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Rating: Discovering a new musical genre is always nice. Just listening to a single song can open up a broader horizon for you, ready to be explored. And usually, the song or album that allows you to do so stays in your heart. It was like that for me with death metal and with "Haven" by Dark Tranquillity. I had never heard anything like it, and although I now handle much heavier stuff, at first listen, the album hit me like a sledgehammer on the head. But beyond the violence, and this is what made me fall in love with the band, there was the melody, there was Stanne's singing expressing anger and, at the same time, emotion, with his nihilistic, existential lyrics.
An album that amazes with its immediacy: short, direct songs that hit you like a punch in the stomach, yet are at the same time engaging and compelling, almost forcing you to listen to the CD in one go, and then to listen to it again. And so the various "The Wonders At Your Feet," "Not Built To Last," "Feast Of Burden," "Haven," "The Same," "Ego Drama," "Rundown," flow one after another, with their moving keyboard inserts, with their explosive riffs that are always captivating and never banal. I've practically mentioned all the tracks, and I have a valid reason for doing so, because it's hard to judge one as superior to the others: they are all technically perfect, fitting one after another in a sequence that offers no respite. In reality, a separate discussion should be made for the concluding piece, excluding the bonus track, "At Loss Of Words," which I personally consider the best track on the album, because it encompasses all the individual nuances, with a musical theme that engages like few others. Looking back and after having listened to all and more from the six quiet Swedish guys, I consider "Haven" instrumentally an album of compromise between the strokes of brilliance of their early work, the violence of "The Mind's I," and the perhaps excessive experimentalism of "Projector." After "Haven," Dark Tranquillity returns to the glory of "The Gallery" with the excellent "Damage Done," and surely these last two titles are the true 5-star masterpieces of their production. But since the rating is subjective and this album is rich in meaning for me, I'm giving it a nice five in the face of the person who, after buying it just because he liked the cover, gave it to me saying that "the singer sounds like he has a rat in his throat, you decide. . ".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Wonders at Your Feet (03:01)
deeper shades of red descending
smear our names, the stains unending
turn forgiveness,
break the lens distorted
crush the infidel and turn about
famine in our hearts, bring up the silence louder
eradicate the lungs and take us higher
these are the wonders at your feet
weighed upon a wider scale
afraid to see what takes us down
sing destruction, sing of unfullfillment
search abandoned, let the blood be fevered
ridden of the self provided things get easier
ignite our minds and let's burn brighter
these are the wonders at your feet
04 Feast of Burden (03:25)
"Scars torn open
Bondaged slave
Eating my wrists"
A thrust that numbs the pain
Secondary now the instinct
Thrust beyond control
Chaotc
Are the tracks before me
Barren are the ones behind
Carried in a cage controlling
Driven
Driven on, Driven in
Headlong onto the beach
Driven on, Driven in
Taken to the extreme
Headlong onto the beach
Pumping fast the race is on
furious in striving
The Feast of burden begins
The Feast of burden begins
Driven on, Driven in
Taken to the extreme
Headlong onto the beach
Driven on, Driven in
Headlong onto the beach
"The enslaving force
Thrown ahead
Unrelenting"
Faithfully holding fast
Steaming ahead unknowing
Careless again it seems
Oblivious to the pressure
The Feast of burden begins
The Feast of burden begins
05 Haven (03:32)
Now as the lights go down
Deeper now it seems than long before
There are no noises here
Just a silence gone bad
Something I will never hide
This urging need to
Invite the darkside in...
Invite the darkside...
Invite the darkside in...
Invite the darkside...
Into my haven
If there were words for this
Would I sing or should I scream?
I'd give my blood to stay
My blood, just to stay right here
Something I can never share
This urging need to
Invite the darkside in...
Invite the darkside...
Invite the darkside in...
Invite the darkside...
