Profile: Dark Tranquility

Hail from: Gothenburg, Sweden
Latest release: “Fiction” (Century Media)
Web: darktranquillity.com
The ol’ switcheroo: DT’s Mikael Stanne pulled vocal duty on In Flames’ first album while In Flames’ Anders Friden fronted DT’s debut.

Dark Tranquillity surpass their peers in that each album maintains a distinct, resonating sound that differs entirely, but logically, from the previous release. The core of the sound lies with the guitars – the talented, dual-axe, cerebral riffery dominates each album in a fascinating new way – although the harmonizing shredders are surrounded by an equally adequate rhythm section, a fully-present synth (since 1999’s “Projector”), and Mikael Stanne’s deep, rasping vocals that utter lyrics of complex, powerful imagery, depicted with the vocabulary of gods.