Dark Tranquility

Dark Tranquility is one of the pioneering Melodic Death Metal bands, along with In Flames and At The Gates from Gothenburg, Swede.

Later, shortly after the release of the first album entitled Skydancer, Anders Fridén was fired from the band, possibly due to musical differences, and Mikael Stanne became vocalist, with Fredrik Johansson being recruited as rhythm guitarist, and it was with this last line-up that They released their first recognition album entitled The Gallery in 1995.

The band was founded in 1989 by Mikael Stanne (at first guitarist and later vocalist) and Niklas Sundin (guitarist); they formed the band under the name Septic Boiler with the intention of playing Thrash Metal. Later, they recruited members Anders Fridén (vocalist), Martin Henriksson (bass) and Anders Jivarp (drummer), and the first “line-up” was formed. After composing the first demo, they decided to change the band’s name to Dark Tranquility and also changed the musical style. It was from this that they became known for mixing Death Metal with guitar harmonies and distorted vocals.

From underground to recognition

Although Dark Tranquility was already a relatively well-known band in the underground at that time, it was only in 1995, when they released the highly acclaimed The Gallery, that they became known throughout Europe and became recognized as one of the creators of the musical style originating from Gothenburg, the Melodic Death Metal. In this album, the use of guitar harmonies (coming from influences from bands like Iron Maiden) combined with the evident influences of Swedish Death Metal of the time and also of Thrash Metal, with deep and torn vocals, is very evident.

In 1997, they released “The Mind’s I”; despite being different from its predecessor, it was also a quality album, which helped cement the band’s recognition in Metal. After this album, they fired Fredrik Johansson for lack of commitment to the band, Martin Henriksson left the bass to switch to guitar, and they hired Michael Nicklasson to play bass and Martin Brändström to play keyboards.

In 1999, they released the most experimental album in the band’s history, called “Projector”, with the addition of keyboards and a different approach from Mikael Stanne (although he continued to use ripped vocals, he also used clean vocals).

2000 was the year in which they returned to a heavier composition, “Haven”, with the consolidation of the keyboard in the musical structures in a deep and atmospheric form of the band and an abandonment of the clean vocals that had been frequent in Projector.

“Damage Done”, released in 2002, was the album that gave a “change” to the band’s calmer sounds, which had already been the rule since Projector and was undoubtedly the most aggressive and intense musical proposal since “The Mind’s I” and which marked a new phase in the career of this Swedish sextet.

In 2005, after the band had performed the longest series of concerts ever, they released their 7th album, even more intense than its predecessor, called “Character”, which consolidates what this band is: constant innovators of a genre in which they were of the pioneers, without ever releasing an album like it.

Two years later, in 2007, they released “Fiction”, a natural evolution. In lyrical terms, for the first time, Mikael Stanne focused more on fiction, writing about imaginary people instead of writing about himself as usual.

In September 2009, the band entered the studio to record what will be the successor to “Fiction”. The new album, titled “We Are the Void”, was released on March 1, 2010, worldwide.

Studio albums
Skydancer (1993)
The Gallery (1995)
The Mind’s I (1997)
Projector (1999)
Haven (2000)
Damage Done (2002)
Character (2005)
Fiction (2007)
We Are the Void (2010)
Construct (2013)
Atoma (2016)