra aggressive Character. It's anchored by Anders Jivarp's pounding drums and a kickass solo, but unfortunately it's the only real screamer Construct has to offer. The only song that noticeably falls flat, curiously enough, is the opener "For Broken Words." It does feature a nice verse riff from guitarists Niklas Sundin and Martin Henriksson, but its attempts to focus on atmosphere are somewhat awkward. It features several passages consisting mostly of just the bass, drums and vocals, but it's too slow to develop, and feels entirely too tepid and unsure of itself. As for the bonus tracks, "Immemorial" serves up more catchy metal while proving the band still has some grit, while instrumental closer "Photon Dreams" feels like it should have been a little more fleshed out.

As always, the instrumentation is first rate. There's not much about any of the individual performances that really grab your attention -- rather, the focus is on demonstrating how each part of the whole works together as one cohesive unit. Stanne's vocals are full of their trademark bubbling, sneering wrath, and he has shown great improvement in his clean vocals. The lyrics, meanwhile, are typically glum and moody, delivering a darker undertone to the project as a whole.

Anyone familiar with the band's output following their 2002 album Damage Done won't find any major breakthrough or revelation here, although Construct does come at a pivotal time in the band's career. It sees them picking themselves up and re-energizing following 2010's We Are the Void, which notably lacked punch and seemed to be the first major sign of lethargy and monotony setting in.

Dark Tranquility have managed to adjust and make alterations to their sound over the years without sacrificing their credibility, and there's good reason they remain one of today's most viable and well respected metal bands. Construct excels at upholding one of the band's innermost principles of consistency along with catchy and well constructed songwriting, and can stand ably in the band's catalog alongside Damage Done, Character, and Fiction.

Score: 84/100

New Bodom LP has a message to deliver to naysayers

Over the course of the previous decade, few metal bands did a better job of capturing the attention and imagination of their fan base than Children of Bodom.

By combining elements of melodic death metal, black metal and power metal, throwing in homages to neo-classical metal, and featuring brilliant melodic guitar solos and dizzying keyboard runs, it's easy to see how the Finnish quintet were able to catapult their way to superstardom.

The first two albums were raw and jagged slabs of melo-death with an emphasis on power and speed metal.The band displayed its influences proudly by showcasing covers of Sepultura's Mass Hypnosis on their 1997 debut Something Wild and Iron Maiden's Aces High on the followup, 1999's Hatebreeder.

Bodom's third album, Follow the Reaper, propelled the band to a new level. Their sound became much tighter, cleaner, and more polished. For the first time, their aggression was tightly focused and packed into a powder keg of an album. The scythe was firmly entrenched into our public consciousness.

Hate Crew Deathroll, proved to be an even faster and more intense effort, which saw Bodom begin to pay tribute to the classic thrash metal sound. But after that, things began to change.

Their 2005 effort, Are You Dead Yet? and its followup, Blooddrunk, featured a drastic departure from its predecessors. Bodom began going for a slower, simpler approach and tinkered with everything from the tuning of the guitars to experimenting with an industrial element.

Not to mention the neoclassical elements have almost entirely been scrapped.  These changes have left many fans feeling cold. Will Relentless Reckless Forever do anything to sway them back into Bodom's pocket?

In short, probably not. The so called signature sound that defined Follow the Reaper and Hatebreeder is long gone and it's obviously not coming back. If you're hoping to hear that from this record you'll be sorely disappointed. 

One of the main consequences of opting for a more stripped down sound is that Bodom has lost much of what made it unique. The band that once wielded the scythe so menacingly now just sounds like an average heavy metal band, though not necessarily a bad one.  

Relentless Reckless Forever is still certainly heavy as hell, features great instrumentation, and prominently displays the ear splitting shriek of vocalist/lead guitarist Alexi Laiho. You can even get a clear sense of the band's melodic death metal roots from time to time.

"Not My Funeral," which easily ranks as the album's standout track, gets the album out to a rollicking start with great melodic guitar leads to be found throughout, especially in the chorus.

Bodom also manages to remind me of something that I miss hearing - metal that actually has good guitar solos. You can usually count on Liaho to lay down solos full of melody and feeling, and the "Not My Funeral" solo stands out as one of his best.

"Shovel Knockout" is a great moshing tune surely designed to crank the intensity up a notch at live shows. The instrumentation here is really stands out here, as the keyboards and guitars work together in perfect unison.

There are some riffs that remind me of Soilwork, but the best comparison I can make, oddly enough, is to "The Man with the Machine Gun" from the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack. Don't believe me? Listen to it yourself.

Other tracks of note include "Pussyfoot Miss Suicide," which contains a nice catchy chorus and a rather curious lyrical theme, which pokes fun at girls who threaten suicide but are only doing it to be melodramatic and aren't really serious.

Cause that happens all the time, right?

The title track is perhaps the hardest hitting song on the album, and another for sure highlight, while "Was It Worth It" throws in some catchy hooks. But the lyrics, which hail the party life, sound like they could have been lifted straight out of a Kesha song.

Contrary to what you might expect, the closer, "Northpole Throwdown" doesn't actually involve a fight between the elves and Santa, but it is the fastest and thrasiest track on the album. Bodom attempts their best impression at a Dyers Eve/Damage Inc. type track here.

And if you have the Japanese verison of the album, you also get to hear Bodom's exclusive cover of Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time," another satirical cover coming in the vein of "Oops I Did It Again" and "Somebody Put Something In My Drink." Although at this point it has gotten old.

Overall, this isn't Bodom's best album, but there are still some positives.  They dropped the grimy industrial sound that was so prevalent on the last two albums, which is easily one of the most welcome changes.
 
Relentless Reckless Forever isn't immune to having a few weak tracks, but as long as you're not expecting a return to the days of old there's no reason you shouldn't find something to like.

Score: 75/100