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Dark Tranquillity > The Mind's I > Reviews
Dark Tranquillity - The Mind's I

Projecting Thoughts of Stylistic (In)Coherence - 80%

bayern, July 28th, 2021

Quite honestly, the Gothenburg melo-death craze never enchanted me inordinately. However, if I have to choose one band from it to take with me to a distant desert island, it’ll be Dark Tranquillity. And, if I have to choose just one album from their discography for the purpose, it’ll be… “The Gallery”. Yep, that one is my favourite creation from their now sizeable catalogue, but the album reviewed here resonates with me, too, only not as insistently.

Still, as a third entry into the band’s discography, this album ticks all the right boxes. The guys obviously wanted to make an impact on the scene and establish themselves as prime providers of Swedish melo-death, releasing full-lengths every two years, filling in the gaps between them with EP’s. They wanted to matter obviously. This also meant that changing the delivery on this third outing was out of the question. If you look for a premiership in a certain niche, you’ve got to stick to your chosen guns… more or less.

And the band did, producing a pretty decent albeit by no means superior sequel to the preceding magnum opus. However, although the album adheres to the Gothenburg sound canons for half the time, there’s this other half that may have unnerved the band fans back then. There were certainly quieter, more lyrical moments on “The Gallery”, but there’s this more impertinent sniff of dark gothic romanticism here which also claims the longer, more thought-out material (“Hedon”, “Insanity's Crescendo”) where turbulent fast-paced tactics simply have no room. At the time the audience may have thought that those were mere experimental flourishes, but once the next instalment “Predator” arrived two years later, they had realized that the album here was a transitional one, the bridge between the style-defining “Gallery” and the more introspective, stylistically more diverse fourth instalment.

It must have taken a couple of listens for the fanbase to get used to the symbiosis achieved here, but this is a very professionally executed one, the guys making it sound natural to hear the staple for the genre speedy bliztkriegers breezing by tranquil balladic sprawls some of which (“Insanity's Crescendo”) enchanting the listener with beautiful emotional female vocals and ethereal acoustic guitarisms. Surely the fully-formed by the time melo-death fanbase must have frowned at those moments, again they fill up half the space here, but given more time their status could easily be changed from a “dubious digressions” to “benevolent unquestionable presence” one. Besides, the exact same elements have been used for the shaping of both sides, the melodic guitars and Stanne’s growling shouty vocals don’t get lost anywhere except on the short meditative all-instrumental title-track.

As a result this effort aptly jumps over the boredom traps as the element of surprise stands till the end, but how many were those truly bewitched by it from the very first listen is debatable. On the other hand, 40-min of samey brief hyper-active numbers (think “Scythe, Rage and Roses”, “Dissolution Factor Red”, “Tidal Tantrum” from here) would have hardly made the band more respected players on the field. Ambition is ambition, and if you have the relevant tools and ideas to exhibit it, why not go for it? Just don’t get sucked inadvertently into the experimental rabbit hole (remember the techno non-sense “Archetype” from the “Enter Suicidal Angels” EP) from where even “The Gallery II” would be hard to take you out.

The third time wasn’t exactly the charm for the band, but this effort is a fairly memorable part of their career, and not only because of its transitional qualities. It shows the musicians in fine form, confident enough to both nail sheer examples of Swedish melo-death asskickery and ring the changes in a seductive dark romantic manner. And they did stay on that same approach later as both “Haven” and “Damage Done” have been shaped quite close to the model applied here, one (“Damage Done”) slightly superior, the other (“Haven”) slightly inferior. Once the divisive experimental “Projector” was crossed off the list, the band saw no reason why they shouldn’t keep to their melo-death pageants of old, and although a tangible sense of déjà-vu has started sneaking in on the last two opuses, it’s nothing too unsavoury that can't be washed away with a few spins of “The Gallery”… and the album reviewed here.

The Mind’s Forgettable I - 62%

OzzyApu, January 3rd, 2010

Between the extravagant The Gallery and Projector pushing melodic death’s boundaries, you have this unmemorable (but not unavoidable) hunk of ritual waste. Production beefed up all the instruments, Stanne honed his vocals, and the band’s tone grew even darker than before (probably the darkest it ever got). Two music videos were spawned and the band’s mother, Mrs. Century Media, pressed reissues - but who really gave two shits about this album? Twelve songs really pushed the time limit and there wasn’t a whole lot you could do with the formula to keep people in their seats before turning this off.

As I previously mentioned, Stanne really nailed his vocals down for the first time in his singing career. His growls here are wretched like a lion’s ferocious roar, and the lasting power of them reigns over the riffs and their tonality boost, as well. Between them, the album’s authority beats out everything else the band had released at the time – nothing they recorded up to this point could compete in terms of aggression and intensity, but the band did themselves in by killing off their harmonies. On previous albums you could always look forward to leads throwing you into the furnace of classical bliss, but this one shows very little of those and instead goes straight for melodic riffs and breaks instead. In some respect this works for songs individually, but as a whole it makes for an incredibly redundant and one-dimensional album with very little lasting value.

