Dark Tranquillity have certainly made a name for themselves within the melodic death metal community since their formation in 1989. 26 years later, the metallers from Sweden are showing no signs of slowing down. They have just begun a winter tour of North America with counterparts Insomnium and are also in the midst of preparing for a release to follow 2013’s Construct. I caught up with Niklas, guitarist and co-founder of Dark Tranquillity, to discuss touring, influences, labels, and more.
Dark Tranquillity is known to be one of the earliest pioneers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal sound. Has this title been a lot to live up to as the years have gone on?
Not sure…There are many ways of looking at these things, but the only sustainable approach is to avoid thinking too much about other people’s expectations and instead make sure that your music reflects the intentions of the band members first and foremost. If we release an aggressive album, there will be always be a portion of the fanbase that would have preferred us to explore our more atmospheric side instead, and vice versa. The only thing that we feel pressured to live up to is our own perfectionism, and that can be hard enough! (laughs)
You have influenced a number of bands over the years. What is your opinion on the current state of the Gothenburg scene and sound in general? Where do you think it is headed?
Tricky question. It’s hard to explain this in interviews without sounding arrogant or ungrateful, but I’ll try: This whole “gothenburg sound”-tag is something that was applied to us from the outside, and even back in the mid-’90’s it felt a bit weird. My main objection was that I actually thought that bands from here were pretty different in their approach to music and lyrics and that it seemed a bit lazy of the media at the time to try to create a new sub-genre from what essentially was a bunch of friends doing their best to create original music. As time went by, this classification took on a life of its own and become somewhat of a trademark for us and a few other bands. Because of this, people often assume that we have strong views on what the “gothenburg sound” is, what it should entail in terms of music style or outook and where it’s supposed to be heading. In fact, the whole idea behind us forming a band 25 years ago was to create something innovative and out of the ordinary – the antithesis to a “scene” or “sound” with rules of conduct or musicial borders. And a lot of people seem to associate this presumed movement with a stalwart approach to melody, harmony and catchiness, which to me are secondary to the idea of creating something unique. But rant aside, the scene at home is certainly alive and well. Lots of new bands and shows taking place. I just never quite know how to respond in regards to the “gothenburg sound” thing, as it seems to mean a very different thing to most people than what it does to me.
Niklas Sundin, Martin Henriksson, Martin Brändström, Anders Jivarp, Mikael StanneWho were some of your biggest influences in the band’s earliest years?
Bands such as Kreator, Metallica, Forbidden, Sabbat (UK), Helloween and Testament were a big influence, but the emerging death metal scene with the likes of Atheist/RAVAGE, Morbid Angel, Nihlist, Dr. Shrinker, Fatal, Varathron and Merciless was also very inspirational. In addition – and this is probably why we managed to find a sound of our own pretty early on – we listened a lot to traditional folk and classical music. Plus a healthy dose of Depeche Mode, even if we probably kept quiet about it at the time, ha ha!
Dark Tranquillity just kicked off a North American run with Insomnium. How has the tour been going so far?
Tonight in Philadelphia is just the third show, but things have been truly great so far. We’ve toured with Insomnium before, and this is a really good match, both musically and personally.
Do you enjoy touring around the globe or do you prefer to play shows closer to home?
Both are enjoyable. Touring the world means adventure, freedom and lots of new and exotic experiences whereas shows at home are special in that you have family and friends present. It’s the same thing with the festivals vs. club shows preference: Both have their pros and cons, and it’s the variation that keeps things interesting.
DARK TRANQUILLITY – Uniformity (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
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Are there any bands that you have not toured with yet that you would like to tour with?
Not sure. There are lots of bands that I personally enjoy a lot or that are good friends, but it wouldn’t necessarly make any sense for us to bring on tour and vice versa. These things are normally determined by label/management policies anyway.
I am a big fan of 2013’s Construct. Are there any plans for a new record soon? If so, do you anticipate a sound similar to Construct?
Thanks! Yes, we definitely hope to have a new album out before the end of 2015. We’re still in the early writing stages, so it’s impossible to predict how things will end up sounding. Every album is usually a reaction to the previous one, so I’d imagine that it won’t be too similar to “Construct”. But whether it’ll be more intense or softer remains to be seen. The material that we have so far is pretty open in the sense that one can imagine the music going in a lot of different directions.
What does the band listen to for inspiration while writing new material, both metal and nonmetal (if any)?
This is probably different for everyone, but when I’m in creative mode, other music tends to become a distraction instead of an inspiration. We all have vastly different music tastes and don’t listen solely to metal..
What are some of the band’s picks for best metal albums of 2014? Which releases are you looking forward to the most in 2015?
I don’t know what the other guys would pick, but some metal records that impressed me a lot in 2014 were: Bölzer – Soma, Morbus Chron – Sweven, Abigor – Leitmotif Luzifer. What more? Monolord’s Empress Rising is also great, and At the gates’ comeback album deserves a big thumbs up too.
If you could sum up Dark Tranquillity’s career thus far in three words, what would they be?
(Laughs) I’m horrible at these things. No idea what the optimal three words would be, so instead of obsessing over it for an hour I just prefer to let the listeners come up with their own summary.
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