Into my haven
07 Fabric (03:56)
[music: Brandstrom]
scattered throughout now
indefinite form
willed to find strangers
in the wickedest state
when it comes upon you my friend
fear not - it makes us men
hidden within ourselves now
lured into hiding out of sight
creation in purity
we don't need no host
suck it in
it waits for noone
take it down
the coming of descent
fiery changeling
reddened and frail
perspire to save it
the remnant of this game
if it launches again today
will our lives begin again
turning away from tides of lust
stronger return against all odds
suck it in
it waits for noone
take it down
the coming of descent
raised to take stand
to separate grace
shown in the wake of new light
seeing it will break
the flavour of aquired taste
another boundary yet to face
witness the revolution
the fabric of essence
come again
08 Ego Drama (04:34)
wrestled on its back
the ego showed his face
charged up, recieving
came out knowing
hopeless intrusion
where nothing can be found
strewn, the seeds were wasted
on the innocent in awe
fruitless connection
in the ripeness of his age
drawn and thrust in anger
the dagger once again will fail
it's over
if nothing comes along
it's over for you
so in denial stand where shame is not
and unto others fall
the blame, the guilt,
the others fault
come on now-
scratch and claw with all your strength
take on the wildest bull in the horde
come burn them fingers fast
and take back what they owe
return the safety where there was none...
09 Rundown (03:53)
cowardice, this chain of events
gather and plot the ensnaring of me (ensnaring)
gone now the sense of lust
is there a cost for the reckless excess?
taken in the growth and trust
retalitory strike at the weakest spot
raked away the remains of my fall
that laid scattered cross plains of regret
humble in defence of the wicked
run down, naked and blind
merciless, the onslaught of demands
get in line for the numbning
i won't make a stand
redeemer of the slavery
reconcile with the carefree and content
ensnarer, caretaker
lead not these the frail into battle again
crossing out the ramblings of others
tired of the same old refrain
knowing this will all be corrected
torn down, wasted and lost
i can't take it anymore 'cause i am rundown
can't take it anymore 'cause this is wrong
tired and rundown
spat it out
the foolish lines you fed
it holds a place in the civilized mind
forcefed, the turn of our venturesome quest
being rundown as we seek
the day this was lost
all that you see
all that'll be
rundown
10 Emptier Still (03:39)
secrets in here
claim no belonging
together again
or send me to madness
i know that i should have listened
was given a choice i turned down forever
so tell me are you lonely
emptier still
as time takes us farther
away from the goals
by which we are measured
i know that I should have stayed true
to you and to me
but time never heals
so here alone I stand
so tell me are you lonely
tell me are you mine
i see you standing there
your face against the wall
so turn right around
i who know your deepest fear
and yet you walk away
so turn right around so tell me are you lonely
tell me are you mine
don't speak for you are me
11 At Loss for Words (06:46)
[music: Jivarp, Henriksson]
waiting for the signs to bring
the first to sing
felt inbetween these fears
set to unknown tunes
so tempt these fragile fiends
a grace gone dark
you'll never know
you'll never feel
you'll never taste the depths of your defeat
break into the hearts and minds of man
never one to tell
sucking on a lie that never ends
found at loss for words
locking on to faith gone bad
sweet touch of sin
not in the sleight of hand
can facts be lost
never understate your case
deny our weight
there never is
never was
can never be
a break from binding chains
break into the hearts and minds of man
never one to tell
sucking on a lie that never ends
found at loss for words
12 Cornered (03:58)
There never was a night like this
How could there ever be
Through sweat and velvet misery
The fever race in me
Cornered in a symetrical design
Sphere-like chrome on a sea enraged...
hatred
What the mirror sees
is the clutching at straws
taking us under
The storm of the ocean
this velvety crush
Ringcorners- firm in the outrage
Synaptic patterns
Waves contort
Break into these cellular walls
Why...
Globes of disease, infest my dreams
burning the ends of my veins
Pattern and form, the squares cling fast
Dance the tide now
Could never bare another night
although I know it'll come
The freezing ends of what is me
The icy rages...
free
Cornered in a symetrical design
Sphere-like chrome on a sea enraged...
hatred
Take hold of the boundaries -
The Perimeter Sea
Burn!
Enflame the oppressors
But if four was one
in a corner alone
recovering - licking the wounds
delerium coming
the weakness kicks in
Resigning, cornered within
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