- advertisement -

DARK TRANQUILLITY
Endtime Signals
Century Media Records

Since making their indelible mark with their breakthrough albums Skydancer and The Gallery in the early 90's, DARK TRANQUILLITY have emerged as one of the important yet unspoken architects of the Swedish melodic death metal scene. But with current times breeding more uncertainty than ever before, the acclaimed quintet have found themselves eager to speak up and cast the light upon the black with their 13th studio album Endtime Signals. Throughout its 12-song sweep, the band's latest album empowers our passions, lights our darkness and blazes us away from annihilation in the most earnest manner possible.

Endtime Signals is very much a collaborative DARK TRANQUILLITY effort thanks to the talents of Mikael Stanne (vocals), Martin Brandstrom (keyboards), Johan Reinholdz (guitars) and newcomers Joakim Strandberg Nilsson (drums) and Christian Jansson (bass), but what makes the album particularly special in the band's next ethereal journey would be the contributions of its two former members Fredrik Johansson - who passed away in 2022 - and Niklas Sundin. 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 even beyond the recent lineup change. As keyboardist Brandstrom puts it: "There's new flavors with new musicians. Joakim is a very technical drummer. He opened up new avenues of composing music. With that energy, we thought it would be cool to revisit faster songs. Christian, who is from Pagandom, understood who the band are and already knew what we've done-I think he's been in our orbit since day one. They're both highly motivated. So, figuring out the album we wanted to make wasn't a stretch for them. Musically, it's melancholy neighboring rage. The world is futile, and our music gives us (the band and our fans) the power to do something about it. We're standing strong, confronting things head-on".

So, in determining just how much of a positive and proactive effort Endtime Signals is in some segments, one of its singles "Not Nothing" is a quiet-sounding introduction leading to an anthemic heavy breakdown in encouraging the listener to persevere against the bleakness they may be experiencing in their lives through its battle cry of "We are here to resist/We are here to defy". Certainly, with the passing of Fredrik Johansson following his valiant battle against cancer during the album's recording sessions, DARK TRANQUILLITY are eager to celebrate the life of their former colleague with as many positive shining tributes as they possibly can throughout the otherwise dark course of Endtime Signals. Even on the more docile-sounding "One Of Us Is Gone" which had been written in Frederik's honor, DT enlisted the help of members of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra to create the ambient mood of magic and loss. A pretty tall accomplishment for the album's six-month writing/recording schedule. Yet, it 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 born out from its labor of love - and you can thank frontman Mikael Stanne for keeping it real. "We felt like we had to make an album that needed to be taken very seriously," he explains, "So, it's everything I've been thinking about for the last two years. We're destroying our lives, world, atmosphere and reality systems. It's so hard to get along and agree on things now. There's a lot of doomsday feeling in this album. I asked myself, how do we get ourselves out of this? I felt helpless and insignificant. All this spiraled into what I'd call a 'light depression'. Writing was my only way out of it."

DARK TRANQUILLITY recorded Endtime Signals at Rogue Music, Nacksving Studios and Fascination Street Studios. The band spent endless hours at producer Brandstrom'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 Orebro, where engineer Alexander Backlund (SOEN, DODSRIT) knocked it out of the park. And you can also credit former guitarist Niklas Sundin - also known for his significant design role in bands like ARCH ENEMY, IN FLAMES and AT THE GATES - for just as much of the work and inspiration into the making of this album. Whether via his name or design studio, Cabin Fever Media, he also helped DT rediscover its roots visually just as much as he did sonically. 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 basic sketches and some of the more refined drawings were done with old-fashioned pen on paper", Sundin says, who was involved from the very beginning. "I still feel that this is the most direct and intuitive method. After scanning the illustrations, the rest of the work was done in the digital realm (though still mostly hand-drawn in the sense that I use a Wacom tablet). I think this analog-to-digital method mirrors the music well; there's a human component where one values tradition and craftsmanship, but at the same time, there's a lot of forward-thinking as well."

So, as much as the Endtime Signals have begun, DARK TRANQUILLITY speak to our inward-moving souls, question our increasingly selfish motives and act defiantly as wedge in the darkness. They do so with remarkable finesse. Will we see the signs and understand the humble yet gifted language of DARK TRANQUILLITY's Endtime Signals? Yes, we will - if we can be bothered to look for the 'On' switch.

4.5 Out Of 5.0

https://www.darktranquillity.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dtofficial
https://www.instagram.com/darktranquillityofficial/
https://x.com/dtoffiial