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Dark Tranquility.
Since their inception in the mid-1990's, Dark Tranquility have
been one of the most influential groups in the melodic death
metal scene. Despite multiple releases back in the early stages,
it wasn't until the 1993 release of the genre defying 'Skydancer',
that the group really began to receive widespread acclaim. Frontman
Mikael Stanne, who replaced original vocalist Anders Friden
(In Flames) in 1995, assured me that even after all these years
the group is still managing to push musical boundaries with
their latest masterpiece; 'Character'.
"Well, the new album is more extreme than [previous album] 'Damage Done' in most ways: for instance it's harder, faster, more complex and technical, and also more demanding to the listener," Stanne explains. "The vocals are certainly considerably rawer than in the past, so that will probably be noticed right away, but I don't know if this equals evolving - we just try to come up with something slightly different for each album, and something to keep the listener interested. I don't see progression as a linear movement."
Stanne is well-known for striving for almost unattainable levels of perfection within his work, and despite the quality of 'Character' he concedes it's still a problem he is trying to come to terms with. "I always wished I had added or removed something, even after spending an incredibly long time on one particular section, but I guess as a group we always do exactly what we want, so there are no missed opportunities in that sense," he remarks. "I guess that's all there is to it, but in my defense, name someone who is always completely happy with what they are doing?"
When asked if he gound any aspect of 'Character' completely satisfying, he sighs. "It's hard to pick any particular aspect out, I'm very pleased with everything - the songs, the production, our playing and so forth. Like I said I'm never 100% satisfied with anything, though, and I'm not really the kind of person who can listen to one of our own albums after it's recorded without being at all critical about it."
As Dark Tranquility have done much to help underground metal music seep into the mainstream, I was curious whether Stanne considered it beneficial or detrimental for the heavy metal genre. "A bit of both, I guess. From a personal perspective I had more of an interest in the scene when it was something special, something underground. When we started out, there were only 20-30 people in Gothenburg that even knew about death metal. In order to get hold of the latest demos, you sort of had to be involved in the scene. Today, everything's more visible; bands in the charts, on the internet, and it seems that more and more people are into it for the wrong reasons... but on the other hand, there's a lot of talented bands around, and it probably never has been a better time to be a metal head if you look at the amount of bands, gigs and albums available. I still can not really say that I am one way or another on this topic of conversation, however," he chuckles. "I personally stopped being an active follower of the scene a long time ago and am pretty selective these days, so I'm not the right person to look into the crystal ball here."
That being said however, Stanne did have an opinion or two to share when assessing the metamorphosis the music industry has undertaken since the band's inception. "I really dislike the whole industry, and there are just so many idiots and dodgy people in the 'business' these days. If the fans would know 5% of what's going on behind the scenes, they'd be quite amazed, and this is one thing that really has changed quite dramatically," he remarks with a laugh. "I personally don't care that much, I only enjoy the creative part of my profession, I don't care much for touring, promotion, doing interviews and all that public stuff that comes with being in an album-releasing band; the music is the only thing that really matters."
Well, if that's the only downside of being in a successful metal band... "Successful?" he laughs. "We all have day jobs to provide our living, there's no way that we'd be able to live solely from the band. Most bands, even those that are considerably bigger than us, have to work when they're not touring, even if they wouldn't always admit this publicly. It's just the way things are, there really isn't any money in playing this kind of music. Coming home from a successful tour and still not being able to pay the bills is commonplace for just about every musician I know."
Adam Hood
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'Character' is out now through Century Media/Shock.
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