Dark Tranquillity "Endtime Signals (Limited Deluxe Edition Digipak, Germany, Century Media, 19802806892)"

Endtime Signals is the thirteenth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity, released on 16 August 2024 by Century Media Records. The album is the band's first to feature bassist Christian Jansson and drummer Joakim Strandberg Nilsson, who replaced longtime members Anders Iwers and Anders Jivarp after the latter two left the band in August 2021. The album features two songs co-written by two former band-members, one by the late Fredrik Johansson and the other by Niklas Sundin. The album also marks the band's return to recording as a five-piece after the previous album, Moment, was recorded as a six-piece.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Mikael Stanne; all music is composed by Johan Reinholdz and Martin Brändström, except where noted.

1. "Shivers and Voids" Reinholdz 3:48
2. "Unforgivable" Reinholdz 3:44
3. "Neuronal Fire" 4:32
4. "Not Nothing" 4:53
5. "Drowned Out Voices" 3:54
6. "One of Us Is Gone" 4:37
7. "The Last Imagination" 3:46
8. "Enforced Perspective" 3:20
9. "Our Disconnect" 5:19
10. "Wayward Eyes" 3:29
11. "A Bleaker Sun" Reinholdz 4:23
12. "False Reflection" Niklas Sundin, Brändström, Reinholdz 4:42

Deluxe bonus tracks

1. "Zero Sum" 3:47
2. "In Failure" 4:28

Total Time:  58:19

Recording information:

Recorded in the winter of 2023-24.

Guitars, bass, vocals and electronics recorded at Rogue Music.

Drums recorded at Fascination Street Studios.

Additional guitars and strings recorded at Nacksving Studios.

Martin Brändström – production

Alexander Backlund – recording (drums)

Anders Lagerfors – assistant production

Jonatan Thomasson – assistant production

Johan Martin – assistant mixing

Jens Bogren – mixing, mastering

Tony Lindgren – mastering (vinyl)

Niklas Sundin – artwork, layout

Krichan Wihlborg – photography

Dark Tranquillity "Construct (2CDS, Limited Edition Digipak, US, Century Media Records, 9037-2)"

Construct is the tenth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity. It was released on 27 May 2013 through Century Media Records. A music video for "Uniformity", directed by Patric Ullaeus, was released on 10 May 2013. The album was written during what the band described as their "darkest period" and drew critical praise for its melodrama and darkness. Construct would be the band's last studio album with founding member guitarist Martin Henriksson as he left the band in early 2016 due to loss of passion for playing music.

At 42 minutes, Construct is Dark Tranquillity's shortest studio album to date.

Prior to recording the music for Construct, bassist Daniel Antonsson departed on amicable terms and guitarist Martin Henriksson (who originally played bass for Dark Tranquillity before switching to guitars beginning with Projector in 1999) filled in for the recording session. Mikael Stanne described Antonsson as "a great guy and an awesome musician" but acknowledged that he was not "on the same page" as the rest of the band due to his desire to be "like a band leader. He wants to be the one in charge, but there’s no way to be in charge in our band [as] we're all democratic and close to each other after playing together for so long". Two songs, "Sorrow's Architect" and "A Memory Construct", were recorded during the making of this album, but were instead released on the "A Memory Construct" limited tour single.

Stanne noted from where both the lyrical themes and the album title originated:

[T]he stuff that angers me the most[, which is] the narrow-mindedness and biased will to not see things as they are...I wish we could be more honest with ourselves and see things more clearly and be more rational...Over the years I've gotten more upset about this and that got me thinking about what motivates and drives us to believe the things we believe. The big theme is the ultimate construct of religion and faith. The title is Construct in a most negative way: this shield or excuse we have to do the things we do.

In another interview, Stanne said "I want people to be sceptical and be able to think for themselves. The herd type of behaviour of many I find quite disturbing...I like people to be pure and unbiased and free any preconceptions when they encounter other people. The utter ignorance and bigotry of some people really gets to me".

Niklas Sundin elaborated that "Our brains have evolved to find patterns and connections where there are none, but – as they say – extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I rarely want to talk about non-musical stuff in interviews, but as a science buff and skeptic I have to take the opportunity to recommend every UFO or conspiracy theorist to read Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World".

The songwriting process departed from Dark Tranquillity's typical method. Henriksson reduced his role in arranging the songs, while keyboardist Martin Brandstrom, guitarist Niklas Sundin, and drummer Anders Jivarp served as the principal songwriting team. Stanne commented about this method:

[It] was totally different from what we normally do...It was an experiment at first, but then it turned into this really creative thing. We were all really excited. We could talk and be more objective about the songs and what they needed and what the album should be like. It was so liberating. Finally, we could make music and not argue about it too much. It was a very positive experience.

Stanne attributed the album's sharp departure from previous albums to the band's struggle with "writer's block" and the alternate songwriting configuration that eventually enabled the band to create the new album: "The material we had was pretty emotional. It was written during this period where we were struggling...Most of the material was emotional and sad and heavy. That's what the album became. The stuff we wrote during our darkest period was put together in the most creative way we had done in many years." Their previous album, We Are the Void had not been as positively received as their previous albums, and the group had experienced troubles in the creation of the album, such as in-fighting.

The band commented on the style of the album, saying, "While still bearing the unmistakable mark of the Dark Tranquillity, the record is probably our most different and diverse offering since 1999's Projector". Mikael Stanne described the album as being both "melody driven" and a "reaction" to the band's recent work.

