Melodic death metal has grown a lot since it started out and bands like In Flames and Soilwork are getting more fans by the day, touring with bigger bands around the world. Dark Tranquillity is just like that. Although the band has been around for a long time already, I haven’t met as much people who actually know them.

But enough of that and on to their brand new album Damage Done. Dark Tranquillity combines the different styles of many “big” melodic death metal bands. For example, on this album the band clearly mixes the brutality of Arch Enemy and older In Flames material with beautiful and soothing melodies from the newer Soilwork material and even Children of Bodom.

Damage Done opens up with the track “Final Resistance”, a fast upbeat song with crunchy riffs and some incredible drumming. The album speeds up a bit after this song and holds on to a steady pace.

With the title track, Dark Tranquillity also seems to have somewhat of an influence from thrashers The Haunted, with pounding drums, tempo changes and screeching guitars that make the song a big favorite on the album.

When listening to the album, it might get a little dull after a while. This could be personal thing, but I had the feeling that some songs just sounded somewhat alike at times.

Unfortunately, I have little knowledge of this band, so I can’t really compare this album to their older albums. All I can tell you is that if you are really into melodic death metal like Soilwork, In Flames and Arch Enemy for instance, then you will be extremely pleased with this album. It’s not perfect, but a giant leap forwards for Dark Tranquillity.