20 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2016
4. Dark Tranquillity - Atoma
As great as Allegaeon's output in 2016 has been, they are unfortunately out-done by the melo-death veterans that are Dark Tranquillity.
The Gallery, the second album by this Swedish juggernaut from 1995, helped to lay out the blueprints for melodic death metal over 20 years ago. And now, two decades down the line on 11th record Atoma, Mikael Stanne et al are continuing to toy with their creation, expanding what their sub-genre can achieve and sound like.
While it may not be as delicately crafted as Allegaeon's Proponent... album, Atoma is easily more emotionally diverse, balancing hard-and-heavy thrashers like opener "Encircled" with the clean and sombre "Forward Momentum" and "Atoma".
While modern bands like Allegaeon, DevilDriver and Carcass make melodic death metal destructive and harsh, Dark Tranquillity somehow excel in making the heavy style sound beautiful, deep and artistic, which is an amazing achievement considering how naturally abrasive heavy music can be.