In some way it don't work band is missing some old school death metal aggressive riffs, but this keyboard softer sound, growls don't fits, to be great band Stanne must sing in clean vox

Sounds good until now.

Wow, this is beautiful! Leaps and bounds better than Construct, which I never got much into.

If I was going to make a DT top 20 song list, I would not pick a song from this album. But in general, a solid MDM record.

Definitely a return to form of sorts for these guys. Honestly their best release since Character I think.

I definitely need to get on this then it seems.

Before I mention the rest of the album, I need to say that Encircled is amazing. Maybe the best DT track since The New Build. That being said, the rest of the album is not as good as I was expecting based on the grand reviews it was receiving. At first glance, it is definitely better than Construct and We Are the Void (both of those left me with a WTF? feeling until they grew on me). It definitely has a mood to it, and I haven't listened to in the right frame of mind yet. If you are looking for Character-type energy and aggression, look only to Encircled and When the World Screams. There are other good tracks, but it slows down a bit from there. Clearing Skies is another immediate standout to me. I get a definite Haven feel from it. Sometimes these guys save songs for decades before releasing them, so this one actually could be a remnant from the Haven or Damage Done days. I enjoyed the pre-release tracks The Pitiless, Atoma, and Forward Momentum, but none of them changed my life. I did feel that they did a good job of releasing them in order of greatness. One caveat being that the beginning of Forward Momentum is almost unrecognizable to the beginning of Shadow In Our Blood.

Overall a very good release. The bad news is that DT may be slowly losing its grip on being my #1 band these days (don't ask who is taking their place- I have no idea)

Written by [user id=4365] on 06.11.2016 at 23:37

I definitely need to get on this then it seems.

Honestly not sure how you'll feel, but I've definitely enjoyed it. It may well be because my standards have lowered so much after We Are The Void and Construct, but the songwriting seems to have improved significantly. It's no Character, but its got balls and fun hooks which is all I wanted out of it haha
Edit: Also, I agree with reload3591 that Encircled is fucking great and the highlight of the album
Double edit: Also the clean vocals do get a bit annoying at times

Any gamers here? Here's Mikael Stanne's insight on one of the album's songs:

"I know for certain that the main melody of a song on Atoma very closely resembles a main theme of a very, very good video game. Which one, you may ask? Go and find out!"

Written by Alex F on 07.11.2016 at 02:26

Honestly not sure how you'll feel, but I've definitely enjoyed it. It may well be because my standards have lowered so much after We Are The Void and Construct, but the songwriting seems to have improved significantly. It's no Character, but its got balls and fun hooks which is all I wanted out of it haha
Edit: Also, I agree with reload3591 that Encircled is fucking great and the highlight of the album
Double edit: Also the clean vocals do get a bit annoying at times

I remember really liking the first single but I also questioned myself whether it was just because of previously lowered bars. Will have a look at it soon.

So far Tranquility's records has never bored me, the reason being as they're very diverse while keeping core of the sound intact. Secondly, it's one of the most experienced band of Gothenburg scene which showcase talent in multitude of ways keeping a record filled with excitement, energized and fun. This record, however, is vastly superior to what I just said. Something I strongly feel that has overthrown "Construct" and "We Are The Void"(both the records are fantastic, btw) right out of the park.

The compactness level of "Atoma" was splendid with songs filling blocks in such a superb way that the whole record seems to look very smooth. The momentum was fantastic, so as quality and production. One more thing, the drumming has improved hell a lot in this as I found quite under-performed in "We Are The Void" to be honest.

Written by Risto on 07.11.2016 at 12:13

Any gamers here? Here's Mikael Stanne's insight on one of the album's songs:

"I know for certain that the main melody of a song on Atoma very closely resembles a main theme of a very, very good video game. Which one, you may ask? Go and find out!"

Got a source for this? I don't doubt you, but we need somewhere to start/see if anyone figured it out.

Written by ScottyM on 09.11.2016 at 19:02

Got a source for this? I don't doubt you, but we need somewhere to start/see if anyone figured it out.

I translated it from this article (in Finnish), the very last paragraph.

Been playing this absolutely nonstop. My favorite melodeath release of this year by far, and my favorite Dark Tranquillity album since The Gallery. Yes, I'll go that far. I always found DT to be just a tiny bit sterile but this one felt a hell of a lot darker, more organic, and overall meatier than what I'm used to.

Hands down their best release in a long time.

Loving the title track. An improvement over the last few albums for sure. Will be spinning this for a while.

Surprisingly enjoyable and memorable (which is really a big complement when speaking of Gothenburg).

The two bonus tracks are fantastic.

Like most (DT especially) great albums/releases, it takes several spins for most of these songs to sink in and YES, this is a great one. I was expecting less considering the last two weren't as good as I wanted them to be. As long as they don't try to make pop metal I'll stay a fanboy but this really has an epic feel to it that feels like it belongs in 2005-2007.

Written by Nsane_4gone on 16.11.2016 at 13:55

Like most (DT especially) great albums/releases, it takes several spins for most of these songs to sink in and YES, this is a great one. I was expecting less considering the last two weren't as good as I wanted them to be. As long as they don't try to make pop metal I'll stay a fanboy but this really has an epic feel to it that feels like it belongs in 2005-2007.

Agree with the first sentence except that I love all their previous albums as well As I'm listening to all of their albums atm it seems that the most recent ones appeal more to me than the "good old" ones. Yet DT has never disappointed unlike IF.

Btw why is there a woman credited as backing vocals on "Forward Momentum" ? Listening to the track right now and cannot but hear one person singing, no one else :/

PS : listening to the bonus tracks now, oh and they rule so much !

Written by s_t_s on 16.11.2016 at 19:49

Btw where is there a woman credited as backing vocals on "Forward Momentum" ? Listening to the track right now and cannot but hear one person singing, no one else :/

For some reason this gal / lady is credited in the album's booklet, yet I couldn't hear her either

Written by Darkside Momo on 16.11.2016 at 20:19

Written by s_t_s on 16.11.2016 at 19:49

Btw where is there a woman credited as backing vocals on "Forward Momentum" ? Listening to the track right now and cannot but hear one person singing, no one else :/

For some reason this gal / lady is credited in the album's booklet, yet I couldn't hear her either

Not hearing it unless she's providing some death vox in there, but that's unlikely

On first listen, this hasn't grabbed me like Construct did

Hated the last albums, this was much better but still kinda not really interesting

It's pretty good actually and it gets better with every listening. I don't like the bonus tracks, though. They just don't grow on me and make the album feel too long and tiresome. Fav songs: Neutrality, Force Of Hand and Clearing Skies.

Written by Sonic MrSumo on 23.11.2016 at 07:29

On first listen, this hasn't grabbed me like Construct did

Same here, i didn't like Construct that much though. But after giving Atoma more listens i realized i was mistaken and figured out how awesome this release is!

Revisited this yesterday, have to say, Encircled must be one of the best songs they've written since Character, but I actually was kinda let down by the album. I went back to Construct afterwards and although Atoma's best songs are better than that album's, overall I maybe slightly prefer Construct. I just feel like the softer clean vocal sections feel flat on here (especially compared to the likes of Projector), and quite a sizeable amount of the rest of it just sounded like DT-by-numbers and a bit underwhelming. Still a decent album overall though

Worse than the previous. stane's growls keep on worsening..

This album is so good I was really satisfied when they played most of the songs here in my city.