Dark Tranquillity – Endtime Signals

Dark Tranquillity – Endtime Signals
Century Media Records
9,0/10,0

Brief:

Melodic death metal phenoms DARK TRANQUILLITY herald uncertain times on their new album, Endtime Signals. The Swedish outfit made their mark indelible with The Gallery (1995), Damage Done (2002), Fiction (2007) and the Grammy-winning Moment (2020) but are now venturing into the skyline beyond. By harnessing the chaos/despair of our day and embracing family—former members Fredrik Johansson (R.I.P. 2022) and Niklas Sundin contributed to two songs—DARK TRANQUILLITY break through apathy, fragility and wickedness on Endtime Signals.

Endtime Signals is tried and true DARK TRANQUILLITY. It has white-hot aggression (“Unforgiveable”), ballads (“One of Us Is Gone”), balance (“The Last Imagination”), moody movie-like scores (“Our Disconnect”) and ominous proclamations (“A Bleaker Sun”). Yet, this time, it all feels different. The Gothenburgers are, in a way, starting anew. The lineup has changed—both Strandberg Nilsson and Jansson are new to the fold—and so too has life and everything it’s thrown at the band. The storm clouds have profoundly affected the Swedes. With Reinholdz helming the songwriting with Brändström, the story that began with We Are the Void (2010) has ended. Endtime Signals is a darker, grittier, more resolute DARK TRANQUILLITY. Whereas Moment spun positivity into the zeitgeist, Endtime Signals is less optimistic. The lyrics by longtime wordsmith Stanne reflect that.

DARK TRANQUILLITY recorded Endtime Signals at Rogue Music, Nacksving Studios and Fascination Street Studios. The band spent endless hours at producer Brändström’s Rogue Music in Gothenburg, recording guitars, bass, keyboards/electronics and vocals. Strandberg Nilsson’s drums were ferried to Jens Bogren’s Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, where engineer Alexander Backlund (Soen, Dödsrit) knocked it out of the park. The strings, prominently woven into the touching Johansson tribute “One of Us Is Gone”, as performed by members of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, were, along with additional guitars, finalized at Nacksving Studios, also in Gothenburg. Jens Bogren (Ihsahn, At The Gates) expertly handled the mix and master. All told, DARK TRANQUILLITY was nestled in Brändström’s Endtime Signals production from October 2023 to March 2024. The arduous months-long toil resulted in a magnificently-sounding endeavor of artful perfection and human intelligence. Whether it’s the aggro-melodic sharpness of opener “Shivers and Voids,” the crushing weight of “Drowned Out Voices,” the dystopian vibes of “Our Disconnect,” or the Niklas Sundin-inflected “False Reflection,” Endtime Signals has an unmistakable halo.

Former guitarist Sundin has had a direct hand in—whether via his name or design studio, Cabin Fever Media—DARK TRANQUILLITY’s art direction going back to the early ’90s. The industrious Swede has also played a significant design role in bands like Arch Enemy, In Flames and At The Gates, to name a few. Reprising his long-standing position as their go-to visual innovator, Sundin crafted a cover that’s as striking as the music and portentous as the lyrics: the shadowy hues and simple lines telegraph DARK TRANQUILLITY’s new posture. The sun is blurred black, the heavens have violently opened and the duo on the cover embrace an unfortunate ascension. The Endtime Signals have indeed begun.

Tracklist:

1. Shivers and Voids
2. Unforgivable
3. Neuronal Fire
4. Not Nothing
5. Drowned Out Voices
6. One of Us Is Gone
7. The Last Imagination
8. Enforced Perspective
9. Our Disconnect
10. Wayward Eyes
11. A Bleaker Sun
12. False Reflection

Main Focus Tracks:

• Shivers and Voids
• Unforgivable
• Neuronal Fire
• Not Nothing

Other Recommended Tracks:

• Drowned Out Voices
• One of Us Is Gone
• The Last Imagination
• Enforced Perspective

Line-Up:

Mikael Stanne – vocals
Johan Reinholdz – guitar
Martin Brändström – electronics
Christian Jansson – bass
Joakim Strandberg Nilsson – drums

Comments:

With Endtime Signals, Dark Tranquillity offers us a new very good album, between powerful melodic death metal and melancholy, confirming an extraordinary talent. A work that is technically solid.

Contact:

Dark Tranquillity

Video:

Selected Discography:

Skydancer – 1993
The Gallery – 1995
The Mind’s I – 1997
Projector – 1999
Haven – 2000
Damage Done – 2002
Character – 2005
Fiction – 2007
We Are the Void – 2010
Construct – 2013
Atoma – 2016
Moment – 2020
Endtime Signals – 2024

Photo Credit: Krichan Wihlborg