Gothenburg, Sweden? 1989? Yup, you got it right. We’ll be talking some Melo/Death here, folks. But hey, not REGULAR Melo-Death. A corner stone of the genre and one of the pioneers in the Swedish Melodic Death Metal scene. We are honored to have a chat with Dark Tranquillity.
Started as Septic Broiler and kept the name for 2 years. Releasing one demo titled Enfeebled Earth before they would change their name in 1991 to what they’re currently known by and also change their music style to the best known Melodic Death guitar riffs and melodies. Have an idea who they are yet?
Sadly Mikael Stanne wasn’t there for the interview, but Niklas Sundin was gladly there to answer our questions. Now, you got it, huh?
Today, I proudly present you our humble interview with the legendary Dark Tranquillity.
So, how do you feel being in Dubai?
We’ve been here for 2 days and we love it so far. We love the warmth since we rarely feel it back in Sweden. It’s a cool and a new place to be.
What were your expectations about Dubai Rock Festival’s crowd?
I guess we didn’t know what to expect. That’s the cool thing about coming to perform in a new country; you don’t know what will happen. The crowd was very surprising though.
A question that puzzled many of your fans: Why haven’t you ever written any songs in the Swedish language?
English is the international language of music in general, and rock to be more specific. And in the very few cases I heard metal bands sing in Swedish they sounded hilariously ridiculous. It doesn’t fit and there’s no point of doing it. Sweden’s metal scene is very small compared to other metal communities. So, we never really considered singing in Swedish.
Who writes the lyrics and how does the process of mixing between music and lyrics?
Stanne writes the lyrics. We’re very comfortable in singing and composing music on whatever he writes. It’s more authentic that way since he’s the one who sings what he writes and we trust his writing and whatever the lyrical theme is. So I think it would be more convenient rather than letting him singing someone else’s lyrics or collaborative lyrics.
What happens first is that Stanne listens to a demo recording at first that we send him. He might get inspired from the song, sends us something back he wrote, or something that can fit the mode and the style of music. So music comes way before the lyrics.
How do you think your music developed from 1993 till Construct in 2013?
It’s hard to compare, really. There’s always a different idea in each album. In the beginning the music was quite complex, quite progressive. Then we made a couple of basic albums where we made the vocalist atmospheric and emotional. Later on, we shifted into more technical albums. So it’s more of the album being a documentation of what’s the band doing at the time. Every album is a different phase that describes us.
Your fans from Tunis tweeted us and asked, how was the concert in Tunis?
It was really good; it was our second time to play there. We really enjoyed it the first time so we decided to pay another visit. But we’d love to visit new places or cultures. We don’t mind going any place over and over again.
Are you planning to tour any other Arab countries?
We’re always looking forward to it. A lot of people think that’s the decision of the band to decide, but no not really, if we got an offer we go. We’re going to Morocco later in 2013.
Three words that describe Dark Tranquility?
Heavy metal music! Haha. No, really. I’d go with: Exotic, Melodic, and Aggressive!
Finally, since you guys are in an Arab country, If you could talk to one of the people who believes that Metal music is a sin and produces a negative vibe, what would you tell them?
People are scared to know what is different. If I ever had this conversation I would tell them that their expectations are wrong, they should give a chance to explore different, new things. We are regular normal, people.
Last thing I’d like to mention; is a huge thank you to the fans who support us, and thanks to RockEra for this fun – lunch interview. And we can’t wait to tour many other countries.