Their style here would follow them onto Projector, which further perfected their sound that continues to this very day. However, that album lacks the cryptic, hedonistic darkness that clouds over this one like Morgoth’s (Tolkien reference) fart clouds. The passages accompanying this one are beautiful in a reflective, somber way as opposed to the classical, descriptive flare that engulf The Gallery. That album doesn’t touch this one in terms of boiled anger, but then again that one doesn’t contain constant blasting and dull personality. Not even the bass, with its droopy booms and cranky grumbles, has the decency to rescue this album (save for a couple tracks).

The tempo remains mid-paced throughout, with songs like “Zodijackyl Light,” “Atom Heart 243.5,” and “Dissolution Factor Red” racing a little faster. The more enigmatic tracks like “Hedon,” “Constant,” “Still Moving Sinews,” and “Tidal Tantrum” hold the best riffs and passages that’ll tingle your spine, which was supposed to be the point of the album. The whole thing intended to be gloomy and penchant, but it only gets the second half down correctly. The gloominess comes when you find yourself sitting in an awkward position just to level out the boredom you’ll be feeling when listening to this. Drumming is fluent in consistency, never letting up one moment of lazy relapse like many death metal drummers think they can get away with. Jivarp’s kit sounds so beefy and strong that it’ll be the bane of your eardrums (in a good way).

In terms of composition, this may be Dark Tranquillity’s most progressive / experimental / intellectual release, especially considering how simplistic their music has been for the last ten years. That doesn’t make this one the best since it bores me to death, but there’s tough love to be found here that truly fits the gap between the early releases and the later ones. The foundations cemented by The Mind’s I would act as the same foundation for later albums, as the style hasn’t necessarily been altered too much (they just focused on the riffs and threw keys in). It’s a mixed bag for me, but it might be Santa’s bag or a garbage bag for you.

Dark Tranquillity has done better - 75%

The_Wanderer, February 20th, 2007

The Mind’s I” represents an unusual period for Dark Tranquillity. After the release of the masterpiece The Gallery, the band began to head away from the epic classical-influenced melodeath sound of that album towards more progressive and gothic tendencies. The Enter Suicidal Angels EP features some experimentations with electronic programming (transition from Zodijackyl Light into Razorfever) and even a straight out techno song (Archetype). A very strange release indeed, after The Gallery. The Mind’s I finds the band not taking such an extreme approach as the EP did, but it can be seen that the epic melodies are being dumbed down a bit in favor of a darker, more progressive sound. Make no mistake, this is the bridge between The Gallery and Projector.


The first track, Dreamlore Degenerate, is a short burst of aggression, with some slower parts thrown in. The subtle tempo changes in this song prepares the listener for much more extreme ones that follow. Zodijackyl Light, a track from the Enter Suicidal Angels EP, isn’t too far removed from the sound of The Gallery, but is a bit stranger and more experimental. During the chorus, there is an extra half beat every other measure, making the tempo rather strange and confusing. Near the end of the song, a typical hi-hat/snare beat is played against that riff for a very strange feel. It’s almost “math metal”. The third track, Hedon, is definitely my favorite on the album. A darkly epic masterpiece, Hedon has bizarre tempo changes coupled with multiple leads and great vocals and lyrics. Unfortunately, Dark Tranquillity doesn’t manage to make all the rest of the songs on the album as interesting. Scythe, Rage, and Roses is another short burst under three minutes, like the opener, that is a bit faster than the other songs. However, the thing about these short bursts of aggression, is they don’t feel all that heavy or powerful, and aren’t quite as effective as they could be.


Constant is a slower track with some decent leads and not many interesting tempo variations that ends up being pretty good but nothing too special. Here comes another one of those token shorter faster songs to keep you awake…Dissolution Factor Red. Starting to get a bit redundant here, unfortunately. To keep your interest, Dark Tranquillity throws in one of those classic half-acoustic songs with female guest vocals, Insanity’s Crescendo. And for a while it’s pretty, but isn’t executed nearly as well as earlier epics like …Of Melancholy Burning. In fact, 7 minutes of it is a bit much. I tend to get a bit bored after that. Still Moving Sinews is a decent song with some decent leads and such, but a bunch of decent songs put together to make a decent album doesn’t do much for me. Atom Heart 234.5 has a bit more of that fast stuff, but overall none of these tracks nearly match the power of anything on The Gallery. Tidal Tantrum…mid tempo melodic leads and switching off between clean and distorted guitar…not bad on its own but I’m really getting bored here. Tongues isn’t much different either. The closer and title track is a great track, but by the time you get to it you’re more than a bit bored. A good mix of old and new, The Mind’s Eye is acoustic with sampling and electronics in the background. Definitely a good way to bridge the gap between The Gallery and Projector.


