Dark Tranquility :: From Left to Right
Martin Brandstrom - Keyboards
Martin Henriksson - Guitars
Niklas Sundin - Guitars
Mikael Stanne - Vocals
Michael Nicklasson - Ex-Bassist
Anders Jivarp - Drums

As one of the first and longest standing bands from the Gothenburg scene in Sweden, Dark Tranquillity has maintained a degree of musical integrity few bands can claim. Formed back in 1989, the band has had a solid core of musicians who have all grown and evolved with one another (Mikael Stanne, Anders Jivarp, Niklas Sundin & Martin Henriksson). The progression each album showcases is evidence of this. Their first release in 1993, “Skydancer”, is still regarded as one of the most original debut records in recent memory. The album featured ex-front man Anders Friden (now of In Flames) and had a good mix of clean vocals and female vocals. Their breakthrough came with their second release in 1995: “The Gallery”. This is still looked upon as a melodic death metal classic and is one of the pioneer albums of the genre.

1999 brought a small lineup change and the experimental album “Projector”. This record brought back the use of clean vocals as well as female vocals. The band was awarded Swedish Grammy nomination for this effort. Two releases and 3 years later came along their fan favorite and landmark album “Damage Done”. This album set the tone of the band and is credited as being their best effort by many fans alike.

Since 2002’s release, Dark Tranquillity have released two more albums. While in a similar vein as Damage Done, both “Character” and “Fiction” are as creative and thought-provoking as any of their previous albums. Dark Tranquillity has proven to be one of the few bands who posess the ability to maintain a solid focus and yet still put out creative, jaw-dropping music, head-banging music.

In 2008 Dark Tranquillity recorded a live performance in Milan, Italy. The spectacle consisted of songs spanning their entire career and even a guest female vocalist for two of the songs. Now with new bass player Daniel Antonsson (formerly of Soilwork and currently still a member of Dimension Zero), a dvd release and album number nine on the way, 2009 should prove to be one of the band’s most exciting years to date.

Dark Tranquility feature courtesy of Auditory Onslaught host Braden Adams. Listen live every Wednesday 3-5PM at civl.ca.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Central Blog News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.