Atoma (album)
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| Studio album by Dark Tranquility | ||||
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Publication |
4th November 2016 |
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| Label (s) | Century Media | |||
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
49 min 33 s |
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Martin Brändström |
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Studio (s) |
Rogue Music, Gothenburg |
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Atoma is the eleventh studio album by the Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquility . It was released on November 4, 2016 via Century Media .
Emergence
Originally the band wanted to start recording as early as January 2016, but the musicians felt that they had to continue working on the new songs. This process was repeated several times until the decision was made to impose a deadline on yourself . Also in January 2016, founding member Martin Henriksson left the band. The bassist had "lost interest in music" in his own words. According to singer Mikael Stanne , Henriksson's exit was a severe blow for the band as Henriksson wrote a lot of music. Stanne added that Henriksson became the band's manager after leaving.
At first, the musicians had great concerns about the new songs, as they were already working on the band's eleventh studio album and did not want to repeat themselves. According to Stanne, the new songs should "sound fresh and different". Only when the first songs were finished did this problem resolve itself. Most of the songs on Atoma were written by the drummer Anders Jivarp. Guitarist Niklas Sundin and keyboardist Martin Brändström each wrote two to three songs, according to Stanne, which differ from the songs previously published by the band. In total, the band wrote about twenty songs for the album, twelve of which were used for the album. According to Stanne, the band spent most of the year fine-tuning the twelve songs that were earmarked for the album.
The new bassist was Anders Iwers , who previously played with Tiamat , Ceremonial Oath and In Flames , among others . Iwers had previously been helping Dark Tranquility at concerts since autumn 2015 and was introduced as a permanent member of the band in early October 2016. The rhythm guitar was played by Jens Florén. The album was recorded in the Rogue Music studio in Gothenburg , which is operated by keyboardist Martin Brändström. The recordings took place in the middle of summer, which, according to Mikael Stanne, was "stressful and confused" due to the lack of windows in the studio. Mixed was Atoma by David Castillo. The album cover was created by guitarist Niklas Sundin.
publication
In addition to the regular CD version, the album was also released as a limited mediabook. This mediabook contains a bonus CD with the titles The Absolute and Time Out of Place . In addition, the album was released on LP on black vinyl. In addition, limited LP versions were released on different colored vinyl in various regions of the world. For the song The pitiless one was music video rotated such that the band for a performance at the Turock Festival in food shows. An animated music video was created for the theme song. The band shot a third music video for the song Forward Momentum near the northern Swedish city of Kiruna . It was directed by the former Sentenced drummer Vesa Ranta. On 24 March 2017, the band released a 7 "single with the titles The Absolute and Time Out of Place . Both titles were previously only available on the limited edition Mediabook. The 7" single is available in four different colors and is a total 1,000 copies limited.
background
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The idea for the album title Atoma came to the guitarist Niklas Sundin while he was talking to Mikael Stanne about the lyrics. Sundin believed that the album was at the core of what people are. In addition, both looked back on the band's history and were of the opinion that despite some line-up changes, the core of the band could still be felt.
Much of the lyrics on the album, written by singer Mikael Stanne, come from feelings of frustration and hopelessness. He often feels angry and frustrated and wishes that he could do something about the things that arouse those emotions in him. In addition to negative emotions, other topics in the texts include disappointments from certain people.
“Basically, it's about the source of human conflict. It is about the motivations of each individual. What Makes People Do Bad Things? How do you continue to live with it? "
An example of this is the song When the World Screams . In the song, Stanne asks whether humanity could have been further ahead in view of the numerous conflicts of the present, but could have developed backwards. In Faithless by Default , Stanne deals with the subject of faith and the human need for it.
“Instead of finding out how the world works, most people prefer to indulge in this little story and use it to justify everything that happens in the world. Why? Because it's a lot easier. But that doesn't make it right or true or the world a better place. "
reception
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Reviews
The German magazine Metal Hammer named Atoma "Album of the Month". Sebastian Kessler emphasized the "combination of jagged riffs and guitar harmonies, keyboard melodies, electronica and wonderfully natural-sounding drums ", which "works as well as Mikael Stanne's aggressive roar and suffering clear vocals". It is true that "you have known for years what you get from the band and yet Dark Tranquility can inspire new albums after albums". Kessler awarded six out of seven points. For Haris Durakovic from the online magazine Powermetal.de , Dark Tranquility on Atoma “goes back to the highlights of her career”. The album offers "a colorful mix of neck breakers, dreamy pieces up to goth-rock-heavy items like the title song". The band "successfully defends the throne of melodic death metal", for which Durakovic awarded nine out of ten points. Ronny Bittner from the German magazine Rock Hard praised the band for "implementing their new songwriting approach with Construct even more consistently and making the arrangements more open and tighter". However, the album “lacks the really gripping refrains for some parts”, for which it was awarded 7.5 out of ten points.
Chart placements
Atoma rose to number two on the Swedish album charts and improved the previous record set with the album Character from number three. In Germany the album reached number 23, in Switzerland number 36 and in Austria number 40. In Italy the album was number 47.
Awards
The album was nominated for the Swedish Grammis Music Award in the Hard Rock / Metal category. However, the award went to the band Ghost . The online magazine Dead Rhetoric voted Atoma the best album of 2016, while the Finnish magazine Inferno named the album the best international album of 2016.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b DARK TRANQUILITY To Release 'Atoma' Album In November. Blabbermouth.net , accessed July 17, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c DARK TRANQUILITY's MIKAEL STANNE Says Recording Of New Album 'Atoma' Was 'Stressful And Torturous'. Blabbermouth.net, accessed October 16, 2016 .
- ↑ Greg Kennelty: Anders Iwers (TIAMAT, Ex-IN FLAMES) Is DARK TRANQUILITY's New bassist. Metal Injection, accessed October 17, 2016 .
- ^ A b Mandy Malon: Six sleepless months . In: Rock Hard , November 2016, page 46.
- ↑ Katrin Riedl: Exploring the core . In: Metal Hammer , November 2016, page 24.
- ↑ Dark Tranquility in the Swedish charts. Hung Medien, accessed November 11, 2016 .
- ↑ Dark Tranquility in the German album charts. GfK Entertainment , accessed on November 11, 2016 .
- ↑ Dark Tranquility in the Swiss Charts. Hung Medien, accessed November 16, 2016 .
- ↑ Dark Tranquility in the Austrian charts. Austriancharts.at, accessed on November 16, 2016 .
- ↑ Sebastian Kessler: Dark Tranquility - Atoma. Metal Hammer. Retrieved January 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Haris Durakovic: Dark Tranquility - Atoma. Powermetal.de , accessed on October 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Ronny Bittner: Dark Tranquility - Atoma. Rock Hard, accessed October 21, 2018 .
- ↑ GHOST Wins Swedish GRAMMIS Award For 'Popestar'. Blabbermouth.net, accessed March 1, 2017 .
- ↑ 2016 Album of the Year: Dark Tranquility's Atoma. Dead Rhetoric, accessed January 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Jukka Hätinen: Inferno valitsi vuoden 2016 parhaat ulkomaiset albumit. Inferno, accessed January 12, 2017 (Finnish).