Overall…the first few tracks are pretty damn good, but then the damn album just starts to drag. It’s not that these songs are bad, it’s just that they’re not that amazing. Pretty good for a transitional experimental album…but I’d take any other DT album except Haven over it. Skip this one unless you’re a real hardcore fan (like me).

Vastly Underrated - 87%

Dark_Mewtwo1, June 3rd, 2005

Why is this album so overlooked? I'd like to know that. I talk to many Dark Tranquillity fans and they don't mention this album that much. What is so wrong about this album? This is so vastly underrated it's not funny. It expands the formula they used on The Gallery to include more melodic parts, which is what they still use now.

The album jumps out with Dreamlore Degenerate, one of my absolute favorite DT tracks ever. It's too well made. Then, the one-two of Zodijackyl Light and Hedon hit you with some of the best DT material out there. The other standouts include the next track, Scythe Rage and Roses, as well as Insanity's Crescendo, Atom Heart, and the closer, The Mind's I. They are all very well made, each having a melody section that stands out. It's very catchy in it's own form.

Mikael Stanne's vocals are the best to me in this album. Everything is done right with his vocals. I'm not a huge fan of his clean vocals that are on Projector and Haven, so I think these vocals are perfect. The drumming is amazingly good, with Anders Jivarp also giving his best recorded performance in this album. My problem is the lack of Niklas Sundin's leads. Later material take advantage of his talents, but not this. Sad, because some of the songs could have used an embellishment. That's alright though. It's a damn good album still, and every DT fan should own it. The bonus tracks from the Suicidal Angels EP are good as well, with Archetype being my favorite, it's so quirky and fun.

Unfairly overlooked. - 80%

Nibelungvalesti, April 3rd, 2005

If Dark tranquillity have an album in their regular discography that has been overlooked, it's for sure 'The mind's I', which had to carry on the difficult task of being the heir to the 1995 classic 'The gallery' and set the ground for the groundbreaking 1998 release 'Projector'. In addition to being between such two relevant works in the career of the band, the very fact that Dark tranquillity decided to go for a much darker sound just makes this album more of a rare bug.

Make no mistake, 'The mind's I' is undoubtedly a Dark tranquillity album, sporting the same level of technical finesse of the rest of their works, both in lyrics and music, and all of it finished with an exceptional execution. 'The mind's I' is still in the pre-electronica age of the band, which means that we don't have keyboards, and instead there are acoustic guitars and female voices at some points. I particularly don't prefer one age over the other, but some may like more the old sound of the band. The general sound goes into a much darker tone than 'The gallery', leaving the almost-pseudo-jazzy guitar work of most themes that album, and going into heavily distorted guitar sound accompanied by Mikael Stanne's magnificent as ever voice. The band still preserves its melodic tendence, but it's definitely a much darker album than the previous two.

In terms of lyrics, 'The mind's I' still has lyrics written by both Sundin and Stanne, and Sundin's writing is recognizable in themes like 'Hedon' or 'Tongues', that feature his characteristical bizarre and surrealist poetry. Stanne writes more or less in that fashion too, and it's nice because his lyrics are much more complex than seen in Projector, for example. The lyrics to this album are definitely magnificent and really give it a second dimension rather than just the sound, what has always been a very good thing about Dark tranquillity's work.

'The mind's I', in its original version (not the new re-release) includes 12 tracks, all of them in the level Dark tranquillity has its fans accustomed to. The best tracks in my opinion are 'Dreamlore degenerate' (a very good opening theme), 'Hedon' (long-winded and semi-progressive theme with Sundin lyrics and a vocal contribution by Anders Fridén), 'Scythe, rage and roses' (a short and rather brutal trash/death headbanger with a drum-killer of an ending), 'Insanity's crescendo' (long and magnificent theme with lots of acoustic guitar and female vocals by Sara Svensson) and 'Tongues' (very good ending theme with some spine-tickling moments). The rest of tracks are very good by themselves, but wind up as a bit boring in the context of the whole album.

All in all, 'The mind's I' is a rather different approach on melodic death metal with some new musical features, magnificent songwriting, and the exceptional execution provided by these Swedes. It'll be an interesting album for those who want to see Dark tranquillity at full power without resorting to their last electronic headcrusher, 'Character', and it's definitely one of the albums they can exploit for concerts, since most of its songs are real headbangers. On the dark side of things, it also gets boring at times. Oh, and the prints in the booklet are almost unreadable (wonderful booklet design otherwise).