Formed: 1989
From:
Gothenburg,
Sweden
Last Known Status: Active
Dark Tranquillity Interviews and Features
Below are our features and interviews with Dark Tranquillity.
Interview
Dark Tranquillity Vocalist Discusses New Album
Death metal is almost certainly the most popular of metal's many sub-genres. What began as a heavier offshoot of thrash metal soon developed a life of its own and it was thanks largely to the now famous scenes in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg that it became more than just heaviness. In Gothenburg particularly, death metal became a more melodic, song driven artform, with brutal music suddenly becoming earworms and classic albums being released in the nineties. Though England's, Carcass deserves some credit for this too, a lot of fingers get pointed at three bands from Gothenburg: At The Gates, In Flames and of course, Dark Tranquillity.
Dark Tranquillity's story since their inception in 1989 is one of a band who always stayed true to themselves, yet evolved over time. In 1994, their sophomore album, "The Gallery" was released and became an instant classic in the field of death metal, with other albums such as "The Mind's I," "Damage Done" and "Character" also going on to receive critical acclaim. This Friday, the band are set to unleash another monstrous creation in the form of "Moment," an amazing collection of melodic death metal, encased in a beautiful album cover and with some truly fascinating themes. To find out more about "Moment," the themes within, how badly the record and band have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of new guitarists Chris Amott and Johan Reinholdz and more, I spoke with vocalist Michael Stanne. You can watch the interview in full below. More...
Feature
Roskilde Festival finalizes 2020 lineup
Although the Roskilde Festival is not a "metal festival", and is slowly moving away from being a rock festival (to more hip hop, electronica, etc.), there is always just enough to keep people like me interested. The 2020 rendition will feature bands such as Faith No More, Deftones, Amenra, High On Fire, Nyredolk, Old Man Gloom, Suicide Silence, Elder, Bersærk, Heathe, Conjurer, Svalbard, and ORM (with a new EP coming out tomorrow).
Bring along your daughter (as I did in 2018), and she can enjoy the likes of Taylor Swift, Anderson Paak, and Mura Masa. Just don't ask me to name a single song from any of those artists as I can't do it.
The stage lighting at Roskilde Festival is second to none. Unlike most metal festivals, that typically have two nearly identical stages right next to each other with similar lighting and vibe, the five main stages at Roskilde are very different, each with their own unique atmosphere.
Because it's not a metal festival, there are opportunities to get more up close and personal with bands you love since there are probably about 100,000 people at the festival who will not be going to see the band you want to see.
Full festival tickets are still available here for about US$320, or single day tickets are about US$160. The tickets usually sell out. Last year Roskilde Festival sold out in early May.
Who knows? You may get lucky in a Roskilde mosh pit. More...
Interview
Dark Tranquillity Constructs Tour After Tour
Dark Tranquillity has stayed busy since releasing "Construct" last year. Among this promotion is a tour with Darkane (support in Sweden) and Tristinia in 2013 and the heavy metal cruise, 70,000 Tons of Metal at the beginning of this year. The group is currently travelling throughout North America with Omnium Gatherum and Exmortus in support.
Although At The Gates, In Flames and Dissection appeared in North American venues before their Gothenburg brethren, DT has proved the most enduring. In addition to maintaining the same core members since the beginning, DT has (arguably) remained closer to its original sound than these titanic artists, albeit a denser, more synthetic version than heard upon onset. Goth/industrial sounds have pushed aside black and death metal tendencies. Still, the band acknowledges the worth of these early recordings, as evidenced streaming their first two recordings "Skydancer" and "Of Chaos And Eternal Night" on Bandcamp.
This topic as extensive travel plans, new tour merch, rejoicing with In Flame's alumni and the lasting effect of early recordings are addressed in the following interview with guitarist/artist/core member, Niklas Sundin. More...
Interview
Dark Tranquillity Discusses New Album "Construct"
A mainstay of the melo-death scene, Sweden's Dark Tranquillity is due to follow-up last album "We Are The Void" with new opus "Construct," which deals with themes of the constructs makind invents to justify bad behavior and bizarre beliefs.
"I wish we could be more honest with ourselves and see things more clearly and be more rational," said vocalist Mikael Stanne when I got the chance to chat him up about the impending album.
The "Construct" release is now only a month away, due out on May 27th in Europe and on May 28th in North America via Century Media Records. Mikael was eager to discuss the band's 10th studio album, explaining how this will be a different beast from previous offerings, as well as sharing some insight into the band's recent bassist split.
Check out the full interview below for a tease about upcoming North American tour dates, as well as a discussion on cruise festivals becoming more prominent in the metal scene. More...
Interview
Mikael Stanne Talks New Album "We Are The Void"
"How we do deal with the fact that we aren’t immortal and how do we justify the things that we do up until that last inevitable day?" asks Dark Tranquillity vocalist Mikael Stanne. For one of the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal sound it's taken the band a long time to finally get to the subject of man's mortality. In their ninth full-length opus "We Are The Void," the subject will be the focus of the music. "It’s something that everybody cares about and I’m being a little bit more honest about it and being more real than dealing with faith or other imaginary things." Mikael took some time out of the band's current tour with Killswitch Engage and The Devil Wears Prada to discuss the new album with me and their upcoming plans for a full headlining tour in support of the release. More...