The Mind's I

The Mind's I is an important early album on which DARK TRANQUILLITY combined slashing guitars, low roars and melancholy melody to further hone the style established on the previous record. Inheriting the rawness of the debut while the playing grows tighter and denser, it never brightens fully even in racing passages, always keeping a cold air and introspective weight. Amid intricately tangled song structures, the melody still draws a firm outline and never leaves the listener adrift. On “Dreamlore Degenerate,” “Zodijackyl Light,” “Hedon” and “Constant,” sharp riffs and melodic guitar work mesh tightly, with keyboards of growing presence adding cold color. On “Scythe, Rage and Roses,” “Dissolution Factor Red,” “Still Moving Sinews” and “The Mind's Eye” too, dizzyingly unfolding riffs and cold melody keep the tension unbroken. Concentrating a raw yet intellectual appeal before the later experimental expansion and more polished refinement, it is a record that strongly imprints the band’s own identity even among the Gothenburg ranks.