Dark Tranquillity

Dark Tranquillity
Dark Tranquillity playing live at Pearl 2011
Background information
Origin	Billdal, Sweden
Genres	Melodic death metal
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Century Media, Osmose, Spinefarm
Associated acts	In Flames, HammerFall, All Ends, Soilwork, Dimension Zero, Theatre of Tragedy, Solution .45, Lucyfire
Website	www.darktranquillity.com
Members
Mikael Stanne Niklas Sundin Martin Henriksson Anders Jivarp Martin Brändström Daniel Antonsson
Past members
Anders Fridén Fredrik Johansson Mikael Niklasson

Dark Tranquillity is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg. They are one of the longest-standing bands from the original Gothenburg metal scene, and are one of the most integral pioneers of the melodic death metal genre of music.

Background

Skydancer (1989–1993)

Dark Tranquillity was formed in 1989 by vocalist and guitarist Mikael Stanne and guitarist Niklas Sundin, who looked at their influences and then decided to form their own band under the name Septic Broiler. Not long after, three additional members, Anders Fridén, Anders Jivarp and Martin Henriksson, joined the line-up.

In 1990, the band recorded a demo cassette tape entitled Enfeebled Earth before they would change their name to Dark Tranquillity and change their musical style. It was followed by multiple demos, and in 1993, Skydancer was released. Soon after, Fridén, Dark Tranquillity's main vocalist at the time, left the band and later joined In Flames. Stanne then became the lead vocalist, and Fredrik Johansson was recruited to take over rhythm guitar duties.

The Gallery, The Mind's I and Projector (1993–1999)

In 1995, the second full length album The Gallery was released, often referred to as the masterpiece of the era. The release saw a change in the band's style, but kept the characteristics essential in the band's melodic death metal sound, such as growled vocals, abstract riffing, acoustic passages, and a female guest vocalist.

The third album, The Mind's I, was released in 1997.

Projector was released in late 1998. It was the fourth album from the band, and was later nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award. The album saw a major change in songwriting: while retaining growled vocals and their signature death metal sound, pianos, baritone soft vocals, and verse-chorus fashion song structures were now integral parts of Dark Tranquillity's sound, reflecting the band's goal to strive for different musical expressions.

After the recording of Projector, Johansson was asked to leave as he started to lack devotion to the band, stemming from being a parent and keeping a day job.

Haven (2000-2001)

A year later saw the release of Haven, which introduced the addition of electric keyboard sounds, but also saw the abandonment of the newly adopted clean vocals in favor of an overall heavier sound. By this time, Martin Brändström had joined for keyboard duties, and Michael Nicklasson had replaced Henriksson on bass, with Henriksson becoming the band's second guitarist.

During their 2001 tour the band hired Robin Engström to play live because Jivarp became a father.

Damage Done and Character (2002–2006)

Dark Tranquillity released Damage Done in 2002, and was intended to be a step in a much heavier direction, adding thicker guitar distortion, deep atmospheric keyboards, and abandoning soft vocals altogether. They released the music video for the single "Monochromatic Stains", followed by their release of Live Damage, their first live DVD.

Character was the seventh release from Dark Tranquillity, released in 2005, and was held in much critical praise. It featured the third music video released by Dark Tranquillity, with the successful single "Lost to Apathy".

Fiction and We Are the Void (2007 onward)

In 2007, Fiction was released, which in turn, saw a return of Stanne's clean vocals, and the first female guest vocalist since Projector. The album also saw writing style that combined the stylings of Projector and Haven, with the more aggressive traits of Character and Damage Done. At this time, Dark Tranquillity toured with The Haunted, Into Eternity, and Scar Symmetry for the North America Metal for the Masses Tour. They returned to the U.S. during Spring 2008 with Arch Enemy. They also toured the UK in early 2008 along with Omnium Gatherum. On October 26, 2009 they released a DVD titled Where Death Is Most Alive. On October 30, 2009 at the release party of the DVD 333 copies were given away for free of the rare live album The Dying Fragments. On the band's official website they announced that bass guitarist Niklasson left the band in August 2008 due to personal reasons with no hard feelings between him and the band. On September 19, 2008, the band found a new bassist in Dimension Zero guitarist Daniel Antonsson, who also was a guitarist for Soilwork. May 25, 2009, saw reissues of Projector, Haven, and Damage Done.

In October 2009, Dark Tranquillity finished work on their ninth studio album, We Are the Void, which was released on March 1, 2010, in Europe, and March 2, 2010, in the USA. On December 21, 2009, Dark Tranquillity released the song "Dream Oblivion"^{[citation needed]} and on January 14, 2010, they released the song "At the Point of Ignition"^{[citation needed]} from We Are the Void exclusively on their MySpace page. They were also the opening act for a US winter tour that was headlined by Killswitch Engage along with The Devil Wears Prada. In February 2011, they performed for the first time at a cultural fest of BITS campus in Hyderabad, India. This was their first performance in India.

Dark Tranquillity announced a headline tour in summer 2010 with Threat Signal, Mutiny Within and The Absence.

Members

Throughout their 20 years active Dark Tranquillity have had only three line-up changes, and four of the original members are still in the band today: vocalist Mikael Stanne, guitarist Niklas Sundin, guitarist-bassist Martin Henriksson, and drummer Anders Jivarp.

Dark Tranquillity's line-ups

Original (1989–1992)	Anders Fridén – vocals Niklas Sundin – guitar Mikael Stanne – guitar Martin Henriksson – bass Anders Jivarp – drums
(1992–1993)	Anders Fridén – vocals Niklas Sundin – guitar Mikael Stanne – guitar Fredrik Johansson – guitar Martin Henriksson – bass Anders Jivarp – drums
(1994–1998)	Mikael Stanne – vocals Niklas Sundin – guitar Fredrik Johansson – guitar Martin Henriksson – bass Anders Jivarp – drums
(1998–1999)	Mikael Stanne – vocals Niklas Sundin – guitar Fredrik Johansson – guitar Martin Henriksson – bass Anders Jivarp – drums Martin Brändström – keyboards
(1999–2008)	Mikael Stanne – vocals Niklas Sundin – guitar Martin Henriksson – guitar Mikael Niklasson – bass Anders Jivarp – drums Martin Brändström – keyboards
Current (2008–present)	Mikael Stanne – vocals Niklas Sundin – guitar Martin Henriksson – guitar Daniel Antonsson – bass Anders Jivarp – drums Martin Brändström – keyboards

Current members

Name	Instrument	Membership	Additional information
Mikael Stanne	vocals	since 1989	Main writer of lyrics. Also played guitar 1989–1994.
Martin Henriksson	guitar	since 1989	Main songwriter. Originally played bass guitar until 1999.
Niklas Sundin	guitar	since 1989	Graphic designer for many other bands as well as DT. Also plays guitar in Laethora.
Daniel Antonsson	bass	since 2008	Ex-Soilwork & Dimension Zero guitarist.
Anders Jivarp	drums	since 1989
Martin Brändström	electronics, keys	since 1998

Former members

Name	Instrument	Membership	Reason for departure and current project(s)
Anders Fridén	Lead vocals	1989–1993	Now lead vocalist for In Flames
Fredrik Johansson	Guitar	1992–1999	Asked to leave due to lack of devotion to the band.
Mikael Niklasson	Bass guitar	1999−2008	Quit due to personal reasons, with no hard feelings between him and the band

Session members

• Robin Engström – drums (tour 2001)

Discography

Main article: Dark Tranquillity discography

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)

External links

• Official website