There was a time when Dark Tranquility were perhaps the cream of the crop when discussions came up regarding the whole Gothenburg melodic death metal scene. Personally, they've also been one of my favorite bands in that style for as long as I can remember, but their previous release We Wre the Void, while decent, seemed to be lacking something for many people, myself included. Not heavy enough, not extreme enough, not enough riffs, too many keyboards, perhaps too melodic...hard to put a finger on, but it just didn't work and didn't warrant many repeat listens, which is something you could never say in the past about a Dark Tranquility record. Fast forward now to 2012 and the band has released the EP Zero Distance, which is made up of 5 songs that didn't make it onto the We Are the Void album. That might not be reason to jump for joy for those that found that album lackluster, but the good news is Zero Distance actually contains a few strong tracks that are worth hearing for fans of the band. The catchy title cut is adorned in keyboards and Mikael Stanne's excellent raspy growls, and "Out of Gravity" is an even heavier piece with huge riffs and some prog-like passages, complete with another great vocal from Stanne. "Star of Nothingness" is basically a throwaway little instrumental interlude, but they bounce back with the raging melo-death cruncher "To Where Fires Cannot Feed" and the more gothic flavored "The Bow and the Arrow". The latter has some killer guitar work from Martin Henriksson & Niklas Sundin, plus some tasty keyboard layerings courtesy of Martin Brändström.
While none of these songs might be deemed future Dark Tranquility classics, there are four very good melodic death metal tracks housed in this little EP that fans of the band will certainly want to hear. Don't lose hope on the band just yet...
Track Listing
1. Zero Distance
2. Out of Gravity
3. Star of Nothingness
4. To Where Fires Cannot Feed
5. The Bow and the Arrow
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