“We thought ‘the Gothenburg sound’ was an insult. Everything we set out to do was new and original.” We asked Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne to name the greatest Gothenburg metal album. This is what he said.

Every fan worth their salt is familiar with ‘the Gothenburg sound’. During the mid-’90s, this movement – spearheaded by , and Dark Tranquillity – changed the face of sonic extremity. Though they were vastly different in style and ethic, these bands consolidated what ‘melodic death metal’ meant, introducing razor-sharp guitar leads and flamboyant choruses to one of music’s gnarliest genres.

30 years after its peak, the Gothenburg sound is still venerated. Its biggest albums are still regularly spun and its influence is heard in stars from to The Black Dahlia Murder. So, when was recently granted an interview with Dark Tranquillity and ex-In Flames frontman , we thought it would be interesting to have him name the best album to come from ’90s Gothenburg.

Rather than offering a straight-ahead answer, Mikael proceeded to challenge the very nature of ‘the Gothenburg sound’ as a movement, saying its biggest bands all set out to sound distinct. “When people started calling it ‘the Gothenburg sound’, I noticed it on tour in 1995,” he remembers. “All of a sudden I see a flyer in the venue that says, ‘True, Gothenburg-style metal.

’ I had no idea what was going on!” The vocalist continues: “At the time, there was [by Dark Tranquillity], by At The Gates and by In Flames. They came out in the same year and were recorded in the same studio. But, at the time, I thought it was an insult.

Everything that we set out to do was to be original and new and i.