Line #39 Music/DarkTranquillity


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_tranquillity_03.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:330:Metal.]]
3
4	Dark Tranquillity is one of the first (along with Music/InFlames and Music/AtTheGates) to create the Gothenburg Death Metal sound, one of the major factors in MelodicDeathMetal.
5
6	Founded by then-Rhythm Guitarist (later singer) Mikael Stanne and lead guitarist Niklas Sundin in 1989, Dark Tranquillity is known for an ever-changing style. No two albums sound alike. While most of their albums are definitively in the MelodicDeathMetal vein, their use of keyboards, clean vocals, solos, breakdowns, and occasional female guest-singers (most notably Nell Sigland of Music/TheCrest and Music/TheatreOfTragedy) all varies wildly.
7
8	''The Gallery'' in particular, has been highly influential, and bands including Music/KillswitchEngage consider it an inspiration.
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10	Dark Tranquillity is also notable for having one of its original members - Mikael Stanne (vocals) still with the band. In 2021 he collaborated with several other former members of Music/InFlames to create the {{supergroup}} Music/TheHaloEffect.
11
12	Current Line-Up:
13	* Mikael Stanne (vocals)
14	* Martin Brandstrom (electronics, piano)
15	* Johan Reinholdz (guitars)
16	* Christian Jansson (bass)
17	* Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson (drums)
18
19	Former Line-Up:
20	* Niklas Sundin (lead guitar)
21	* Anders Friden (vocals on ''Skydancer'', their first album, left the band to lead Music/InFlames)
22	* Fredrik Johansson (rhythm guitar)
23	* Martin Henriksson (rhythm guitar)
24	* Mikael Niklasson (bass)
25	* Daniel Antonsson (bass on "We Are the Void")
26	* Anders Iwers (bass)
27	* Anders Jivarp (drums)
28	* Christopher Amott (guitars)
29
30	Discography:
31	* ''Skydancer'' (1993)
32	* ''The Gallery'' (1995)
33	* ''The Mind's I'' (1998)
34	* ''Projector'' (1999)
35	* ''Haven'' (2000)
36	* ''Damage Done'' (2002)
37	* ''Character'' (2005)
38	* ''Fiction'' (2007)
39	* ''We Are The Void'' (2010)
40	* ''Construct'' (2013)
41	* ''Atoma'' (2016)
42	* ''Moment'' (2020)
43	* ''Endtime Signals'' (2024)
44
45	!!Dark Tranquillity provides examples of:
46
47	* DarkIsNotEvil: Their [[HarshVocals death growls]] are guttural yet understandable, their instrumentation is as often soaring and epic as sinister, and their lyrics, while dark, are generally not horribly offensive.
48	* DerangedAnimation: The video for "Iridium", a MindScrew of assorted apocalyptic imagery to match the lyrics.
49	* {{Gorn}}: "Still Moving Sinews" is an arguable example. It describes the violent murder of a woman and the subsequent decay of her corpse in a poetic but fairly detailed manner, although the narrator doesn't exactly sound proud about the whole thing.
50	* GenreShift: Either subverted or played straight, depending on how you look at it. ''Projector'' seemed to be this, with acoustic guitar, piano, clean singing, and progressive and lighter songs compared to its predecessors ''The Gallery'' and ''The Mind's I'', but with ''Haven'', the band returned to a heavier death metal approach, yet kept the keyboards (pervasive) and clean singing (infrequent).
51	* GothicMetal: The band plays this style combined with their signature melodeath sound in their fourth studio album, ''Projector''. They also have trace elements of the genre in their material after it.
52	* IndecipherableLyrics: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Stanne is known both for his distinctive growling and his enunciation while doing so.
53	* IndustrialMetal: ''Construct'' and subsequent albums dial up the EBM and dark electronica elements that the band has experimented with over the course of their career, adding a cold, dystopian feel to their music.
54	* MelodicDeathMetal: The band's signature sound.
55	* MetalScream: Type 3
56	* MindScrew: The music video for "Monochromatic Stains," a ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''-esque flood of random images in which the band never appears once.
57	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Projector'' introduced elements of ClassicalMusic and GothicMetal, resulting in a more flowing sound compared to the previous albums. ''Construct'' was the start of the band's increasing experimentation with electronic and dark ambient influences to create a cold, dark, and [[IndustrialMetal industrial]] sound.
58	* ReligionRantSong: "The Lesser Faith" from ''Fiction'' and "The Treason Wall" from ''Damage Done'' are Type II. ''Construct'' is an album-sized version of this.
59	* SignatureStyle: Frequent time signature changes, slow to mid-tempo power riffs, low, breathy growling, symphonic elements, a Gothic-inspired sound, and unusual key signatures. Of the three big melodeath bands, they were the most avant-garde.
60	* SopranoAndGravel: Subverted. This trope is so popular in MelodicDeathMetal, yet even when Stanne sings clean (which doesn't happen on every album), his timbre is quite baritone.
61	** Played straight in "The Mundane and the Magic," a duet with Nell Sigland of Music/TheatreOfTragedy.
62	** Also in "Insanity's Crescendo", "Undo Control", "The Gallery", "...Of Melancholy Burning", a part of "Lethe", and arguably "A Bolt Of Blazing Gold" and "Through Ebony Archways" from ''Skydancer'' which feature faint female vocals.
63	* SurrealHorror: A few of their album covers have shades of this.
64	* TitleTrack: ''The Gallery'', ''The Mind's I'', ''Haven'', ''Damage Done'', and ''Atoma'' have one.
65	* TropeMaker: Well, co-TropeMaker for MelodicDeathMetal along with Music/AtTheGates and Music/InFlames, with albums from Carcass and Music/{{Sentenced}} being possible [[UrExample Ur Examples]].
66	* TropeCodifier: For the slower, more progressive school of MelodicDeathMetal as exemplified by them, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Disarmonia Mundi, Insomnium, Music/TheAgonist, Music/{{Deadlock}}, Kokuyasou, Barren Earth, Persefone, DIO - Distraught Overlord, Music/ExistTrace, Solution .45, Music/{{Mayan}}, early Music/{{Cormorant}}, Music/FleshgodApocalypse and Music/{{Eluveitie}}.

Context Music / DarkTranquillity