We Are the Void

We Are the Void is an album on which DARK TRANQUILLITY layered cool-toned guitar melody, precise rhythm and raw vocals to paint a sunken beauty and loneliness. The atmosphere of keyboards drifts constantly within the heavy drive, and a quiet tension and afterglow remain in the songs. The balance between atmospheric elements and linear aggression is skillfully struck, giving a depth in which new details surface with each listen. Building on the aggression honed up to the previous album, it steps into a more introspective, shadow-rich expression. On “Shadow In Our Blood,” “The Fatalist,” “In My Absence” and “Iridium,” racing riffs and melodic guitars cross within a cold space, while “Her Silent Language” and “Arkhangelsk” bring a darkly sinking lyricism to the fore. On “Dream Oblivion,” “The Grandest Accusation,” “At the Point of Ignition” and “Surface the Infinite” too, cold melody and precise rhythm keep the tension alive. It is the kind of record to savor slowly for the shadow behind the speed and the breathing room the melody creates — run through by a cold aesthetic, a full work of mature-period DARK TRANQUILLITY.