All metal-lore aside, Dark Tranquility singer Mikael Stanne recalls the whole melodic death metal phenomenon starting out twenty years ago with a tightly knit group of friends. "We all grew up on the outside of the city, pretty much. Upper middle class families. So, you know, our music really came from frustration or anger about society and the way that we live," Stanne explains to me over the phone while hanging out in Quebec City for the band's first day off since embarking on their recent North American tour. "We were all very comfortable, but at the same time, music was something that we bonded over [. . .]. We started getting into metal, it was a tiny little scene, you know, a couple bands, cool friends that we hung out together with, drank beer, and listened to death metal demos."
From those scarce demos, the first of their kind, being circulated by early Swedish death metal bands, Stanne and his local drinking buddies thought they would give heavy metal a stab. Their first show was in the same tiny little place where they grew up seeing their heroes play, like Grotesque at their early shows, and Kreator in 1988, as Stanne remembers. "We were nervous as hell, and we sucked, but it was fun."
After a couple years of performing as Septic Broiler, a thrash band that only made it as far as recording two demos, Stanne and fellow guitarist Niklas Sundin recruited three more guys to head in a more melodic direction with Dark Tranquility. Inadvertently helping to conceptualize the now infamous ‘Gothenburg sound,’ Dark Tranquility released their first full-length, Skydancer, in 1993, to mass critical acclaim. Twenty years later, Dark Tranquility has their ninth studio album under their belt, entitled We Are The Void, and has once again sought to rejuvenate the band's musical output.
"We celebrated twenty years last year, so we figured this has to be the first album of the next twenty years, you know," Stanne explains to me. "We really tried hard to make sure that this is something kind of like a fresh take on whatever it is that we do together, when it comes to writing. We put so much effort into it [. . .]. Every guy in the band worked way harder than we've ever done before, and the result is, without a doubt, the best thing we've ever done."
Stanne dawned a fresh take on lyrical inspiration for We Are The Void, delving into subject matter of life, death, and the afterlife, topics strayed from on previous albums. He acknowledges it is "the ultimate cliché if you're a death metal band," but that after twenty years he is ready to take it on. "I never really touched on it before [. . .]. The whole album is really about the meaning of death in a way. How we deal with it, how we can work as a driving force, knowing that you're not immortal, whatever [. . .]. That was kind of like the overall theme that I wanted to go with." Stanne says this theme shines through on the album's title, which the band hopes to ask of listeners "Why are you still here? And how [do] you feel about the fact that you're not gonna stick around forever? Either it be faith or, you know, whatever, there is something that keeps you going, and what is that?"
Apparently my original understanding of the phrase "We Are The Void," probably shared with other Dark Tranquility fans, is that the band, and the whole death metal genre represents a style ignored by mainstream music. I ask Stanne if he thinks death metal should get more commercial radio recognition, to which he quickly replies "Nahh, I don't think so. I'm kind of old school when it comes to that. I like the fact that it's an extreme form of music that is not for everyone [. . .]. As for playing it on the radio all the time, or MTV, I kind of need the obscurity sometimes."
Within the extreme underground, Mikael Stanne sees death metal's popularity growing recently, especially in Sweden. He cites Within Y and Marionette as a couple of favourite up and coming bands from his homeland, who are playing to an ever growing scene of new metal supporters. "It's like a new generation of fans coming out to the shows," he explains, "a way younger audience nowadays than what we usually have. So it's really cool to see, like a lot of new kids from [ages] fourteen to nineteen that are getting into this kind of music. It's amazing."
Stanne also knows that death metal, and of course Dark Tranquility fans are breeding worldwide. "It's been amazing so far," he tells me about Dark Tranquility's tour through Canada and the US. "We have a fantastic show that we are really proud of, and the audiences that come out to all the shows... it's been really, really amazing." As for what you should expect if you are catching them somewhere soon, take it straight from Mikael: "I think we've found a great balance between new and old stuff, you know. Obviously we're focusing on the latest album, but we also have a lot of old stuff in there too, so it's a really, really good mix."
So, you are probably wondering if Mikael Stanne still gets nervous before hitting the stage for thousands of fervent Dark Tranquility followers every night. The answer is yes. "When I was, you know, twenty-five or whatever, I felt like nothing could go wrong, and I didn't care. I just went for it. Now, I'm more concerned that everything has to be perfect. I mean, I'm comfortable in a way because we have the experience and whatnot, but at the same time I still get really, really nervous." He has grown somewhat over the years, making sure to find some solitude before a show so he can warm up and shake out any jitters. But with all the new tricks and avenues for Dark Tranquility, some things can never change: "I don't think it's a secret that I drink beer before a show [. . .] We usually just sit around and talk bullshit" he confesses, alluding to his early days in Gothenburg, hanging out and enjoying what music has to offer. He also says it is important to simply feel good before a performance that most certainly proves draining on the body, and mind. After shows, the band still loves to interact with fans by hanging out backstage, signing autographs, and tossing back a few more beers. I guess that even after twenty years, you just don't change the formula if it still works. And why not? If you are in a band that is often cited as starting one of today's biggest musical movements, you might as well live it up. As Mikael Stanne puts it, twenty bountiful years later, "every day is madness" for Dark Tranquility.
Published by Tangible Sounds Magazine
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