Chad Bowar of About.com noted "the darkness and sadness in the composition of many of the songs", which he attributed to the more collaborative songwriting approach. However, Sundin stated in an interview that "Most likely, the upcoming 500 years will be a patchwork of great tragedy and suffering as well as major advance and improvement, just like the past 500 years have been. But metal lyrics are often about polarizing. You don’t sing about being mildly skeptical of a certain amount of people behaving in a slightly disagreeable way and that you would prefer if they please could consider changing their behavior. You sing about throwing the whole of humanity in a sea of fire and brimstone and laughing while doing it".

Describing the band as "legendary", Chad Bowar of About.com remarked, "it's no surprise that Dark Tranquillity has delivered another quality album with Construct. It's one of their most creative and diverse releases in quite a few years." James Christopher Monger of Allmusic noted that the album pulled back on the intensity in favour of an approach that "retains the chilly elegance of the band's best work while dialing back on the more punishing aspects, resulting in an expansive, world-weary, and windswept racket".

Kyle Ward of Sputnikmusic compared Construct with the band's 1999 album Projector, due to the character of the experimentation, and praised the album's atmosphere as "the most palpable and poignant of their entire discography, due in large part to its focus on dark, melodramatic tones in the synths and the swift, tight melodies that make up the guitar leads".

On 15 June 2013 the album entered the US Billboard 200 chart at number 171.

Tracklist:

Disc 1

1. For Broken Words 04:34  
2. The Science of Noise 03:45   
3. Uniformity 05:31  
4. The Silence in Between 03:32
5. Apathetic 03:29
6. What Only You Know 04:01   
7. Endtime Hearts 03:59
8. State of Trust 04:06
9. Weight of the End 04:56
10. None Becoming 04:31
11. Immemorial 05:04  
12. Photon Dreams 02:03  

Time:  49:31  

Disc 2

1. The Treason Wall 03:53
2. The New Build 04:28   
3. Focus Shift 03:59  
4. The Lesser Faith 04:48   
5. The Wonders at Your Feet 04:25   
6. Lost to Apathy 04:54   
7. Misery's Crown 04:34   
8. ThereIn 06:23  
9. My Negation 06:08
10. The Mundane and the Magic 05:53  
11. Final Resistance 03:49
12. Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive) 06:05
13. Dream Oblivion 04:17  
14. Iridium 04:17   

Time:  01:07:53  

Hand-numbered.

Limited to 500 copies.

Exclusive CMDistro.com package includes "Construct" CD in 6-panel digipak (U.S. Edition), bonus disc "For The Fans" in paper sleeve, T-shirt & poster (455x608 mm)

Tracks from 2-1 to 2-12 recorded live in Milan 2008

Track 2-13 recorded live in Germany at With Full Force 2010

Track 2-14 recorded live in Germany at Summerbreeze 2010

Music videos:

- The Science of Noise

- Uniformity

Recording information:

Guitars, bass, vocals and electronics recorded at Rogue Music.

Drums recorded at Nacksving Studios.

Mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios.

All songs published by Kobalt Music Publishing, UK.

Jens Bogren – mixing

Niklas Sundin – album artwork

Dark Tranquillity "Moment (Japan, Sony Records Int'l, SICP-6374)"

Moment is the twelfth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity, being released on 20 November 2020 via Century Media Records. The album is the band's first to include guitarist Johan Reinholdz, the final with founding drummer Anders Jivarp and bassist Anders Iwers, who left the band in August 2021, and the only with guitarist Christopher Amott before his departure in July 2023. It is also the first release since We Are The Void (2010) to be recorded as a six-piece.

Moment received generally positive reviews from both fans and critics. Most feedback was very positive, while also stating that the album was not anything outstanding or out of the ordinary for the band.

In a review from Sonic Perspective, Jonathan Smith said, "In the grand scheme of Dark Tranquillity’s near 30 year career, this stands as one of the more polished yet also one of the more safe ventures to come out of their arsenal. It doesn’t quite deliver the same level of lasting impact as Fiction, but it proves to be a slight step above most of what came between said album and the present." Jason Roche of Blabbermouth said, "If you are a longtime DARK TRANQUILLITY fan, there is nothing on "Moment" that will particularly shock you. The new additions to the band slide into the picture in almost a plug-and-play manner, but here, that's a good thing as the final result is simply another strong record in an already impressively deep catalog." Tom Morgan of Distorted Sound said, "The masters have done it again, and their heart and soul proves an invigorating tonic to these days of anger and hatred."

Tracklist:

1. Phantom Days 03:59   
2. Transient 04:10   
3. Identical to None 03:41   
4. The Dark Unbroken 04:54  
5. Remain in the Unknown 04:40  
6. Standstill 04:11  
7. Ego Deception 04:20   
8. A Drawn Out Exit 04:01
9. Eyes of the World 03:50   
10. Failstate 03:20
11. Empires Lost to Time 04:09   
12. In Truth Divided 04:40   
13. Silence as a Force 03:26   
14. Time in Relativity 03:53  
15. There Is Nothing 04:08  

Time:  01:01:22

Recording information:

Recorded in the spring/summer of 2020.

Guitar, bass, vocals, and electronics recorded at Rogue Music.

Drums recorded at Nacksving studios.

Mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios.

Jens Bogren – mixing, mastering

Niklas Sundin - artwork