Endtime Signals Review

Band	Dark Tranquillity
Album	Endtime Signals
Type	Album (Studio full-length)
Released	August 16, 2024
Genres	Melodic Death Metal
Labels	Century Media Records
Length	50:25
Ranked	#5 for 2024 , #1,124 all-time

Reviewer :  prixmypouts         Rating :  100 / 100

It was immediately apparent from the first tracks released as singles for "Endtime Signals" that something both old and new co-existed in the new compositions. It started with " The Last Imagination " which reminds everything of a good piece of Dark Tranquility - aching vocals, sad melodies, a power that springs deep from some existential void. Soon, " Unforgivable ", much more aggressive and carrying memories of a particularly early period of Dark Tranquility also appeared to fill us with questions about where the new identity of the band is headed, but also to fill us with interest. Icing, or rather icing on the cake came to close the preludes " Not Nothing " to hit us directly where it hurts, reminding us what Dark Tranquility know how to do well. With my opportunity to enjoy them at Brutal Assault with the current lineup (plus Peter Lyse Karmark on lead guitar) but also the three new compositions shortly before the release of the new record, in a condition of heavy rain and immediately after the unimaginable appearance of Abbath, that cleared up a lot about how I feel about this record.

First let's say that Dark Tranquility is one of the few bands that could keep alive an overly tired audience that has already endured what I described, and they did. Then, the new pieces come together as if they came out of the same period as their material that comes from every temporal and stylistic expression of their past. But mostly, it's really the overall quality of "Endtime Signals" as a record that wins you over and keeps you coming back to this curse-ridden familiarity. A black embrace, it keeps alive the feeling that Mikael Stanne with his lyrical and interpretive skill could always make you feel hope in the gloom, but fully aware of the latter. Really, I think we praise many Scandinavian death figures over the years, but somehow we forget about Stanne. This man has not lost an iota of ability and talent in his voice over the years. It's as if as he gets older his brutal vocals get wilder and the clean ones get sweeter. It's as if the angel and the demon inside him instead of getting decay, get experience like in tabletop gaming terms. There couldn't be a more typical example of "Wayward Eyes" for this particular finding.

Guitars on the other hand, were a big gamble to fall into the hands of mainly one person. Nevertheless, samples like "Neuronal Fire", "Drowned Voices", "Enforced Perspective" and later "A Bleaker Sun", leave you with tracks that you thirst to experience live. You feel through the melodies their anger at the failure, the non-existence, this point we have reached. Other times, sadness and depression win out. After all, the whole theme of "Endtime Signals" is what hurts the most especially with the help of this destructive concept of synchronicity. It's heartbreaking to hear "One Of Us Is Gone" when Stanne mouths the words in his melodious voice:

" These are the longest hours
Not knowing what time will grant us
These are the words that compose the dark
This is now where we are
And one of us is gone "

But also from his demonic voice in "Our Disconnect", like a wish and a curse the true conclusion: " There is violence in our hearts unbroken, this is the day of our disconnect ". It is true that the record may not start with its strongest weapon, but "Shivers And Voids" is full of elements that fill you with questions about what will come next. But the album definitely closes with this, since "False Reflection" simply stabs the opposite mirror with a knife and tells you face to face that what you wanted to think doesn't exist. Seven years of bad luck all at once.

A harsh realization the above if I reflect, ironically using this verb, the "Endtime Signals" in my own life at random this time, hits the spot. The focus of Dark Tranquility's new record may be how we got here by doing what we've done in the past to ourselves by accepting all forms of pre-existing (self-)destruction, but that's not what's at stake. This last one is the struggle and the sacrifices to see in the background a brighter future. To struggle through the darkness, alone as we came to find this light. The end is good to accept because it is the only possibility that it means a new beginning. Otherwise, the ghosts of the past scratch wounds making them incurable.

"Endtime Signals" may be somewhat lacking in concert sing-along choruses, it may be the work of relatively new members, but it ultimately brings the renewal that Dark Tranquility needed, far surpassing " Moment ", putting aside " Atoma " and getting to compete with their old big releases. Definitely ready to battle our summer demons, "Endtime Signals" will deliver what Dark Tranquility is gifted to deliver to my life: that precious feeling of calm after disaster. Although this band will always remind me of a kiss that died for a wrong decision that was never discussed and a love that died before it was born, "Endtime Signals" coming just when I needed it, will remind me that the death of everyone gives space to the birth of new moments and how some bands like Dark Tranquility will have their way of being by your side exactly when you need them. This record is for you and me, but not for us.

" What stands before us are manmade monsters
Created by our own damn selves
We feign a deep understanding of something
Of something we can never be "

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