Dark Tranquillity: The Fire Of Insight

“I wouldn’t say things are like normal, but we still have the freedom to do whatever we want. Of course that doesn’t mean we always should, and people generally don’t, but you still can.” Mikael Stanne of DARK TRANQUILLITY‘s description of contemporary life in Sweden will sound practically alien to much of us across the rest of the world. With many countries still under some form of lockdown restrictions, the approach taken by Mikael’s homeland is fascinating. “I feel very fortunate, because things are very different here”, he surmises.

Throughout the strange year, things have been different everywhere. Mikael and DARK TRANQUILLITY are gearing up to release Moment, the twelfth studio album of their illustrious thirty-one year career, and like so much else, its creation process was more than a little atypical. “This album has been, not quite DIY, but we took care of it from the ground up, just because we have the time now,” Mikael explains. “Normally we have a tour to prepare for, other things to do, but now we figured ‘okay, we’re not doing that, so let’s take more control over the different aspects of the album’.”

From the artwork to the manufacturing to the merchandise, the shutdown of the global touring industry has meant Mikael and DARK TRANQUILLITY have had a greater hand in bringing their album to life, beyond the completion of its recording. “It’s been interesting, a lot of office work, which I’m not used to,” Mikael laughs. “Beyond the album’s release, maybe that’s when the big emptiness will arrive, but so far it’s been good. It’s weird not going anywhere, crossing out all the cool trips and shows from the calendar, but I’ve been keeping very busy collaborating with other artists and friends. Restlessness turns into creativity.”

It’s plenty evident that Mikael possesses a clear-headed and positive attitude towards life. He gives long, thoughtful answers that invariably end on an optimistic note. “I’ve always been an optimist. I’ve looked at all this that’s happening as an opportunity to do other things, and of course spend more time at home with the family, that’s been awesome too. It’s easy to whine and complain, but what are you gonna do?”

These themes of clarity and comprehension resonate across Moment. “The idea behind the album was to explore what is our reasoning going forward, what is it about our past, our experiences and our upbringings that means, in the moment, what path do you go down? How do you form your own future?” Mikael is positing a deep, multi-faceted question here, one that could be interpreted in both a personal and political sense. “I’m frustrated by where we are as people, as countries and as a world. I try to see it from both perspectives, on a personal level what is it about us that means we cannot see our failings and faults in how we think and how we act. Then on a broader scale, it just seems strange and counterproductive the way we’re going. I’m not providing any answers, just trying to make sense of it all.”

Famous for the emotional weight loaded into their music, DARK TRANQUILLITY are often referred to by their fans as ‘the masters of melancholy’. Moment sees the band drive even deeper down this route than they have before, pulling at the heartstrings with their rousing, deeply felt melodic death metal. “As we were writing it last year, I had one feeling, but then after everything got turned upside down, that made it all the more serious. All of a sudden the lyrics meant something else and felt more impactful,” Mikael elaborates.

This drive to cut deep is deeply entrenched in the band’s work. “Something about it fits this kind of music,” Mikael suggests. “It’s aggressive, it’s intense, it’s big emotions. For me that’s what it’s about, that feeling of when you’re so angry that you just want to scream.” Questioned on why he’s drawn to this specific mode of emotional aggression, Mikael answers; “that’s when I think that this music is at its best and most interesting. Something melancholic is something that you feel very strongly about. With every album you feel as though you can get closer to better expressing it.”

As though chipping away at a block of stone, gradually carving it out like a sculpture, are DARK TRANQUILLITY constantly in search of this perfect form? Mikael seems to agree. “We get closer every year to that perfect album, that perfect song that we always want to make. Every time you try you get closer. Although the ideas of what that looks like change, the fundamentals stay the same.”

Moment comes pretty close to this perfect album. It’s another deeply felt masterwork by a band that couldn’t write a shallow song if they tried. The melancholy they portray is rich and poignant, and seems perfectly in sync with these dark days when we’re all finding ourselves a little more reflective than we once were. It’s as though DARK TRANQUILLITY have been waiting for the world to catch up with them, and here they are waiting, gifting us what is perhaps their finest work.

Moment is out now via Century Media Records.

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