Fiction

Fiction is an album on which DARK TRANQUILLITY layered urgent riffs, electronic texture and Mikael Stanne’s emotional voice, weaving varied expression into its established aggression. The sound is cold and composed, yet a strong sorrow and restlessness run within it, and passages with clean vocals and female singing also appear. With electronic texture and layered synth, the sound spreads more three-dimensionally and colorfully than ever. Keeping the sharpness of the previous album, it gains a more undulating sense of drama. Songs such as “Nothing To No One,” “The Lesser Faith,” “Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)” and “Focus Shift” balance drive and melody at high density, while “The Mundane and the Magic” spreads a quiet lyricism memorably. On “Blind At Heart,” “Inside The Particle Storm,” “Empty Me” and “Misery's Crown” too, aggressive and lyrical parts intersect tightly. From ferocity to quiet breathing room, the album carefully travels back and forth between tension and lyricism. Honing the band’s aesthetics further while greatly widening its expressive range, it is an excellent record that vividly shows the fullness of mid-period DARK TRANQUILLITY.