In a career spanning more than three decades, Dark Tranquillity have never released a truly duff album. They’ve split opinion a couple of times – particularly with the early stylistic shift of 1999’s – but even that has become an essential part of the band’s back catalogue. One of the originators of the that defined in the mid-90s, they’ve since embraced new textures and influences while still retaining their core identity.
maintains the musical continuity, despite more major line-up changes that leave frontman Mikael Stanne as the sole original member. Newcomers Joakim Strandberg Nilsson (drums) and Christian Jansson (bass) are fully on point, though. The fresh blood may even have invigorated the band, with a few tracks thrashing out in a way they haven’t really done since their second peak in the mid-2000s circa .
was the pre-release single that got fans salivating, but and also feature whiplash segments that you can already picture fuelling future festival pits across Europe and beyond. It isn’t all about the speed these days, however, and there are still plenty of the mid-paced and more tangential moments that have defined the band’s latter-day material. is a sombre, string-wrapped ballad dedicated to late former guitarist Fredrik Johansson.
is a bleak slab of synth-led gothic metal that’s not too far from Mikael’s side-project, Cemetery Skyline, while places driving drum fills and growled vocals against a more expansive movie score backdrop. It’s .