Dark Tranquillity

Before becoming the spearhead of Swedish melodic death metal, Dark Tranquillity was born in Gothenburg in 1989 under the name Septic Broiler, in a thrash metal genre. That same year, the band recorded its first demo under its new identity, Enfleebed Earth, but it wasn't until 1993 that the Skydancer album was released. Singer Anders Fridén chose this moment to leave the band in favor of rivals In Flames, while Mikael Stanne, in an astonishing swap, went the other way. With rhythm guitarist Fredrik Johansson on board to support Niklas Sundin, Dark Tranquillity recorded their next albums, The Gallery (1995) and The Mind's I (1997), before further changes of musicians. Johansson's departure led bassist Martin Henriksson to take up the vacant guitarist's post, to facilitate the arrival of Michael Niklasson in his role, with the employment of a new keyboardist named Martin Brandström. Under these auspices, Dark Tranquillity put together their fourth album, Projector (1999), nominated for a Grammy Award. The band's line-up and musical style remained unchanged on subsequent recordings Haven (2000), Damage Done (2002) and Character (2005), on the Century Media label. In 2007, the band, who had placed their trust in renowned producer Fredrik Nordström, chose Tue Madsen to wrap the sound of Fiction, their last album with Michael Niklasson, replaced by Daniel Antonsson (ex-Soilwork). After a first North American tour, Dark Tranquillity set to work on the collection We Are the Void (2010), followed by festival appearances and a tenth album, Construct (2013), ranked in the Billboard 200 and the subject of a world tour. Henriksson's departure prior to the album Atoma (2016), and those of Antonsson and Sundin afterwards, lead the band to an extended break until the release of Moment (2020). Further changes come with the departure of drummer Anders Jivarp, bassist Anders Iwers and guitarist Christopher Amott, replaced respectively by Joakim Standberg-Nilsson, Christian Jansson and Johan Reinholdz on the album Endtime Signals (2024).